- May 29, 2003
- 18,536
- 5
- 0
Looks like my '99 Tahoe with 155k miles on it is on it's last leg now with a crack in it's block and the repairs costing more than it's worth.
I've been planning on getting the new Forester since I heard about it awhile back. I've taken it for a test drive 2 times now and it seems like the best overall pick for me and my wants and needs.
I'm just wondering if there's anything for any owners that's become known after owning it that you wished you knew before hand.
Those little things are the things that can drive you nuts on a vehicle you plan on keeping for 10 plus years like I like to do.
A few examples of this would be with my current Tahoe, the AC vents annoy the crap out of me. You can't move them in a spot that doesn't blow on you if you're the front passenger and you can't close off vents, this is a big annoyance when you take a long road trip.
The back windows only go down about 1/4 of the way, this is simply due to poor design and the wheel well being in the way.
So I'm looking for anything big or small that you love or hate about it so I can hopefully make a better overall informed decision before I pull the trigger on it.
FWIW I'm looking at the "premium" package and adding in the aux input for the radio if that's not included.
Update: 10/28/08
Got a 2009 Forester tonight.
It has the premium and all weather packages.
It's a silver exterior color with black/charcoal interior.
It's exactly what I wanted and at invoice to.
They gave me $3k for my old and beat Tahoe which was what really made me go with this dealer over the others in town.
I only drove it home really besides the test drive on this specific one so hard to give much of any impression that differs from my test drives to date.
I'm going to be heading down to FL any day now and will be taking this though, so I'll be able to really find out quick what the pro's and cons of it are.
:beer: for me!
This is my first brand new vehicle besides my motorcycle so I'm pretty happy right now.
When I calculated what I spent in gas on my Tahoe versus what this will cost for the same miles per month it actually evens out, which is really nice.
Update: 12/26/08
I've had the Forester now for 2 months and have put 4,600 miles on it so far.
I did 1 looong 10 hour each way trip to FL and have done a lot of daily commuting and some light off roading as well.
Here's my opinions, praises, and gripes to date.
I'll start with the cons.
There are only a few cons/gripes I have so far and they're mostly minor.
The mirrors in the sun visors have no lights. To me, a non-issue but my wife doesn't like that. Also there is no light in the glove box and there are no reading lights for the back seat passengers.
Also the visor has no extender in it to block the sun when it's at that perfectly annoying spot directly to your left. Having had this feature in my last vehicle, this one really bugs me. I need to find some aftermarket solution for this.
Also for the back seat passengers, there are no handles to help with getting in or out of the Forester and as a result people tend to grab for the headrest of the front seats for assistance and end up yanking them all the way up. It's enough to concern me that one day someone is going to snap my headrest off.
The placement of the emergency brake is a bit bothersome for long trips as my knee/leg tends to rest right up against it, but this might not be an issue for someone that's not as tall as I am (I'm 6'3').
Really that's it for gripes.
The pros.
I think the fit and finish is top notch, though I was a bit disappointed to realize that the dash isn't soft touch but just made to look like it, it does blend perfectly with the parts of the car that are soft touch though, such as the steering wheel.
The sun roof, holy hell I've never seen a sun roof so large in a vehicle before, this thing is huge! The only downside is it does cause a bit of wind noise, which isn't to bothersome if the cover is closed, but when it's slid back, it's pretty noticeable.
The lights are clear and bright, it's a huge improvement on my last vehicle, my low beams seem as bright as my highs did on my Tahoe and my highs seem to turn night into day. I was a bit surprised that none of the tail lights are LED, I could have sworn I read something before about all tail lights becoming LED before some year, but maybe I'm thinking of something else. This doesn't bother me though and is probably a good thing since replacements will likely be less expensive.
The rear cargo area is well thought out. I have the side cargo nets which really come in handy for placing items such as grocery bags that have items in them that you don't want to have rolling all around, like 2 liters of soda. There are also bag hooks just above the cargo nets that you can latch the bags onto, this also comes in very handy. On the left side there is a 12v outlet, which I haven't had a need for to date, but I'm sure would be very nice to have for things like tailgating or camping.
Under the rear cargo area mat I have (I think an upgraded) storage area that sits above the spare tire, this also is very well thought out use of space. I use it to store things like paper towels, window cleaner, jumper cables and a 12v tire pump.
The seats are cloth, but not cheap feeling in any way. They're tightly woven with some kind of nylon like material that looks like it'll repel stains for years to come.
I opted for the rubber mats, which are very handy with the red Georgia clay that is around here and it was well worth the extra $40.
I also got a "ipod" tray for the center console/armrest area that's basically just a tray that an MP3 player (in my case my iphone) can sit in while being plugged into the aux input jack that's located below it in the center console. It's a bit more of form over function though since it does a nice job of keeping your device hooked up into the aux input and charged with the 12v outlet that's down there also but it's really a pain in the ass to change tracks since I have to bend my arm in a awkward position just to reach it. To me it'd have made more sense to have the aux input somewhere up front below the radio since it's much easier for me to just reach in front of me while driving in order to change a track.
MPG:
I've kept a close eye on my mpg as this was a pretty large factor in getting this and getting rid of my Tahoe. While it's good, it's not as great as I hoped for.
I do mostly city driving, and I get a decent 22MPG over all with that, which is OK, but I would have really been happier if I was getting 25MPG.
As for highway, I was kind of surprised that at anything over 75MPH is when the Forester gets the worst MPG. On my long trip down to FL, I was getting closer to 18MPG when I was going above 80MPH, which hurts when you're driving 1,200 miles round trip.
I once filled up on a trip over to TN from GA and reset my tripometer, which in turn resets the built in MPG computer, I was on back roads that went for a long time with no stops or traffic and was able to cruise at a steady 55mph for an extended period of time. In this one situation I was averaging up to 33MPG. But as soon as I got to an area where I had to stop and then start back up again it killed that.
Light off roading:
I took the Forester on a gravel road that's pretty worn out by my house and pushed it a bit just to see how it'd feel with a lose surface and the AWD and I must say, it felt very competent. I did get it lose enough to flash the "loss of traction" light, which was fun.
Also, it's been raining a lot here lately so I've screwed around a bit with seeing how it'd handle the wet conditions. I was at a stop at an incline the other day and when I had a clearing, I gunned it a bit just to see if I could break lose the tires at all and found it interesting that the front tires did spin out just for a second before the rears kicked in more and I took off. This makes me wonder if this AWD system, like many others tends to really be more of a FWD that kicks in the rears when needed.
But overall I am still very happy with my purchase. I feel pretty comfortable also that this will be a vehicle that will last me for many miles and years (hopefully better than my Tahoe).
With a baby on the way also, I feel that it's a safe vehicle and feel assured with it's more advanced standard safety features like the AWD, 4 wheel disc anti lock brakes and full front and side airbags.
Edit: 12/26/08
One correction, my rear seats do have handles above the doors but I guess it'd be more helpful to rear passengers if it were in front and above them instead of more directly above where their shoulder would be if they're sitting back.
I also forgot to mention one more pro, at least in the Premium and above models, the rear seats can recline, which helps the comfort level of the rear seat passengers.
I've been planning on getting the new Forester since I heard about it awhile back. I've taken it for a test drive 2 times now and it seems like the best overall pick for me and my wants and needs.
I'm just wondering if there's anything for any owners that's become known after owning it that you wished you knew before hand.
Those little things are the things that can drive you nuts on a vehicle you plan on keeping for 10 plus years like I like to do.
A few examples of this would be with my current Tahoe, the AC vents annoy the crap out of me. You can't move them in a spot that doesn't blow on you if you're the front passenger and you can't close off vents, this is a big annoyance when you take a long road trip.
The back windows only go down about 1/4 of the way, this is simply due to poor design and the wheel well being in the way.
So I'm looking for anything big or small that you love or hate about it so I can hopefully make a better overall informed decision before I pull the trigger on it.
FWIW I'm looking at the "premium" package and adding in the aux input for the radio if that's not included.
Update: 10/28/08
Got a 2009 Forester tonight.
It has the premium and all weather packages.
It's a silver exterior color with black/charcoal interior.
It's exactly what I wanted and at invoice to.
They gave me $3k for my old and beat Tahoe which was what really made me go with this dealer over the others in town.
I only drove it home really besides the test drive on this specific one so hard to give much of any impression that differs from my test drives to date.
I'm going to be heading down to FL any day now and will be taking this though, so I'll be able to really find out quick what the pro's and cons of it are.
:beer: for me!
This is my first brand new vehicle besides my motorcycle so I'm pretty happy right now.
When I calculated what I spent in gas on my Tahoe versus what this will cost for the same miles per month it actually evens out, which is really nice.
Update: 12/26/08
I've had the Forester now for 2 months and have put 4,600 miles on it so far.
I did 1 looong 10 hour each way trip to FL and have done a lot of daily commuting and some light off roading as well.
Here's my opinions, praises, and gripes to date.
I'll start with the cons.
There are only a few cons/gripes I have so far and they're mostly minor.
The mirrors in the sun visors have no lights. To me, a non-issue but my wife doesn't like that. Also there is no light in the glove box and there are no reading lights for the back seat passengers.
Also the visor has no extender in it to block the sun when it's at that perfectly annoying spot directly to your left. Having had this feature in my last vehicle, this one really bugs me. I need to find some aftermarket solution for this.
Also for the back seat passengers, there are no handles to help with getting in or out of the Forester and as a result people tend to grab for the headrest of the front seats for assistance and end up yanking them all the way up. It's enough to concern me that one day someone is going to snap my headrest off.
The placement of the emergency brake is a bit bothersome for long trips as my knee/leg tends to rest right up against it, but this might not be an issue for someone that's not as tall as I am (I'm 6'3').
Really that's it for gripes.
The pros.
I think the fit and finish is top notch, though I was a bit disappointed to realize that the dash isn't soft touch but just made to look like it, it does blend perfectly with the parts of the car that are soft touch though, such as the steering wheel.
The sun roof, holy hell I've never seen a sun roof so large in a vehicle before, this thing is huge! The only downside is it does cause a bit of wind noise, which isn't to bothersome if the cover is closed, but when it's slid back, it's pretty noticeable.
The lights are clear and bright, it's a huge improvement on my last vehicle, my low beams seem as bright as my highs did on my Tahoe and my highs seem to turn night into day. I was a bit surprised that none of the tail lights are LED, I could have sworn I read something before about all tail lights becoming LED before some year, but maybe I'm thinking of something else. This doesn't bother me though and is probably a good thing since replacements will likely be less expensive.
The rear cargo area is well thought out. I have the side cargo nets which really come in handy for placing items such as grocery bags that have items in them that you don't want to have rolling all around, like 2 liters of soda. There are also bag hooks just above the cargo nets that you can latch the bags onto, this also comes in very handy. On the left side there is a 12v outlet, which I haven't had a need for to date, but I'm sure would be very nice to have for things like tailgating or camping.
Under the rear cargo area mat I have (I think an upgraded) storage area that sits above the spare tire, this also is very well thought out use of space. I use it to store things like paper towels, window cleaner, jumper cables and a 12v tire pump.
The seats are cloth, but not cheap feeling in any way. They're tightly woven with some kind of nylon like material that looks like it'll repel stains for years to come.
I opted for the rubber mats, which are very handy with the red Georgia clay that is around here and it was well worth the extra $40.
I also got a "ipod" tray for the center console/armrest area that's basically just a tray that an MP3 player (in my case my iphone) can sit in while being plugged into the aux input jack that's located below it in the center console. It's a bit more of form over function though since it does a nice job of keeping your device hooked up into the aux input and charged with the 12v outlet that's down there also but it's really a pain in the ass to change tracks since I have to bend my arm in a awkward position just to reach it. To me it'd have made more sense to have the aux input somewhere up front below the radio since it's much easier for me to just reach in front of me while driving in order to change a track.
MPG:
I've kept a close eye on my mpg as this was a pretty large factor in getting this and getting rid of my Tahoe. While it's good, it's not as great as I hoped for.
I do mostly city driving, and I get a decent 22MPG over all with that, which is OK, but I would have really been happier if I was getting 25MPG.
As for highway, I was kind of surprised that at anything over 75MPH is when the Forester gets the worst MPG. On my long trip down to FL, I was getting closer to 18MPG when I was going above 80MPH, which hurts when you're driving 1,200 miles round trip.
I once filled up on a trip over to TN from GA and reset my tripometer, which in turn resets the built in MPG computer, I was on back roads that went for a long time with no stops or traffic and was able to cruise at a steady 55mph for an extended period of time. In this one situation I was averaging up to 33MPG. But as soon as I got to an area where I had to stop and then start back up again it killed that.
Light off roading:
I took the Forester on a gravel road that's pretty worn out by my house and pushed it a bit just to see how it'd feel with a lose surface and the AWD and I must say, it felt very competent. I did get it lose enough to flash the "loss of traction" light, which was fun.
Also, it's been raining a lot here lately so I've screwed around a bit with seeing how it'd handle the wet conditions. I was at a stop at an incline the other day and when I had a clearing, I gunned it a bit just to see if I could break lose the tires at all and found it interesting that the front tires did spin out just for a second before the rears kicked in more and I took off. This makes me wonder if this AWD system, like many others tends to really be more of a FWD that kicks in the rears when needed.
But overall I am still very happy with my purchase. I feel pretty comfortable also that this will be a vehicle that will last me for many miles and years (hopefully better than my Tahoe).
With a baby on the way also, I feel that it's a safe vehicle and feel assured with it's more advanced standard safety features like the AWD, 4 wheel disc anti lock brakes and full front and side airbags.
Edit: 12/26/08
One correction, my rear seats do have handles above the doors but I guess it'd be more helpful to rear passengers if it were in front and above them instead of more directly above where their shoulder would be if they're sitting back.
I also forgot to mention one more pro, at least in the Premium and above models, the rear seats can recline, which helps the comfort level of the rear seat passengers.
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