My wife's '03 Forester with 45k mi developed cold engine noise (knock) this winter. The dealer diagnosed the problem as left side piston slap, which from my research in this forum and other sites is not unusual. They offered, with no prompting, to install new left side pistons (now on order).
This car is leased but my wife loves it and the lease runs out in Aug with a good buyout price, so we were considering buying it. Would you hesitate to do this (after the repair) ? We can just turn it back in but then will most likely wind up with much higher new car payments.
Phil08075