Safety, ride, comfort, Quality

Back seat room could be better, but it seems that it has been addressed in the 2003.

I purchased this car after having a VW passat that was in the shop 21 times in 13 months. I was impressed with the ride and comfort of the vehicle. The car drove well and cost nothing more than gas and oil. Recently my wife was involved in a head on collision with a BMW 525. The Forester's cabin was completely intact and the car preformed perfectly. My wife was able to walk away with only burses. Though the car was totaled I credit it for saving my wife's life. I have aready purchased 2003 Forester and would swear by this car.

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Passat station wagon

The Subaru Forester has an excellent safety system with side air bags and adjustable seating.Its sound system is of high quality and has a deep sounding tone to it. The new arm rest is perfect for when your driving along and its heated front seats only enhance the experience.

The only weaknesses that are detectable are the heating system(which you can get used to) and the leg room in the rear seats.

Overall,the Subaru Forester is an excellent and dependable vehicle.Its all wheel drive enhances the riding experience and level of comfort. No other small sized SUV came close to the riding experience of the Subaru other than the Honda Pilot. However, you definitly do not get the same bang for the buck as you do with the Subaru.

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I had a 1993 dodge caravan before and found it to be limited to my personal needs.My family wasn't satisfied with the comfort level and found it to be impractical when travelling through heavy snow.

safety-has side air bags not curtains.lots of front leg room,back seats are ok for leg room.stereo has nice feel lots of bass and good power(enough to make the wife whine)got the auto trans. and two other add ons the auto dimmer mirror w/ compass the mirror is a great add on. the other add on was the extension for the console which is a must if you want to rest your arm on long drives.abs w/ ebd.awd of couse and lots of head room.

auto temp feature runs a little warm evens out i guess its new to me takes a little getting used to.gas fills on the pass. side.no auto seats.

looked at a lot of similar small suvs the only one that came close was the honda.but too get the same amount of goodies the xs had standard will cost a lot more$.the only suv with the same amount of goodies in the same price was the santa fe for a 6cyl it seemed to dog out and leg room was tight(im 6'3")

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no similar products.last car was a 91 new yorker.and a 90 mitsu eclipse.had to sell the sports car..had twins..now 3y.o.

Comfortable in the front. Gets around pretty good in snow.

See Product Review plus fairly cheesily built.

The transmision was ify from day one, I took it for repair before end of warranty,they could find nothing. 4 months later, right before the transmision fell out, they finally replaced it with a rebuilt. It's costing me a lot in lost time and rental cars. Also, at 17,000 miles, my tires are about to go so the "eats tires" comments are true. Being a woman alone, I was very careful before I bought. Not careful enough!!!

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Chevy Blazer

1. Great AWD system. 2. Great all weather car. 3. FUN to drive. 4. Great visibility out of the car 5. Good looks 6. Versatile 7. Good (not great) gas mileage 8. RELIABLE 9. Comfortable - even after a 700 mile day

1. Cup holders are a joke. 2. Lousy backseat leg room for adults.

This is the best "ALL WEATHER" vehicle the we have owned. We live in Montana and frequently have snow, ice pack, muddy and/or wet roads. The AWD really does it job, and its nice to know that you have a vehicle that will get you to work regardless of how bad the weather gets. The Forester has really been fun to drive. The view is great out of the windshield and it is amazingly easy to park. The cargo bed is huge and hauls big loads. It has been extremely reliable. We have 40K and have only had to do normal service work done. I recently read in one of these reviews about the high costs of the "big" service jobs. My costs have been about half the cost you listed and the service costs are posted for everyone to see. I know there can be big differences in car dealers, but mine has gone out of his way to do the right thing. I have also been amazed at how well my Forester performs in really bad roads. We frequently use it on Forest Service roads and "generally" get to where we want to go. It is not a true off road vehicle, but gets anywhere a 4WD vehicle in high range can get. I suspect it does better than most small utes do. I have only had to abandon one trail because it was too bad. Overall all, it has been a great vehicle.

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This is the first small SUV that we have owned. My wife has generally driven a sedan and I have generally driven a pick-up. We both really like the Forester

- All Wheel Drive - Reliability - Off-Road (Yes, it kicks butt- just watch the clearance on certain rocks!) - Interior Layout (Room, Convenience) - Fuel Economy (27 Highway for an SUV)

- Interior moldings can break with heavy use - Tires Replaced at 25,000 miles

The Subaru Forester is to me the best value on the market in the 15-30K wagon / SUV class. It fits my lifestyle perfectly- versatile, reasonably sporty, compact for parallel parking. The main strengths of the car (1) All Wheel Drive and (2) Reliability. The car is at 50,000 miles and no repairs- none. Just oil changes and the regularly scheduled maintenance. The car is simply the best car I've ever owned. I think its popularity among owners has finally hit the streets- I've seen a lot more of them around lately. Compared to the CRV and the RAV4- they're not even in the same league.

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Honda CRV, RAV4 (Stunk it up big time) Subaru Impreza (Forester Far Better)

1) Smooth. It's the first thing I noticed. I've always owned American cars and none of them accelerated or cruised as smoothly as the Subaru does. I have to keep an eye on my speed while I'm on the highway or else I'm doing 80 and not knowing it. 2) Head room. We marveled. 3) Decent gas mileage. Goes about 7 - 10 days between fill-ups for us. 4) Good visibility all around. 5) All wheel drive. Don't have to worry about shifting high or low or locking hubs. 6) Heater? Works a little too good. We have to have the temp knob pionted right between the hot and cold range or else we're getting roasted. 7) Cargo room is plentiful although not as much as the Taurus wagons had. I've moved beds, dressers, refrigerators, and even camped out in them. That won't happen with the Forrester but we've still helped two people move since we got it. 8) Styling. It's a good looking vehicle. 9) Interior is comphortable and all controls seem to be within easy reach. 10) Reliability. So far, so good. We're going on a year and all we put in was gas, oil, and wipers.

The only thing I could really complain about the Forrester is that the interior seems kind of "delicate". All of the little trap doors in the cargo area seem rather thin and flimsy. It makes me think twice about putting something really heavy in the back or climbing into the back myself. The other thing is the heater. I sometimes wonder if the dash will melt if I forget to turn it down. This is our first foreign car and I'm still used to the sturdiness of American auto interiors. I'm not going to complain about the position of the cup holder though. The way I see it, in the summer you have the A/C keeping your soda cold and in the winter the heat is keeping your hot cocoa hot. Sounds like a plus to me.

My wife and I deciced it was time to purchase another vehicle since our Taurus wagon was starting to go belly-up. She was always around trucks and wanted a four-wheel-drive of her own. She knows the value of having one on the few days when winter snow gets bad out here. I've always owned cars and never really cared for trucks. To me, my wagons hauled as much stuff or people, and did it more economically. So we compromised and decided on a all wheel drive vehicle. We looked at the Subaru brand first since it's what they're known for and they [Subaru] have a good reputation. We started looking at Outbacks and then drifted towards Forresters. We immediately fell in love with the Forrester. It was handsome(in a rugged way), had nice visibility all around, was fun to drive, and had lots of head room. My wife liked all the little compartments too. It was hard finding one we could afford (under 12k) that was still in reasonably good shape, but as soon as we did, it was ours. I like this vehicle so much, I'm seriously considering getting another one for myself.

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87 Ford Taurus wagon, 93 Ford Taurus wagon, 90 GMC Suburban

My subaru ran good & held the road very well

Ate tires, Poor quality in paint, & Subaru stresses too much maintenance- If you buy one I hope you have a lot of money for maintenance-I'll never buy Subaru again! Between the dealer & Subaru they lost a customer for good!

At first,me & my wife loved the Forester!To be honest with you I would never have bought the car if I had of known that the tune up came at 30,000 miles at $400 dollars & at 60,000 miles at $800.00(also included at 60,00 miles the dealer recommended a new timing belt included with the tune-up). If I had of known these things before financing it I would have walked. The car ran extremely well, but liked to eat tires- the 1st set replaced at 19,000 miles. It started on the 2nd set & by the time I traded at 22,000 miles you could tell that the new tires were already starting to wear. I called the dealer & Subaru- They don't care!! So I traded it for a Ford suv. The maintenance schedule for a subaru is overwhelming- Way too stringent!! The dealer told me that a Subaru will last 400,000 miles- Well 1st off let me say that If I maintained any car like Subaru says to maintain their product any car could last 400,000 miles. Their maintenance is also expensive & in my opinion a lot of unnecessary bull! From now on I will stick with Ford or Chevy!Oh by the way, did I mention that my Forester had to be repainted at around 13,000 miles, when all the paint flaked off for no reason. It took Subaru & the dealer almost 3 months to finally agree that they would paint the car under warranty. To me Subaru is crap!

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Ford Explorer, Chevy Blazer- 2 great vehicles

Great AWD system.

The clutch in the manual transmission is terrible. We are now on the second clutch. The first was replaced at 21000 miles and now the second is going out at 36000 miles. The dealer now claims that they cannot "duplicate" the problem so they will not fix the problem. My guess is that they are seeing so many bad clutches now that they are sticking it to the consumer. I will never buy a Subaru again.

Subaru has a great all wheel drive system that works well in the snow. The Forester is smaller than the Outback which makes it too small for a family of four.

Price, value, ergonomics. Peppy and fun to drive.

None yet!

My initial impressions of the Forester are that it's a great little car. I narrowed my choices down to a Nissan Xterra--which I eliminated due to a questionable reliability rating--and a Tacoma 4x4. The Tacoma got crap gas mileage and was not as roomy or comfortable as the Forester. So far my Forester has been great. It's a blast to drive, and I'm looking forward to driving it offroad. A great value compared to other vehicles in its class. Fantastic ergonomics in a very intuitive package. Plus, they fixed the cup holders for 2003.

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Nissan Xterra, Hyundai Santa Fe (crap!), Toyota Tacoma