2007 Subaru Forester XT 2.5 turbo boxer petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

The "Aga Oven" of cars - old fashioned and unsophisticated, but brilliantly usable

Faults:

Droplinks failed twice.

Secondary air system failed twice.

Front brake calipers bleed screws seized.

Passenger front window getting slow to wind.

General Comments:

Those in the know have SG5 Foresters and keep them until they fall apart, hereabouts in farmer land.

They are immensely practical, genuine go-anywhere, any-weather capability. Hard-wearing, flexible and spacious interiors, yet small and narrow enough on the outside to be a UK-sidestreet practical car. You can also do thousand mile motorway days in comfort.

Few cars are genuine all rounders like this.

The four speed auto 'box is a thousand times better than I expected it to be, having owned a manual a few years ago. It's a genuinely usable and likeable car, if a bit dull and "worthy".

Some stuff has failed, but this is a fifteen year old car, that has a very hard pony-and-dog life after all. Recommended for folks who need a rough house medium family car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 6th September, 2022

6th Sep 2022, 23:12

Good review, never had a Forester but had a Legacy from the same time period, was an excellent car.

7th Jan 2024, 14:22

Original Poster here.

Ticked over 100k miles in five years.

Starting to look a bit unloved, but is mechanically fantastic with specialist services, aftermarket Pedders suspension and Toyo Proxes.

I found out that changing from bulbs is a bumper-off job, and is annoying. Also the HiD lamps are expensive.

The main annoyance is the heating system that has 20 degrees C as its lowest heated temperature. It's miles too hot for me.

That's IT. The Forester has been and still is a magnificent tough all rounder. No weather, or terrain stops it. Drives like a normal car on the road.

Comfy, refined cruiser, 28 mpg overall.

Bloody love this boring car.

In reply to 7th Jan 2024, 14:22

18th Mar 2024, 19:45

Original poster here -

My beloved Forester is no more. After an £800 MOT failure last year it just suffered a £1450 MOT failure this year. This old, niche car is beyond economic repair.

It's been a fantastic companion, treated like dirt (with meticulous maintenance) and only let me down at the end.

Nothing wrong with Foresters at all. Just died cos it's had a hard 17 year life.

Farewell.

2007 Subaru Forester Sports XT 2.5L turbo from North America

Summary:

Good traction in winter and performance, but have repeated failures in secondary air system

Faults:

Have had the right secondary air combination valve go out at 35,000, left secondary air combination valve go out at 45,000, and again the left secondary air combination valve go out at 65,000, which is my current mileage. The dealer also tells me the secondary air pump is whining and probably will need replaced soon. Each one of these repairs was $800. The parts are expensive.

When these secondary air failures occur, the check engine light comes on, cruise control flashes & vehicle dynamic control turns off. The car is still drivable and you cannot tell there is a problem - the only indication is the engine light is on.

The secondary air system only functions after a cold start to inject air in the exhaust for about 30 seconds - emission control, which does not do much in my opinion - Subaru should redesign the part.

From some other comments I have seen on the Internet, this is a common failure on the XT. Seems like Subaru missed the boat on designing these parts, and replacing them is expensive.

I thought the replacement parts would last longer, but they don't. Also original tires wore out pretty fast at 15,000 miles - Geolanders were terrible on traction also.

General Comments:

Like the car. Performance is pretty good. Not great.

Mileage varies from 20 miles/gal to 23 miles/gal. Expected a little better mileage, but I do have the turbo.

Sometimes just a little hesitation when cold.

Seems like mileage does not seem to improve for highway driving.

Pretty good in snow if you have the right tires. Although I have got stuck in snow once, I like the traction. Also I like the vehicle dynamic control for winter. Seems to work to straighten the car out when the back end starts to fishtail.

Sure wish Subaru would fix the secondary air issue. I got the Gold Plus service contract, so the first 2 failures were covered under this service contract. The third failure was not, although I contacted Subaru and they are going to refund 50%. I don't want to have to replace these combination valves every 20,000 miles.

Not sure whether I would buy another turbo model. The Sports XT looks good though.

Road noise is loud at highway speed, but I can live with it.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 26th June, 2015

27th Jun 2015, 03:04

The emissions warranty on this car is very long. I think it is at least 75k miles or greater.

Any part of the emission system is covered.

I would contact your Subaru regional service manager about these failures.

They should be fixing this for free.

In reply to 27th Jun 2015, 03:04

27th Jun 2015, 14:32

This seems to be the car of choice up in the Northeast. Subaru models are everywhere in my state.

In reply to 27th Jun 2015, 03:04

30th Jun 2015, 00:39

Unfortunately, according to the EPA website, only major emission control components are covered for 8 years and 80K miles. This included the cat converter, ECU and OBD. Most other emission components are covered for 2 years, 24K miles.

www.epa.gov/obd/pubs/420f09048.pdf

22nd Mar 2017, 03:59

An update on this problem - had another failure in the secondary air system in March 2017. Code on the scanner was P1410. Contacted Subaru and they may help with the cost, but very disappointed since this is the 4th failure in the secondary air system since I owned the car. These failures are occurring less than 2 years apart, and just before I have to have it E-checked. Like the car, but hate all these failures. However, even with these failures, you can't tell the difference in the way the engine runs. Would like to just run with the CEL on, but have to get E-checked in my region and the CEL comes back on after resetting the code with the autoscanner, so it won't pass the E-check.