Topic: Has the Forester's time with us come to an end?

[BWII]

Some people must not have kids...   I wouldn't buy my kid a car either that wasn't cheap.  The Sonic was for me...but they can use it as often and as long as they need to...until they buy their own car in which case get your hands off my keys.  When the last JR gets his own car...I don't know what I'm going to do with it.  Sell it...or maybe time to go autoXing...

As for the Forester...can you "buy it" from yourself and use it in Arthur Dent's Charity Beater Challenge?  Maybe fix the brakes, but fack the rest and then beat the tarsands out of it on the way.  Within legal limits, of course...don't want to read AD's articles to find out one JG was kicked out for pulling AWD donuts on the Lethbridge bar parking lot...before any beer is even spilled.

[tenpenny]

Man, I'm amazed at how everyone seems to believe that a $3k CUV is now a rolling death trap time bomb.

Do you people let your teenage children go outdoors without bubble wrap?

Oh, the humanity!  Think of the children!

I would never have expected that car people would be so terrified of older vehicles with high mileage.

Good god.


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[BWII]

I would never have expected that car people would be so terrified of older vehicles with high mileage.

Good god.

LOL...speaking of high miles...went to the Jets game with a co-worker yesterday.  He drives an '08 or so Enclave.  Has 170,000 or so km on it.  His wife wants to go to BC this summer.  He says No way! Not with the Buick!  Way too many miles on it.  He doesn't think it'll make it there and back.  FFS...you're smarter than that.  But apparently not.  I'd change oil and go.  What could possibly go wrong?  It's not a Caravan!  Fack...

[wing]

When I was a kid, I took the bus,  borrowed the car,  road my bicycle.  My parents didn't but me a car at all.

Meanest parents ever!

I bought my own first car for $600

[sailor723]

When I was a kid, I took the bus,  borrowed the car,  road my bicycle.  My parents didn't but me a car at all.

Meanest parents ever!

I bought my own first car for $600

No No No....you've got it all wrong. The trick is to get their grandparents to buy your kid a car. 

[wing]

My family is poor.  Seems like a lot of rich people around these days.

My grandparents couldn't afford a car for themselves.   

My parents bought used cars.   

Heck their retirement savings is less than 100k.

I guess I come from a different world than most.  A world where everyone scraped by.

[johngenx]

When I was a kid, I took the bus,  borrowed the car,  road my bicycle.  My parents didn't but me a car at all.

Meanest parents ever!

Mine too.  My parents never bought me a car.  I paid for my university.  I bought my own house.

My daughter's friends think she's crazy lucky.  Of those that have cars, not one of them was bought by, or subsidized by, their parents.  Her work chums think she's lucky that her parents pay for her instructor courses and certifications, that doesn't happen for any of them.

[84im]

You should add a Chevy Tracker/Suzuki Vitara to your short list.
Compared to your Subie our Tracker, with 185,000 km, is near new.
This little ute is built tough (and in Japan) like the older Subies. 
We bought ours three years ago, to pull behind the motorhome we never bought. 
My wife liked it so much we kept it for her daily driver.  There's lots of them around and they're fairly cheap.  Since we've bought it the only repairs I've done is the front brakes, including new calipers, and changing all the fluids.  That's it.

[tpl]

My family is poor.  Seems like a lot of rich people around these days.

My grandparents couldn't afford a car for themselves.   

My parents bought used cars.   

Heck their retirement savings is less than 100k.

I guess I come from a different world than most.  A world where everyone scraped by.

you are not unique...it is/was a generational thing and where you were brought up.  My folks were in public housing most of their lives after WWII and rarely had a few pounds spare. Never owned a new or even nearly new car  But that was then and there.

[Ex-airbalancer]

My family is poor.  Seems like a lot of rich people around these days.

My grandparents couldn't afford a car for themselves.   

My parents bought used cars.   

Heck their retirement savings is less than 100k.

I guess I come from a different world than most.  A world where everyone scraped by.

you are not unique...it is/was a generational thing and where you were brought up.  My folks were in public housing most of their lives after WWII and rarely had a few pounds spare. Never owned a new or even nearly new car  But that was then and there.

It was bad in the early '80's in Thunder Bay , we had to tell kids the powder milk was better than fresh milk 

[ktm525]

Give her the Highlander, don't put collision on it and tell her to drive carefully. That she doesn't like it is too bad, beggars can't be choosers.  . She sounds like a good kid so this won't spoil her. Highlander would be a great ski bumming vehicle.

[johngenx]

We had a long chat about this today, and I think we've come up with a plan that we both like.   

Despite the leaking HGs, the engine on the Forester still runs strong.  The trans shifts like new despite it's high mileage.  The AWD works perfectly, and hell, even the LSD still engages nicely.

The kid loves the Forester and she really want to keep it.  So, we're going to do our best to make as many fixes as possible.  The key is that I'll buy the parts, but she wants to do the work with my help - this way she can learn how to do a lot of DIY jobs.  We're going to leave the headgaskets - that's too big a job for us at home and no way I'm spending that kinda dough on the car.

We will do the rear brakes, new rear struts, new door weather stripping, timing belts and give the old gal any other TLC we can think of.

The main reason I'm more than willing to do this is that it just became an automotive shop class.  The lessons learned from doing all this work herself are worth 100x the small cost of the parts.  In the end she'll have knowledge and a better car.  Perfect.

[HeliDriver]

Sounds like a good plan, but why only the rear struts?

I'd want new struts all around, just so both ends of the car handle the same. I know it's not a sports car, but still...

[Firm]

I Think you came to the best possible solution John. Some of my best memories are from working on old beaters with my dad, and I learned a ton (both mechanically, and beyond that) in those times.

My only caution is to be prepared for a HG failure after you've sunk a bunch of money into the car already, that's just the way she goes......Only way around that might be to find a beater you both like that doesn't have an imminent catastrophic failure looming and work on building up that - a 4Runner sounds like a good fit

[johngenx]

Sounds like a good plan, but why only the rear struts?

I'd want new struts all around, just so both ends of the car handle the same. I know it's not a sports car, but still...

Fronts are fairly new and in perfect shape.  The rears are ORIGINAL.  Yes, they're 435,000 kms old!  One has a slight leak, but really, they're not expensive and at this mileage, it's time for them to be done.  I figure since the rear wheels and brakes are coming off, let's do the struts.

And investment wise, the parts are not a lot of money.  $700 or so.  If the car suffers a big failure, I can lose that.

[rrocket]

My family is poor.  Seems like a lot of rich people around these days.

My grandparents couldn't afford a car for themselves.   

My parents bought used cars.   

Heck their retirement savings is less than 100k.

I guess I come from a different world than most.  A world where everyone scraped by.

My dad was wealthy. He was a CA who at one point had 3 different office locations. I didn't know he was successful because we weren't spoiled and didn't live extravagantly. He grew up dirt poor (a good Xmas for him was if he received an orange or an apple). This certainly influenced how he lived and would raise his kids.

He never bought me a car. Made me pay for my education (he did buy my books though). He encouraged us to get jobs when we were very young. I was a paper boy at about 10. Worked as a farm hand from 12-16..until I got a job at McDonald's. He always said I'd never appreciate the value of money if it was just given to me. He made me start paying rent when I was 18!

Now, I'm glad he raised me this way. Since I wasn't raised "rich" I never had any expectation of having money....and being responsible with the money I did have. IMO, it made it super easy adjusting to the "real world" when I moved out.

This seems to be the opposite of most kids these days.

IQ was raised similarly (her parents immigrated to Canada and had nothing). We've been raising the boy in a similar manner. Not long ago he wanted shoes. We told him find a pair for $40 or so. Naturally, he wanted the $150 shoes. We said he could have the $150 shoes...but we'd only pay the $40 and he'd have to pay the rest from his money. Funny how quickly the shoes he wanted changed LOL. And last week after school, he asked IQ if they could go out to eat. She said "Sure! If you're buying! " And so he bought IQ dinner!

We are hopeful he'll (someday) find these lessons as valuable as IQ and I did.

[Fobroader]

I went halfsies on a $1400 85 Bronco 2 with my dad when I was 17.....had to pay gas and insurance. Nothing wrong with a kid driving a beater that they have to maintain.

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[rrocket]

I went halfsies on a $1400 85 Bronco 2 with my dad when I was 17.....had to pay gas and insurance. Nothing wrong with a kid driving a beater that they have to maintain.

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Yep! Good practice and might have fond memories of the whole thing.

[mmret]

We had a long chat about this today, and I think we've come up with a plan that we both like.   

Despite the leaking HGs, the engine on the Forester still runs strong.  The trans shifts like new despite it's high mileage.  The AWD works perfectly, and hell, even the LSD still engages nicely.

The kid loves the Forester and she really want to keep it.  So, we're going to do our best to make as many fixes as possible.  The key is that I'll buy the parts, but she wants to do the work with my help - this way she can learn how to do a lot of DIY jobs.  We're going to leave the headgaskets - that's too big a job for us at home and no way I'm spending that kinda dough on the car.

We will do the rear brakes, new rear struts, new door weather stripping, timing belts and give the old gal any other TLC we can think of.

The main reason I'm more than willing to do this is that it just became an automotive shop class.  The lessons learned from doing all this work herself are worth 100x the small cost of the parts.  In the end she'll have knowledge and a better car.  Perfect.

This is a good solution.

[rrocket]

We had a long chat about this today, and I think we've come up with a plan that we both like.   

Despite the leaking HGs, the engine on the Forester still runs strong.  The trans shifts like new despite it's high mileage.  The AWD works perfectly, and hell, even the LSD still engages nicely.

The kid loves the Forester and she really want to keep it.  So, we're going to do our best to make as many fixes as possible.  The key is that I'll buy the parts, but she wants to do the work with my help - this way she can learn how to do a lot of DIY jobs.  We're going to leave the headgaskets - that's too big a job for us at home and no way I'm spending that kinda dough on the car.

We will do the rear brakes, new rear struts, new door weather stripping, timing belts and give the old gal any other TLC we can think of.

The main reason I'm more than willing to do this is that it just became an automotive shop class.  The lessons learned from doing all this work herself are worth 100x the small cost of the parts.  In the end she'll have knowledge and a better car.  Perfect.

You have to remove the brake line to do the rear struts FFS.