The ***ALL NEW*** AUSubaru.com.au Forums

G'day folks,
well I'm back again after a couple or so years away from the site as a few of you will know I'm an old fart and at the moment I'm still alive and living in Canberra.
Used to own a couple of Brumby's a few years back, sorry I had to sell them but a gammy leg meant the clutch had to go so moved onto an automatic no not a Suby unfortunately. Now I'm in a position to buy an automatic Forester around the 2003-2005 2.5 year models. So what should I be looking out for in the way possible problems?
I have to go and look at a 2003/2004 2.5X with about 170000 on the clock it has had a bit of work done on it 12 months ago, heads, timing belt, Radiator and a fair bit more all up around $2500 worth of work all done at a reputable independent Subaru workshop so it should be good for a fair while, however at $7000 is it or is it not a reasonable purchase price considering the work done and condition of the vehicle which is good to very good.
Let’s have your thoughts and opinions guys and girls.
In the future I would be looking at lifting it and putting a set of decent AT tyres on it
Cheers
Hylton

Well price sounds a little high to begin with for that age, my mate paid $6500 for his 2004 Foz 2 years ago, but when you factor in its had all those main problem areas fixed then it doesn't sound too bad.
My mate dropped his off to a Subaru mechanic just yesterday to have head gaskets/radiator/thermostat fixed!! So seems to be their greatest issue.
Cheers JB

I think that was the era of the faulty ej25 factory head gaskets. Make sure they've been done.

Usual major services should be done - cam belt and tensioners etc ever 100k km, regular oil changes etc.

That price, regardless of the work done, is a bit high I reckon. The number of k's is pretty good though.

Cheers

Bennie

Is this the one you've bought in your other post?

NachaLuva wrote:Is this the one you've bought in your other post?

No not the one I was looking at this one is newer but done a few more ks so managed to get the price down a fair bit and I've had the timing and water pump replaced this week so all good

Search "WWP-99" regarding the head gasket problems.

The first post of this thread has a lot of useful links but much anecdotal stuff also.

This seemed to be a bit of an issue for subaru that wasn't solved early or definitively. There is no clarity regarding which models were affected or not, as all cars can bust a headgasket and just because someone did doesn't necessarily mean the entire model year is now suspect.

To that end the late 90's models were known as problematic for internal leaks. 2000, 2001, 2002 were prone to external leaks. By 2003 the widespread issue appears to have been solved, but anyone with an internet connection, a Forester and a mechanic who has just told them they are up for a $2500 repair can whine a scare plenty of people.

Your deal above is probably a little on the costly side for the model. If you are older with a good insurance record then the premium to own an XT model will cost little more and I would be tempted to look for a good XT auto. You will get a lot more car and the power will be nice once you put bigger tyres on it as planned.