Hello to all !
I am hopefully going to be a Forester owner in the not very distant future. I just dont know which one yet .
I now live in Cerntral Europe and currently have an Octavia Scout 2008 (uk reg). We live down a steepish track. The Scout is just not doing it all the time with the snow that's been down since early December. ESP on or off it dosen't like slippery compressed snow or anything too deep. Not that impressed with this Haldex system.
A local friend of ours has a 2009 Forester. Its the newer shape than the 2007 ive been looking at but with the 2.5XT engine or whatever they call it here. I haven't seen this shape with this engine for sale in uk apart from one Jap import. He swears by his and the AWD system. I had a look at few snow and rolling road simulation demos on YOUTUBE. I do get why the system works and much better than other so called AWD suvs.
They go for a lot more over here and the Pound to Euro dosen't help.So i am coming over this weekend on a cheapy flight to look at a 2007 2.5xt Auto with low mileage and visit friends and family of course.
Yesterday a very low mileage 2006 2.0 x caught my eye. The thing that attracts me apart from the low mileage and its condition is the low ratio facility. I have a heavy caravan that i would like to pull up the track (in the summer months obviously). I have a VW T5 to tow but wanted to save the clutch on it.I understand the 2.0 is rated at only 1500kg for towing.
Would this struggle getting a 1700kg caravan up the hill ? Do these engines also have the secondary air pump and valves ? If they don't it could be a decider.
If i go for the 2.5 xt, I have made enquiries and have quotes for deleting it off the ECU before i drive it back home. I don't know how many independent Subaru specialist are around where i live or how good they are if any. Or should i just wait to the valves get stuck ? then have it done ?
The vehicle has had the SLS replaced with something else so thats a bonus. The owner said the Cruise not working but no lights up. Maybe nothing but a little bit concerned it could be something else involved.
I would most likely get it LPG converted over here as slightly cheaper and dont have that much time in UK to get it sorted.. Anyone done high mileage on a 2,5xt with LPG conversion. I know these engines have soft valve seats as with most Jap engines apparently.
I did have a Rav4 mk 1 once and converted that with a Prinns system which worked fine for the next 30k miles or so before i sold it. So not too frightened of it but would be a shame to ruin a good low mileage engine with LPG conversion.
I may have talked myself out of the 2.0 already as i would prefer the Auto box {so would wife} I know there are fors and against manual /auto but starting on a snowy hill if have to stop must be an advantage with auto rather than having to slip the clutch. Have i been miss informed that these manual clutches are quite weak too ?
I scan read through 28 pages of previous posts on here last night plus other non UK forums to get an idea of things.
I was edging towards a Freelander or a Sante Fe but it would make a nice change to have a petrol again and hopefully less problematic.
I have to get a Subaru of some sort as already bought a set of used Subaru alloys off ebay to put winter tyres on. They're sitting in the hallway of me mums house as we speak ; )
I really do think these Foresters are a wolf in sheep clothing. I haven't really seen a bad word against them.
Any views or advice most welcome.