Thoughts on Subaru Foresters

Right now I'm open to any and all suggestions. Hondas are great. I had one in the past. It was an '88 Accord and was bulletproof.

Both my wife and I are tired of the 4 door sedan cars for the most part. They're all starting to look the same. I'll look at the Accords though.

I would get a Toyota but used ones around here are close to the same price as new ones. Also I'm a little nervous getting too invested right now into one company. Unless they want to give current Taco owners a deal on a second car.

Honda cars have always seemed to be a little nicer and perhaps a little better engineered when it comes to the Accord and Civic models. At least it was that way in the past. Haven't looked that closely at them in years though.

I feel like I could be talked into a Camry though. They've always seemed to be great cars.

 

She has a nissan sentra now w/ cvt trans and LOVES it

 

Damn that sucks.

 

Worst was my first crx. I tried to have it fixed. Replaced all the bearings and then the thing never did over 80 again

 

I don't know too much about those engines, but they sound like they have had some issues.

I wonder if they fixed the same things on the newer FA engines. (Speaking strictly of the gasket leaks) I see a lot of older (2002-2006) WRX having the gasket issues. My brother-in-law had a 2006 Outback with an older FB engine and his eventually had the problems.

 

If you are completely open:

• Ford Escape
• Ford Focus Hatch
• Nissan Altima
• Nissan Rogue
• VW Tiquan
• BMW X1 (GREAT certified preowned w/ great warranty and at a good price)

 

Hopefully that trans is better than what they put in the Rogue. Seriously, at 70k-80k the Rogues go out. It's been this way for over 10 years and only recently they had a recall on it. Recall only covered up to 2010, so the newer car owners were pissed.

 

I hate my Subaru. It eats about .5 quart of oil every gas tank. Worse with synthetics.

 

Ew. Disregard one of the cars on my list :/ I had never heard about that

 

Wow, a Honda CRX. I got that for a high school graduation present. 1990 Si model in silver. Traded it a year later for a 1988 4Runner plus a ton of cash. Never should have sold that 4Runner.

 

I looked at Ford Escapes today. They seem really nice...wife loved it too. They are trying to do a spring clearance on them...$5,000 off. It brings the S base model to $17K or so.

I'm assuming if the dealer drops 5k automatically on the price, then they might go another 2K or so.

 

Great trade and no you shouldn't have. Lol. Just agreeing with you

 

I looked at those at the auto show here in los, Angeles. I liked it a lot too. Wanted to drive it but it is a Ford. I have owned 3 ford rangers and have been inside the other models like expedition and explore and wasn't impressed, but wanted a on road with. Couldn't that day even though they offer them. Had my son age 6 at the time running from car to car like Tazmanian devil

 

I sold the 1988 in 1992, but a year later bought a 1990 4Runner. That truck stayed in my family until 2013. 426K miles when we sold it. Although it was a 3.0L it never blew its head gaskets. Got new heads in 2004 when I burnt a valve at 273K. Still had the original block, and alternator.

 

My friend had a 86 4runner. I loved that dam thing. I Remember being dumb ass kids and getting it stuck in 4wd and couldn't get it out and it was just because we were stupid

 

Back to op's question. Look at what ever makes your wife happy. Have you looked at the Mercedes suv? The gl, series @InfernoTonka

 

UPDATE: I pulled the trigger today on a Ford Escape. Last night we kicked the tires at a Ford dealership and at Carmax and then I posted this thread. Buying another car after getting my Taco last November was not in the cards for me as far as financial planning.

However I kept stalking certain dealership websites and one dealer in particular lowered a base model Escape another $3k on top of an already great $5k reduction. This made me push the button that indicates "find out our internet price". I always avoided hitting this feature because I always thought it was a bait click tactic.

As it turned out, you put in your contact info (email, cell phone) and then, since it was after hours a message lets you know that the dealership was closed and someone will contact you first thing in the AM.

I get an e-mail indicating "here's the car you wanted", which wasn't the car I wanted at a higher price. So I called the e-mail girl and let her know specifically the deal I clicked on. She seemed surprised and then said "oh, this was done last night as we were closing, this is the first time I've seen this deal". Then I asked "whats the internet price" and she said usually the routine is to take $200 off. I thought that was interesting.

I made an appointment to meet with a salesman at 1:30pm. He was standing there waiting with key in hand and we went on a test drive. He tried like hell to steer me to the Titanium level Escape. I said "fine, after I drive the one I came for." We took a lengthy test drive, and then went back to his cubicle and he worked the numbers.

Then he showed me what he came up with and the base price was higher than the interwebs base price. Then I showed him the VIN I had written down and the internet price. Then he realized he had the wrong car and acted that he hadn't seen that deal. Then he found it and he wasn't too cheery about it. Of course I wanted to see the car that was discounted heavily. He then showed up with the key, and after much searching we finally found it.

Long story short the car was parked in the middle of the lot that was three car rows deep. We had to move a car out if the way to get to it. It had 700 miles on it and hadn't been titled yet. And the safety inspection sticker was from October 2017. It had been on the lot for a while.

So we test drove it and it drove fine. Then I said "I want to make it simple, we can haggle back and forth further to discover the real bottom price, or just make the interweb price the OUT THE DOOR PRICE." I felt a little weird trying to beat up the guy a little bit to see if I could get an even better price so that was more of a nicer way to close the deal.

The internet price of $15,900 on the Escape was the rock bottom price (from an MSRP of $24,495). I couldn't get tag, title and tax thown in as part of the deal but I feel it still was an unheard of deal.

I'm sure that this deal had everything to do with the fact that it was on the lot for longer than the other Escapes and that it had 700 miles on it, but for that price I'll take a risk on a new car.

Perhaps this info will help someone else out there find a deal without waiting for thr internet to create the deal.

Thanks to all that posted here. At this time last night I didn't think I would close on something this quick.

 

Congratulations hope the wife Is happy

 

She really is. She always wanted a Jeep but found out quickly that it would be rough as a daily driver. The Taco scratches that itch somewhat.

We were both tired of sedans and she likes the crossovers. She liked the Ford Escape over the Honda and Toyota crossovers. The Subaru would have been an unkown.

I told her that if she ends up not liking it after a month or so I would drive it and she could drive the Taco.

The Escape S we got is a base model but is still flush with new features she didn't have in her old car. I made sure I didn't get swept away with the idea of focusing on a good deal at the expense of "do we really want it at the end of the day."

There are deals out there on lots just waiting to be had. I learned that if you notice the safety inspection stickers, it can give you an idea of how long a car has been sitting on the lot. If it's been there a longer time than others, then the dealer will be more motivated to move it.

Seems like common sense but I must admit I never notice that detail when I'm on a lot. We get caught up in pretty colors and features and never notice inspection stickers.

 

I've got a Camry for a daily driver and it is a good car, just no fun to drive