Hello all... new to forum and interested in your thoughts. I am very interested in buying a used Subaru (my first Subaru) in the coming months. My wife, and I have a one year old son and another on the way in the fall. I have been very intrigued by the reliability of Subaru and the number of people who can reach 150k - 200k miles without experiencing much outside of routine maintenance. In short, we are looking for something very reliable that can move our family around. We have a budget of $10k. From my initial research thus far, I am intrigued by the forester. Any advice on Subaru models, years, makes, Forester you have to offer would be very appreciated. Thanks!

also, we are thinking our budget will put us in the 2003 to 2008 range depending on mileage... any advice on models for that period would be great.

I have some very general advice;

 

the year range you are considering is generally filled with reliable cars. Yes, there are some specific quirks and known problems, but nothing unmanageable.

 

A car brand's reliability becomes less and less important with age. The individual vehicle's past maintenance and present condition are most important and it will pay most people in the long run to take their time to find a good vehicle and have it checked out by the best authority available.

 

If you will have the entire family plus 'gear' in the car, frequently fighting highway traffic - consider searching for a 6 cylinder Outback.

 

someone here may be able to recommend a mechanic's shop that would inspect any car you were interested in near Detroit.

 

you might like to visit www.cars101.com to get an idea of different model's standard equipment and accessories thru the years.

Edited June 25, 201213 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

Excellent advice... I think investing in a carfax report and having a good mechanic that knows the product give it an inspection is a great idea. Thanks for sharing.