damian

I saw the subaru ones last friday. I was surprised that they really weren't that great, given the price. I bought a set of aftermarket rubberwith carpet patches. They fit nicely, seem to be good quality and $40 was a lot cheaper than $175. If subaru expect that money they really have to improve the offering. Anyway thank you for the responses. Now I need some seat covers that accomodate the air bags...

Thank you for the reply. The aftermarket ones have many spikes to dig into the carpet. They ahve channells to allow cutting to size, but they look a little er... I'll look at the subaru ones before making a decision. It'll come down to which I think will best stay put. Again thank you for the thoughts.

I realise this is a trivial question, but given my car is brand new this is the sort of thing you deal with as opposed to head gaskets and such. I am in Australia and I have a new forester. My ladyfriend wants to buy me mats for it for christmas. Aftermarket quality mats are $115, the dealer has carpet for $178 and rubber for $175. The question is which should we buy ? I note in some other threads people mentioning older mats moving around. This is not good for obvious reasons. So do the current subaru mats stay in place ? are they good quality ? I really want one of those under floor trays the US and Canadian models come with but they don't seem able to supply them locally, which is annoying. Any thoughts appreciated.

It's been a long time comming but I finally posted some pics. I took these several weeks ago but have just been really busy. Also a few on that page of my old ford (which I'm trying to sell). http://home.exetel.com.au/guzzi/forester.html I'm not a very good photographer. Anyway, the car looks a lot like a new forester... You will note the lack of underfloor tray in back. They aren't available in Australia and I'd be keen to acquire one if anyone knows how I'd do that. The car has already acquired some scars. Some kind person banged their door into the back door and left a chip and small dent, and it's got a scratch on one of the taillight lenses. Sigh. Really enjoying driving it.

I just thought I'd give you all an update. I've bitten the bullet and bought the forester. 2010 (current) model, 06/09 build, X australian spec, manual, black/black with a towbar. Should be picking it up wednesday. I'm pretty confident it'll do what I want. Tremendous pity the diesel isn't out yet, but I'm sure the petrol 2.5 will be fine. Again thank you all for your comments.

Again thank you for your helpful comments. Trailers over 750 kg (about 1700 lbs) have to have brakes mandatory I think everywhere in Australia. I've done plenty of towing and know all about what your saying. Even in my fairlane a tail heavy trailer can sway your rig all over the road without crosswinds or emergency maneuvers. 24' of catamaran hasn't much weight but the silhouette is enormous and even small crosswinds can drag you all over the place. I don't think I'm too concerned about the chassis though, I think that's ok, it's more the lack of torque that concerned me. I had considered the 2 car solution and it has a lot to recommend it. I could buy something small and sporty for everyday (and my ladyfriend could laugh at me as I try to interest women half my age ) and a big car for touring and towing. The big thing would still have to ride soft though and that seems to be tricky to find. Also the economics don't work well. I hear what you say about VW/AUDI/BMW. I really hate the bi-wire looms the Europeans have gone to lately. Makes a towbar a $1500 proposition and I just think they are going to be buckets of trouble when they get old. Still they aren't BAD cars in the way some cars really are. The forester seems really nice, just wish it had a bit more grunt. Pity the diesel is some time off yet. I can't wait till next year as my ford is dying. Again, appreciate the thoughts.

My understanding is the diesel is coming next year. I assume the EJ25 reference is the engine series ? So the cam belts don't need replacement until 100 000 miles ? That's a long interval. I am on a bit of a budget. You can get the rav, vitara, forester, honda crv etc all for around $32kAU here on road. If I go up to mid/high 30's a whole lot of stuff opens up, but I only tow maybe 4 times a year and most of those trips are short. Trouble is some occur without notice or involve a road trip so hiring a tow vehicle isn't always a good solution. Right now I've got an australian ford fairlane, 95 model. 17' long and 6' limousine/sedan, 4 liter straight six. It's nearly dead with over 200 000 miles on it and the new fords aren't very good. Utes (pickups) ride too hard so the small 4X4's were my next option. The nissan and the forester are by far and away the nicest, but as I said I have concerns about the nissan. I've always liked station wagons (my lady friend stirs me that I'm boring). In the old days I'd be able to buy a basic robust rwd wagon with enough torque to pull a load, but that car seems allusive now. The VW 2.0 diesel has buckets of torque and the tiguan should manage my trailers easily, but they are $41k rrp and I've heard the vw dealers won't negotiate. Maybe the forester was too good to be true with regards a solution. Anyway, again thank you for your responses. If there are any relevant threads I should be reading a reference would be appreciated.

Thank you for the reply. I take it you've had no trouble (breakdowns, fixes) with yours ? The 2.5 is rated at 1400 kg and the turbo at 1600 here. I assume a kilo is 2.2 lbs ? Anyway the tare weight of the forester is about 1500 kg so the rated limit here is just a little under that. I'm not worried about the flat, more keeping up with traffic from stoplights and on hills and so forth. Again thank you for the comments.

Hi all, I see this board is largely USA. I'm in Australia and considering buying a new forester. Never had a subaru before but actually learned to drive in one many decades ago. I am sorry if this is a faq. I did search but I've never been good at it. If this has been covered a pointer to the threads would be most appreciated. The main concern I have about the forester is towing ability. Possibly to a lesser extent reliability and servicing costs. Traditionally subaru's have had a good reputation but as you all know things can change. I would very much appreciate your sharing any experiences with the current series forester X manual. I'm looking at keeping it up to 10 years. I don't tow often but when I do it's either my big flat bed trailer or my sail boat. The forester has a 1400 kg ( 3000 lb? ) rating. My trailers are a ton to a ton and a quarter maximum but the car didn't feel like it had buckets of torque. I know people say buy a giant truck, but I'm on a budget. I looked at the competition but frankly apart from the nissan the cars were either too small hard riding or just plain ordinary. I'm not buying the nissan as there are big question marks over reliability. Please don't start a religious war, just please accept I'm entitled to my prejudices Anyway any thoughts appreciated. I'm going to try and test drive the tiguan this week, but they are waay dearer than the forester, and apart from the above concerns the subaru ticks all the boxes. Thank you for reading.