Replacement for Subaru Forester?

Westfly Refugee

Westfly Refugee

Steelhead
Sadly, my 2005 Forester with ~170,000 miles is headed for the scrap yard. Yesterday, it threw a rod which is unfortunate as I just had the top of the engine rebuilt and some other fixes and it was running great.
It's my daily driver and I'm looking for a quick replacement, preferably a used vehicle with no more than 35K miles.
I'd consider another Forester but after twenty years I've had enough of the slow-poke 2.5L/165hp motor.
Total cargo area is important. The Forester has 62ft3.

I'm looking at the KIA Telluride. Not so much the Hyundai Santa Fe. The Ford Explorers a few years back with the EcoBoost engines were good drivers but kept the repair shops busy with mechanical/electrical issues.

So, any preferences / recommendations for these smaller type of SUVs? I haven't been in the market for this sort of vehicle since I bought the Forester new in 2005, so I've not kept up with advances, and feel like I'm flying blind, while wanting to purchase an immediate replacment.
 
After pricing new/used trucks and seeing they were out of our price range we got a Subaru Ascent.
It has plenty of power with its 2.4-liter turbocharged 260 hp. engine. It can tow up to 5000 pounds.
It has 3rd row seating. The seats can fold down to provide lots of storage area.
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Second, the Subaru Accent. Went with it when we upgraded from a Forester.

Plenty of storage and power. Long enough for me at 6'1" to lay down.
 
I replaced a forester with a rav4 hybrid last year. I really like the better gas mileage and 520 or so mile range. Feels slightly bigger than the forester. I can easily sleep in the back. Has a few bells and whistles that my wife requested. I wasn’t really excited for them but got them anyway. Don't tell her but some of them are really starting to grow on me. Really happy with it.
 
Subaru improved the Forester in 2020, peppier (182 hp with faster spool-up) and with more room than the previous models, fan of my wife's, and they upgraded it again in 2025 with improved sound insulation, bigger display screen, etc.
The new Subaru Outback is out, larger then previous years, turbo option...fan of the Ascent as well, Subaru has apparently resolved the transmission issues that had been an issue for the first couple of years, took a test drive while the Forester was getting a routine service, could easily see owning one.
Regarding Telluride/Palisade, KIA and Hyundai dealerships get the worse service ratings in the business. Just check the Reddit forum for customer experience to get the drift.
A respected auto mechanic I follow has this advice for car buyers based on his decades of experience - for reliability go with Subaru, Toyota, Lexus and Mazda
FYI, carcomplaints.com collates all the repair data from the various makes and models, and is a valuable resource for reliability data. Makes clear the models and years to avoid.

CarComplaints.com | Car Problems, Car Complaints, & Repair/Recall Information

Free help for car problems, repairs and recalls. What's wrong with YOUR car?
www.carcomplaints.com
 
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If you want a used car with less than 35K miles you should just buy new and take advantage of dealer financing. Used vehicles are extremely overpriced these days. Also, dealerships don’t care about cash, they want you to use their financing. So get new, get it financed, and pay that sucker off ASAP. When I was shopping around Honda had some amazing financing and their Ridgeline was what I was looking at. I ended up getting an old 2010 Silverado for way waaaaaaay less and I am happy with it but like I say if you want something barely used then new is probably cheaper or the same price overall.
 
HauntedByWaters said:
If you want a used car with less than 35K miles you should just buy new and take advantage of dealer financing. Used vehicles are extremely overpriced these days. Also, dealerships don’t care about cash, they want you to use their financing. So get new, get it financed, and pay that sucker off ASAP. When I was shopping around Honda had some amazing financing and their Ridgeline was what I was looking at. I ended up getting an old 2010 Silverado for way waaaaaaay less and I am happy with it but like I say if you want something barely used then new is probably cheaper or the same price overall.
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I was just SUV shopping in December and January and this was not my experience. My experience was that new cars are overpriced (and going up due to tariffs btw), and used cars are also overpriced, but used cars with low mileage are not going for close to MSRP of new ones like they were 4 years ago. From what I saw, you can still avoid taking the new car depreciation hit by buying a lightly used pretty new car. And, at least some dealers offer the same financing for their used cars that they do for new cars.
 
Last fall, I upgraded from my 2010 Forester to a 2019 Forester with 57K miles. So far, I am happy with it, except for not being able to sleep in the back.

Edit: I bought from these guys in Portland and they had a good price and were easy to deal with:


I took the train down, they picked me up at the station, and I drove my new to me car back up to Lynnwood.
 
I realize it won't help, but the Forester model was supposed to offer a 2.4L turbo alternate in the near future. Woodsy Mrs. Rat decided to replace her '14 Forester in December. Ended up with a '24 Forester Wilderness model before the '25 came out. Horsepower was not her big issue but ground clearance, AT tires, lower gearing, full size spare and a hood she could see over are.
 
mickey rat said:
I realize it won't help, but the Forester model was supposed to offer a 2.4L turbo alternate in the near future. Woodsy Mrs. Rat decided to replace her '14 Forester in December. Ended up with a '24 Forester Wilderness model before the '25 came out. Horsepower was not her big issue but ground clearance, AT tires, lower gearing, full size spare and a hood she could see over are.
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You'll need to rotate the full size spare in to keep the wear even for the AWD, right?
 
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Matt B said:
I was just SUV shopping in December and January and this was not my experience. My experience was that new cars are overpriced (and going up due to tariffs btw), and used cars are also overpriced, but used cars with low mileage are not going for close to MSRP of new ones like they were 4 years ago. From what I saw, you can still avoid taking the new car depreciation hit by buying a lightly used pretty new car. And, at least some dealers offer the same financing for their used cars that they do for new cars.
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Thanks for the update. My shopping experience was 3 years ago so maybe things have changed a lot. My wife wants a Honda Odyssey so I will likely back in the game soon. However, I do kinda of want to save our cash in case of economic crash. We have a Honda Civic that works great so should probably wait even though a ln Odyssey would likely make our lives so much easier.
 
HauntedByWaters said:
Thanks for the update. My shopping experience was 3 years ago so maybe things have changed a lot. My wife wants a Honda Odyssey so I will likely back in the game soon. However, I do kinda of want to save our cash in case of economic crash. We have a Honda Civic that works great so should probably wait even though a ln Odyssey would likely make our lives so much easier.
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That whole situation sounds awfully familiar. We were going between an AWD Toyota Sienna minivan and a AWD Highlander (with the 3rd row seat) and went Highlander mainly because there a shit ton more of them available (especially non-hybrid) and so it seems like there are a few more "deals" out there for them. Meanwhile, we held on to the baby Prius C with over 200k miles b/c it works great for most things and is super efficient, just cramped. It would be nice to keep a stable of vehicles (one nice new one and some various utilitarian, repairable beaters) but I can't justify the insane insurance premiums everywhere these days and registration fees that come with living in glorious King County.
 
SurfnFish said:
Subaru improved the Forester in 2020, peppier (182 hp with faster spool-up) and with more room than the previous models, fan of my wife's, and they upgraded it again in 2025 with improved sound insulation, bigger display screen, etc.
The new Subaru Outback is out, larger then previous years, turbo option...fan of the Ascent as well, Subaru has apparently resolved the transmission issues that had been an issue for the first couple of years, took a test drive while the Forester was getting a routine service, could easily see owning one.
Regarding Telluride/Palisade, KIA and Hyundai dealerships get the worse service ratings in the business. Just check the Reddit forum for customer experience to get the drift.
A respected auto mechanic I follow has this advice for car buyers based on his decades of experience - for reliability go with Subaru, Toyota, Lexus and Mazda
FYI, carcomplaints.com collates all the repair data from the various makes and models, and is a valuable resource for reliability data. Makes clear the models and years to avoid.

CarComplaints.com | Car Problems, Car Complaints, & Repair/Recall Information

Free help for car problems, repairs and recalls. What's wrong with YOUR car?
www.carcomplaints.com
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Wife bought the 2025 Forester Touring edition. She had the 2015 Forester and this new car is a different beast. Really smooth acceleration and quiet on the road. I kinda wish Subaru had a full size truck! 😀
 
doublespey said:
Wife bought the 2025 Forester Touring edition. She had the 2015 Forester and this new car is a different beast. Really smooth acceleration and quiet on the road. I kinda wish Subaru had a full size truck! 😀
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and when it comes to AWD conditions the Subaru is so damn reliable...paired with Michelin Crossclimate 2 tires my wife's 2020 Forester sneers at ice and snow.
 
doublespey said:
.... I kinda wish Subaru had a full size truck! 😀
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Either that or an Element that was 20% bigger but exactly like the old one. Subaru has about the best AWD system available, it would probably cost over $80K to find something better. And their CVT is the best in the business. Sadly, it appears that prices are going up from $750 to over $2,000 on June 1st. Gosh, I wonder what caused that....
 
update: Turns out the 2005 LL Bean Forester isn't going to the scrap yard at all and is now on a trailer headed to Yakima, where it will have a a second life after a used motor is installed. I was surprised at the strong interest I got in response to my CL ad.

The Forester was my daily driver, and after considering that I do have a 4Runner for when I have to haul more gear, I decided more cargo space wasn't so important. I'd have leaned into a Telluride a bit more but holy cow the dealers (Portland area) are pricing 2-3 year old Tellurides at darn near what their original MSRP was. No thank you. Interestingly, I priced used Tellurides in northern NJ and the prices were much more what you'd expect $7-8K less than what they sold for two years ago.

Anyway, I closed the deal on a low mileage 2023 Forester Wilderness model from Toyota of Wilsonville. They didn't play the games that other dealers did. At one dealer, I thought we had deal, at an agreed upon price. I had to walk out when they said I had to pay hundreds of dollars above the advertised price for the magic ceramic wax "paint protectant" because it was already applied. Such BS. And from a big name dealer here too.
 
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