Forester GT

berttus · Post by **berttus** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:43 pm

Hi all, after having had my brumby stolen recently, im looking at what my next move will be. Im thinking first gen Forester GT. Im keen to hear from anyone who has one what they are like as a daily driver? And if anyone has any tips for things to look out for when buying one(ie: timing belt,do the doors have a habit of falling off, etc.)?

Cheers
Brett

taza · Post by **taza** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 1:03 pm

Hi mate, I have a normal first gen Foz. Just not a GT. Great cars though, very practicle. Mine being the N/A though is abit gutless (wish I had the GT).
Good size, easy to park and drive. Go most places offroad and onroad. Comfortable, safe.
No the doors don't fall off. haha
If you can get one witha service history. Anywhere upto 300,000km is pretty safe. Check the usual things like if modded (thrashed possibly), the gearbox (if cluncks), clutch, etc...
No real issues I can think of. If you can get a 2000-2002 one over 1998 to 1999. They have a different ECU (tunable without an aftermarket adapter or another ECU) and abit more grunt from the engine.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 1:50 pm

I've chatted to a few owners of these , needling to see if they were considering updating - and looking for a buyer, you know, very tidy examples, owners in their 60's. Standard reply is along the lines of no, very happy with the beast, and a chuckle

, all been betwen 200 and 300, 000km

taza · Post by **taza** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 1:59 pm

steptoe wrote:I've chatted to a few owners of these , needling to see if they were considering updating - and looking for a buyer, you know, very tidy examples, owners in their 60's. Standard reply is along the lines of no, very happy with the beast, and a chuckle , all been betwen 200 and 300, 000km

I'm not suprised with the response. A service history or some sort of service record is a good idea to have with a turbo especially.

I got my Foz 2 yrs ago. 10years old at the time, only 110,000km on it. No service history. Changed so far is the clutch and gearbox. it had never seen a proper service in it's life, the timing belt and water pump weren't done. The rings are f***ed in it and I burn through 1l of oil every 300km now

If it was maintained this probably wouldn't of happened but anyway. It's now almost at the 200k mark and other than the burning oil is going strong and is a great car

I will be keeping mine for a long time or until it's dead anyway.

thunder039 · Post by **thunder039** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:28 pm

just make sure it hasnt been flogged and tuned up to the max with big turbo's etc just asking for trouble.
i would try and find an original one that hasnt been lowered etc
also remember you have to run them on premium 95 so make sure they havnt been run on 91!

woody.t · Post by **woody.t** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 5:56 pm

brother in-law has one, lovely car to drive as a daily has enough poke to make it fun when needed and the tune on them is sedate enough that when your just cruising around that you barely notice the turbo and the suspension is deffinately set up for daily driving type applications, as for what to look for same thing as all turbo subis.. diy upgrades, oil leaks etc.

berttus · Post by **berttus** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:02 pm

Yeah great thanks for the tips guys. Does anyone know if they have any regular problems? The old ladys Gen2 Liberty just shat a radiator which is fairly common. Anything similar that is common?

d_generate · Post by **d_generate** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:13 pm

No more problems than a non turbo provided it's serviced regularly, things break on all cars.....Subi's are one of the more reliable ones and there are turbo's out there with over 400,000 untouched, great cars and apart from a couple of very minor things they are a WRX with a different body.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:31 pm

I see someone will be longing for that rugged brumby ride, it may not be straight away, but it will happen!

Other than that the usual checks are needed. I'd steer clear of mods and signs of flogging. One thing that did happen to Subarino with his GT is covered here somewhere, it was some little butterfly thing just above the intake valve in the manifold that packed it in, remove the butterfly but leave the shaft and the actuator so the ECU thinks it's all good and the problem isn't an issue anymore. Hope that makes sense.

Cheers

Bennie