Bought a new Subaru

I purchased a 2011 Subaru Forester Premium (Pzev) yesterday. My Impreza went off-lease therefore, I had to make a decision. So, if anyone wants a 2008 Subaru Impreza hatchback (5 speed) with 10,200 miles on it, email Center Subaru in CT. The Impreza is Newport Blue Pearl and has nothing wrong with it.

The Forester came with the All-Weather Package, body molding and a bumper cover. It's Obsidian Black Pearl with a black interior. That should be fun when my yellow lab is rolling around the back seat. Hmm, it's still listed online:

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Reply to
kaboom
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Congratulations.

What's your opinion on leasing versus buying...pros cons?

Reply to
Tim Conway

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Hey Tim. For me, leasing got me over a job-change hump so to speak. I had a previous 2005 Impreza, which I had purchased, but the payment got a tad unwieldy when my workplace closed down. So I got rid of the

2005, even though I didn't want to, and I leased the 2008.

My personal Pro vs Con. Pro = Lower payments for a very decent, new car! And, yay, a warranty! Like I said, it got me over the hump while I had a smaller paycheck and, in the meantime, I saved to put a nice chunk down on the Forester. Con = For me, I worried a lot about damage to the car as I had to park 5-6 days a week in a grocery store parking lot. The things I've seen, Tim! That said, my worry paid off as the car is amazing. Only a mark on the front bumper from dear old Mom.

For most people, I think some of the Pros are a new vehicle that has a warranty for as long as you have it and then you get to hand it back with the choice to lease again or buy. It may also put you into a car that you might not be able to afford otherwise.

Cons = You've paid into a car that you don't get to keep. If you lease all the time, you'll always have a car payment. This knocks leasing off of most people's agendas. You have to be careful of damage and, most importantly, mileage! I think some people woefully underestimate the amount of mileage they'll be using.

It depends on what kind of person you are and what you expect from your vehicle. Many people tend to disparage leases, but I do think they have their place depending on what you need.

If you have anymore questions about leasing let me know.

kaboomie

Reply to
kaboom

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thanks

Reply to
Tim Conway

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Hey, where the heck are you, kaboomie? Litchfield Co.?

Used to go through there all the time.

Wasted.... ;) (Winstead...)

I used to live in Pittsfield MA and work in Bloomfield, and going 8 to 44 was a HELL of a lot easier than going across the Dexter Coffin....

Reply to
hachiroku

**Yes. Therefore you understand the need for a Subaru.
**Drove fast through Winsted, didn't ya? :) Only to escape, of course.
**Agreed. Used to do the 8 to 44 when I was driving from MI to CT and vice versa. It's rather scenic as well.

kaboomie

Reply to
kaboom

Oh, yeah. It snows up there!

Have you taken delivery yet?

Reply to
hachiroku

**Yes. I'd been checking their website regularly and I saw that they got a shipment on Friday. Drove in on Saturday around 10:30am and drove off the lot around 12:45pm with the Forester. It went really amazingly quick. The most important part was that I had a notebook filled with MSRP and invoice prices. I also made a spreadsheet containing prices + fees/downpayments/loan length/interest rate = monthly payments as a quick guide for myself. I could check their figures against my own. Everything was pretty painless. I did have to go return plates to the DMV this morning though :)

kaboomie

Reply to
kaboom

Congrats!

Is it also a manual?

Would love to hear about the new engine power and performance versus the old 2.5L in your Impreza 5 speed. I am thinking about a Forester 5 speed, myself. Currently drive a 2000 Impreza 2.2L Coupe automatic.

The new engine is supposed to be a more responsive dual overhead cam design, with timing chain, and hopefully free from any head gasket issues (I've heard this issue has been specifically addressed). Very tempting proposition, the new Forester!

Basia

Reply to
abjjkst

**Thanks. By the way, Center Subaru posted up my car and I'm amazed at how low the price is and the fact that they mislabeled the color as spark silver :) There's another manual 2.5i with 35K on the odometer and it's listed at $16,4XX. Mine has 10,215 and it's listed as $14,998. Both are the basic model. Now I feel a bit pissed that I went so out of my way to keep the car beautiful :-D
**Yes, it is. I rather enjoy driving a manual and you can't beat saving $1000. Though I did splurge a bit and get the Premium version. If you're in the US, I think you can wrangle a 2011 for under invoice.
**Funny you should ask this ;) I was emailing my brother-in-law and I told him: You're not going to be believe this but I think that the car is more sprightly and far more fun to drive than the Impreza! It's quicker and the speed is so subtle. You *will* drive over the speed limit completely unintentionally. I think it handles amazingly for its size and rides really well.

If I have a quibble, it's that I really feel nothing through the clutch pedal. It's disconcerting, but I haven't really driven the car a lot. I'm not used to it. The inside is similar enough to the Impreza that I'm not lost, but the Forester's chock full of goodies compared to it.

Neither of my parents ever said a word about my Impreza, good or bad, just another car blah blah (though they liked it's AWD capabilities). On the other hand, they have been very vocal in their admiration for the Forester. Seriously, Basia, if you can test drive one, do so!

Feel free to ask more questions about it if you want.

kaboomie

Reply to
kaboom

Thanks for the reply.

Makes me kind-a want one, ...even though just recently I wrote something like this:

I don't consider myself that old- Forester is just out of the question.

It is a good car, though it has some problems. The Impreza derived cage is rather weak, structurally, for an SUV, and this leads to all sorts of interior rattles, that can not be fixed. Putting a strut tower brace, in front, might help stiffen the chassis and prevent some of the rattles from developing.

Other than that, I think it a fine SUV. Go for it if you like SUV's.

I think a 5-speed manual could add some fun and change the standard SUV formula. I wonder if it could be lowered a bit for better handling, maybe just very low profile tires could do (?).

BTW, looks like my Impreze has blown a head gasket ;(

It does not overheat, yet, but after one long drive it completely emptied the coolant reservoir, then on another when I came to a stop I experienced the dreaded bubbles in the coolant reservoir, ...bubbles coming from underneath the radiator cap too. Some small amount of oily residue is present in the reservoir. Short drives seem to not affect it, and NAPA's testing kit, fluid, detects no carbohydrates in the coolant.

I didn't expect this to happen at less than 80k miles it being a 2.2L engine.

Should I try fix it if its really the gasket, or should I just trade it for a new Forester, that seems to be the question, on my mind.

Basia

Reply to
abjjkst

Wow! Sounds like a Scion tC.

That does NOT go out in the snow! :( (I don't even wanna THINK of it!)

Reply to
hachiroku

???

when neon did not sell but it's taller brother did due to better polish apparently FHI took notice of the trend. I like the looks, if I were in the states I might have put that on my shopping list (along with the STI springs)

I assume the big fat sway bars front and back are already on order, in case you hate body roll, that is.

Reply to
AD

Can you spell Michelin X-Ice 2 (XI2) ? Since you could not easily find Hakkapeliitta 7 and X-Ice North 2 (XIN2) in the states. That rubber should turn your tC into a next best thing to a snowplow.

For some reason tirerack folks prefer WS70 but I would think that XI2 has the deep snow plowing perf second to none (except HKPL7 and XIN2).

Reply to
AD
**Whoa! What a helluva storm! Just got power back today, it's been off since Saturday night.

**I remember you writing this and I thought: how old do you have to be? :) So on my breaks and lunches, I would sit in my car and watch Forester owners and I have to say, for my area Litchfield County, CT, other than very young drivers, the drivers ranged from late 20s to the elderly.
**So far, I really enjoy the handling. The steering is very responsive and it has a great turning radius. That surprised me, honestly. I thought it was going to be more, um, heavy feeling? More like a bigger SUV, perhaps.

Being put to the test Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning: The car was Bee-you-tee-ful in the snow. Seriously, aside from the a-hole drivers that make me nervous in bad weather, the car put a smile on my face. The weather here was a horror, I think we got about 20 inches. The Saturday ride home was a joke, people can't drive worth a hoo-ha. Granted, it was a blizzard and very slippery snow but people would over accelerate or over brake and, thusly, be all over the road.

The Forester was flawless. The next morning was me charging through a thick blanket of snow with a "Wheeee!" look on my face. The parking lot wasn't plowed when I got there so I waited a bit but they had a Bobcat trying to plow a massive store parking lot. Cripes. I finally just shoved the car into my favorite space and hopped out. The front end was up in the air :-D cuz the snow was so chunky. On my lunch, I was sitting in my car having my sandwich and a guy and his kid walked by the end of my car. The dad looked at my car and said: Now, that's how you do it. :)

**Test drive a 2011! Or wait for a 2012. They are going under invoice on the 2011s if you can find a manual one. They didn't seem to want to budge on the automatics. I bet you could get a nice 2.5X for $19-20K.

I've never had a car that's garnered so many comments and compliments from my parents as this one. My dad loves it. I was watching TV and he walked up to me and said: you know, I really love your car. :) I told him I'd take him on a drive but then the storm hit so we rain checked it.

kaboomie

Reply to
kaboom

I have a s00b and an '89 Mazda. The tC does NOT go out in the snow!!!!!!!!!

Reply to
hachiroku

Mine went out Sat night and came back on Monday afternoon....

Some are still out.

Reply to
hachiroku

Replaced the 10 year old radiator cap and everything went to normal, ...for now at least. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Basia

Reply to
abjjkst

I did that many times in my 95 legacy without a hitch to claim the space that had been partially filled by plowed snow. I learned that then opening the door into plowed snow can be bad for it. I figured it coudl ust push the snow out of hte way, and it does, but it gets scraped up in the process with all the sand, rocks, and salt in that plowed snow. It started with some light scrapes at the bottom, then created bare metal, and being that salt and crud was able to get in there, it wasn't long before I had rust there. So be careful of beating on snow with your door, it can scrape the paint off and cause real rust. Not saying you were, but sometimes parking on top of the snow bank leads to it.

Just my two cents.

Bill

Reply to
weelliott

That's what SUVs are for, right?

I almost forgot this, as so many people drive them like retirees, and in-fact many are retirees. The Ford Explorer debacle and rollover prone design, killed the perception of SUV fun, I guess.

BTW, reminded me of some early SUV commercial, from the mid 1990s, where a young guy is at a toy store with his son, and he discovers something for himself, ...a real Isuzu Trooper on the shelf. Nice :)))

Have fun, Basia

Reply to
abjjkst

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