Ask the Car People.SM


Subaru Forester (up to 2005) - READ ONLY

18028 messages,  Last post on Nov 02, 2006 at 7:19 AM

You are in the Subaru Forester Forum.

What is this discussion about? Subaru Forester, Wagon



Messages Page 477 of 1804

#4753 of 18028 trade in value of the forester by megs50

Feb 22, 2002 (11:13 am)

I live in Texas and was going to trade my 1998 forester, with only 34,000 miles no damage, they only wanted to give me 7500 for it. Said it has no value in the south. Up north it is well liked but for the southern states , they can hardly see new they said let alone used. I talked to six or seven dealers, from Subaru, to Ford to toyota, to chevy. No takers, I was really surprised when I found this car had no real trade in value, even with all the extras this has in it.
I was and still am shocked to hear they didn't want to give me not even Half of Blue book price

#4754 of 18028 Re /direct/view/.eec8b70.ee94fe5/4748 by lilbluewgn02

Feb 22, 2002 (11:23 am)

I also had a BMW 2002..bought it new in 1974, and immediately put 9000 miles on it on a 9 week cross country jaunt with the ex...no problems except in Denver, got it fixed on off we went...she ended up with the car...should have never taught her to drive stick! I liked that car...fun to drive
 
Yet another Serge

#4755 of 18028 Coworkers update by varmint

Feb 22, 2002 (11:54 am)

Update on the problem my coworker asked me about.
 
The mechanic at the dealer investigated the "clunk" heard while at idle. He determined that the problem was an engine mount. The engine mount "did not fit correctly" and they have ordered a replacement part. I have to assume that the incorrect fitting resulted in damage to the part (or they installed the wrong mount at the factory?).
 
Anyway, we'll have to wait a while and see what happens. I'm a bit suspicious of the engine mount theory. I would have thought that such a problem would have made itself known at higher engine speeds, not at idle.
 
She's okay with the repairs. They are being covered under warranty. Her only complaint is with the rental car co. which gave her a Kia Sephia.

#4756 of 18028 megs50 by odd1

Feb 22, 2002 (12:43 pm)

You might need to sell it on your own. That is a lot lower than what I saw them being offered for in the paper for Austin. I haven't seen a single used Forester in the paper here in Houston in the month I've been living here. It must be the outdoor lifestyle around Austin, that makes Foresters more common there, since Houston is 400% larger.
 
Your other option for selling it depending on where you live is to use CarMax. I don't know how they operate but, from what I read on the net people seem to like their way of doing business.
 
There is also the option of just keeping it. If you are putting less than 10,000 miles a year on it, you could go a number of years without a car payment:^).I'm guessing from a previous post this is at the end of its lease. You may be able to negotiate a better deal on the amount remaining if they don't want it. Do you have to finance it thru Subaru if you keep it? Or can you use a credit union?

#4757 of 18028 Resale value by bsvoller

Feb 22, 2002 (1:05 pm)

Wow, that surprises me too. Without knowing the details for your Forester, I put your mileage on an 'S', loaded, and Denver's zipcode into Edmund's resale value estimator, and it came back with a retail value of nearly $15k. That's a lot closer to what I would expect, based on what I've seen around here.
 
I bet the dealers think they can steal it from you and sell it out of state for a womping profit.
 
Do you know someone who'd park it in front of his place where Forester's are common (and cherished) ? That's what I'd do for $7500 !
 
(Heck I bought my wife's Sentra, 3 years old with 48k on it, loaded for $7200 a few years back, and it's a nice little car...)

#4758 of 18028 Trade in value by kens

Feb 22, 2002 (2:16 pm)

$7500 sounds very low, even if it's not a popular vehicle there. If I understand correctly, you were looking to trade-in, right? As you've probably found out from the other posts here, you can command a better value by selling it yourself.
 
I wonder if you can sell across state lines by putting your vehicle up on eBay?
 
For reference, I asked my local dealer in CA what I could get for my 98 Forester S with about 50K miles on a trade-in. I think I was quoted just about KBB.
 
Ken

#4759 of 18028 Regarding parts by bj02176

Feb 22, 2002 (5:08 pm)

Back in the eighties I had an accident with my subaru, can't remember which model. It happened in April, I waited till after Jul 4th weekend for the parts to arrive. It was a lackluster car, hesitated, loved the orange dash. After it was fixed it was never right, horn would go off in rainy weather, etc. I swore I would neve buy another subaru, that is what keeps me from considering a Forester. Have a Liberty now, not a very safe vehicle, put together well though. also have had a Tribute and a CRV, Tribute has reliablity problems but it is a very good vehicle with bad gas mileage. I would go with the CRV, it was good in the snow, got good gas mileage and was reliable.

#4760 of 18028 Regarding "Regarding parts" by goldencouple1

Feb 22, 2002 (7:41 pm)

Respectfully: if the CR-V is good in snow, the Forester is great in snow. And the 80's, if my math is right, is as much as 22 years ago or as little as 13 years ago. A lot has happened in 13 to 22 years. I had two Toyotas in the 80's. I had accidents with both of them. Neither was all that grand by present standards -- small, slowish. After the accidents neither was the same -- might've had something to do with getting T-boned. But they were both fun and pretty reliable compared to American cars of the period. Forester is a great car, at least in my opinion, and numerous soruces tend to agree with me.

#4761 of 18028 Changes since the 80s by jei

Feb 23, 2002 (4:53 am)

I'd echo goldencouple's comment. In 1985, I chose a Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD wagon over the Subaru Loyale & Honda Civic 4WD wagons. IIRC, the Subaru pricing was higher when equalized for equipment & options, the seating & ride less comfortable, fit & finish not as good. The Toyota's seats & handling were grand, transmission & clutch smooth, and the engine underpowered. I loved it despite its few faults. I was fortunate not to have any accidents, and my Toyota lasted 14 years & 280,000 largely trouble free miles. When its head gasket went, I replaced rather than rebuild. The rust had gone too far.
 
In 1999, I compared the Outback, Forester, CRV, RAV4 + used Camry wagons. Couldn't afford a 4Runner. Despite my strong leaning toward Toyotas, the Forester won hands down in the utility, comfort & pleasure-to-drive categories. As of 92,000 miles, its reliability has been very good although not as trouble free as my old Toyota. Still, this is more than offset by the car's overall delightful character. Parts are readily available here in the Northeast.
 
The market has changed greatly since the 1980s. If I were in the market this year, I'd probably end up buying a 2003 Forester. (I'd still be tempted by the Toyota Highlander, but it's larger and more expensive than I can justify.)
 
If its another 10+ years before I buy another car, I'm sure I'll be researching from scratch, even with my leanings toward Toyota & Subaru.
 
John

#4762 of 18028 by kens

Feb 23, 2002 (8:09 am)

It's interesting how important the ownership experience of one vehicle is in determining how one feels about an entire product line. I'm sure Subaru was a lot smaller and quirkier back in the 80's.
 
I often hear about people asking about parts availability. It may have been a problem back then, but it sure isn't a major issue now. Parts procurement at dealers should be as good as any big auto manufacturer.
 
I've seen quite a few beat-up old Subaru wagons from around that time and they just seem to keep ticking.
 
Ken

Messages Page 477 of 1804

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement