Hi All - am back after quite an absence!

Hi folks,

Am back after quite an absence.

I owned a 2001 SF S Turbo a few years back and was fairly active on here with that car, but due to circumstance changes I didnt end up owning the car too long and it got sold.

Missed it ever since and hoped one day I might end up getting another, but honestly wanting a decent SG or SH XT next time around (love the SF as a plaything but didnt want to daily another one) the relative cost of buying a good one and the associated running costs (in the main immense road tax and not great fuel economy) it rather put me off. Through a bit of a twist of fate though it's happened!

After a couple of years of running around in a very good (if a little beige) 2005 A3 2.0 FSi Sportback which Ive been thinking about moving on anyway, the opportunity arose to buy a fairly tidy SG 2.0 XT manual off my brother in law. Having just bought a fairly heavily modified SF Stb this one was surplus to requirement and I just thought why not!

Its a late 2003 registered car, 5 speed manual (my SF was a 4EAT so quite a nice change) in silver. 145k miles, is for the age and miles very good condition, good history - appears to be a period of miles missing in later years but clearly has been well cared for over the years - came with all the books including an original Forester SG sales brochure from the period which is quite cool. Since my brother in laws had it, hes done alot of maintenance on it (full service, belt and water pump, new rad) including fitting a H&S centre section and (I gather quite rare) Fujisubo rear section. Looks cool and isnt particularly loud either.

I've determined its a MY04 (so has inlet AVCS), so isnt a terrible base for a remap, it could do with some better tyres on it, the rear suspension is tired (usual beginnings of sag) and needs replacing and I reckon the clutch is probably past its best (its bloody heavy with an unusual bite).

Ive decided Im just going to run it for the time being, maybe doing some little jobs on it and in time doing something about the suspension and tyres but it'll definitely have questions to ask at some stage!