We bought our newer Forester on July 8, 2017. It hit 15,000 yesterday on my wife's commute.
This car drives and rides pretty much like our 2009 Forester, which is a good thing. It offers about the same outward vision as well, also a good thing. The seats are comfortable even if the entire interior is a little plain.
The enormous glass sunroof is a nice feature to us although not everyone would agree.
The center display can be scrolled through to deliver all sorts on interesting information, like oil temperature and torque split.
These cars have a very compliant ride and handle large road irregularities with aplomb. The AWD is seamless and transparent in operation and the car handles treacherous winter conditions with ease even on the OEM Geolanders that many owners like to hate. While this is in no way a sporty car, the steering is responsive and the lack of understeer is appreciated, especially as compared to my '12 Accord with the Subie having a better ride as well. The Accord is quieter, though.
The newer chain driven OHC engine has the same displacement and the same output as the old timing belt one in the '09.
It feels stronger in typical use and fuel economy is at least 20% better in a package of similar size and weight. I can only credit the CVT for that. Fuel consumption has average slightly above 30 mpg on my wife's brutal commute down I-75. Traffic is always awful but gets worse during rush hour and it is a drive I'm happy not to make.
I've changed the engine oil twice thus far and have seen no oil consumption. Subaru did back the recommended OCI down to 6K from the 7.5K originally recommended for this engine and there is a low oil idiot light on the dash. Some of these engines have exhibited high oil consumption, with the same being true of the K24 in my Accord, although mine doesn't use any appreciable amount. I wonder whether Subaru was concerned about excessive timing chain wear using 0W-20 on the originally recommended drain interval?
Anyway, the Forester has performed exactly as we had expected when we bought it. It has had no problems of any kind and does make a good and comfortable daily driver that should also protect its occupants fairly well in a collision, more so than appears to be the case with most CUVs of similar size.
I'd recommend this car to anyone needing something in this size range and any previous Subie owner would feel at home in one of these cars.
We paid around $26K for this Premium Package car, a nice discount off list and not too much over dealer invoice. The kind of killer deal that we got on the Accord was not to be had as the Forester remains in high demand and is supply constrained as a Japanese built model. You can get a better deal on the Indiana built Outback if that would suit you.
Our '09 Forester now has around 105K and will hit ten years in service next month, when I'll give a little rundown of how it's held up over the years.
This car drives and rides pretty much like our 2009 Forester, which is a good thing. It offers about the same outward vision as well, also a good thing. The seats are comfortable even if the entire interior is a little plain.
The enormous glass sunroof is a nice feature to us although not everyone would agree.
The center display can be scrolled through to deliver all sorts on interesting information, like oil temperature and torque split.
These cars have a very compliant ride and handle large road irregularities with aplomb. The AWD is seamless and transparent in operation and the car handles treacherous winter conditions with ease even on the OEM Geolanders that many owners like to hate. While this is in no way a sporty car, the steering is responsive and the lack of understeer is appreciated, especially as compared to my '12 Accord with the Subie having a better ride as well. The Accord is quieter, though.
The newer chain driven OHC engine has the same displacement and the same output as the old timing belt one in the '09.
It feels stronger in typical use and fuel economy is at least 20% better in a package of similar size and weight. I can only credit the CVT for that. Fuel consumption has average slightly above 30 mpg on my wife's brutal commute down I-75. Traffic is always awful but gets worse during rush hour and it is a drive I'm happy not to make.
I've changed the engine oil twice thus far and have seen no oil consumption. Subaru did back the recommended OCI down to 6K from the 7.5K originally recommended for this engine and there is a low oil idiot light on the dash. Some of these engines have exhibited high oil consumption, with the same being true of the K24 in my Accord, although mine doesn't use any appreciable amount. I wonder whether Subaru was concerned about excessive timing chain wear using 0W-20 on the originally recommended drain interval?
Anyway, the Forester has performed exactly as we had expected when we bought it. It has had no problems of any kind and does make a good and comfortable daily driver that should also protect its occupants fairly well in a collision, more so than appears to be the case with most CUVs of similar size.
I'd recommend this car to anyone needing something in this size range and any previous Subie owner would feel at home in one of these cars.
We paid around $26K for this Premium Package car, a nice discount off list and not too much over dealer invoice. The kind of killer deal that we got on the Accord was not to be had as the Forester remains in high demand and is supply constrained as a Japanese built model. You can get a better deal on the Indiana built Outback if that would suit you.
Our '09 Forester now has around 105K and will hit ten years in service next month, when I'll give a little rundown of how it's held up over the years.