Posted this on another forum also........I have a 2008 JDM imported Turbo Forester I love the car but what I hate is, the pain of getting it insured the premium I pay for it and the fuel economy 17 -19 mpg on a good month and the fact that I have to use super-unleaded...It's quite old now I'm dreading a bit when things will go bad it will be very expensive...and sooner rather than later I will have to comute to work a couple of days a week at the moment is just a weekend car...it is ULEZ compliant

I imported the car myself from Japan has only 50k miles (full service history from Subaru Tokyo) I've done timing belt including water-pump changed all the fluids, new maf sensor,new spark plugs, had it undersealed being a JDM import it had no rust whatsoever so spent a few quid on after it landed here....

It has the EJ205 engine and about 230PS It's the first car I had with over 200PS I think 180 to 200 would be more than enough for me I find it actually frustrating driving it around London at 5mph more or less and I hate myself for not taking the train everytime I drive to work ) ....I love it when I go out of London though...

It has a few extras: STI twin exhaust(It sounds awesome I never turn the stereo on, I just lower the windows and just listen to the boxer engine don't need music), STI pink springs, STI front tower bar (or whatever is called). Two sets of alloy wheels winter/summer.

Could I do better for about 10-11k something newer? with better mpg, family friendly, 200bhp minimum, reliable....? Something that will still make me smile when I drive it... Some cars I thought about Octavia Vrs, BMW 3 or 5 series GT....problem is nothing I look at I like compared to the Forester ....maybe get a newer UK model Forester XT?

I don't do lots of miles/year maybe 5000-ish so not sure if fuel economy would even matter at this mileage?

 

Get a forester sg9 Sti , more power better mpg , i’ve never managed as low as 19 mpg , 25 is fairly normal , 35 mpg when driven sensibly , the fsti plus lots of other imports are a bit more expensive at the moment , but it’s basically your car on steroids but when driven sensibly much better mpg 👍

 

You know I wanted one initially and I should have to be honest.........this year the prices have gone up for them.....even at the auctions in Japan they are more expensive now.....I'll give it some thought......any issues with the 2.5 engine if it's driven like a normal person? Last STI sold at auction in Japan went for £12k that's the final auction price.....too much as you have to add about 3k(best case scenario) to have it on the road here so you're looking at 15k .....

 

Yes unfortunately they have gone up ££ ,hopefully this will change and improve , the 2.5 failures are not as common in the Fsti as it’s a slightly different engine with a smaller turbo running about 1.3 bar when it’s tuned , the first one i had was for about 10 years the engine was rebuilt at 93k and it went on to 198k , rust in the end , repairable but the rest of the car was showing its age but engine was still fine, the engine was literally the only part that went wrong , so the cost of a rebuild over 10 years and that mileage more than paid for itself , newer fsti again around the 90k same engine issue , plus i’m greedy i bought two more fsti before the prices went up , i think an all round great car , both the more recent ones imported under 0 emissions so tax is around 245 per year , worth getting it mapped as if you drive sensibly mpg can be a lot better , at 70 mph it’s been up to 36 mpg