Faults:

My clutch went at 65,000 miles but since it has been replaced the car is acting fine.

The driver's fabric seat is starting to wear out.

General Comments:

The Subaru Forester is seriously quick and jumps out of 1st gear quicker than you can read ths sentence. Car & Driver stated that the Forester XT will do zero to sixty in 5.3 seconds and it certainltly seems like they were right. This performance comes at a price though as the Forester XT is quite thirsty with premium fuel - getting about only 17 miles per gallon.

The ride is a very comfortable, but is also too "soft," and simply not on par with the car's outstanding acceleration.

The Forester has plenty of cargo space, and along with its AWD it's quite a practical vehicle.

Faults:

The transmission totally died about 4 and a half years after I purchased it brand new.

General Comments:

I really love this Forester, but the transmission going out so soon after I purchased it has soured me on getting another one.

The driver seat fabric wore out after a year. I don't think I'm too tough on car seats! The gas mileage is okay for an SUV, which is good at this point in time. There's a lot to like about the Forester - space, easy to pull seats down, smaller sized SUV, AWD...

Working with the dealer and other Subaru folks has been a nightmare. They aren't helpful, they are deceptive and they charge up the wazoo. I purchased 2 rear-window wipers at 2 different dealers. One charged me 3 TIMES as much as the other, and both were pricey to begin with. That has been the worst part of owning a Subaru for me.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with this vehicle.

General Comments:

Fun vehicle to drive, and also very useful.

Pros:

Acceleration, front seat space, features per dollar, safety ratings, reliability, tonnes of cargo space.

Cons:

Poor gas consumption when not driven properly, no rear seat space.

Overall an excellent vehicle, but if you don't need the power, just get the 2.5XS.

Faults:

Right rear wheel bearing went out at 35K miles and now at 68K miles it is going out again. Seems to be a problem with the Forrester that Subaru will not back up.

General Comments:

Acceleration is weak and rides loud.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with the car. I have enjoyed 20,000 trouble free miles with the car.

It does burn about 1/2 quart of oil every 1-2000 miles, but this is what you would expect of a turbo. Corroborating this is that almost every other forester 2.5 turbo owner I have polled in person or online has experienced the same thing.

General Comments:

Excellent overall value and likely best car available in the USA for under 25,000.

I have had the chance to drive many performance cars, but by far, this has been my favorite!

Unexpectedly so, it provides antisocial levels of performance/straight line acceleration. Off the line, it is the fastest car that I have ever read about (0-30 in 1.3 seconds!). You can take V8 Camaros and BMW's all day long from the stoplights. It's in gear acceleration is also exhilarating, and you can easily embarass many purebred performance cars at legal speeds.

It's right at home around town or on back roads as the turbo has little lag, the handling is stable and the AWD traction is good, allowing you to make quick work of the thousands of half asleep americans that turn passive aggressive on you the instant you try to pass. It's small exterior size is also a plus for jumping in and out of holes in the traffic and parking it when all is said and done. These qualities and more might make it work equally well in frenetic Europe (or New York!) where you have to be aggressive for dear life since people get road raged at you if you drive slow instead of fast.

In your favor is the fact that it looks really banal, soccer mom-like and slow.

The sleeper/"It wasn't me officer" value is about as good as it gets for a car of this performance.

Interior room is above average, a marvellous feat considering small exterior dimensions. Ading to the enjoyment of that space is a spartan, yet ergonomic layout. Luxury is OK, but the car is a bit unrefined. You need to pay a lot of attention to the balky shifter that always needs to be rowed due to the short gears. Blistering low speed acceleration has its costs: drivers expecting to be coddled need not apply.

The biggest problems are the high speed performance and handling. All of the magic ends at the top of 3rd gear at 80 after which you still have a decent, but no longer stellar performance envelope. All those v8's you squeezed ahead of to get onto the ramp will be zipping by you. High speed handling is also hurt by the softish suspension. This is less of an issue for me because I spend less time on the highway, but cross country types may want to consider a Legacy GT wagon instead.

Sometimes people ask why to get a performance car if the speed limits in the USA are so low. Well, to them, I answer Forester XT because it's happiest within the speed limits and its so practical you'll never feel you made a sacrifice!