Foresters go around corners better than a toaster has any right to. I put King springs in mine (available with 1" lift, stock height or 1" lowering) with GX2 shocks and struts and an STi rear swaybar. It handled well, but putting in an STi steering rack made the experience much better. I used stock height springs, I imagine lowering it an inch or more would help even more. There is a thread about it here:
http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f70/how-turn-better-than-sti-cheap-10696/
Duke wrote: The more I shop for used WRXs, the more I want to convince DD#1 to buy a Focus ST instead.
This board just really enjoys E36 M3ting all over the WRX!
I have owned a number of them and they are not as bad as they are made out to be. They are a more modern DSM. They are cheap, plentiful and like any car with boost, relatively easy to blow up, if you don't do it right.
I think you did hit the nail on the head with the DSM comparison, and that's one of the reasons why I'm hesitant. Cheap tends to attract inexperienced and somewhat broke owners, with predictable results. There is no doubt that like a DSM, a WRX can be made to go stupidly fast and reliable, but not a lot of them fulfill either criteria, let alone both.
In reply to BoxheadTim:
I wouldn't necessarily compare them with DSM's. They seem to have complete opposite problems. DSM's nickel and dime you with rubber and plastic bits that always seem to need attention, but the hard parts are pretty solid. There were also a lot of assembly issues, but the engineering was sound. Subaru problems seem to be much more engineering related, and harder to fix. They are also much less tolerant of "abuse."
Crank walk comes to mind with DSM.
Brett_Murphy wrote: Crank walk comes to mind with DSM.
Transfer cases too. I know a couple people who had them and could not keep a transfer case together. He said he got rid of his after he exhausted the entire local supply of transfer cases. Head gaskets were problematic too, as I recall
NGTD wrote:Duke wrote: The more I shop for used WRXs, the more I want to convince DD#1 to buy a Focus ST instead.This board just really enjoys E36 M3ting all over the WRX! I have owned a number of them and they are not as bad as they are made out to be. They are a more modern DSM. They are cheap, plentiful and like any car with boost, relatively easy to blow up, if you don't do it right.
Not just the WRX, seems to be Subarus in general. All my experiences with them have been fairly pleasant, haven't had any major issues.
NickD wrote: Not just the WRX, seems to be Subarus in general. All my experiences with them have been fairly pleasant, haven't had any major issues.
The oil consumption issue is the only recall I've heard of. That's beating lots of other manufacturers.
NickD wrote:Brett_Murphy wrote: Crank walk comes to mind with DSM.Transfer cases too. I know a couple people who had them and could not keep a transfer case together. He said he got rid of his after he exhausted the entire local supply of transfer cases. Head gaskets were problematic too, as I recall
Also manifolds.
In reply to Brett_Murphy:
Just seems like whenever Subarus come up on this board, people seem to rip on them pretty bad. If you read on here, you'd think every Subaru was a ticking time bomb that will leave you stranded at 20K miles.
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