Which Forester

Rally said:
Well, it was Nachaluva that raised the issue of not enough power. For most day to day stuff the NA 2.5 will suffice.
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Agreed :)
But I must admit, I still have to say I really do love my turbo powered XT :lildevil:

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
I'm not against turbo power either:)
 
A 2.5 Manual 2nd Gen foz with stock size tires is a fairly quick car. Especially if you use premium fuel (i always use premium 98 for my 2.5).

Mine is gutless for my needs but i do have lift, a heavier car most of the time with quite a lot of gear in it, and HUGE tires (a LOT heavier and bigger than stock, this probably makes the most difference).

An Auto with the 2.5 would be pretty gutless tbh, i couldn't live with it.
 
the auto 2.5 isnt to bad, doesnt use much more fuel then my 2.0 manual. the 4eat gearbox is a work of art and works the engine well. however i do find that it likes to drop into 3rd when cruze is on
 
the xt nachulva will be a lovely car but once again check the insurance and remember if shes a p plater cant drive it in vic!
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She can get an exemption...Apparently for drivers with good records and only certain models. She's checked insurance and found it was similar.

Rally said:
Well, it was Nachaluva that raised the issue of not enough power. For most day to day stuff the NA 2.5 will suffice.
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thunder039 said:
im a young driver and at some stages i notice the lack of power in the 2.5 with the auto, but i just take my time so doesnt bother me.
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I would have thought a 2.5 N/A would be fine but it was a bit underpowered. I'm not sure if it was cos its an auto or a motor down on power. On paper, it should have more torque down low but only slightly less HP than the XT, however it was noticeably less powerful :confused:

thunder039 said:
dont want to throw a spanner in the works, but has she considered the other subi's such as the impreza? still go ok in a bit of light offroad, or an outback. ive driven one and they seem to go better then the forester in my opinion
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I like the Outback too, but she seems to have her heart set on a Forester and personally I can't blame her lol :iconwink:

Rally said:
I'm not against turbo power either:)
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Me either lol :biggrin:
 
Power to weight, and torque to weight. The 03 is much heavier than the 99- dulling performance and increasing fuel consumption.
 
 
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....turbo or EZ36 only..... will be my next engine. Over gutless N/A's that are absolutely useless and dangerous. The 2.5 engine is good for a 4 cylinder but still pretty average. The 2.0l is a POS. When my gearbox is in (tomorrow :D) I will race the L-Series and the Foz. I can almost bet my money that without a doubt the L will win.

Abit off topic, sorry guys.
 
Having seen Pezimm's XT go head to head with Venom's H6 liberty up a sand dune (my poor little 2.0 N/A Foz struggled and only made it halfway lol), its hard to beat the 2.5 turbo 4EAT combo. On sand its a winner. Add a front LSD and rear locker... :monkeydance:
 
Nachaluva said:
Having seen Pezimm's XT go head to head with Venom's H6 liberty up a sand dune (my poor little 2.0 N/A Foz struggled and only made it halfway lol), its hard to beat the 2.5 turbo 4EAT combo. On sand its a winner. Add a front LSD and rear locker... :monkeydance:
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My rear locker will be going soon'ish :twisted: When I order it from the US!
 
All turbos are DOHC. Pistons (modified engines) and oil pick ups are more of a problem on these engines than head gaskets.
 
Gidday Taza & Thunder

taza said:
The standard one is only any good onroad and on abit of gravel, nothing more as it isn't strong enough.
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Mine seems to work extremely well, and it hasn't broken - yet ...

thunder039 said:
i should have been clearer. what i meant was i can only get one wheel to spin, never two, or when offroad does it stop spinning or ever get both spinning. on road it makes it a little more dinamic but not much.

and also i belive the GT has the rear LSD anyway, so the comparison of rear diff makes no difference.

either way the rear lsd is pathetic
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I still think that you miss the point of what an LSD is supposed to do, Thunder.

If you really want to get both back wheels spinning, drive a different car ...

Are you saying that the car has one wheel spinning while going nowhere? i.e. no forward motion at all?

Personally, I think that technique (driver skill and experience) is far more important than almost any mechanical attribute of a car. I see that mentioned by many people here who have exactly that. It comes from not just driving lots of miles over lots of years, but also from thinking through what you are doing for almost every second of that time behind the wheel.

There is a great deal of subtlety involved in driving well, and lots of thought goes into working out what one is doing wrong, as well as right - be it in towing a very heavy trailer, or just going for a quick fang along a mountain road.
Driving off-road is yet another such set of skills.
All these skills only come through practice and thought.

It comes down to the difference between drag racing (relatively simple set of skills) and grand touring racing as it was done in the olden days - on real public roads (a very complex skill set). Everyday driving is more akin to the latter, rather than the former ...

Compare the death rate in motor cycle racing between track racing and road racing. The Isle of Man TT claims about one life every year, IIRC. Deaths in ALL track racing events are almost unheard of these days. Does happen, just not very often.

As I said to Taza, mine seems to work very well indeed. Hugely different vehicle dynamics from my Impreza, which had no LSD in the rear ...
 
Ratbag said:
Gidday Taza & Thunder

Are you saying that the car has one wheel spinning while going nowhere? i.e. no forward motion at all?
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yep thats the one!
with my experience of driving both of my foresters one with an open diff the other in question with a lsd, i dont think it makes any difference offroad. the lsd is just not viscous enough to send real power to the wheel with grip in a offroad situation. thats just my opinion with my experience driving simular cars with different rear diffs.


and nachulava the 2gen xt turbo forester are still the best looking forester in my opion. looks great nice car, just remember the need for premium as venom said.

is your niece a p plater?
 
Ratbag said:
Are you saying that the car has one wheel spinning while going nowhere? i.e. no forward motion at all?
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thunder039 said:
yep thats the one!
with my experience of driving both of my foresters one with an open diff the other in question with a lsd, i dont think it makes any difference offroad. the lsd is just not viscous enough to send real power to the wheel with grip in a offroad situation. thats just my opinion with my experience driving simular cars with different rear diffs.
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It depends entirely on what you were trying to get the car to do at the time.

Some here expect their Foresters (etc) to do what a short wheelbase Landcruiser will do, and then get a surprise when they break their vehicle.

Our Foresters are not miniature trucks, and will easily break if one expects them to behave like one.

As Subaru has always said, these cars are meant as any road vehicles, NOT off-road vehicles.

Those are the parameters within which our vehicles are designed. I know that some here love to push past the design limits of our vehicles. That's OK, and very much a personal choice - not for me to say yea or nay to that choice.

However, one always has to remember always that Subaru have placed certain design limitations on the vehicles they design, based on their intended (by Subaru ... ) use.

One such design limitation is that the power train will give up rather than break wide open, BEFORE the design limitations are reached. i.e. strengthen the rear diff and you will break something else. Strengthen that "something else" and another component further up the line will break. When one has finished "fixing" all these design limitations ("parameters"), one finds that one is now sitting in a 1975 SWB Landcruiser ... :iconwink: :lol: :rotfl:
I would rather be sitting in my 2006 Forester ... ;) :cool:

I realise that there are always going to be widely differing circumstances and experiences with even just one make and model of car, and the same driver.
However, it has been my experience that the rear LSD in my Fox is very beneficial in the field, both on- and off-road.
 
Thunder, I agree a LSD alone isnt everything, however I would love one in my Foz.

RB, I agree good driving skills make up for more than driving aids like LSDs can but until I have those skills...I want an LSD lol.

So....
Had a look at the '05 XT...very nice.
https://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=5&R=12156770&__No=0&trecs=20&__sid=136C03A23EAE&__Ns=pCar_RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_Price_Decimal|1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__Qpb=1&__Nne=15&SearchAction=N&seot=1&__N=1216%201246%201247%201252%201282%204294963567%204294963801%20903%201621%204294739610&silo=1011

ABS, EBD, LSD, fog lights, Cruise, cloth interior, climate control incl A/C, mags.
Few blemishes on the paintwork, nice inside. Climate control is nice extra. Rear CV boots felt rough, like the rubber is deteriorating. Rubber on rear sway bar needs replacing. Underneath very clean and straight. No dents or oil leaks anywhere. Has new Pedders rear springs shocks, sits nicely, rides well.
Engine VERY strong, auto changes well.
Lot of feathering on all tyres (Michelins), esp front. Spare unused.
There was a whirring or whining noise, dont think was tyres, sounded more mechanical. I mentioned this to the owner, saying was possibly the diff. He mentioned a mechanic friend of a potential buyer had thought it was bearings, said about $400 to fix. Any thoughts on this?
He's going to book it in for a RWC and get back to us bout a price, then we'll get a RACV check.

Overall, I think it was very nice. I could get very jealous lol :lol:
 
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Update: Kiri got an RACV check done on the '03 NA Foz. Came back good and haggled a good deal, deposit put down Friday.

Turns out she could get an exemption for the Foz GT but not XT, so went with this one. Very nice clean car... :monkeydance:
 
Nachaluva said:
Update: Kiri got an RACV check done on the '03 NA Foz. Came back good and haggled a good deal, deposit put down Friday.

Turns out she could get an exemption for the Foz GT but not XT, so went with this one. Very nice clean car... :monkeydance:
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too bad about the xt...
im sure she will love the na, i know i do!
i hope she has plenty of trouble free miles with it
 
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