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#1
10-12-2018, 11:29 AM
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Any experience with the newer Foresters?
Sorry to bring up another car thread, but the dealer near me has some great deals on 2018 Foresters.
Some other users on here were complaining about older Foresters and Outbacks being money pits. Anyone have an experience with the newer models? I know its hard since they are well, new. But, just thought id ask. Seems like a popular car. 
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#2
10-12-2018, 11:48 AM
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FWIW, my wife has a '16 Outback (4 cyl) which shares many similar parts/features from the Forester.
Reliability has been fine so far -- no problems at all, about 22k on it, so frankly I would not expect any for how new the car is. Good: -AWD makes the thing a tank, esp in the snow (we run snow tires but you probably don't really need to) -Pretty nice interior for the money, and especially compared to prior gen Subies -Decent, but not outstanding, fuel economy Annoyances: -Subaru Starlink infotainment system sucks. UI is clunky, slow and sometimes buggy. Dealer says "it is operating as intended" and went as far as to admit that its performance and design does indeed suck, but they cannot do anything about it. -No way for owner to do a TPMS reset (unless you have a diagnostic tool at home). This is really only an issue if you run a dedicated winter tire/wheel setup for the snowy months (as we do). Therefore, when you swap tire setups, you must go to the dealer for a TMPS system reset, since the tire pressure idiot light will go on as a result of "seeing" the new TMPS sensors. This happens regardless of whether you use OEM or aftermarket sensors (we have OEMs and it happens every fall/spring when we swap). -Window "lock" feature also locks out the driver's buttons from working. We have little kids, so this is probably only an issue if you do too. Dealer experience has been mostly good (Metrowest Subie in Natick MA) and overall a nice car.
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#5
10-12-2018, 02:14 PM
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I have about 70k on my 2013 Outback.. 2.5L "FB" engine. If you go buy a 2018/2019 Forester with the base engine (non turbo 4-cyl) you're getting a newer version of the "FB" and the CVT is a newer version of what I have.
I've had pretty much 0 issues with my car. A trim panel on the drivers side door seemed to be defective and I dented it with my elbow resting my arm on the door with the window open. They replaced that under warranty with like 5k miles and the replacement hasn't dented in the remaining 65k miles. I also had one of the plastic covers for the child seat tethers in the roof break.. my son ripped it off and eventually the plastic tab wore out. Got another one very cheap from the dealer. He's out of giant car seats that use those tethers so that won't ever break again. It seems highly variable but my car also tends to need a quart of oil before it's time for the oil change, and has needed to do so pretty regularly right away from within a year or so of buying it. But these cars in 2012-2013 have a 7500 mile oil change interval. In 2014 or 2015 they changed it to 6000 miles. So you go in more for service but you never have to add oil. It doesn't really bother me much. 1 quart in 6000-6500 miles is not really a big deal IMO. But there were some earlier "FB" engines with major oil burn problems. If I could do it again I'd get a 6-cylinder outback or a Turbo Forester.. It was only a $3k difference or so at the time and IMO the 4-cylinder is kind of underpowered.. it almost never hits EPA #s and I'd say the majority of the time my car doesn't hit the EPA #s for the 6-cylinder outback. You might as well have the extra torque/power.
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#6
10-12-2018, 05:48 PM
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Go figure, my first post on a bicycle forum will be about cars, but anyway...
My daily is an 05 Legacy GT (2.5L 4-cyl turbo, 5-speed manual) that I bought in 2012 with 96K on it. Now sitting at almost 198K and will clear 200K sometime next month. I'm mechanically inclined and have done all my own work on it (clutch, timing belt, wheel bearings & CV shafts, plus the more mundane stuff). Subarus are like Legos. Lots of parts interchange across their various models, and I've worked on others. Fuel economy worse than competitors' cars is the price you pay for having AWD. The tradeoff is that with halfway decent tires you will be able to go up hills like a beast in mud or snow, and on paved roads you can get away with hooligan style mid-corner throttle application in heavy rain without the car spinning or sliding too dangerously. If you've never driven one in adverse weather, you don't know what you've been missing. I looked at Foresters at the time, but the generation I was looking at (05-09-ish) had a wheelbase a few inches shorter than the Legacy chassis with a couple less inches in the back seat, which made it worse for fitting kids' seats despite the vehicle appearing bigger. The next gen got a little bigger but had sinfully ugly interiors. My friend has a '17 Forester and the current ones are roomy enough for kid hauling and have nicer interiors. He's had no issues but the car only has about 30K on it. Non-turbo 4-cyl Subies are slightly underpowered but the 6-cyl is pretty respectable. They make about the same peak hp & tq as the 4-cyl turbos, and last I checked they'll do it on 87 octane instead of taking 93. Mine has consistently burned about a quart of oil every 3K miles, but the non-turbo cars by their nature tend to consume less oil than the turbos. I top off whenever it's about 1/4 qt low. Oil is cheap. I hope you guys aren't driving around 1 qt low just waiting to hit your next oil change. And FYI, if you ever see the oil light on your dash, on most Subarus AFAIK it's not a "slightly low" light. It's a "shut off the engine before you destroy it" light. I've never had mine come on, even after I did find it 1-qt low (a one-time occurrence as the turbo was approaching grenade stage having sent 1 qt through the exhaust in <100 miles  ).The engines are reliable but boxers have their quirks. Spark plugs can be weird to access, but that's a rare need. At some point in the life of the car, north of 100K miles IME, the valve cover gaskets may eventually start to seep and you may get a drop or two of oil onto the exhaust manifolds. Minor annoyance (smell) and not too horrendous to fix, but more difficult than an inline-4 engine that has those parts easily accessible up top. Timing belt interval is 105K, and it's not really any harder than any other timing belt job, just a couple more pulleys to deal with. AWD means you have twice as many half-shafts & CV boots & trans/diff seals, but those are decently long-lasting parts. CV boots on mine have lasted 60-100K miles on the fronts (engine/exhaust heat) and the rears I believe are still original. Some Subaru owners complain about wheel bearing failures. Mine have lasted about 80-100K on all 4 corners (perhaps slightly shorter than I might hope, I dunno) and they're no more difficult to change than on other cars. Mine has certainly not been a money pit by my standards. By design it has a few more moving parts than a similar model of Toyota or Honda, but show me ANY car with nearly 200K on it that the owner hasn't put any money into and I'll show you a poorly maintained POS.
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#7
10-12-2018, 06:16 PM
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Had a '13 Outback, which has the same engine. 2.5 CVT. When I sold it, it had around 70k miles (5 years). Zero problems. Held speed up steep mountain passes better than other 4-cyl automatics, thanks to the CVT. Agreed on power, or lack thereof. But on 100% highway drives, going 70mph, I was getting 33-34MPG. AWD is phenomenal.
I like the Foresters with the high roof. I would personally get the new '19 Foresters with the global chassis and more importantly, the bigger rear passenger space and the wider hatch opening. I would buy another without hesitation.
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#8
10-12-2018, 06:19 PM
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Also have an 18' Crosstrek.
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#9
10-12-2018, 06:24 PM
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#10
10-12-2018, 07:57 PM
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#12
10-12-2018, 08:08 PM
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#13
10-13-2018, 07:58 AM
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As a long time Subaru driver and two time Forester owner (01 and now 10), my big complaint is the size bloating of these models (basically the whole market segment across the board), especially the roof height going up and up. They were originally small cars with clearence and AWD, now they are smallish SUVs. I want the former. I have a hard time getting my bike up there (I'm six foot tall), and now have to use a small stepladder to get into my ski box. The newer Foresters are about four inches taller than mine. Outbacks have followed the same trend.
This is why I'm looking at the VW Alltrack.
__________________
It's not a new bike, it's another bike.
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#14
10-13-2018, 08:08 AM
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love my S...
__________________
Chisholm's Custom Wheels Qui Si Parla Campagnolo
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#15
10-13-2018, 08:17 AM
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Linear Mode
