Any Subaru Forester owners on BBI? My wife and I are looking at taking the plunge on a 2020 Forester this weekend. First time buying a car so any advice, warnings, or jokes would be welcomed.
We live in Brooklyn but will be moving outside of the city when our lease is up at the end of next summer. Our building has a decently priced garage option so we don't have to fret over street parking. We just found out my wife is expecting, so we wanted to have a safe option to get us all around to visit family all over upstate, NJ, PA, etc.
The only major negatives I've really seen about the Forester are that it lacks engine power. Anything else I'm missing, or, any other recommendations?
It's noisy and lacks power, isn't fun or sexy to drive in any way, but it gets good gas, is reliable, and stays on the road in bad weather.
All depends on what you're looking for.
Wife loves it.
If your travels take you to rhinebeck, you're welcome to give ours a test drive!
However, we've taken it on many trips and I've never noticed it seeming like it lacked power. I just like joking that on my wife that she drives a go cart.
Now that I'm the suburbs, its my beater car for bad weather.
It has superb AWD, but thats its only redeeming value.
I don't know about new models, but its nowhere as reliable as my Lexus's, Toyota's and Infiniti's.
A lot of minor things broke down and major things (transmission cooler line cracked). Fortunately I'm a DIY mechanic and fixed them cheaply myself (Subaru Stealerships all suck). But its not a reliable car except for the AWD.
I will say that when I got it, my daughter (then 7 yrs old) asked me why "every time I see a car like ours there's a woman driving it?"
But it's been great. CRVs and RAV4s are also pretty great. Can't go wrong with any of those three, IMO.
We had to be put on a waiting list in 2015 to get one. Took a month or two. They couldn't keep them on the lot here in VA.
NTTAWWT
NTTAWWT
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NTTAWWT
No, but we made sure that was the first demographic we checked with before choosing a car.
Wife loves it.
Thanks Britt!
They just keep buying them because they work well for them, particularly since they live in a rural county that gets a lot of snow, and he used to commute over 100 miles a day to work.
The older Foresters had some real burners, the turbos could do 0-60 in 5 seconds flat. They are more geared towards fuel economy now.
MSRP
Forester Premium Base $ 26,695
OP #15 $ 1845
PP #1 $ 931
Destination $ 975
Suggested Price $ 30,446
I negotiated a selling price of $ 27,500 not including $ 250 dealer fee and NM state tax.
If you are willing to buy out of state: https://www.planetsubaru.com/
and there is a lot of good tips here:
https://www.subaruforester.org/threads/how-much-off-msrp-is-a-good-deal.806370/
Engine Power is adequate for my daily needs.
Good luck!
As observed above, the boxer engine is an indirect safety feature -- it makes the car less prone to rollover due the lower center of gravity. (It also makes it more difficult for Subaru to build a hybrid version, because they don't want to put batteries under the engine.)
My main complaint is I wish the fuel economy was better — I get around 16.5 mpg in city driving. And that's with the feature that turns your engine off when you stop for more than few seconds. (In city driving, that cuts way down on idling, but it doesn't save a ton of gas out of every tank. Something like half a gallon for every hour you're not idling. I think to get the mileage I want I'd have to get a hybrid.
The 2016 Forester had the "PZEV" tag on the outside — Partial Zero Emission Vehicle. The 2019 doesn't, probably because PZEV was a little misleading. I think the idea was that under certain conditions the exhaust coming out of the tail pipe was cleaner than the outside air. However, I'm sure that didn't account for CO2.
As for engine power, it's really not an issue in city driving. Highway driving, yeah, it doesn't have a lot of zip but it's just fine. The electronics have occasionally been glitchy -- rear lift gate wouldn't stay open yesterday.
It also can be hard to tell whether the engine is off, so you have to pay attention to that.
I ended up with the highest trim level, which has more technology than I really need, but I do like it.
Subarus are supposed to be good snow cars but I haven't had to drive it in snow.
Will I need to cut holes out of the bag so that I can at least see while I'm driving?
Quote:
If you plan on driving the vehicle too, get something more masculine. I'd drive with a bag over my head if I had to drive a Subaru.
Will I need to cut holes out of the bag so that I can at least see while I'm driving?
Use the force.
What car do you drive that makes your penis feel big?
Quote:
If you plan on driving the vehicle too, get something more masculine. I'd drive with a bag over my head if I had to drive a Subaru.
What car do you drive that makes your penis feel big?
Matchbox car
Outback is a little bigger than Forester and riders wonderfully.
Good luck and don't listen to the fools on here.
My ride that night? A one-wheel drive, 2000 SL.
Knowing how to drive in the snow more important than 4x4.
(That's Morgan Rd, Beez. I've NEVER gotten stuck on it.)
Anyway - got 85k miles on my 2014 and before that I had a 2009 that one of the kids now has. I commute between Brooklyn and Dutchess County on the Taconic and especially in the winter there's no other car I would drive (except maybe another model of Subaru). If you know the stretch of the Taconic in Putnam County, you know what I mean.
Add to that, I play upright bass and the boxy shape is perfect for just tossing in an upright and a couple of other pieces of gear.
This, I was gonna post the same.