noddaz SuperDork
7/9/19 6:02 p.m.

Some outline first.  At the employee parking area at work there is the Subaru Forester.  It has been sitting for awhile, one tire is flat and another is headed in the same direction.  I peeked inside one day and noticed it was an automatic trans.  No joy there and didn't give the car another thought.  Fast forward to today, I am parked two spaces away from the Subaru and have to do something that involves me being able to see the hood of the Subie.  What is that?  An opening in the hood for an inter-cooler?  

spacecadet Dork
7/9/19 6:06 p.m.

2.5T Forester

interesting vehicles.. although I believe the Baja with this motor had issues.. idk about the foresters.. 

Vigo MegaDork
7/9/19 8:49 p.m.

That's how i first got into minivans. Just coming across one with a 5spd manual. Years later it was turbocharged and raced and all told i've had like 8 minivans now and I've 5spd swapped 2 for others. 

z31maniac MegaDork
7/9/19 8:53 p.m.
spacecadet said:

2.5T Forester


Is this the one you can bolt up all the STi stuff too?

I always thought that would be super rad.

Daylan C
Daylan C UberDork
7/9/19 8:56 p.m.

In reply to Vigo :

Honestly minivans clicked for me when I was 17 and had to climb into the 3rd row of a Suburban. But the idea of them being cool was definitely when I realized turbo Caravans were a thing.

ShawnG PowerDork
7/9/19 9:39 p.m.

I had the opposite.

Loved the E-type. Don't get me wrong, it's gorgeous. The engine and transmission are great. Everything it's wrapped in... Meh.

We had a series 2 in inventory and I took it on an extended drive. Way too small and cramped, have to look over the windscreen or slouch to look through it. 

Never meet your heroes.

If I had E-type money, I'd buy a Healey 3000 BJ8. We had one of those too  laugh


gunner HalfDork
7/9/19 9:47 p.m.

I will say that subaru makes the best feeling cvt that I have driven. My mom has a 2012 legacy with the 2.5 and my wife has a 2016 forester xt with the 2.0 turbo and they feel like two completely different transmissions one you take the forester trans out of "I" mode. in sport# mode the forester actually displays 8 speeds on the dash, shiftable with the paddles and by golly they feel like 8 distinct gears and will hold redline.

Streetwiseguy MegaDork
7/10/19 7:10 a.m.

The odds are pretty good, when you see a Subaru sitting long enough for a tire to go flat, that it needs an engine.

pinchvalve MegaDork
7/10/19 7:55 a.m.

Subaru sold the first Forester XT  in rally-blue, and a local dealer had one with gold wheels with the Subaru-logo sticker on the side. I looked hard at it when I was in the market for an SUV. I loved the boxy look. 


bmw88rider SuperDork
7/10/19 8:44 a.m.

I had one and I was underwhelmed actually. Sold it after a year and a half.


Unless you got the first 2 years, the acceleration was meh because they changed the gearing for 2006. It did have good space inside but man was it cheap. In 2007, they added these pollution devices to meet a change in requirements. Well, the system failed right and left and I finally had to reprogram the computer to just ignore those devices and I removed them. At 70K miles I put more in maintenance in it than my other 3 cars combined and they were all in the 100K+ miles range. 

93gsxturbo SuperDork
7/10/19 10:14 a.m.

I think the Forester XT/Baja Turbo/Outback XT is one of those cars thats super sweet on paper but pretty crappy in real life.

The engines are troublesome and expensive.  Its basically a detuned STI motor so it has all the fun that comes with it.  

They didn't get the STI transmission, suspension, or brakes so thats a few pesos to swap it over to STI spec

They are heavy and still bad at being an SUV or a car.  Too small to be a proper SUV, no real towing or payload capacity, rear seat is cramped, no 3rd row, and yet too large for someone who just wants a car since you can get an Impreza wagon of a similar vintage that has just as much utility while feeling more car-like.

Crappy options, even the high spec versions don't have a lot of standard equipment.  To some folks thats OK, but they are pretty spartan by even mid 00's standards.  

And the worst part?  They get horrendous mileage and need premium.  Like low 20s on the highway.  

The good news is in the right circles, a clean one commands a bit of money so there may be flip potential if its not totally fragged.  Which it probably is.



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