Escape to the country
They’re not common, but the Subaru Forester’s combination of off-road ability and rally-derived handling make it a beguiling package, especially if you live in the country. Rob Bradshaw reports.
Often, the best cars aren’t the most obvious. The Subaru Forester is a case in point. Launched in 1997, the original Forester was a quirky-looking beast, but developed an enthusiastic following thanks to its Impreza-derived underpinnings, sharp grip and rewarding steering. The raised ride height and four-wheel drive made it a big hit with farmers and rural dwellers, where it offered the comfort and refinement of a standard estate car, but with enough mud-plugging ability to cope easily with dirt tracks and harsh winters.
Where the first-generation Forester fell down was in terms of fit and finish, with harsh interior plastics, an uninspiring cabin and corrosion problems, especially around the rear wheelarches. Its awkward looks and petrol-only engine line-up also didn’t do it any favours in the used market.
In 2002, Subaru introduced a secondgeneration Forester that answered quite a few of these criticisms. The new ‘SG’ had softer, more European-flavoured styling and a vastly improved cabin, with higher quality materials and softer plastics to help it appeal more to the continental market, even if it was still significantly behind most western manufacturers in terms of perceived quality.
There was still no diesel (that wouldn’t arrive until Subaru developed its first Boxer diesel for the third-generation Forester in 2010), but it did come with a choice of 2.0-litre flat-four engines, either normally-aspirated or turbocharged. The naturally-aspirated version was lively with 155bhp, while the turbo model had 174bhp. The model range was fairly simple, with X and X+ being the standard trim level, and S-turbo the ‘hot’ model, which also came with leather trim and a host of goodies.
By far the Forester’s most appealing feature was the way it drove. Under the skin, the platform was largely identical to that of the 2001 ‘Bug-eye’ Impreza, a car that was renowned for its tenacious grip, exceptional steering and blistering performance. Although the Forester had a raised ride height and slightly more supple suspension, it was still a truly rewarding car to drive, with wonderful chassis balance and smooth, linear power delivery, matched by the characteristic warble of Subaru’s traditional flat-four Boxer engines. The low centre of gravity – a characteristic of the Boxer units – was a further aid to the car’s handling, and compared to any other crossover or soft-roader, the Forester is leagues ahead. Providing you can live with the running costs of a petrol engine, it makes a terrific family transporter.
Two gearboxes were offered – a fivespeed manual or a four-speed automatic, both of which may seem fairly old tech by today’s standards, but are perfectly adequate for the job and also technologically straightforward, making them easy to repair and maintain. Manual models also came with a dual range transmission for off-road work, and despite its relatively low-slung chassis (compared to bigger 4x4s) the Forester is more than capable tackling wet fields, hillsides and farm tracks.
In 2004, the Forester received a light facelift, with improved trim levels and a widened model range. The S-turbo was dropped and the three new trim levels
miles, so it’s important to check this has been carried out. Also, the turbos themselves can pack up with age and use, and although not particularly hard to replace, they’re expensive. Excessive oil consumption and/or exhaust smoke are early indicators of problems.
Moving on to the later 2.5-litre engines, these were a thorn in Subaru’s side for a while. The earliest examples were prone to head gasket failure – the factory gaskets came with a coating that deteriorated over time, especially if regular coolant changes weren’t observed. This led to oil seeping between the surfaces of the head and the block, which would develop into a significant oil or even coolant leak. A redesigned multi-layer steel gasket was developed and fitted from late 2005 cars, and quite a few earlier examples had their gaskets replaced under warranty, so it pays to check whether or not this has been done – especially on cars with between 70,000 and 120,000 miles, which fail most frequently.
There was also a fairly well documented piston wear issue on early examples, which was highlighted more in the Impreza than the Forester. Under extremely hard use, the pistons would collide with the liners, causing them to fracture – an issue that prompted Subaru to issue a service bulletin to its dealer network to reflash all ECUS, to bring the rev limiter in 300rpm sooner. In Subaru’s own words: “It was recognised very early that a modification to the fuel cut-off parameters at maximum engine revolutions was required to reduce impact stresses to the piston land area, therefore an ECU map rewrite was introduced on all production vehicles. Also vehicles held in UK stock were modified and a Service Campaign was issued to the UK Subaru network for vehicles already placed in the market.”
The company went to great lengths to point out that the 2.5 turbo was designed from the outset to run on higher octane fuel, and that with 97RON fuel in the tank the piston problems did not manifest themselves. Nevertheless, thanks to a huge outcry from Impreza STI and WRX owners on social media, many engines were replaced under warranty. Subaru insisted that each would be considered on a case-by-case basis and more claims were turned down than honoured after the company’s engineers discovered that vehicles had been modified, been used for track use or had their ECUS tweaked independently to deliver extra power. This, of course, was more of a problem with the performance-oriented Impreza, but some examples of the Forester suffered from issues created by piston imbalance, so it pays to check with Subaru whether or not the ECU remap has been carried out.
If all of the above sounds a bit ominous, it really shouldn’t put you off, as the problems affect far fewer cars than those that are completely unaffected. Plus the vast majority of Foresters have seen far less abuse than performancespec Imprezas, meaning the likelihood of a major problem is quite small, and in service the Boxer engines are generally extremely reliable, certainly compared to the vast majority of modern diesels.