My 1998 Jeep Cherokee qualifies for the voucher. Do I get the Forester or the Outback auto. No serious off roading. Is the Outback worth the price difference, or should I wait for the 2010s ( the voucher is good till end ofDecember.
Mark
I've owned and driven both Outbacks and now a Forester. Love the Forester myself, but my husband and I actually do a significant amount of offroad driving. (We've got skid plates on the bottom.) Truthfully, however, either the Forester or the Outback can handle anything up to moderately difficult offroad driving if the driver is skilled. Both have a raised chassis; both have most of the same engine and transmission features. I'd suggest taking both out for a drive and just buying whichever works best for you.
Whichever model you choose, I'd wait til late 2009 if you can, then buy a 2009. You should get as good a deal as you'll ever get on a Subaru. :-)
I assume that that's an US government sponsored program. I don't know too much about the program, since I'm in Canada, but I would assume that they would want you buying North American manufactured vehicles wouldn't they? I think the Outbacks produced in Illinois, but not the Foresters.
I might be wrong about the buy American requirements. If I am, then get either type. I think the Outback might have better cargo space in the back, while the Forester might have a more comfortable upright seating position.
Yousuf Khan
My wife went to the Subaru dealer to order a Forrester XT the other day, because their current leasing contract is running out in August. Unfortunately, she learned that delivery here to Germany will not take place in less than 4 months. (Strange "crisis", is it not?) I don't know whether delivery to America is faster. Anyway, it might be a good idea to make sure the voucher does not depend on delivery date, even indirectly (i.e. because you could not get rid of your old car before delivery of the new one.) and to fix that date early.
I stand corrected.
Yousuf Khan
I am pretty sure that the cash for clunkers doesn't say anything about the domestic parts content or manufacturer of the vehicle. It only cares about the mileage of the new vehicle versus the old one. It is trying to get cars that pollute more off the road, and jumpstart the sagging automotive side of the economy. All auto makers are doing horribly. Even Toyota has taken loans from the Japanese government. Ironically(since we are on a subie forum) the only major manufacturer in the black right now is Subaru.
As for the off-road comments earlier, I bought my car because of my experience in my frien'ds 96 outback. He worked as a ranger in NM in Carson National Forest, and had a 25 mile drive down a dirt road to the trailhead where he accessed his ranger station. When I went out to see him the first time I was dropped off by a guy in an old chrysler and we were going abotu 10-15 mph the whole way down this road. It literally took hours. On the way to town later that week my friend had the outback up to about 50 on the same road. We'd hit ruts and even a few stones the size of a baseball with no reall drama. Not even the sound of a whack resonating through the car like I had suspected. You felt the impact, but the car just kept on going. In 2002, his car was still runnign strong at 155k miles. So I decided to get a 95, and actually now that my 95 has topped 242k, I just bought a 98 with 120k to replace it with.
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