According to my Subaru experts, the 2006 XT Turbo head gasket was a beefed up Multi Layer Steel headgasket and has never had any head gasket issues. It was the non-turbo models that had a different crappy headgasket that are the known problems. In fact when replacing those other models headgaskets, it's advisable to upgrade to the Subaru OEM multi layer steel head gasket otherwise the problem wil re-occur.
I have this exact same model even the same color. Many electrical gremlins and finally the engine grenaded when the lower rad hose came loose on highway and because the temp gauge couldn't be trusted my son didn't notice it.
Exactly. The non turbos have a crappy coating that degreats around 100k miles. It creates a gap between the head gasket and the block, then oil starts leaking through that gap.
One thing to watch out for when putting an MLS gasket on a NA engine is that they're slightly thinner than the stock head gasket. If you've had the heads machined you'll want to check tolerances before cranking it over. Generally speaking, if it's been resurfaced once they probably didn't take enough material off to cause an issue but if they've been cut on closer to the minimum spec you may have piston-to-valve clearance issues.
@@obeseperson You have an impressive imagination to assume/read/conclude things that i did not state. I did not even mean to but its clear you take this VERY personally...Must have hit a sensitive nerve really good. Says a lot about who you are and your insecurities. have a nice day. ☺
I owned a 2006 XT Limited and loved it. The turbo failed so I replaced it with a big JDM STI VF30 turbo, custom tune and Milltek turbo-back exhaust which added 100 hp (230 hp ---> 330 hp). It went from 'peppy' to 'WHOA' overnight. The ultimate sleeper.
The naturally aspirated 2.5s came from the factory with the coated paper head gaskets that have been issues for years. The turbo engines and the 6 cylinder engines came with MLS head gaskets from the factory and were much more reliable. That's why if you have to do a head gasket replacement on a Subaru n/a engine, you should use the turbo head gasket as the replacement.
I have an ‘06 n/a, with just over 200k kms. The thing is a beast and was well worth the $5000 I bought it for 6yrs ago. I’ve travelled halfway across Canada and back with it and it has seen some of the worst mother nature could throw at it. Unfortunately due to rust I am unable to keep up on the maintenance otherwise I feel it would easily go another 100k kms. Highly recommend these AWD machines. With a proper set of winter tires you have to work at getting them stuck.
390.000km here in Finland. no problems with the engine and i only have surface rust at the front subframe. this 05 forrester have been to rust proofing from new and i bet it has been done again later since i can still see that black stuff under the car.
That AWD really gives you piece of mind that you can handle anything. I drive a 98 turbo on African roads. Some areas I go to have no roads at all. Just a dust path that really gets fun after it rains.
my 2006 LL Bean NA was one of my all time favorite vehicles since 1977! It was a machine in snow and you could push it to the limits and it would barely slide around. Unfortunately rust took its toll up here in the rust belt and that was that. Never forget it though
Subarus are very popular here in Canada as well, thanks to the all wheel drive. We have serious winter here, so a lot of people want to be prepared to going down the road even with bad weather, which having a Subaru helps a lot.
@@greengopher2354 agreed. Subaru used to be unique and capable. But other manufacturers systems have surpassed Subaru’s ability. Also, the Subaru cvt is not considered to be one of the best.
@@robsonselzelin I’m not convinced. I had a 2015 Forester and while it was okay, there’s nothing phenomenal about it. There’s multiple vehicles that are in this class that surpass Subaru’s capabilities. Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk is one. Has a locking rear differential and low range function. It’s not handicapped by a cvt either. Which is what sucked in my Forester. I’m not simply going to agree that Subarus awd system is spectacular because it’s an uninformed popular opinion.
These are everywhere where I live in northern Minnesota. In fact, my brother also has an '06 Forester. His is a naturally aspirated model with the L.L. Bean trim option. It's shockingly torquey for its size
My neighbors used to be serial Subaru buyers. They had owned them almost exclusively since 1985. They ALWAYS sang their praises to anyone who would listen. However starting in the early 2000s each one they purchased was less reliable than it's predecessor. The final straw was a new Ascent which suffered from minor niggles to a catastrophic turbo failure all within the first 20K miles. They now have a Toyota minivan and a Lexus SUV in their driveway.
Yeah for some reason Subaru, cannot do a three row, re: Tribeca. That said, I have owned a '97, '04, '05, and we now have three '18's (2 Foresters and an O.B.) while they have had normal problems, no more than any other brand with high mileage, and the thing that struck me was how even when the mileage piled up, every thing worked on the cars. Radios, power seats, windows, sunroofs, seat heaters, seat adjusters everything. This was not the case with my Hondas or Toyotas, although the Toyotas were close.
@@tomtheplummer7322 Ive owned them for decades, along with Toyota and Honda and have not found that to be the case. How do you explain that Subaru has the highest owner loyalty in the industry? Most people don't go back to a product if they got burned. Just keep repeating memes that you heard on the internet, you'll seem like a really smart person!
@@fubartotale3389 please cite your source for owner loyalty. Loyalty overcomes quirks and problems. I liken Subaru buyers to Dodge/Chrysler buyers. They are fiercely loyal despite most people having nagging issues with them and problems cropping up sooner than it’s rivals. But they are spectacular at making niche products. Dodge with its high performance vehicles and Subaru with its awd vehicles. That’s how you explain loyalty. Marketing and history.
@@fubartotale3389 People sing the praises of Jaguar and Range Rover/ Land Rover vehicles and often buy them repeatedly even though they are considered to be some of the most problematic vehicles on the road. Often people are "MARQUE" loyal regardless. Reading surveys you often find that vehicles considered troublesome have high levels of owner satisfaction and those that are viewed as trouble free have average or below average owner satisfaction. An owner being satisfied or unsatisfied with a vehicle has a lot of factors figured into it besides reliability and durability.
Yeeaaa, greetings from Canada! We love our Subarus here; ya they are quirky but they are so much fun in the snow. I still haven't gotten stuck in my '07 Impreza knock on wood (and we don't even get the roads plowed here in my part of town!).
The Car Wizards has the coolest walk on TH-cam! I'd love to see a continuous loop video of him just waddling around on his stubby little legs with Pantera's WALK as the background music!
When the head gasket isn’t blowing the timing belt is breaking. I wanted a Baja years ago but my z71 Chevy cost less, got similar milage and was much more capable. I’m glad I don’t go Subaru
I’ve got a 2005 Outback L.L bean with the Boxer 6. It’s terrible on gas, but my god. This thing is the best vehicle I’ve ever owned. Really fast, even by todays standards, impossible to stop in the snow, cargo room for days. My only complaint is that to replace the radio you need to import a separate headunit breakout piece from Japan at *Quite* a steep cost. My ideal goal is to eventually get a rust free one from the south to keep as a forever vehicle!
@@Dankcatvacs I bought it back in sept. With 92,000 miles, it’s got 109,000 now. No issues with the head gaskets, no weeping or lost coolant or anything. Zero blowby, haven’t had to replace the chain. Far as I’m aware, if you keep up on your oil changes their usually good for the life of the engine.
I had a 2005 outback years ago that when it came to the driveshaft issue, I found a place in California that would make me a brand new driveshaft with replaceable u joints for half the price of a new one from Subaru. They sent me a box to ship my old drive shaft to them so they could copy it and shipped the new one back to me and they paid all the shipping, a win win situation. I don't remember their name, but they had a shop in Cal and in Tx and built drive shafts for custom and drag cars.
I feel like a small private break japanese garden grotto, koi pond, and hibachi grill would also be nice. But that's just me. Have you seen Twitter headquarters? Not even asking for a wine tap.
Here in Estonia you see a lot more Volvo XC70s or XC90s and we get a fair bit of snow in the winter. far as Japanese stuff, most are Toyota RAV4s or Honda C-RVs. most people tend to stand clear of subarus because of blown motors and turbos.
Jeah, in Latvia the same - a lot of xc70 xc90 xc60, audi quattros, Ravs and crvs, but subarus, they are rare on the roads and as i repair all my cars by myself, subarus is a big no in my car list because of rust and bad engines, they are hard to work on and in my opinion pretty unreliable.
@@jaunteraudi817 my brother worked at a subaru dealer in 2010-2011 and he would be constantly be rebuilding engines. Blown headgaskets,worn and spun bearings, broken crankshafts on manual cars. All of it was warranty work.
Ugh I LOVE these. I’m a Lexus guy through and through , my whole family has em and I have several myself, but this car has a special place in my heart. My grandmother had a black 2006 Forester XT and I learned to drive on both that and my moms Land cruiser. The forester was always super peppy and fun to drive and I loved the old wagon body style. My grandma got rid of it tho she had many issues with it and she got a Lexus ES like myself and couldn’t be happier with the Lexus. However I miss the Forster XT and I still see it around town all the time still cruising! I want to buy it back one day
I had a base Forester with a manual. It was fun to drive but it was a POS. So many issues with it, including a defective MAF sensor that was covered under a recall.
There is a guy in Denver who rebuilds the prop shafts. Ships them at a reasonable price on an exchange basis. They come balanced and repainted. I saved something like $600 over new.
I have this model XT auto. The secondary air valves gave way at 60k Kilometers. Fortunately they jammed shut ,so we just took all of the plumbing off as well as the pump. Had to get the ecu reflashed. Apart from that it has been plain sailing.
The filter on the transmission that’s nice I just wish that everyone did that. The driveshaft was irritating I would ask about the idea of real building to use serviceable U joint. I know it’s to expensive so I’d just gripe. Thank you Sir I appreciate your videos
You can install blockoff plates and tune out the secondary air system. I own an 06 XT and opted to fix it before I tuned the vehicle…but should have just tuned and done the blockoff plates all at once.
I was told recently by a Cobb tuner that they cannot tune out the CEL anymore because it’s tied to the emissions system. I hope they/I am wrong about this but lots of things have changed with the new emissions laws regarding aftermarket tunes. Mine is deleted and coded out but I had it done a few years ago.
@@soopermarkus Cobb will not sell you a tune with the codes deleted anymore. It's always been illegal to disable emissions codes; they just got away with it for a long time!
I’m from Central Washington State and the Wizard is correct there are Subarus everywhere here. There were two of this body and color Forester outside my work today.
Reason this one has no head gasket issues, is Subaru uses a different head gasket part for the turbo engines vs. the naturally aspirated ones. The turbo head gaskets do not degarde as the normal gaskets do. I had to have my head gaskets replaced (2009 Subaru Impreza) at 105K miles and that cost me $3200. Other than that, I've had zero problems with my car and I love it.
$3200 for stupid head gasket replacement. That make a mercedes look reliable and affordable. People should sue subaru for that stupid simple manufacturing mistake.
...had a radiator failure n engine O. Heated on my Forester 10. HG cost 1800$ a year ago in New Milford Ct. The Suby I like most is my 03 Legacy L SW with 158kmiles. It has HG problems n I add coolant n little oil for the last 20kmiles n keeps going fine n strong. NO fluid mixing inside the engine.
I owned a 2006 XT from new in Australia where the MY06 had the full spec WRX engine not the detuned engine from earlier and subsequent years, it was a touring beast and sold after 13 years and over 300,000km and replaced by a 4WD for more serious outback touring. Up until then I only had one problem apart from normal wear and tear, a radiator tank split.
I just got rid of my 09 Forester. The whole car started to break down in its 9 clean fun years . 20k in 2 years in repairs. (My Wife loved it ) Now we have a new CRV . She loves it more .
Truth be told 9 years is a good run for most Subaru’s. They just not to the level of Toyota or Honda. You’ll be good for many many more years in that CRV
I have a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT which has a similar 2.5 Turbo engine. It’s now my project/weekend car. It needs some work. I thought of getting rid of it but it’s a fun car. Head gaskets are next on my list.
i bought this car for 3500 Cad a year ago and swapped it to a manuel! i think its the best!! I just love the speed and size but it is an older car and chasing issues wether it be rust sunroof problems ect is a thing. the secondary airpump is one of those things that overtime fails but most ppl tend to go the delete route by blocking it off and deleting the codes.
AWD Subarus are fairly popular in the snow here in Canada, my rear drive van was spinning its drive wheels in the driveway yesterday and I was reminded why I was taking the Subie out and putting the van back in the garage. Thank you for covering this year of Subaru forester, there is plenty of power without a turbo, my tires are only rated to 100 miles per hour or so and I wonder what sort of speeds that turbo would put out and where you could safely drive it.
@@billermanthegreat yes for sure, a good friend of mine former apartment dweller from school in Texas, lives in Amori city, with the highest yearly snow fall about 9metres or 30 ish feet per year. I thought that my sister's place was bad in the Sault with 3m or 10 feet of snow, 30 feet annually is just crazy! One thing about Japan is that they pretty much force you to get a new vehicle after six years, while I drive about 20 year old vehicles, my 2007 Subie is the newest in the "fleet".
@@mikescherrer4923 very funny, my brother referred to my first car, Honda civic hatchback, as an upholstered roller skate which wasn't far off the mark I take it all in stride, and I keep the 2001 Safari in the garage so that the salt doesn't destroy it, holding up quite well so far, I have an Astro AWD - minor rust issues - with snow tires for when some work needs to get done in the winter.
Regarding suspension, The standard suspension has a hydraulic self-leveling system on the rear which is prone to failure and expensive to replace. I would bet that's why they replaced the standard struts with a Pedders setup. I have the identical suspension on my 2006 XT here in Australia.
Subaru is basically the unofficial car brand of New England, so I see tons of them in Massachusetts. Including my own parking spot 😀 I have the baby brother Crosstrek, which of course isn't turbocharged. But it does great in the Winter, and I got 34 MPG on a road trip to (and all around) Colorado. Saw mostly Outbacks there.
Love that generation of forester. Just put a new engine and trans into my na 07 forester. Probably not the best financial decision since the car cost 8k and repairs were 13k but I love the car too much.
We deal with a lot of Subaru's at work, and experience a lot of SAI fault codes, just like this one. On the NA engines, there's not much else you can do than replacing them, but on the 2.5 Turbos you can get them disabled by some engine tuners. We sent them out to a local tuning shop, and they flash the ECU to disable the SAI system, costing €250 instead of ~€1000 for SAI parts.
Pedders suspension is Australian. They have been around since 1950. They make all the dampers for the V8 Supercars (think Bathurst) and for a few Australian rally teams too. Although I'm always quite surprised to Australian gear in American cars. You guys seem to buy a lot of ARB 4wding equipment also.
Foresters and Outbacks from the ´00 had self levelling suspension from factory, no matter how much load you put in the car, ground clearance was the same. Pedders was the only brand that offers a replacement that wasnt Subaru expensive suspension. Thats why Pedders offers same shocks here in Europe for Subarus of the era.
There’s a few good Australian products that make it to USDM cars. Subie Lift Oz (SLO) is one of the most highly regarded lift kit manufacturers for Subarus. GM used PBR brake calipers for years on their Corvettes, and Ford used them on the Mustangs. Old school Ford guys used to import Australian cylinder heads for their 351 Clevelands too
I was almost considering buying a used 2013 Forester XT, but I looked it up on Google, and it said it's not very reliable. It looked cool with a two-tone paint job, though. Black on the top, grey on the bottom.
I miss my 2.4ltr Outback so much, we put almost 400,000kms on it, yes we did the head gasket once, but other than that known issue it was a trooper, there very popular in country areas over here, unfortunately last year it got T boned & it was a total loss, Oh Pedders is an Australian company, there very well known, great to see there known about, Rj in Oz
I've been watching this channel for so long and I'm surprised I've never seen any new body style impala's in your shop. I guess that says something good, but eventually, I'm sure one will pop up.
Subarus are extremely popular here in New England because the AWD is idea in winter. I have a neighbor who has a Forester. I'm guessing it's from the mid 2010s. It seems to be a good car.
I daily drive a 2009 Forester XT has 267k on it. Been the most reliable daily since I got it and fixed it up. Got it for free with a massive misfire on cylinder #4. Was under the assumption that it had a cracked ring land which is the most common issue with the EJ255/EJ257 engines. Given the miles and lack of care before I owned it was easy to assume. I was going to do a compression test just to verify my concern. Low and behold the heat sink on the ignition coil had rust jacked so bad it put a crack through the entire thing. Had a friend with a pile of OEM used ignition coils that he let me have for free. Thumbed through the pile and picked the best-looking condition coils. Threw some plugs in it and swapped all the coils. Ran smooth as new. I was elated. I did some more repairs to it after that and got all the maintenance up to date and have been driving it issue free for the last 2 1/2 years. Let's talk about that CTS-V wagon in the background. I own an 11 CTS-V sedan w/ 6sp manual. Would love to own a wagon version but man the price tag pretty much doubles with hose. oof.
If you are on a tight budget you can replace these U joints and any swing bearing that may be there with a 4lb hammer and block of wood however, it will require a lot of labor and you will never get this to stop vibrating a little bit, unless you buy the whole axle.
...Never hammer on a balanced rotating component like the drive shaft- can use press or puller. Yes, U can improvise if your time is cheap! but, I am sure U can get the part from a Junk yard affordably.
I've an EJ204, so the non-turbo version, SG with a manual. Looks very different under the car at the front! I also recommend those Pedders units. I've got the heavy duty ones in the rear of mine, and will likely replace the fronts when one fails too. Cheers for the video, Wizard. Was great.
I just did the rear brakes on my '01 Subaru Outback LL Bean. PowerStop kit, the only thing difficult was getting the two pad carrier bolts loose. You had to feed a 12 inch extension with a 14 mm socket through two small holes in the suspension arms to get at these bolts. Without a lift it was a pain in the ass! Great video!
I had one of these. Great car. Only problem was that sunroof glass shattered on its own. Replaced under warranty. Getting ready to buy a new Crosstrek Limited.
Also, the oil cooler on the XT turbo engines has a total of 4 orings, two large and two medium sized, you have to take the thing apart in layers to get to all of them.
How often to u-joints really need to be replaced on a car really? I mean as long as you aren't towing, do they ever really need to be replaced? I'm actually a little surprised a drive shaft specialist doesn't have the ability to cut off the flanges and weld on replaceable ones. When I worked at a speed shop, a common upgrade we did was a one piece drive shaft and all the drive shaft place needed was the flanges to weld onto a new tube they balanced.
These older, 2006 Subaru Forester XT's are currently reliable at this time - it is turbocharged. I would like to own one of these for a daily driver. Anyway, we still needed an all-new buy this, not that video, as well as the next all-new, six used vehicles to buy and/or to avoid video. Thank you very much and keep us updated for the Car Wizard channel.
Especially with todays market, would love to see the updated post. Would be cool to have it in tiers of car as well. An economy one, luxury one, sports one
I have a 2012 Forester SH, which means that it is in the sweet spot where it has timing chains, not belts, and it doesn't have a CVT. I've had it for 3 years now buying it second hand, and all I have had to do are brakes all around, and a connection fitting on the oil cooler broke, so that was replaced. As others have noted, here in most parts of Canada, we get serious winters. I am currently running Michellin X-Ice Xi3 tires, and I have been able to drive through a metre (~1 yard) of snow with now problems. I do an oil change every 5,000 kilometers and she runs well. It may be the last internal combustion car I own. Next one will either be a hybrid, or electric...but most likely a hybrid.
The 2006 Subaru was the best car I ever own, wish I’d not sold the thing. I traded the 2006 for a more recent Subaru, purchased new. The replacement Subaru was auto not manual as was my 2006. The manual had a hi and low position, for a small vehicle it was brilliant for towing.
This car would be worth a fortune where I live in eastern Canada, I'd even pay quite a bit for it! Every car here that's older than 5 years is pretty much a pile of rust and those old forester xt's were super cool but pretty much non existent around here.
Well, at least my Subaru I have to get a new engine in a 2010 Subaru Forester, and this time I'm deciding to up for the newly upgraded gasket. This engine fair with 190,212 miles on it the new engine has 110,000 miles on it. This is within a 1-year ownership of the car.
Recently changed the transmission and differential on my farrier's Forester. I never worked on Subaru before and I was shocked at how easy it was. Good cars if you want to learn to wrench.
Agreed. They are great for learning. I had a 17 WRX and I had never worked on a car before owning that. It’s especially nice for oil changes because the filter is at the top.
I can say, from a dealership perspective, the new ones are only solid as far as crash performance. CVTs are unreliable, the new engines have their own set of problems, and there are definitely some quality issues with certain things which you wouldn't expect.
I had the 2005XT and the 2007XT. I drove them both to 150,000 miles and never had any issues beyond normal wear and tear. A new radiator at 110,000 miles on both of them was as bad as it got. I’m now driving a 2017 XT and preferred the older generation. If I could find a 2007 XT Premium (I love the leather seats) with under 30,000 miles and one careful lady owner I would jump at it. Forester XT is the best car I’ve ever driven and 19 years later I am still driving one. No offence but I always had an annual dealer service with Subaru trained mechanics. I attribute that to never having any major problems.
Despite what you might think, a turbo subaru is actually a pretty special vehicle. Especially if you live where it snows. I've had my wrx since 2007, 240k miles and I still love sliding it around
I had one of this year and model, but a 2.0T JDM version. It was down on power with only 30,000km on the clock, found out they are VERY sensitive to the type of oil used. If non synthetic oil used it would be very laggy, had to flush oil and it came right.
If the secondary air system valves are closed and not seized (or at least, seized closed), you can just remove/gut the relay and delete the codes's from the ECU. Leaving the system inoperable and prevents the car running in limp mode. My car has been running fine for 4 years this way ;)
I had basically the same engine in an 06 WRX. Run like a clock until it blew the head gaskets at 200,000 mi. I also had had the smog pump snail-like thing go bad at 100,000k, expensive as hell to fix. Run on dino 10W-40 all its life, changed at 4000 mi and never used more than 1/2 quart in 4k mi.
If that rough running is significant at idle, and throwing misfire codes, check compression. The most common issues with these engines are piston ringland failure (yes, even when stock) and spun bearings. Obviously the bearings are fine being that it's not knocking (presumably). But ringland failure can be damn near asymptomatic.
I have two Foresters. A 2005 2.0 Xen with the twin ratio gearbox as my beloved work horse, he has 125,000 ultra reliable miles on him. Also a lightly tuned 2008 Prodrive 2.5 XT with only 61,000 gentle miles on the clock. What other car could get you to the top of a mountain in the morning, and in the afternoon frighten a few sportscars on a racetrack? I just wish you were in the UK and just up the road, so that you could look after my younger baby, I feel anxious letting anybody near it. ;).
According to my Subaru experts, the 2006 XT Turbo head gasket was a beefed up Multi Layer Steel headgasket and has never had any head gasket issues. It was the non-turbo models that had a different crappy headgasket that are the known problems. In fact when replacing those other models headgaskets, it's advisable to upgrade to the Subaru OEM multi layer steel head gasket otherwise the problem wil re-occur.
I have this exact same model even the same color. Many electrical gremlins and finally the engine grenaded when the lower rad hose came loose on highway and because the temp gauge couldn't be trusted my son didn't notice it.
You are precisely correct sir
Exactly. The non turbos have a crappy coating that degreats around 100k miles. It creates a gap between the head gasket and the block, then oil starts leaking through that gap.
@@robsonselzelin exactly. Unfortunately I didn't know this when I had mine replaced at 95,000 miles on my '04 forester. Live and learn I guess.
One thing to watch out for when putting an MLS gasket on a NA engine is that they're slightly thinner than the stock head gasket. If you've had the heads machined you'll want to check tolerances before cranking it over. Generally speaking, if it's been resurfaced once they probably didn't take enough material off to cause an issue but if they've been cut on closer to the minimum spec you may have piston-to-valve clearance issues.
Mike has got to be one of the kindest respectful people ever
And i (myself) respect people like magic mike. Honest, decent person should always be honest, decent. But 2 face people are bottom of society!
If only you knew how they were off the internet, its not all shine shine and kisses like most of these youtubers want you to believe.
You know him personally ? Or just by his persona on the internet , ellen degeneres once seemed like a nice person to many, many millions too...
@@reductio1000 oh yeah so the reasonable thing to do is assume people are assholes and never compliment them on their kindness? You weird.
@@obeseperson You have an impressive imagination to assume/read/conclude things that i did not state. I did not even mean to but its clear you take this VERY personally...Must have hit a sensitive nerve really good. Says a lot about who you are and your insecurities. have a nice day. ☺
I owned a 2006 XT Limited and loved it. The turbo failed so I replaced it with a big JDM STI VF30 turbo, custom tune and Milltek turbo-back exhaust which added 100 hp (230 hp ---> 330 hp). It went from 'peppy' to 'WHOA' overnight. The ultimate sleeper.
yep had 2, they were awesome... porsche macan minus the sound deadening
I’m having a issue with my 2005 XT EJ25 new turbo just installed builds 13 lbs but it’s cutting power
@@montuckyhomegrown this model is with EJ255 motor.
@@montuckyhomegrownhow many miles?
How did the new turbo change fuel consumption if any?
Love the respect for the employees. Giving them a paid break while filming is just class.
he makes more from the videos than the shop so it makes more to video that work.
My Mom has a 2012 Forrester. Absolutely loves it.
The naturally aspirated 2.5s came from the factory with the coated paper head gaskets that have been issues for years. The turbo engines and the 6 cylinder engines came with MLS head gaskets from the factory and were much more reliable. That's why if you have to do a head gasket replacement on a Subaru n/a engine, you should use the turbo head gasket as the replacement.
This! Wise words!!!!
Bruh wtf was Subaru thinking
You're not going to find the old style paper gaskets anymore... they're ALL MLS, and have been for years.
And failing car HAS paper gasket.
The thin ones haven't be available for years. But yes.
I have an ‘06 n/a, with just over 200k kms. The thing is a beast and was well worth the $5000 I bought it for 6yrs ago. I’ve travelled halfway across Canada and back with it and it has seen some of the worst mother nature could throw at it. Unfortunately due to rust I am unable to keep up on the maintenance otherwise I feel it would easily go another 100k kms. Highly recommend these AWD machines. With a proper set of winter tires you have to work at getting them stuck.
I have a rust free XT body if you need one. Unfortunately 3000 miles away lol.
390.000km here in Finland. no problems with the engine and i only have surface rust at the front subframe. this 05 forrester have been to rust proofing from new and i bet it has been done again later since i can still see that black stuff under the car.
SWMBO has a Forester. Leather hearted little beast. It just goes , and goes and goes.
I daily a 98 outback. Fantastic car. It just hit 320k miles. You MUST be meticulous with your maintenance tho or you will regret it.
I explain this to everybody who wants to buy one of these older Subarus. It's like owning a dog.
That AWD really gives you piece of mind that you can handle anything. I drive a 98 turbo on African roads. Some areas I go to have no roads at all. Just a dust path that really gets fun after it rains.
my 2006 LL Bean NA was one of my all time favorite vehicles since 1977! It was a machine in snow and you could push it to the limits and it would barely slide around. Unfortunately rust took its toll up here in the rust belt and that was that. Never forget it though
Subarus are very popular here in Canada as well, thanks to the all wheel drive. We have serious winter here, so a lot of people want to be prepared to going down the road even with bad weather, which having a Subaru helps a lot.
Can't you get almost any car in AWD these days. It's not as unique as it once was
@@greengopher2354
True, but no one has the full time AWD that Subaru uses.
@@greengopher2354 agreed. Subaru used to be unique and capable. But other manufacturers systems have surpassed Subaru’s ability. Also, the Subaru cvt is not considered to be one of the best.
@@haroldbeauchamp3770 Subaru is still the best AWD in it's price range.
@@robsonselzelin I’m not convinced. I had a 2015 Forester and while it was okay, there’s nothing phenomenal about it. There’s multiple vehicles that are in this class that surpass Subaru’s capabilities. Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk is one. Has a locking rear differential and low range function. It’s not handicapped by a cvt either. Which is what sucked in my Forester. I’m not simply going to agree that Subarus awd system is spectacular because it’s an uninformed popular opinion.
These are everywhere where I live in northern Minnesota. In fact, my brother also has an '06 Forester. His is a naturally aspirated model with the L.L. Bean trim option. It's shockingly torquey for its size
My first car was a 07 Subaru forester. miss that car
My neighbors used to be serial Subaru buyers.
They had owned them almost exclusively since 1985.
They ALWAYS sang their praises to anyone who would listen.
However starting in the early 2000s each one they purchased was less reliable than it's predecessor.
The final straw was a new Ascent which suffered from minor niggles to a catastrophic turbo failure all within the first 20K miles.
They now have a Toyota minivan and a Lexus SUV in their driveway.
Yeah for some reason Subaru, cannot do a three row, re: Tribeca.
That said, I have owned a '97, '04, '05, and we now have three '18's (2 Foresters and an O.B.) while they have had normal problems, no more than any other brand with high mileage, and the thing that struck me was how even when the mileage piled up, every thing worked on the cars.
Radios, power seats, windows, sunroofs, seat heaters, seat adjusters everything.
This was not the case with my Hondas or Toyotas, although the Toyotas were close.
Subaru, expensive and built to stay that way. Shoulda been the true ad campaign.
@@tomtheplummer7322
Ive owned them for decades, along with Toyota and Honda and have not found that to be the case.
How do you explain that Subaru has the highest owner loyalty in the industry? Most people don't go back to a product
if they got burned.
Just keep repeating memes that you heard on the internet, you'll seem like a really smart person!
@@fubartotale3389 please cite your source for owner loyalty. Loyalty overcomes quirks and problems. I liken Subaru buyers to Dodge/Chrysler buyers. They are fiercely loyal despite most people having nagging issues with them and problems cropping up sooner than it’s rivals. But they are spectacular at making niche products. Dodge with its high performance vehicles and Subaru with its awd vehicles. That’s how you explain loyalty. Marketing and history.
@@fubartotale3389 People sing the praises of Jaguar and Range Rover/ Land Rover vehicles and often buy them repeatedly even though they are considered to be some of the most problematic vehicles on the road.
Often people are "MARQUE" loyal regardless.
Reading surveys you often find that vehicles considered troublesome have high levels of owner satisfaction and those that are viewed as trouble free have average or below average owner satisfaction.
An owner being satisfied or unsatisfied with a vehicle has a lot of factors figured into it besides reliability and durability.
Yeeaaa, greetings from Canada! We love our Subarus here; ya they are quirky but they are so much fun in the snow. I still haven't gotten stuck in my '07 Impreza knock on wood (and we don't even get the roads plowed here in my part of town!).
Subarus are amazing. That "sure-footed" AWD feeling, unstoppable in snow. They can also get very expensive very quickly when they break.
unstoppable with proper tires... my OE tires were GARBAGE in the snow!
@@Dankcatvacs try Goodyear Eagles in snow... that was my OE tire!
thats why you stay on top of maintenance
I only owned one. It ran great in between trips on the tow truck for major repairs. It was my first and last Subaru.
What kind of maintenance would you suggest for the driveshaft that has to be replaced entirely when the joints go bad?
I’ve had my current forester for
2 years now. It’s given me 2 800 mile trips no issues, needed some normal maintenance but has been such a great car.
We need more of MAGIC MIKE IN THESE VIDEOS! hes awsome!!
The Car Wizards has the coolest walk on TH-cam! I'd love to see a continuous loop video of him just waddling around on his stubby little legs with Pantera's WALK as the background music!
Same comment every time the Wizard uploads a video.
Do you want that continuous loop video for your "SPANK BANK"?
Got a 2012 xt manual gearbox Australian model, Great car had since new plenty of power Greetings from Queensland Australia.👍
When the head gasket isn’t blowing the timing belt is breaking. I wanted a Baja years ago but my z71 Chevy cost less, got similar milage and was much more capable. I’m glad I don’t go Subaru
Subaru tend to rust rather badly on Salted Roads, and being AWD they are very popular snowy icy roads, that get lots of SALT !
I’ve got a 2005 Outback L.L bean with the Boxer 6. It’s terrible on gas, but my god. This thing is the best vehicle I’ve ever owned. Really fast, even by todays standards, impossible to stop in the snow, cargo room for days.
My only complaint is that to replace the radio you need to import a separate headunit breakout piece from Japan at *Quite* a steep cost.
My ideal goal is to eventually get a rust free one from the south to keep as a forever vehicle!
@@Dankcatvacs I bought it back in sept. With 92,000 miles, it’s got 109,000 now. No issues with the head gaskets, no weeping or lost coolant or anything. Zero blowby, haven’t had to replace the chain. Far as I’m aware, if you keep up on your oil changes their usually good for the life of the engine.
My 04 fxt just hit 225k miles yesterday :)
I had a 2005 outback years ago that when it came to the driveshaft issue, I found a place in California that would make me a brand new driveshaft with replaceable u joints for half the price of a new one from Subaru. They sent me a box to ship my old drive shaft to them so they could copy it and shipped the new one back to me and they paid all the shipping, a win win situation. I don't remember their name, but they had a shop in Cal and in Tx and built drive shafts for custom and drag cars.
Had a Legacy over 10 years. Alternator rear brake caliper and both front axles. Never left me stranded.
Actually, today the only car i know of that can stranded you are bmw and Range Rover. And maybe tire puncture or radiator puncture.
I feel like a small private break japanese garden grotto, koi pond, and hibachi grill would also be nice. But that's just me. Have you seen Twitter headquarters? Not even asking for a wine tap.
I still have my 2006 Subaru Forester XT and I still love it! Purchased 07/25/2005. I hope it lasts me the rest of my life!
Here in Estonia you see a lot more Volvo XC70s or XC90s and we get a fair bit of snow in the winter.
far as Japanese stuff, most are Toyota RAV4s or Honda C-RVs. most people tend to stand clear of subarus because of blown motors and turbos.
Jeah, in Latvia the same - a lot of xc70 xc90 xc60, audi quattros, Ravs and crvs, but subarus, they are rare on the roads and as i repair all my cars by myself, subarus is a big no in my car list because of rust and bad engines, they are hard to work on and in my opinion pretty unreliable.
@@jaunteraudi817 my brother worked at a subaru dealer in 2010-2011 and he would be constantly be rebuilding engines. Blown headgaskets,worn and spun bearings, broken crankshafts on manual cars. All of it was warranty work.
Ugh I LOVE these. I’m a Lexus guy through and through , my whole family has em and I have several myself, but this car has a special place in my heart. My grandmother had a black 2006 Forester XT and I learned to drive on both that and my moms Land cruiser.
The forester was always super peppy and fun to drive and I loved the old wagon body style.
My grandma got rid of it tho she had many issues with it and she got a Lexus ES like myself and couldn’t be happier with the Lexus. However I miss the Forster XT and I still see it around town all the time still cruising! I want to buy it back one day
I had a base Forester with a manual. It was fun to drive but it was a POS. So many issues with it, including a defective MAF sensor that was covered under a recall.
The XT was very fun to drive but the worst car I have ever owned reliability wise. First and last Subaru I will ever buy.
I love you, you have my taste
I like the spin on filter for the trans all cars should be that way in my OP JS
Yeah what a great idea. If only everyone did that.
There is a guy in Denver who rebuilds the prop shafts. Ships them at a reasonable price on an exchange basis. They come balanced and repainted. I saved something like $600 over new.
I have this model XT auto. The secondary air valves gave way at 60k Kilometers. Fortunately they jammed shut ,so we just took all of the plumbing off as well as the pump. Had to get the ecu reflashed. Apart from that it has been plain sailing.
The filter on the transmission that’s nice I just wish that everyone did that. The driveshaft was irritating I would ask about the idea of real building to use serviceable U joint. I know it’s to expensive so I’d just gripe.
Thank you Sir I appreciate your videos
I wouldn't say "good fuel mileage" but it's usually the same no matter the weather or cargo
I have a bullet proof ej22 this forester that he's talking about is one of the best sunarus ever made
You can install blockoff plates and tune out the secondary air system. I own an 06 XT and opted to fix it before I tuned the vehicle…but should have just tuned and done the blockoff plates all at once.
I was told recently by a Cobb tuner that they cannot tune out the CEL anymore because it’s tied to the emissions system. I hope they/I am wrong about this but lots of things have changed with the new emissions laws regarding aftermarket tunes. Mine is deleted and coded out but I had it done a few years ago.
@@soopermarkus Cobb will not sell you a tune with the codes deleted anymore. It's always been illegal to disable emissions codes; they just got away with it for a long time!
@@oambrosia This is my wife's Subaru. I was planing on a Cobb tuner and block off plates. Looks like I will be getting a new secondary air system.
@@doughuman526 Depending on your state you can remove that system and have the codes deleted, no problem.
@@oambrosia I'm in Kansas, I will have to look in to that. Thanks!
I’m from Central Washington State and the Wizard is correct there are Subarus everywhere here. There were two of this body and color Forester outside my work today.
Reason this one has no head gasket issues, is Subaru uses a different head gasket part for the turbo engines vs. the naturally aspirated ones. The turbo head gaskets do not degarde as the normal gaskets do. I had to have my head gaskets replaced (2009 Subaru Impreza) at 105K miles and that cost me $3200. Other than that, I've had zero problems with my car and I love it.
Dang I'm in the wrong business... That in Canadian dollars?
$3200 for stupid head gasket replacement. That make a mercedes look reliable and affordable. People should sue subaru for that stupid simple manufacturing mistake.
*Degrade.
...had a radiator failure n engine O. Heated on my Forester 10. HG cost 1800$ a year ago in New Milford Ct. The Suby I like most is my 03 Legacy L SW with 158kmiles. It has HG problems n I add coolant n little oil for the last 20kmiles n keeps going fine n strong. NO fluid mixing inside the engine.
I had one of these 5spd, stage 2 tune with turboback-exhaust. what a freaking blast it was, still miss it.
We bought our first Forester in 1998 when they first came out, again in 2013 and am waiting for the 2026 hybrid. I suspect I will own one forever.
I owned a 2006 XT from new in Australia where the MY06 had the full spec WRX engine not the detuned engine from earlier and subsequent years, it was a touring beast and sold after 13 years and over 300,000km and replaced by a 4WD for more serious outback touring. Up until then I only had one problem apart from normal wear and tear, a radiator tank split.
I just got rid of my 09 Forester. The whole car started to break down in its 9 clean fun years . 20k in 2 years in repairs. (My Wife loved it ) Now we have a new CRV . She loves it more .
Truth be told 9 years is a good run for most Subaru’s. They just not to the level of Toyota or Honda. You’ll be good for many many more years in that CRV
I have a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT which has a similar 2.5 Turbo engine. It’s now my project/weekend car. It needs some work. I thought of getting rid of it but it’s a fun car. Head gaskets are next on my list.
i bought this car for 3500 Cad a year ago and swapped it to a manuel! i think its the best!! I just love the speed and size but it is an older car and chasing issues wether it be rust sunroof problems ect is a thing. the secondary airpump is one of those things that overtime fails but most ppl tend to go the delete route by blocking it off and deleting the codes.
Paid breaks!? Man Car Wizard, i want you to hire me! What A Boss!!!
The emissions pump is a cheap "fix" with a VAG COM cable and RomRaider 😉
AWD Subarus are fairly popular in the snow here in Canada, my rear drive van was spinning its drive wheels in the driveway yesterday and I was reminded why I was taking the Subie out and putting the van back in the garage. Thank you for covering this year of Subaru forester, there is plenty of power without a turbo, my tires are only rated to 100 miles per hour or so and I wonder what sort of speeds that turbo would put out and where you could safely drive it.
Buy snow tires. RWD with LSD and good winter tires and you'll be sailing by spinning subarpoos all day.
They know lots about snowy conditions up in northern Japan.
@@billermanthegreat yes for sure, a good friend of mine former apartment dweller from school in Texas, lives in Amori city, with the highest yearly snow fall about 9metres or 30 ish feet per year. I thought that my sister's place was bad in the Sault with 3m or 10 feet of snow, 30 feet annually is just crazy! One thing about Japan is that they pretty much force you to get a new vehicle after six years, while I drive about 20 year old vehicles, my 2007 Subie is the newest in the "fleet".
@@mikescherrer4923 very funny, my brother referred to my first car, Honda civic hatchback, as an upholstered roller skate which wasn't far off the mark
I take it all in stride, and I keep the 2001 Safari in the garage so that the salt doesn't destroy it, holding up quite well so far, I have an Astro AWD - minor rust issues - with snow tires for when some work needs to get done in the winter.
You think that's cool calling it a subie? It's not it's childish
Foresters are great cars in Wi!! Overall very reliable, except sparkplug changes.
*SOUND MIX* Woah, that up-lift/ down-lift music is very strong in the mix today. My ears ! 🙂
Regarding suspension, The standard suspension has a hydraulic self-leveling system on the rear which is prone to failure and expensive to replace. I would bet that's why they replaced the standard struts with a Pedders setup. I have the identical suspension on my 2006 XT here in Australia.
Subaru is basically the unofficial car brand of New England, so I see tons of them in Massachusetts. Including my own parking spot 😀 I have the baby brother Crosstrek, which of course isn't turbocharged. But it does great in the Winter, and I got 34 MPG on a road trip to (and all around) Colorado. Saw mostly Outbacks there.
They're headquartered in Jersey
Love that generation of forester. Just put a new engine and trans into my na 07 forester. Probably not the best financial decision since the car cost 8k and repairs were 13k but I love the car too much.
We deal with a lot of Subaru's at work, and experience a lot of SAI fault codes, just like this one.
On the NA engines, there's not much else you can do than replacing them, but on the 2.5 Turbos you can get them disabled by some engine tuners. We sent them out to a local tuning shop, and they flash the ECU to disable the SAI system, costing €250 instead of ~€1000 for SAI parts.
NA's had it over there? Here in America only the turbo models had SAI
The customer should get coated rotors to prevent rust, well worth the little extra cost.
Man, that's actually one well kept Forester XT. If it wasn't so far from South FL, I'd be very inclined to offering on buying it.
Pedders suspension is Australian.
They have been around since 1950. They make all the dampers for the V8 Supercars (think Bathurst) and for a few Australian rally teams too.
Although I'm always quite surprised to Australian gear in American cars. You guys seem to buy a lot of ARB 4wding equipment also.
Foresters and Outbacks from the ´00 had self levelling suspension from factory, no matter how much load you put in the car, ground clearance was the same. Pedders was the only brand that offers a replacement that wasnt Subaru expensive suspension. Thats why Pedders offers same shocks here in Europe for Subarus of the era.
@@Secrecy30 I didn't know that, excellent thanks.
There’s a few good Australian products that make it to USDM cars. Subie Lift Oz (SLO) is one of the most highly regarded lift kit manufacturers for Subarus. GM used PBR brake calipers for years on their Corvettes, and Ford used them on the Mustangs. Old school Ford guys used to import Australian cylinder heads for their 351 Clevelands too
I was almost considering buying a used 2013 Forester XT, but I looked it up on Google, and it said it's not very reliable. It looked cool with a two-tone paint job, though. Black on the top, grey on the bottom.
My 2017 forester has done everything from float, to drive trails in Moab.
I miss my 2.4ltr Outback so much, we put almost 400,000kms on it, yes we did the head gasket once, but other than that known issue it was a trooper, there very popular in country areas over here, unfortunately last year it got T boned & it was a total loss, Oh Pedders is an Australian company, there very well known, great to see there known about, Rj in Oz
I had a tuned 300 plus BHP one of these, what a car
I've been watching this channel for so long and I'm surprised I've never seen any new body style impala's in your shop. I guess that says something good, but eventually, I'm sure one will pop up.
I bet it is nice working for the Wizard!
Subarus are extremely popular here in New England because the AWD is idea in winter. I have a neighbor who has a Forester. I'm guessing it's from the mid 2010s. It seems to be a good car.
I daily drive a 2009 Forester XT has 267k on it. Been the most reliable daily since I got it and fixed it up. Got it for free with a massive misfire on cylinder #4. Was under the assumption that it had a cracked ring land which is the most common issue with the EJ255/EJ257 engines. Given the miles and lack of care before I owned it was easy to assume. I was going to do a compression test just to verify my concern. Low and behold the heat sink on the ignition coil had rust jacked so bad it put a crack through the entire thing. Had a friend with a pile of OEM used ignition coils that he let me have for free. Thumbed through the pile and picked the best-looking condition coils. Threw some plugs in it and swapped all the coils. Ran smooth as new. I was elated. I did some more repairs to it after that and got all the maintenance up to date and have been driving it issue free for the last 2 1/2 years.
Let's talk about that CTS-V wagon in the background. I own an 11 CTS-V sedan w/ 6sp manual. Would love to own a wagon version but man the price tag pretty much doubles with hose. oof.
Nothing better in the snow with some good Blizzaks! Confidence In Motion!
Just subscribed a couple of weeks ago, enjoying your presentation.
Subaru's head gasket problem started when Toyota helped with emissions. They changed the combustion chamber shape and gasket types.
my current car is the mk1 2001 forester 2l all weather, love it to bits. ... just about to put on bc coil overs
If you are on a tight budget you can replace these U joints and any swing bearing that may be there with a 4lb hammer and block of wood however, it will require a lot of labor and you will never get this to stop vibrating a little bit, unless you buy the whole axle.
...Never hammer on a balanced rotating component like the drive shaft-
can use press or puller. Yes, U can improvise if your time is cheap!
but, I am sure U can get the part from a Junk yard affordably.
@@krisphoton7304 That is what the wood is for.
I've an EJ204, so the non-turbo version, SG with a manual. Looks very different under the car at the front!
I also recommend those Pedders units. I've got the heavy duty ones in the rear of mine, and will likely replace the fronts when one fails too.
Cheers for the video, Wizard. Was great.
I just did the rear brakes on my '01 Subaru Outback LL Bean. PowerStop kit, the only thing difficult was getting the two pad carrier bolts loose. You had to feed a 12 inch extension with a 14 mm socket through two small holes in the suspension arms to get at these bolts. Without a lift it was a pain in the ass!
Great video!
I have to do that when the weather warms up.
Wizard, Would have loved to hear more about the limiting factors regarding your limited repairs and the estimated costs.
I had one of these. Great car. Only problem was that sunroof glass shattered on its own. Replaced under warranty. Getting ready to buy a new Crosstrek Limited.
Same here
Love my H6 3.0 Outback, super smooth and powerful 245BHP.
Also, the oil cooler on the XT turbo engines has a total of 4 orings, two large and two medium sized, you have to take the thing apart in layers to get to all of them.
How often to u-joints really need to be replaced on a car really? I mean as long as you aren't towing, do they ever really need to be replaced? I'm actually a little surprised a drive shaft specialist doesn't have the ability to cut off the flanges and weld on replaceable ones. When I worked at a speed shop, a common upgrade we did was a one piece drive shaft and all the drive shaft place needed was the flanges to weld onto a new tube they balanced.
My mom had a 2003. I hated being in the back seat cuz there was no room. My brother and I used to hate that car until we drove it.
@@Dankcatvacs me and my dad test drove 2011 Altima. He went with the Sonata.
These older, 2006 Subaru Forester XT's are currently reliable at this time - it is turbocharged. I would like to own one of these for a daily driver. Anyway, we still needed an all-new buy this, not that video, as well as the next all-new, six used vehicles to buy and/or to avoid video. Thank you very much and keep us updated for the Car Wizard channel.
Especially with todays market, would love to see the updated post. Would be cool to have it in tiers of car as well. An economy one, luxury one, sports one
@@A_Guy123 Great idea
I have a 2012 Forester SH, which means that it is in the sweet spot where it has timing chains, not belts, and it doesn't have a CVT. I've had it for 3 years now buying it second hand, and all I have had to do are brakes all around, and a connection fitting on the oil cooler broke, so that was replaced. As others have noted, here in most parts of Canada, we get serious winters. I am currently running Michellin X-Ice Xi3 tires, and I have been able to drive through a metre (~1 yard) of snow with now problems. I do an oil change every 5,000 kilometers and she runs well. It may be the last internal combustion car I own. Next one will either be a hybrid, or electric...but most likely a hybrid.
You Canucks really don't learn...
@@mikescherrer4923 I'll just laugh as I pull another Jeep out of a snow bank...
The 2006 Subaru was the best car I ever own, wish I’d not sold the thing. I traded the 2006 for a more recent Subaru, purchased new. The replacement Subaru was auto not manual as was my 2006. The manual had a hi and low position, for a small vehicle it was brilliant for towing.
This car would be worth a fortune where I live in eastern Canada, I'd even pay quite a bit for it! Every car here that's older than 5 years is pretty much a pile of rust and those old forester xt's were super cool but pretty much non existent around here.
Well, at least my Subaru I have to get a new engine in a 2010 Subaru Forester, and this time I'm deciding to up for the newly upgraded gasket. This engine fair with 190,212 miles on it the new engine has 110,000 miles on it.
This is within a 1-year ownership of the car.
Recently changed the transmission and differential on my farrier's Forester. I never worked on Subaru before and I was shocked at how easy it was. Good cars if you want to learn to wrench.
Agreed. They are great for learning. I had a 17 WRX and I had never worked on a car before owning that. It’s especially nice for oil changes because the filter is at the top.
my buddy has an 06 fxt limited with 250k miles still running strong!
Hi Wizard, many Subaru in the shop. Very reliable? Not by book. But hey the new models are pretty solid and good looking cars. 2020-23
I can say, from a dealership perspective, the new ones are only solid as far as crash performance. CVTs are unreliable, the new engines have their own set of problems, and there are definitely some quality issues with certain things which you wouldn't expect.
I had the 2005XT and the 2007XT. I drove them both to 150,000 miles and never had any issues beyond normal wear and tear. A new radiator at 110,000 miles on both of them was as bad as it got. I’m now driving a 2017 XT and preferred the older generation. If I could find a 2007 XT Premium (I love the leather seats) with under 30,000 miles and one careful lady owner I would jump at it.
Forester XT is the best car I’ve ever driven and 19 years later I am still driving one.
No offence but I always had an annual dealer service with Subaru trained mechanics. I attribute that to never having any major problems.
Despite what you might think, a turbo subaru is actually a pretty special vehicle. Especially if you live where it snows. I've had my wrx since 2007, 240k miles and I still love sliding it around
I had one of this year and model, but a 2.0T JDM version. It was down on power with only 30,000km on the clock, found out they are VERY sensitive to the type of oil used. If non synthetic oil used it would be very laggy, had to flush oil and it came right.
If the secondary air system valves are closed and not seized (or at least, seized closed), you can just remove/gut the relay and delete the codes's from the ECU. Leaving the system inoperable and prevents the car running in limp mode. My car has been running fine for 4 years this way ;)
u joints can be gotten, napa/online. just hole saw, rotary tool the stakes. grease n go. But it's a pain for most shops that are just parts swappers.
I had basically the same engine in an 06 WRX. Run like a clock until it blew the head gaskets at 200,000 mi. I also had had the smog pump snail-like thing go bad at 100,000k, expensive as hell to fix. Run on dino 10W-40 all its life, changed at 4000 mi and never used more than 1/2 quart in 4k mi.
I'd seen so many Subarus high up in Colorado, I'd swear they were being _manufactured_ there!
Peddars suspension brings me back to my GTO days
Subaru is the official car of the north east and Alaska.
If that rough running is significant at idle, and throwing misfire codes, check compression. The most common issues with these engines are piston ringland failure (yes, even when stock) and spun bearings. Obviously the bearings are fine being that it's not knocking (presumably). But ringland failure can be damn near asymptomatic.
Finally a positive Subaru review 💙
You’re an amazing boss for treating your people so well.
I have two Foresters. A 2005 2.0 Xen with the twin ratio gearbox as my beloved work horse, he has 125,000 ultra reliable miles on him.
Also a lightly tuned 2008 Prodrive 2.5 XT with only 61,000 gentle miles on the clock. What other car could get you to the top of a mountain in the morning, and in the afternoon frighten a few sportscars on a racetrack?
I just wish you were in the UK and just up the road, so that you could look after my younger baby, I feel anxious letting anybody near it. ;).