Subaru Forester Cross Sport 2007
2006 JDM Forester Cross Sports 2.0T (The Hearse)
2006 JDM Forester Cross Sports 2.0T (The Hearse)
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Thursday 27th September 2018
Back in 2008-10, I owned a 2005 Impreza Wagon WRX SL (2 litre engine, Sunroof and Leather) with Prodrive Performance Pack. This was a great car and to this day it's the only car I have ever regretted selling in 23 years of car ownership. I sold it because the fuel bills were becoming a little tedious, no other reason. It turns out the depreciation on it's successors would have more than made up for the heavy fuel costs, but that's another story.....
Fast forward to a few months ago and I decide I want another as my daily driver and begin the search for a 2004-06 car (the 2007 onwards 2.5 litre engine can be an unreliable dog that I wouldn't touch, including in the Forester STI - sorry owners). I was willing to pay handsomely for one with sensible miles and minimal rust. However it transpires that such things no longer exist. Despite months of searching, the ones coming up for sale were all high mileage, with several years worth of rust advisories on the MOTs.
The only option? Take the search to Japan. Last time I did this was 3 years ago with an EP3 Civic Type R. That went pretty well and I only lost about £1k in 15 month's of owning it. This was the readers car thread on that experience....
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Happily the Japs stuck with the 2 litre in their Imprezas, which remained in the Wagons until they ended production of them in 2007. Unfortunately It quickly became apparent that first of all - these are expensive in Japan (looking at £9k OTR in the UK for one with no repair history and sensible miles) and that the heated leather seats of the SL were not an option over there. I couldn't bring myself to pay that much.
So this is where the Forester 2.0T comes in. It's a little uglier (more purposeful?) than the Impreza and slightly heavier. BUT it's significantly cheaper and a lot of them have half leather heated seats. The only problem is that manuals only make up about 10% of production and fetch a fair premium as a result.
I decided I'd be ok with an Auto for a daily driver, as I'd rather have a better quality car than compromise that to get a manual. However.... we checked out a couple of Autos at Japanese dealers and they either didn't happen, or they dragged on a bit - partly due to the 8 hour time difference. In the mean-time, a very nice manual popped up at auction in the early hours of this morning. I thought f*** it, we'll up the budget a bit and stick a bid in. I then get a text at circa 4.45 am ..... and we've won.... for the same price of a nice Auto. Major result!
So what have I got?
Its a 2006 Cross Sports model with the same 2 litre Turbo and 5 speed gearbox as the Impreza WRX (so basically a Forester WRX). Power is 220 PS - not massive, but I assume it'll manage mid 6s to 60. I expect it has a TD04 turbo, so a re-map could see a safe 260-270. Grade 4B (best a 12 year old used car can be) and 78k kilometres (49k miles). Zero rust.
What will it cost me? circa £6,500 all in. There are one or two dealers of the Forester imports here and they'd be asking £9k for it. I'm very pleased!
…. and here it is. Hearse or mid tier Columbian drug lord?
4 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
3 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
2 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
1 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
5 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
6 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
The Civic took 5 months before I was driving it. I'm hoping this will be sooner and at least see some of the winter!
Hopefully this will go better than S100's Hawkeye Impreza experience 
TL;DR Man buys Forester from Japan.
Edited by rossub on Wednesday 3rd October 17:45
Thursday 27th September 2018
It will go better than s100's experience because you seem to know what you're doing and haven't bought the cheapest ropey example of it.
It looks great, bet you can't wait !
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Friday 28th September 2018
Yeah will be a frustrating wait. Itching to get the photos of it at the dock too as the auction ones are always crap quality. Should have those to post up in the next week hopefully.
Friday 28th September 2018
Looks fantastic. I also regretted selling my wrx wagon (with PPP!) Ive upgraded to a JDM legacy as i needed the space.
But I would love a jdm forester...
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Friday 28th September 2018
I did look at Legacies as they have the 2 litre engine and twin scroll. But I've no kids or dogs, so they're a bit on the long side for me - about a foot longer than the Forester. Cracking cars though.
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Wednesday 3rd October 2018
Dock photos are here. Happy with it, other than some wear from the seat belt and that sexy mirror on the wing - it's time is limited.
Rust free underneath, which was an absolute must.
SG9-113784_1_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_2_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_3_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_4_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_7_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_8_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_9_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_10_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_11_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_14_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_15_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_17_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_18_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
SG9-113784_20_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
Friday 26th February
Thread resurrection!
How did you get on with the fozzie? Still got it ?
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Friday 26th February
Resurrection indeed.
Unfortunately it developed a whine in the gearbox and when the oil was dropped, it looked like it had never been changed in its 13 year life.
I spent £1400 having the box dropped and some bearings changed, but the whine was still there.
So I sold it on to someone locally who is very handy with the spanners. I heard it recently went through its Mot no problem, so all is well with it.
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Friday 26th February
R12many said:
The whine would more than likely have been the transfer bearings which would have cost about £300 all in to fix.
It was put to a Subaru specialist with 30 years experience.
If it was a simple fix, then I've been ripped off, but I know he doesn't need the money. I'm pretty sure transmission whines are notoriously hard to pin down.
Saturday 27th February
rossub said:
It was put to a Subaru specialist with 30 years experience.
If it was a simple fix, then I've been ripped off, but I know he doesn't need the money. I'm pretty sure transmission whines are notoriously hard to pin down.
Not really, you determine whether it's the gearbox, transfer case or rear diff, and then change the needed parts. As a rule of thumb, you'll typically change all of the bearings inside the gearbox even if you just suspected it was one bearing, like a layshaft bearing for example. I can only imagine your "specialist" must have replaced the wrong bearings and reused others.
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Saturday 27th February
Sounds wonderful, except I couldn't hear exactly where it was coming from, neither could the local garage and neither could the specialist.
Saturday 27th February
What did you get to replace it?
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Saturday 27th February
jimmytheone said:
What did you get to replace it?
2012 Ford Ka
.... and this... which quickly made me forget the Forester!
Saturday 27th February
Thanks for the replies.
The forrester is an itch I keep coming back to, but never had. Living on th edge of a moor in Scotland, i need AWD, and boot space, and I've had 4 audis on the trot, so fancy something different.
Legacy vs forrester vs ????
My village has a very good Subaru garage too...
What is that replacement Subaru? I'm not great on the hundreds of models..
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Saturday 27th February
Replacement in an Impreza STI R205
Saturday 27th February
Jdm looking, another import?
I must admit the hatch shape never quite hit the spot for me, I thought my Hawkeye was the perfect spec - wr blue wagon SL, 55 plate avoids the tax step...but it's getting a bit weary and I'm reluctant to tweak it beyond standard 227 as I live in fear of the 2.5 melting. It's done 110k and part of me thinks it's on borrowed time already without provoking it!
But what to replace it with?
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Saturday 27th February
jimmytheone said:
Jdm looking, another import?
I must admit the hatch shape never quite hit the spot for me, I thought my Hawkeye was the perfect spec - wr blue wagon SL, 55 plate avoids the tax step...but it's getting a bit weary and I'm reluctant to tweak it beyond standard 227 as I live in fear of the 2.5 melting. It's done 110k and part of me thinks it's on borrowed time already without provoking it!
But what to replace it with?
Yes, JDM only model. The non STI hatch is pretty awful looking, but the beefed out arches of the STI transforms it IMO.
R205. Great hatchback choice.
If I could live with the fuel appetite and space, that would be my go to STI daily.
Ay chance of a Readers Cars thread on it?
Pretty please?
rossub
Original Poster
3,294 posts
162 months
Monday 1st March
Maybe in the summer - it's still SORN for the winter and I've not taken any other pics! 
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff
Subaru Forester Cross Sport 2007
Source: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=47&t=1769203
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