Dear Community, Hello! I test drove a baseline, 2015 Subaru Forester today at Dan Perkins Subaru in CT. The car has clean carfax, 9223 miles, no accidents, 1-owner personal lease, a backup camera, and advertised price is $18,990.
The out-the-door price with taxes, fees, and plates will be $20472. The price also includes a Lifetime warranty on the powertrain. A remote car starter and a cargo cover will be added as a bonus. The car drove well. We put a deposit on it and have until Saturday to decide. Please advise if it is a good purchase.
My second question is either to take a car loan or pay cash? I know that we are supposed to have spare funds for emergencies. What is the best thing to do? Please advice. Many Thanks.
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That life time driveline warranty is almost worthless. Loan or cash , what ever lets you sleep at night. Seriously , if you can pay 20000.00 cash why are you not making a large down payment and getting new with full warranty. My personal feeling is that I would never buy a used all wheel drive vehicle. As for the price , the only opinion that matters is yours and who ever is involved with you ( spouse ? ).
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“That life time driveline warranty is almost worthless”- may I know why? thanks
Look at https://www.kbb.com/, though when I did I got ads for a new 2017 forester, 22.000 price slashed out of 22,000, check for lower price, did not want to play the sign up game for that little cash difference I WOULD CHECK OUT NEW 2017 OR 18, Better financing on new might make it a break even, and more warranty icing on the cake.
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I just looked your history Omsairam , you just don’t seem like the used vehicle type . As Barky says the interest on new vehicles is better than used and a base Forester at that same dealer is 26000.00 so look at the new ones .
As for the lifetime warranty on driveline there are just to many ways to have that coverage denied . Uneven tire wear or mismatched tires or lack of documentation of scheduled service.
What you buy is your business. If you borrow money shop around for a good interest rate. I personally use a credit union, even if I have the cash. If the interest you pay is less than the income you can get by investing the money, you can do well, and it’s not impossible.
For that money I’d get a new one. And skip the remote starter, we get problems with them here.
Ok. Thanks. I am also debating baseline vs others with lane detection and other features.
Used vs new.20 grand vs 26.
Life time warranty sounded good, but did not realize that it has a catch to it.
That’s the reason I get stressed out about car shopping. My old 2003 Subaru with 178000 miles is slowly dying. Want to get a reliable car while it is still running. Thanks for your guidance.
I have 2015 Forester Premium w/ Eyesight and I paid $25290. I know Forester holds value but with 10K miles and base variant + most likely without the Eyesight, I am not comfortable paying 20K. You could pay 5K more and get a new one.
We all got an extended 10 year warranty on transmission. While I didn’t see posts on transmission failure on these vehicles on various boards, if Subaru is giving this without you asking indicates something.
Since you are getting it from Dan Perkins, you seem local to me. Would you like to give a shot to a dealership little farther (in NH) to see what they quote you for the newer one? I don’t know my salesman is still there but I can give you his details. You contact him and see what he has to offer. He gave me the lowest quote of everyone, no haggling, nothing. Just few emails back and forth to finalize the trim and one call to give credit card details for the down payment. I have not seem him or the dealership as the car was delivered to me. For the record, I do not get anything if you buy from him. This is how I bought as well. A veteran in NJ gave me his details.
If the remote starter is aftermarket, don’t buy it. If it is original equipment, you don’t have a choice. I have it on my new Accord, but I don’t use it. I always pay cash for my cars. That keeps me from overspending. If you are young enough that you need to build a credit rating, a car loan is a good place to start.
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A vehicle that was driven only ~9k miles in two to three years would most likely be one that was driven only for extremely short errands. Because that is the absolute worst type of service to which one can subject an engine, I would be very concerned about the possibility of an accumulation of sludge in the engine.
This vehicle should have had a minimum of 4 oil changes on the basis of elapsed time. If you cannot confirm that the oil was changed at least 4 times, I would suggest that you walk away from this deal.
Sure thanks
I agree 100%. I have a 2015 Forester, and I put only 8k or so per year on it. Now have 35k and have had about 7 oil changes and tire rotations (6 month schedule).
The good part about the low mileage is that you may be ok on tire wear, even without rotation.
Only time will tell if a used 2015 Subaru Forester is a good buy. It is one of the years covered by the engine failure (due to oil consumption) settlement. I own a 2016 and will be ditching it 1 month prior to the manufacurer’s warranty expiration or the day the oil level starts to drop. You can learn more here at this CarTalk article. I’d wonder why a Forester with almost no miles was turned in by a former owner.
John- any idea if the recent Impreza/Crosstrek 2.0 l has the same oil consumption problem?
I am a fan of Subaru, having owned four and still owning my 2016, but I have seen no positive evidence yet that Subaru even knows what the exact cause of the oil consumption probem is, or how to fix it. I LOVE that new Crosstrek and I seriously considered trading for one, but with owners of new Subarus still reporting oil consumption issues, I think I will have to pass on it. In my reporting I stick to the facts I know, and I just don’t know about the extent of the problem in new Subarus, so I leave it out of reviews and such. However, when asked directly, I reply the way I am here. The engine in the new Crosstrek and new Forestrer is not a new design. Just updated. I was frankly shocked that Subaru didn’t roll out a smaller turbo for each (like Hyundai, Honda, and others are doing with great success).
Plus the fact that this OP has other threads about problems they had with their other Subaru so why are they not considering something else?
Hi everyone. Thanks so much for your advice. I think I’ll pass on this car, especially with all of the oil problems. Th e last comment on why Forrester made me reflect, might consider cx5 instead in addition to crv and rav4. Might make new post to ask due for advice on that 
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My daughter bought a new CX5 in 2014 and is well satisfied with it. If you are looking for a used one, consider the Sport model with the 2L engine. It’s a little underpowered for a lot of users, but for my daughter’s purposes, it is just fine. Both the 2L and the 2.5L have similar gas mileage.