What vehicle would you buy if your Subaru died?

captncruise

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Joined
Jul 2, 2009
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32
Location
Kilaben Bay NSW
My 2002 Forester is showing sign of its age. It has done 165K and recently I have had to replace clutch, hydraulic clutch cylinders and now CV joint and drive shaft. All up around $5k in addition to regular servicing. There is a very slight oil leak in head gasket which has been quoted $4000 to repair.

It has had very little offroad on good dirt roads. Have towed a small camper trailer.

If you were buying a new vehicle what would you go for?
 
1. A new Forester, although I'd probably wait for the diesel model to come out in Australia next year
2. VW Tiguan TDI
3. If I didn't live in the inner city and could therefore have a bigger car: Mitsubishi Pajero CDI
3. If I had lots of money: BMW X3 3.0d
4. If I had lots and lots of money: Range Rover Sport TDV8
 
$4k:eek: get a few more quotes. you could get a complete recon for that.


A. landcruiser. i actually thinking of buying one soonish if the banks are stupid enough to give me some money:biggrin:
 
i would get a big F**k off landcruiser.
not looking good for me then, i got an 2001 foz with 165 000 km on it, already replaced clutch and that broke the bank but if all that other stuff happens then im screwed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I'm with eden on that one, get some more quotes.
For 4k :huh: :eek: it would want to be gold plated for that price.

As for what I'd replace my Forry with, I'd have a good look at the diesel Forry 1st.
My 2nd choice could possibly be a Mitsubishi Pajero CDI, or Navara diesel

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Yes a recon short motor for $4000 but what else is going to happen to the drive train, suspension etc? I would love to wait for the diesel but do I have that much time?
 
Dont forget the New Outback Diesel which is available as of September. I saw a truckload of them and liberty's on the road last week and they look good.

The misses had a couple of VW Golf in the past from new (So I'd be worried about the Tiguan) and they gey really expensive to keep on he road after 100,000km plus the electrics are unreliable.

During Wheels annual Car Of the Year 2008 the drive shaft collopsed during standard slalom run testing causing it to grind to a halt.
 
Good to see a couple recommended the Pajero, it's what I bought after the Forester :)
 
Tiguans are good, but no luggage space.

As for the head gasket leaks, this is a common problem with EJ2.5 motors built between 1998 and 2002. I had mine replaced plus new timing belt for about $1800 (obviously not by a subaru dealer at that price).
 
Another L-Series. They may be underpowered on the road, but off road mine is like a tractor. It just keeps plodding along slowly, barely stopping for anything.

Beigewagon.
 
What? Are there other cars on the market? :lol:

Going by that my answer is obvious.

If there were no Subaru's and I wasn't going offroad, Honda Accord like dads, Lexus, Aurion, something Japanese
If there were no Subaru's, A Navara, Pajero, Landcruiser/Prado, BT-50, or Hilux.

I love these things though:

26770.jpg


Absolute beast of a car. My uncle's got one. Unstoppable, and that Diesel V8 is :rock:. And as he proved when he was driving it whilst I was staying there, it cruises nicely at 130 :lildevil:
 
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captncruise said:
My 2002 Forester is showing sign of its age. It has done 165K and recently I have had to replace clutch, hydraulic clutch cylinders and now CV joint and drive shaft. All up around $5k in addition to regular servicing. There is a very slight oil leak in head gasket which has been quoted $4000 to repair.

It has had very little offroad on good dirt roads. Have towed a small camper trailer.

If you were buying a new vehicle what would you go for?
Click to expand...

Well after 165 000k's - a few items will require replacement. Thats pretty good life for a clutch, cv's and dfive shaft in my opinion. Im at 200k with my clutch and i fear the miniscule amount of plate that must be left atm... I consider that after so many k's, that these items will wear out and im impressed with just how long they have gone without any troubles. Hence im more than happy to throw a new clutch and what ever else because the donk and box and diffs, and body, and suspension are in great nic.

I do think $5k for what u have listed is way too much: clutch $1000 fitted; cv's and shaft end to end for about $400 from memory (OS ordered). not sure about the hydraulic clutch cylinders - but still sounds very high to me - at that i too would be pissed.

For some reason the word Subaru seems to conjour images of BMW to mechanics - dont know why because parts are reasonable price and they are sooooo easy to work on... If in doubt walk out.

Other vehicles:
XT
SS ute (for about 6 months)- just because the little bogan in me has never been sated.
 
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Let's see, if my Subie died, I'd get a Durango, then realize that I couldn't afford gas. So I'd trade it for a BMW, but I'd hate the car's little flaws and the water pump would go out, so I'd get an Explorer. But of course, the Explorer's transmission would fail, so I'd be forced to go back to the bmw.

Oh wait, that actually happened.
 
One car that is not to be sneezed at is the Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel.......
Honestly - I kid u not.

I once rented one of the older models on a holiday in the tropics. I wasn't supposed to take it out of the Cairns metropolitan area but I ended up taking the thing right up into Lakefield National Park in Cape York. This involved deeply rutted roads, loose gravel 1:3 graded climbs, creeks & river crossings and loose sand. Aircon was at full bore the whole time with 40 degree temps outside. Man, if I had've broken that car there it would have cost me a bomb.

I would have to say - this car appeared to enjoy everything we threw at it.
 
Beigewagon said:
Another L-Series. They may be underpowered on the road, but off road mine is like a tractor.
Click to expand...

Hear Hear! But I'll be swapping all the goodies from mine into the next one as I'm expecting the body to give way to fatigue from too much offroading! That and its got 400,000+ on the clock already...

Cheers

Bennie
 
Thanks guys I am glad I got some replies. My main problem with CV joint was that I was in Darwin and the local after market cv didn't fit? So I was forced to get OEM from Subaru.
I really do love the car and will probably stick with it until I get back home for Chrstmas. Hopefully the Diesel will be available soon and I will jump to that.
 
captncruise said:
Hopefully the Diesel will be available soon and I will jump to that.
Click to expand...

That would be nice, but a real, yet small feature, that puts me off a new subi is the fact that they now come with window frames. Not having window frames is one of the features that I love about my L - particularly during summer when I cruise around with the window down :D

Guess I could get a diesel halfcut when they become available - then shove it into the L :twisted:

Cheers

Bennie
 
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