bilcon

Originally posted in new member area. Sorry for the double post.

Hello all,

I am new to this forum, but it looks like the place to be as far as Foresters are concerned.

I have a 2002 Forester S that my wife mostly drives. We really love the car and it has been very reliable. I need a new car as my current ride will most likely not make it through the winter. I am at the point where I am spending a couple hundred a month to keep it going (95 Mazda Protege). Here is the deal, we found another 2002 Forester L for sale at our local Subaru dealership. I think I can get them down to a good price, but the vehicle has 147K on the ODO. It drives great and the dealership says it is a single owner car, originally purchased at the dealership and serviced there too. They showed me the service records, and it does reflect the major maintenance intervals were completed on-time. The previous owner apparently traded it in on a new 09 Forester. The claim is the miles are mostly Freeway miles as the owner lives 45 miles out of town and drives in daily for work. Anyone think this is too high on miles? Anyone have 200K plus miles on their Foresters? Also, does anyone have ball park figures for a new engine, manual transmission, or clutch install on a Forester of this age? I just want to calculate out all the major possible expenses I might run into over the next five years on this car prior to deciding to do it.

By the way, my daily commute is 5 miles each way, so the car would have a lot less use if it became mine. I did also see that Consumer Reports rates the 02 Forester as the best used car in reliability for the 8 - 10K price range.

Any thoughts or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

pleiad7

147k miles is not excessively much for an 02... heck, my 04 XT is already at 110k and our 98 is still ticking on the original engine and drivetrain at 198k. The one thing I would take into consideration, however, is that the reliability of the engine (i.e. risk of head gaskets problems) improved dramatically with the introduction of the 03+ models. If you can find a comparably priced 03 I would personally choose that over the 02 just for added peace of mind, but that's just me...

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-Silke
04 FXT PP PSM ~ "Subed"
98 Forester S ~ "Slynki"
92 SVX LS-L ~ x2

ddavidv

I just sold a '96 Impreza with 210,000+ miles on it. I fear no fewer miles on any Subaru, particularly one with service history.
We bought a '02 Foz with 104,000 on it.
The only thing I worry about on pre-'03 models are the head gaskets. That's a $1500-$2000 repair to pay someone to do it (and replace all the seals and so forth at the same time). A clutch is under $500; our Impreza had it's original replaced right around 200k. Timing belt service is of course critical. The rest of the car is pretty much bulletproof, though you may replace the occasional wheel bearing.
I have a local independent Subaru shop/dealer that sells lots of Foz's and Legacys with 140,000 to 200,000+ miles on them constantly. He wouldn't do it if they weren't a good seller, and people wouldn't keep buying them if they were problematic.

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'02 L 5 spd FTW (For The Wife)