What do you guys think of the new forester? pretty sharp.

 

The new Forester XT 230hp, 2.5x 175hp. Both have a higher ground clearance.

http://www.drive.subaru.com/Sum05_FirstImpressions.htm

Bought one last Thursday and love it. Tons of safety features and extra things here and there. I had to trade-in my '98 Outback Wagon though...

I, too, just bought one last week. When we started looking around for a new car, we didn't even think about Subaru. Then, after a series of events, we ended up in a Subaru dealership--more on a lark than anything else. Over the next few days, the Forester (and the whole Subaru culture) got under my skin. The more I learned, the more I became enamored with both the car and the company. My wife and I were looking to get a small SUV. We looked at a Jeep Liberty for about as long as it took to see the gas milage on the sticker. We looked at the Honda Element and CRV. Both of those vehicles left us cold and with a strange uneasy feeling. We looked at the Rav4...not at all fun to drive, clunky transmission, uncomfortable seating. All along, I kept going back to the Forester for the AWD, the more powerful engine, the better safety rating, the better reliability, the better handling.

 

I absolutely love our new '06 Forester. Just love it. It was everything we were looking for without having to sacrafice a thing. As a matter of fact, I feel we got even more than we were looking for. We bought the 2.5X with the premium package (worth it for the moon roof alone!).

 

And as an added bonus, all the people at the Subaru dealership were so pleasant and informative. Not once did we get that eww-I've-got-to-wash-now feeling we got from the Honda and Toyota dealers.

 

I am sold on this car--which really surprised me because I don't get this excited about new vehicles. I'm a Subaru convert.

Well welcome aboard. What color did you get? How do you like those premium gas prices for the 2.5?

My next Subaru (if I could ever afford a new one) will be a Forester. Beautiful car, drives nice, fast, no air plane front end.... and it would fit my life style pretty good.

 

madjacques great write up on the Forester Forum... http://www.subaruforester.com/viewtopic.php?t=13077

I like it a lot.

I like it too.

 

I hope to get either an FXT or LGT before Subaru bastardizes them with the new grill like subieman alluded to.

If only we could get the Japanese STI spec Forester. 380+ lb/ft of torque at 2800 rpm and 390+ hp.

 

In LHD form of course...

Where did you get those specs??? It's a semi-enforced law/agreement that cars sold in Japan cannot be rated at more than 280hp.

Straight from Subaru Japan on their website.

Post that link. If that is true then it is totaly aftermarket.

Sorry dude, it's around the 280hp figure like I thought.

 

Here's the link: http://www.subaru.co.jp/forester/stiversion/mechanism/01/index.html

 

You don't have to know Japanese to see it. Where is says 265PS, that means 265 Pferdstarke, the European way of rating horsepower. 1 Pferdstarke is roughly equal to 1 horsepower, so I would say that it's probably rated at 276hp.

 

NOW...

 

If you actually pull the motor, put it on an accurate dyno, and run it, I'm sure it will probably say more than that, most likely in the 320-350hp range. Most über Japanese sports cars (Nissan Skyline, Toyota Supra, Mitsubishi Evo, STi-tuned Subarus, etc.) make way more than the 280-hp limit. But the company will simply lie about the rating so the Japanese government will allow them to sell it.