This past Saturday I traded my '03 EP for a '04 Subaru Forester XT.

This was a pretty tough decision for me, as I've been a Honda disciple for a long time (since '72), preaching the gospel of Soichiro to all who would listen. Lately I've felt like the company's direction may have strayed too far from Soichiro Honda's original philosophy of a high quality, technically superior product at a reasonable price.

My wife's 2001 Honda Civic EX Sedan was delivered with a windshield that had dozens of tiny air bubbles in the glass at the top. The dealer replaced the glass but broke one of the the A pillar trim mounting clips, leaving the trim loose. The car had to have a shock replaced with less than 10k miles on the car. The dealer seemed well acquainted with that situation, as they mentioned that several others had had to have that done as well. Interior pieces are coming loose, and there's a couple of annoying rattles. The car has less than 27k on the odo.

My EP had its share of problems. The drivers headrest insert (the red plastic thingy) was not installed properly, leaving a part of the upholstery beading exposed. A rattle somewhere in the dash started making its presence known, until it was so bad that even wind and road noise would not mask it. The plastic side trim of the passenger side seat kept coming adrift. The car also had less than 27k on the odo.

Small things? Probably so, but I expect no worse from this Subaru. Only time will tell.

I still have my del Sol VTEC. I'll still drive it when I want the sun on my face and the wind in my hair. The wife is so impressed with my Forester though that I strongly anticipate her trading her EX for an XT with leather and auto.

Cheers to you EP owners! I still think its a good car, but it turns out its simply less than I expected.

 

yes, i love it too. but i prefer the 4matic system of a mercedes. its based on a rwd system. much better than one based on a fwd system like subies and vw/audi system. is the xt the one with the wrx motor? those seem to be pretty good. i would consider one over a cr-v. 4wd is good to have where i live.

 

Congrats on the new car! Check out nasioc.com
if you haven't already...

As for the XT, I believe it has the STi motor
(2.5 liter intercooled turbo) and rumors were
that dropping in an STi ECU would give it the
same performance...now that's a fun lil' SUV.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by texnteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...is the xt the one with the wrx motor?...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, it's supposedly a detuned version of the WRX STI motor and shorter final drive gearing. It's indeed a blast!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by andyep3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Congrats on the new car! Check out nasioc.com
if you haven't already...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks very much. NASIOC is a great site, in addition to http://www.scoobymods.com/ and http://www.subaruforester.com.

 

i was kinda wondering...why didn't you trade in the civic sedan if you got another 4 door? even with hondas, you always stay away from the first model year. well, have fun with the scoob.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by texnteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i was kinda wondering...why didn't you trade in the civic sedan if you got another 4 door?...</TD></TR></TABLE>

If we had done that, then SHE would be driving the scooby and not me!

 

I traded in my EP for a 2.5XT also, though i only had it for about 3 days because the dealership was trying to "play games" with my payment after the fact.

My impressions:
The 2.5XT is very fast in a straight line but handles like absolute GARBAGE. I think it's the crappy tires which can easily be fixed, but in stock trim, the car is DANGEROUS in the twisties.

 

I think subaru's 4wd is not based on a Fwd system, the engine is longitually mounted.

 

you don't have to have a transverse motor to have fwd. but the system has not changed since subaru used to market fwd cars. the awd system was based off of their fwd drivetrain.