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What engine should I go with?
Any Liberty, Outback, or Foz will do.
I need to do a little light towing. Infrequent, some garden waste.
Should I go with a 2L 2.5L or turbo?
I'm looking in the $8K price range, should I be spending more.
I look at thing from a total cost of ownership perspective, so don't mind paying more to get the right model.

We have an '05 built Foz. EJ25 (2.5L Non-Turbo engine) and it has towed a boat fully laden with gear, plus all of our camping gear in the car, from here in Brisbane out to Longreach and back (1400km each way) at least twice now. Never missed a beat.

I'd recommend them to ANYONE. But for that price range you'd probably be better off looking for a late 90's 2.5L Outback. They seem to be the pick of the lot

Cheers,
Tom.

EDIT: You'd just about buy two from the late '90's for that price by the way, in case one needed any work etc.

Anything with a 2.5L like an early SG Forester ~03 if you can stretch for it, or a 3rd gen outback.

Otherwise you should be able to find a SF Forester GT for around 8k, the turbo motor in them is quite nice has great torque for towing and they are just so much nicer to drive because of it.

Both the 2.5 and the 2.0 turbo in the Forester GT are great motors. IMO steer clear of the NA 2.0L they are underpowered and you can get one of the much better options.

Davidov wrote:IMO steer clear of the NA 2.0L they are underpowered and you can get one of the much better options.

+1 to this. The 2.2L in my RX even feels a little underpowered, but still shits all over the EA81

2.5L is the way to go

the 2.0l isnt powerful, but its far from being underpowered.

Steer clear of the late 90s 2.5l outbacks. They have monumental headgasket issues, although the majority of them would have been fixed by now.

8k will pick you up a gen3 outback with a SOHC 2.5l. Thats where id be headed.

alex

The car i just drove was a 2L Liberty. It did feel underpowered, but drove nicely and is def a good buy at $6,800.
Tomorrow I'm test driving a very different car. Forester XT 03 with about 212K on the clock.
I think these have a rather fancy engine, is that so?
He's after 10K

cerebro wrote:The car i just drove was a 2L Liberty. It did feel underpowered, but drove nicely and is def a good buy at $6,800.
Tomorrow I'm test driving a very different car. Forester XT 03 with about 212K on the clock.
I think these have a rather fancy engine, is that so?
He's after 10K

The early XTs had a de-tuned WRX motor. From the MY06 model (build date from approx aug 05) the XTs got the full WRX motor. This model also got stiffer suspension and the good AWD system (50/50 front to rear split). They also have 5 star safety rating andHID lights. All up a better car than the MY04 and MY05. If your budget stretches that far, I recommend the MY06 or newer.

Be wary of 99-02 outback/liberty 2.5's, head gaskets is common, but No1 big end bearing failure is starting to be more common, mostly in the manuals.

Alex wrote:the 2.0l isnt powerful, but its far from being underpowered.

Steer clear of the late 90s 2.5l outbacks. They have monumental headgasket issues, although the majority of them would have been fixed by now.

8k will pick you up a gen3 outback with a SOHC 2.5l. Thats where id be headed.

alex

tambox wrote:Be wary of 99-02 outback/liberty 2.5's, head gaskets is common, but No1 big end bearing failure is starting to be more common, mostly in the manuals.

Well these DOHC in Gen 2 Liberty - 1994-1998 did have HG failure but 75% are okay, Subaru changed the gasket type and they turned out to be ok.

These SOHC in Gen 3 Liberty are same engines as in Gen 4 Liberty - dont really have HG problems unless you're unlucky.
Cheers
AP