What can I expect?

[skyefrog]

Hello, 

 

So, yesterday my husband and I went to look at a car which resulted in us putting a deposit down for a Subaru Forester 2.5 XTEn (57). I was a bit hesitant at first as I've never had a vehicle like it. After going to see it and having a test drive I liked it much more than I expected and I guess it's ours now so I'd better get used to it. 

 

What should I expect? I know the tax is terrible and the mpg isn't much better - it's a weekend vehicle to cart dogs, bikes and a muddy outdoorsy husband around. We tested the cd player during our drive as we'd heard these don't generally work very well. It was indeed broken so we've sent the dealer a new one and he said he'd fit it for us. I understand Subaru exhausts wear out relatively quickly and are best replaced with stainless steel ones? I had a look and it does look a bit tatty but not too bad. 

 

It's the reliability that I'm most concerned about. It's to replace a 1986 defender which was great for the first year (roof tent and loads of room for road trips etc) but then for the last year it literally hasn't moved from the driveway for a whole host of expensive reasons.  

 

Is there anything that is a common problem that we can prepare for or have checked out? It comes with a 3 month warranty, a new MOT, service and replacement timing belt so all going well it should be perfect (fingers crossed). 

 

Cheers! 

 

 

 

 

[stants]

Hello welcome, good news about he cambelt change service & m.o.t included in the sale, you shouldn't have any problems and it will cope with nearly eveything you used to throw at the defender, may get a bit stuck in the deeper stuff but thats about it. If driven sensibly near 30mpg isn't too hard to achieve.

The exhausts tend to rot from the outside in so look alot worse than they are what kind of milage is on it ?

We're all friendly on here so any questions or random atuff you may need answered don't hesitate to ask.

I'm sure after about 5milws of driving it away you'll be smiling

[skyefrog]

Thanks for reply!

 

It's got 65k on it but I'm told this is quite low for a Subaru?

 

http://www.banchorycarcentre.co.uk/used-cars/subaru-forester-banchory-201411048730761

 

Thanks for the info about the exhaust. It certainly sounded fine when we took it for a 20 minutes test drive. I was impressed by how light the power steering was for such a big vehicle too. I've never had an automatic before so that will take me a wee while to get used to. 

 

Cheers. 

[stants]

Quite a few of us are on at least double that [emoji1] it may be worth finding a subaru specalist in your area as it will be at least half of what the main dealer will charge for everything.

Handling and ride comfort is brilliant for the size and when you put your foot down yiu'll be even more surprised by the way it gathers speed.

Don't know if you had a look through the buying guide in here ? As yours is a more recent model it should be fine but always worth a read. Only other thing is to make sure it'a warm and all fluids are up to temp before doing anything 'spirited'mainly for the longlivity of the engine. As they don't like being driven on boost from cold.

Looks like a cracking example

[david1972]

At 65k with belts done, you're laughing....add another 100k before starting to worry.

I do love the red ones too, eh stants! [emoji6]

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[Gambit]

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