Nice ride, roomy interior, good gas mileage. I really like the cupholder, which so many others dislike. It's placed where air conditioning (or heating) vent blows right on it. This keeps your drinks cold in the summer and your coffee warm in the winter!

Engine reliability beyond about 80,000 miles. AWD system is excellent on slick streets, but "iffy" in mud (I barely made it out).

Was awesomely reliable until about 80,000 miles. Yes, I'm a high-mileage user, but went to the shop recently for what turned out to be a very, very large repair bill. Despite regular oil changes, this vehicle is in need of a valve job, Subaru techs also said that the engine computer was shot, a/f sensor needed replacing, fuel injectors were replaced, and numerous other repairs. I'm very disappointed.

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Cheaply made, but cheap Suzuki Samurai - No comparison. A tin box versus a refined vehicle.

Good pick-up, nice ride, great AWD

cup holder, no real intermittent wipers, brake pedal spongy

I have had my Forester for just over 1 year. I have had a lot of problems with my car - A/F ratio sensor, timing belt, cracked gear housing, 2 bent valves, and a ton of valve tapping. Multiple stops in the shop. I love the car when it runs well. I'm jealous of my friends who have one and have never been in the shop. Overall, never paid a cent for repairs and I get a loaner when its in the shop. Working on getting a new one, as this qualifies as a lemon according to NJ lemon law. I'll let you know how that goes. Also, a good number of 2000 Foresters and Impreza's apparently had faulty Air/Fuel ratio sensors.

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See above. Attention to detail. Plenty of room, comfort , and luxury, especially on long trips. Based on experience I'd buy any Subaru product.

Minor. Placement of front cup-holder blocks heater, A/C control. Factory Yokohama tires hydro-planed; replaced at 33,000 miles with Coopers. Factory recall on master brake cylinder improved spongy braking.

Best vehicle I've ever owned, and I've owned a lot! Ride, handling (especially in snow-ice-mud), pep, "road sense," rattle-free, lack of problems. It's been a trouble-free vehicle.

All wheel drive, solid fit / finish of car - 'japanese' quality fit. MANY standard features, cruise, tilt, elec mirrors, windows, locks, am/fm/cass (sounds okay to me even though some above complain about the sound quality). Able to negotiate $300 over invoice, try that on a Toyota RAV4 or Honda CRV...

Full time AWD is great, not having to choose okay now is the time for 4WD, or I don't want to put this other car into 4WD and get worse mileage, wear out the tranny etc... No thinking, get in and drive.

Removable rubber matt on back floor is excellent idea. MANY nooks and hiding places in back end for tools, fire extinguisher (you do carry one don't you:-) etc

View out is very good, good command of the road.

Cheap and in the wrong position CUP HOLDER!!! Move to the bottom of the console with a molded in cup holder please Subaru! Move / change the shape of the plastic piece that hits my right knee in the wrong space - glad it has cruise. Seats are firm but quite comfortable - like airline seats, not cushy and they don't seem like much but can sit in them for hours and not be numb...

Brakes feel very spongy, but not dangerous, just different. Does stop quickly, and steering and handling is crisp.

Need to make the center armrest standard...

Would buy again, overall knew what I was getting and am pleased. Great for 1-4 people, 5 only if very infrequent use...

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Drove the Honda CRV and Toyota RAV4 and the Ford Escape, liked the best of all. Nice ride, good driving position, quiet, strong engine (RAV 4 had NO guts). Quality of Ford Escape not there yet - 6 recalls on first year so far, even testmodel Escape we drove had a few bad 'gronk' sounds and steering locked twice...

Highest safety rating of any small SUV.
Very good power as compared to the other small SUV offerings.
AWD system is Subaru's claim to fame, and rightly so.
Lots of compartments to stow things in, pretty decent cargo capacity too.
Rides pretty smoothly.
Consistently scores as #1 or #2 by Consumer Reports

Only had two problems - a defective speedometer head unit was replaced at just over 10K, and the Yokohama Goelandar tires wore out around 25K. This is really my only serious complaint with the vehicle. The tires wore out due to alignment. And since my wife drives this vehicle and she's very gentle with it, I'm certain the alignment was off when we got the car.

The only other issue we have is not with the car but with our dealer's service department. We won't buy another Subaru from this dealer based on their service area.

I have a hard time believing that the people who reviewed the Forester and gave it low marks really own one. I don't think you can go wrong with this vehicle.

Is it a Navigator or Suburban? No. Does it cost $50 to fill up? No.

Is it a car? Station Wagon? SUV?

Who cares? It's good, safe, dependable transportation that will handle any road conditions you throw at it.

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I have friends who own the RAV4, CRX, Cherokee, and Sportage. I've compared (and had them compare too) those vehicles to our Forester. All of them said they will look at the Forester when it's time for them to get another vehicle.
Unless something unexpected happens, we will certainly buy another Subaru.

Very smooth, quiet dependable car. Transmission shifts nicely. AWD system (especially for Montreal winters) is great. I wouldnt recommend taking this car off-road as clearance is way lower then your average SUV but anywhere there are roads your Forrester will get u there.
Getting stuff out of the back is a breeze as is putting the baby into the babyseat... not too high.. not too low.

Rear seat legroom is a tad on the small side. We have a kid in a babyseat so for her its great but I wouldnt want to be my size and take a long trip back there. When its really cold engine seems knocky... my Probe warms up faster and its 6 years old.

Its been a year and 20 000 km and no problems whatsoever. I have spoken with MANY Subaru owners who tell me that with regular maintenance these cars last forever. This is true of you look around and see how many 10+ year old Subarus are out there. For a young family i would highly recomend this car with the only exception being that Subaru parts and service seem to be on the procey side even for Japanese cars. Resale from what I have seen from the 1st year model is fantastic, but we dont plan on getting rid of ours for quite some time.

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Have driven the CRV, RAV4, the new Hyundai (sorry dont remember the name) and the Grand Vitara. We bought the Forrester so that tells you how it compares to the others.

Front head & leg room (I am 6'3"),rear head room, 165HP engine, saftey, reliability, quiet interior, crisp handling, reasonable price (for L), and resale value.

Rear leg room, ground clearance, no power seats, cheap speakers (common complaint).

I just bought the Forester 2001 L with a few extras. I really like the car (ahem - I mean SUV). Got it 600 over invoice with 6.9 60 month financing.

In the small SUV class it is the smooth, silky, quiet alternative to RAV,CRV,Tibute/Escape. Is it a rugged off-roading SUV ? - no, but none of the smaller SUV's really are. I wanted a smooth quiet highway cruiser with the ability to handle snow and haul some small stuff.

Consumer reports just recently gave the redesigned Toyota RAV a slight edge over the Forester, BUT -the RAV is still not as quiet as the Forester and it has a smaller engine. Better dealing and financing on Forester vs others. Also better resale value.

I would have prefered a slightly larger SUV - but in order to find similar reliability/saftey and car like ride of the Forester you are looking at Lexus RX300 or Acura MDX for almost $15,000 more. Toyota just introduced the Highlander, but it is still $7,000 more, availability is very limited, Toyota isn't dealing, and it looks like a minivan.

Bottom line - the Forester is a great small SUV. I highly recommend it.

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Honda CRV, Toyota RAV, Mazada Tribute. Forester is head and shoulders above these interms of road and wind noise, standard features, comfort, handling, engine, and saftety. What about Reliability ? Honda and Toyota are a "little" better, Resale value ? Contrary to other posts - the Forester wins over CRV/RAV - see April Money Magazine listings for % value after 5 years. Don't even think about Mazada Tribute/ Ford Escape - noisy, ratles, can't find enought models, and serious reliability/recall issues.

Headroom, awd is a great feature when you want to go anywhere. Seems to be the perfect car for AK. Like the fold down seats for storage.

Seemed to have bought a lemon. The car had the check engine light go shortly after 36K miles, then started smoking. Had a solenoid, and the clutch burn up at the same time. Less than 2 months later the left windshield wiper mechanism has broken...what's next? The design flaws: Single cup holder in front placed over the cd player. Seats in the mid model not that comfortable on long distance trips, side windows never seem to defog in cold weather. A bit short on back seat space if there are those in the front seats over 5'9".

Disappointed with the amount of times this car has had to go to the shop for repairs since I've bought it. Suburu's are generally known for being reliable vehicles, with good ratings and performance factors. Waiting until next year to get something different. Probably not a Suburu.

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Had owned a Suburu Legacy which we bought second hand (at 90k miles) and sold it at 170k miles on it without a single problem, was hoping for the same with this Suburu.

AWD - I zip by people on the snowy hills of western PA. Why would you complain about low ground clearance when everybody knows you don't take this thing offroad. Excellent pickup for a 4 cyl.

cupholder - sound system sucks - engine hesitates when cold.

I am very pleased with this vehicle - I have to laugh at people who spend 10 - 20 grand more and waste gas for a full sized SUV.

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Quietness, huge roof and safety

Looks

A great small SUV from Subarau but completely different from its former Outback series.It's very quiet inside that allows me to enjoy all sorts of music ( I have two CD/Video CD changers). Handling is superior ccomparied to CRV which I testdrove once.

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