Hello-
At the risk of offending members, I'm going to candidly suggest that you avoid the 98 forester, similarly any outback with the phase 1 2.5l DOHC. I recently sold my 98 forester, and i can tell you that it was a total clunker. at 70K it had a jerky and hesitant automatic transmission, a front end that despite getting the OK from a subaru mechanic felt loose and rattly - our beater 89 mazda sounded more solid going over speed bumps or parking lot lips. Though it never overheated, it had already started to bubble in the overflow reservoir, and the coolant looked filmy. The trans leaked out a top vent all over the driveshaft, one of the CV boots dried out and disintegrated because it was too close to the catalytic converter ($$!) and the AC cycled on and off every 60 seconds or so. Also, one of the wheel bearings was going woomp woomp, this is a known prob. with this car, and an expensive replacement. Also, the drivetrain, with its transmission and two differentials, had a lot of slack, so when you let off the gas then got back on it, it took a creepy second or two for everything to catch up. Finally, do a search on piston slap. on cold mornings, the 98 forester and most outbacks with the DOHC rattle loudly for the first 10 minutes of driving. don't let anyone tell you that this isn't a problem. I think the east german trabant had a better-built engine than this! (This problem was eliminated in 99/2000 with the introduction of the SOHC, but I gather they still have leaky head gaskets) In short, with all due respect to the vast subaru cult, i don't think these are very good cars. we traded for a toyota truck, and i can tell you not losing sleep at night over a looming headgasket/transmission/bearing replacement/side-of-the-road-stranding is nice. The only thing this car had going for it was its wildly inflated, hype-driven resale value.
good luck. You might consider keeping your honda!
