2.5 Foresters....
 

I've been keeping an eye on the market for a nice legacy estate but starting to think about Fozzies instead as they'd probably be a bit more practical. It'd be a daily driver but my commute is less than 15 miles each way so not too fussed about mpg.

Are the 2.5 engines known to suffer from the same sort of problems as the 2.5 in the hawks onwards? Or are they pretty bullet proof if well serviced? I've seen a 2005 2.5XT that might be worth a look....

The foresters have smaller turbos and less aggressive cams as I understand it so should be fine.

There's a couple of great legacies on UKLegacy at the moment.

From experience though the Legacy is a better car in terms of cabin space, ride comfort, interior finish and boot space, this is compared to both our old turbo S and my dads 2.0 XT (2003).

if you want STI ron has been toying with selling up lately

Doug

Thanks Nick. I've seen the silver 2.0 turbo (the one the guy posts a youtube video of) and its stunning, but above my budget at near 7k. What other ones have I missed? It needs to be an estate as the saloon is too restrictive for me in term of getting stuff in/out.

I should be able to get 3.5-4k for the Mondeo and don't want to add too much on, so can't really go over 5k for the new car.

Its a beauty for sure, but it'd be well above my budget and it deserves a better owner than me :lol: I'd be using it as a daily driver, out in winter, doing runs up the tip full of rubbish etc. The Hearse is way too nice a car for that (plus it would make my bugeye feel slow!)

Maybe you should buy mine then Steve.

It's got less power than the Hearse and already gets used on a daily basis, including for tip runs, etc. so you wouldn't need to feel guilty!

I'm thinking of changing cars in the new year, so it may be for sale soon.

In terms of XT's, in standard guise they don't seem to have the same issues as the Imprezas. If people push them it tends to manifest in head gasket issues.

As a general rule, Forester owners find the whole 2.5 "chocolate" engine comments quite funny as it does appear to be a different experience.

If you have a nose on subaruforester.org, you should get a feel for it... particularly if you look at the Europe section.

Would love to, but expect its worth way more than my budget ;)

Also spotted a 2005 2.0X that might be worth a look as its a low miler, but worried the 2.0 might be a bit gutless. I understand the engines changed in 2005 as well, the earlier 2.0 was about 30bhp less than the newer 2.0 so not sure which one it would be....

Not sure I could cope with a n/a Forester (or Impreza for that matter).

Get a beast Barge £85000 for 6k ! - You can move your house with it by simply attaching a toe line.. and land small planes on it as well should the need arise..

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...plus?logcode=p

Wow, thats some depreciation :lol:

But no thanks!

If you guys fancy popping down some time I could sort a drive in a 2.0XT (auto) and the spec B?

Make sure to include out backs in the search as well.

If only that was an estate!

Thanks for the offer mate, i'll let you know if i need to take you up on it.

Outbacks seems to be even rarer than Legacys or Fozzies..... maybe its just a waiting game until a nice one comes up for sale :)

Hi Steve,

I normally post on the Forester forum, but randomly saw this post whilst searching for Forester stuff.

I'm about to put my Forester 2.0 XT up for sale on the Forester forum. Hopefully when the rain clears up I'll get some decent pictures! So should be posting the advert on Sunday.

Mine is the 2 litre engine, but with similar power to the 2.5. I've had it remapped by Simon Roe to 235bhp. It's a 54 plate on 91k miles and FSH.
Rear shocks have been replaced and it's got recent discs and pads all round.

The car has had a few improvements over the standard model, while keep the OEM look.
Whiteline 22mm rear anti roll bar
K&N panel air filter
Stainless steel exhaust consisting of Hayward and Scott up-pipe, centre section and backbox.

You'd be welcome to come and have a look. I'm in Guildford.

All the best
James

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulle...ummer-2011.jpg

James' car has a really nice burble to it and was looking very clean last time I saw it. :ok:

Hi, thanks for posting up :)

May be interested but need to sell my Mondeo ST TDCi if i buy privately, rather than just part-ex'ing it. Is it black or dark green, can't really tell from the pic? Manual?

I've signed up on the forester forum so i'll keep an eye out for your for sale thread for more info :smile:

Oh Steve what price you looking to sell your mondeo as could be looking for another desiel for the wife 😉

Probably somewhere between 3.5-4k. Its done 91k at the moment and rising as in use daily. Couple of pics here:
http://www.southeastscoobies.co.uk/v...ead.php?t=9948

That's a very good honest price thought it would be worth a bit more due to the condition it's in .

Hi Steve,

It's dark green / grey and a manual... If it doesn't rain tomorrow I'll get some pics and then post the advert.

Cheers, James

Well I was going on the online valuations, but condition wise it's pretty superb compared to most examples out there. I'll be aiming closer to 4k then ;)

Yep sounds a good plan Steve get as much as you can .

Thanks Nick. Still keeping an eye on the market and i'll wait for some photos of that one. 110k miles is a bit higher than i'd like but they're all racking up miles as time goes on...

In case James hasn't been in touch, his ad is now up... http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulle...2-0-xt-397370/

Thanks mate, I saw the ad. Think at this time i'm going to pass on that one, as well looked after as it looks. For the money (~£4k) I've seen 2.5's from a dealer in a colour i'd prefer than green with similar mileage.

E.g. this one looks fully loaded and would mean I don't have to bother trying to sell the mondeo privately.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...Cnew?logcode=p

Just waiting to see how much getting the bugeye back on the road is going to cost me first i guess....

Yeah, that looks pretty smart.

I can appreciate the desire to avoid having to sell privately.

Does look a good buy!

Dan (Surrey Subaru Specialists) has just bought a Legacy Spec B to refresh and tidy up. Good bit of potential. It's an estate too, so nice and practical.

Could be worth contacting him if you're interested to see the timeframe he's working to.