Subaru Forester SG (facelift) 2005, 2.5 Turbo XTE, AUTO

[doneganm]

Update: I'm quite keen to shift this car soon so I can replace it, so I've lowered the price to £3,750 and may entertain sensible offers.

 

Subaru Forester SG (facelift), 2.5 turbo XTE, Automatic.

109k

Beige leather interior.

Full service history:

5/10/2005: 973 miles (Barrets of Canterbury)

7/3/2006: 7944 miles (Barrets of Canterbury)

1/9/2006: 20165 miles (Barrets of Canterbury)

9/2/2007: 29696 miles (Barrets of Canterbury)

31/8/2007: 40776 miles (Barrets of Canterbury)

18/2/2008: 50699 miles (Barrets of Canterbury) - Cam belt changed

6/2/2009: 61365 miles (Barrets of Canterbury)

13/8/2010: 80027 miles (Barrets of Canterbury)

28/1/2011: 83807 miles (Chapel Car Sales, Faversham)

18/1/2012: 86408 miles (Subaru Canterbury)

I bough the car here, September 2013.

13/11/2013: 92057 miles (EDM Motorsport, Launton)

22/5/2014: 100504 (Nissan Westway, Basingstoke)

26/06/2014: 101576 miles (EDM Motorsport, Launton) - Cam belt changed - not in service book but have receipts

21/04/2015: 109748 miles (EDM Motorsport, Launton)

 

This had an EcuTek re-map in September 2014 after the cam belt was changed, giving an indicative increase from 218.6 --> 237.4 BHP.

 

Bad bits:

The secondary air injection system caused the engine management light to come on, so the warning codes were defeated at the time of the ECU re-map. It doesn't make any funny noises. As I understand it, the secondary air injection system was just an elaborate work-around for EU emissions regulations that causes fresh air to be pumped into the exhaust during the first ~30 seconds after a cold start below 12 degrees in order to dilute the pollutants so it passes a test.

Front fog lamps don't work (one of the lenses has a hole pierced in it by a stone).

The automatic pop-up headlamp washers do not work as far as I know, although I've not investigated this.

The driver's heated seat does not heat up (passenger side is OK) - I've not investigated the cause of this.

The exhaust is original, so I expect this will need replacing in the not too distant future.

The N/S headlamp did not work when I took delivery. I did a bumper-off investigation and found the HID ballast to be waterlogged. I replaced the HID ballast and re-sealed the lamp unit. Unfortunately it was a high humidity day when I did this, so there appears to be condensation inside the lamp unit and it is a bit cloudy. However, it has not deteriorated and looks exactly the same as it did a couple of days after I resealed it in September 2013. The headlamp works fine.

There is a barely perceivable 5p coin sized ding in the rear O/S door. Looks like a supermarket trolley job.

The rear head rests are missing - it was like this when I bough it.

Requires new rear wiper blade - just noticed this.

 

Good bits:

The engine is fantastic, very responsive and doesn't ever skip a beat.

I thought the rear diff had blown so replaced it. It turned out to be a rear wheel bearing (also replaced).

This has the double din single CD unit and the DVD (glovebox) based GPS with the double din pod on the top of the dash.

Cruise control, full leather, electric sun/moon roof, electric windows, central locking, two original key fobs (batteries replaced last year), service book, original brochure, original sales receipt, nice big stack of paperwork.

Just added up - £2,750 of work carried out over the last 18 months (!). Including new tyres all round and new front discs and pads.

No rust on the bodywork.

Never been crashed, very straight.

 

It currently has a Nissan Connect satnav head unit installed, a 3G Nexus 7 tablet installed in the dash pod (for google maps) and a Bluetooth OBD-II module all wired up for power, sound and statistics. That cost about £450 to get set up properly and I'll probably remove it and install in my next car, but could be open to offers. I plan to remove it all and reinstall the factory OEM head unit and sat nav. There appears to be a microphone that has been nicely installed near the rear view mirror, but I don't know where the wire goes. I have a Nokia handsfree kit that I removed when I bought the car. This has a mount for a Nokia 6310i (!) and a pretty big bundle of wiring with it.

 

Overall it's been a really great car that I've kept in top condition for big family holidays and sporadic work journeys: Every week or so I have to drive to places like Barrow in Furness, Birmingham, London, South coast and places like that. It's not been used for commuting. I'm only selling it as we need a bigger car for the recently enlarged family.

 

Any questions, just ask. Based in South Oxfordshire. Viewings are welcome. Test drives only with insurance docs and license.

 

Any questions please ask.