1998 Subaru Forester GL review from UK and Ireland

UK Subaru's have a very good reputation for reliability, and for the most part it is justified, but perhaps not quite as much as the adverts and reviews would make out.

Our car was an ex dealer demo model, bought with 1700 miles on the clock when a few weeks old. 2 Litre petrol, basic model with no air con, but a dealer fitted sunroof.

Basically nothing went wrong with it during the 5 years we had the car except at the 4 year service the dealer reported soft rear shock absorbers and a failing wheel bearing. From Internet searching these are known faults on the 1998 model. Although 4 years old the car had only done 28,000 miles. The dealer made an ex warranty claim and Subaru paid the parts, we paid the labour to fit them. This was excellent service from dealer and Subaru, but neither item should have failed in the first place.

A great car. A joy to drive, and comfortable - long journeys are a pleasure. We do not go off road, but the 4 wheel drive is very useful where we live in the Highlands of Scotland.

Standard radio is poor, minor switches layout is confusing, but these are minor gripes.

Fuel economy is good for a 4x4 - 30 miles per gallon provided the car is not thrashed. Routine service costs are high because this model has a service interval of 6months/7500 miles which has to be done to maintain the warranty. (New Foresters are a better 1 year/12000 mile interval)

We liked it so much that after 5 years we traded it in for the new Forester X.