Turbo Subaru people, I need your expertise

[frosho]

I'm in the market for a "new" car. I'm pretty set on another Subaru, but something newer and nicer than what I have now (just got a good raise at work). I've been primarily looking for something with under 100k (preferably well under) or at least one that has been well maintained and not beat/modded too much.

I just barely missed out on an ideal car on Saturday. An '05 9-2x Aero with 65k was listed for $9k, but it was being sold literally as I called the dealership. Super bummed about that. But moving on...

An '04 Forester XT popped up for what seems to be a decent price. It has a ton of miles (195k), BUT it's undergone a lot of work recently including a completely rebuilt engine. I'm looking for some opinions on it. Here's the ad: http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/cto/4286311705.html

2004 Subaru Forester XT manual transmission
I am listing my 2004 Subaru Forester XT for sale. $6,500/best reasonable offer.

It is a rare combination of factory turbo and 5-speed manual transmission. I am selling the car because my commute has increased, and I am looking for something more fuel efficient. The car is in good condition, however it is 10 years old and has 195,000 miles. It does have some parking lot dings and a dent on the right rear quarter panel.

I have owned this car for 2 years, and was previously owned by a friend of mine who bought the car in 2008 from Subaru of Keene. The car has had a lot of maintenance work, including a fully rebuilt engine 1 year ago. Only 91/93 octane fuel has been used and the oil has been changed every 3,000 miles. It is very quick and gets decent fuel economy for a turbo/AWD wagon at 24/25 MPG.

Major Options:
2.5 liter Turbo with 5-speed manual transmission
Power windows/locks/mirrors
All Weather Package (heated seats, windshield, and limited slip differentials)
FM/AM/6CD/weather band stereo with factory subwoofer
Auto dimming compass rearview mirror
All weather floor mats/cargo area mat with retractable cargo cover
Rear diff skid plate
Rear window diffuser

Recent work:
Oil changed this week @ 194,641 miles
New front door gusset seals @ 190,670 miles
New radiator, hoses and coolant @ 184,562
New fuel filler neck and lines @ 183,485
New rear wheel bearings @ 182,891
REBUILT Engine @ 178,982 miles
Including: New battery
New starter
New mass airflow sensor
Fuel injectors cleaned and bench flowed
New timing belt kit
New spark plugs
New fuel filter
New fuel lines
New thermostat and gasket
New ignition coil packs
Low Mileage WRX TD04 Turbo installed
New front control arms and bushings @ 178,982 miles
Alignment @ 169,681
New accessory belts and window motor @ 169,531
New clutch kit @ 168,684

In addition, this car also has a number of upgrades/enhancements:
WRX Front Seats (heated)
STI cat-less uppipe
STI rear sway bar
Kartboy sway bar endlinks (front and rear)
Solid pitch stop mount
Perrin coolant overflow tank
K&N cone filter and Perrin intake elbow
Rally Amour mudflaps
Conservative ECU Tune

Please contact me through e-mail if you are interested. Serious offers will be considered, lowball offers will be ignored. For the full asking price, I will also include a full set of snow tires mounted on 16" Subaru alloy wheels. The stock 16" Forester XT wheels have Goodyear Eagle GT summer tires. The car has a clean title.

I've exchanged a couple emails with the seller. The main bearings, rod bearings, and piston rings were replaced during the rebuild which was done at a Subaru dealership (North End Subaru).

I'm keeping an eye out for what I really want, but this seems like a deal to me. What do you guys think?

[frosho]

I also found another 9-2x Aero with only 58k on it, but the asking price is well over all the book values (a little over 12k). I'm currently waiting to hear back from the seller about how flexible he is on the price.

[g96nt]

9-2x are an odd thing to me. They were <$20k new with the GM employee dicount they were offering at the time, but still price out similarly to wrx.
I was under the impression that early were 2L, and later were 2.5L.
Either way, from what I understand, the small changes saab made make a pretty big difference in daily drivability.

lastly, I'd stay away from a fozz. I've never met anyone that owned one and loved it for commuter duty. Certainly one that's previously modified.

[frosho]

The Forester isn't exactly my first choice, but with all that recent work it is still appealing. It would be nice to have the extra room too. The price doesn't seem too bad to me either, but that's also something I'm wondering about since I'm not all that familiar.

I think you're right about the turbo 9-2x. Started as 2.0, and later went to 2.5, though there aren't many turbo 2.5 examples out there. They're somewhat of a unicorn car. As far as handling goes, they came with STi racks and bushings, so the handling is a little better than a stock WRX. I really like the two-tone interiors too.

I briefly considered a n/a 2.5i Saabaru (9-2x Linear), but my research tells me that the head gasket problem was still an issue in '05 and '06. I don't want to deal with that again.

[g96nt]

eh... for the money, unless you HAVE to have AWD, I'd pick a 2.0 9-3 wagon over a 9-2x linear.
although, a good set of snow tires will offset awd except for extreme cases.

I've driven a few, and they're pretty nice. Even the 2L
but, if you want to stay Subaru, I suppose it's apples/oranges.

[mike cm]

Room in a forester lolololol

[frosho]

Room in a forester lolololol

???

It's gotta have more room than my '98 OBS. (I mean for cargo, not necessarily people)

You had an FXT didn't you? Got any other thoughts on it?

[frosho]

I was looking at this WRX too, though all the mods and mileage kind of turn me off. My research tells me the early WRXs transmissions were a little on the fragile side, though I'm not sure how much truth there is to that.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2579803

[mike cm]

Nope had an 02 s. Test drove a few 04 FXTs but didn't pull the trigger. It was enough room but once my son was born out the window. Now that he's in a forward facing seat could be different. If the salesman wasn't such a dick I would of had a silver 04 fxt for $8500 with 75k.

[g96nt]

http://nh.craigslist.org/cto/4306799839.html

move fast, i guess....

[frosho]

Automatic, too many miles, needs work, not a 9-2x, no thank you. I'm not familiar enough with Saabs to want one, aside from the Saabaru. I like the way they look for the most part, but I'm not looking to buy one right now. I want a factory-turbocharged Subaru with a manual transmission built on the Impreza platform, excluding the STi. That leaves the 9-2x, WRX, and Forester XT. I started looking into the Volvo S60R and V70R, but the low mileage ones seem to be going for a lot more than I want to spend. I'm also not all that familiar with them, and I like the idea of full-time 50/50 AWD over the FWD-biased Haldex.

[Boosted Euro]

Holy high miles. I love my FXT for a DD commuter. Only thing that could be better is the gas mileage but that's a Subaru thing .
[MENTION=34749]nhfocus[/MENTION]. Found a couple nice looking XT's for sale.
[MENTION=34819]Antihero[/MENTION]. Has an XT also


Space in the car isn't horrible but with the backwards facing baby seat there wasn't much room in the front. I put it behind the.passenger because it definitely didn't work behind me. And it only really worked for jess in the passenger seat because I removed the glovebox.

But now that she is backwards facing there is no issue. The XT has a 4.44 5speed so 80mph will put you at 3,500 rpm.

[Antihero]

I love my FXT, and aside from the gearing, it makes a great highway cruiser. I always have plenty of room to go snag this and that from craiglist ads (car parts or arcade machine parts for my friend who tinkers with them).

Definitely plan on keeping this car for awhile.

[Boosted Euro]

Doing DD Forester things

[Boosted Euro]