1999 Subaru Forester L from North America - Comments

We got our 2005 Forester L about a year ago. It's got 30K miles on it, 10K put on by me.

It's been a pretty good car, rides well, tows my boat, good in the snow, makes it up steep dirt roads and fits lots of stuff.

The only down sides we've seen are a cracked exhaust pipe (happened after a 10 mile off-roading adventure, so I can't get too excited about that), and severe tire wear on the two rear tires. I can't remember if they were bad when I got them and I just missed it, or they've worn since we bought the car. In any case, I've never seen such wear at 30K miles. Completely bald on the outer 1/4 of the tire face. I guess it's alignment time, but from the prior comments, I'm not too hopeful. Any opinions on dealer vs. Sears vs NTB vs Firestone?

I bought our 1999 Forester S almost 10 years ago. Since then the only non-routine expense we've had has been replacement of both rear wheel bearings. Rear bearing replacement cost ~$500 each time and occurred at ~60K miles.

The car now has 85K miles on it and has been very reliable. It's been cross-country four times and through mud, monster pot-holes, ice, snow, 115 degree heat for extended periods and has carried massive loads far in excess of the vehicles rating. So far we've been very pleased with the performance of the car.

Last week the overhead clock died, but after almost 10 years that's no real surprise or big deal. The original Geolandar tires on the car used a very soft compound and wore out at 15K miles. Since then we've used Michelins and tire wear has been normal.

I would recommend this car to anyone as a reliable and safe vehicle, and I just bought a 2009 Forester XT as a second car.

I'm the original owner of a 1999 Subaru Forester S that has about 161,000 miles on the body & about 135,000 miles on the engine. The engine blew at 90,000 miles in 2004 & I replaced it with a used engine that had about 65,000 miles on it. A few other problems cropped up after that, but I just kept fixing them til things settled down. Now it's using at least a quart of oil with every gas fillup and there's oil in the antifreeze. Ugh... time to look at the 2009 Foresters since they're the best car for my needs. I've really loved this car, even with its problems. I'm comforted to see that everyone else has had problems with the clock. The clock in my Forester has been dead for years and the radio/CD player lights haven't worked in awhile either.

I am the original owner of a 98 Subaru Forester S with 151,000 K.

Oil every 4K.

Tires every ~50K (3rd or 4th set with 32K, though I did switch from the H rated tires it came with to longer life tires).

Rotors at 90 and 140K.

I seem to have had many of the issues other owners have had.

First wheel bearing going bad in passenger rear side at ~140K (not very many winters with snow -SC, OH).

Overhead clock hasn't worked since early on.

Remote key system shorted out and killed the battery (replace the battery and it didn't fix it) so I removed the fuse - no more problems or remote entry.

Engine-transmission gasket went at ~90K and took a few trips to diagnose.

The check engine light came on for the first time at 145K last winter, and I was told the catalytic converter was borderline so they reset the light. 7 months later it is back. The issue is we can't re-register it unless we fix it.

All in all, for a car in its 12th year this seems to be about par for the course. Hondas (15 owner years) and Toyotas (7 owners years) may have had a few less repairs by now, but not much.

The low center of gravity makes this car very stable in snow, so I will probably get another one, one of these years.

I have a 1999 Subaru Forester L series. I brought it from a dealer with 49255 miles/ five years old. I've had it for five years/ now it's ten years old with 80638 miles.

I've done regular oil changes every 3500-4000 miles. Just replaced the original tires at 80,000 miles. Air conditioning not very cold. The overhead clock still works. And my check engine light just flashed on and back off today for the first time. It's off now. I've only replaced the brake pads maybe and front brake shoes or something cost 300 dollars. Regular maintenance - under warranty that I brought for extra 1300.

Bought it while living in upstate NY and now I have to replace the whole exhaust system 1200 bucks due to sever rusted parts, getting a second opinion due to the fact that I'm a girl and they always try to sell me the Brooklyn bridge.

Overall though I love my Subaru - she has just gone and gone and gone with little trouble and now at ten years old she's having some growing pains. I'm taking her to the shop next week she idling badly - like she want to turn off and I just got a full oil change and fluids topped off for 65 bucks. I'd say that I've spent no more than 2000 in the five years that I've owned her, and that includes the new tires she just got.

I purchased my 1999 Subaru Forester in January 2007 with approximately 134,000 miles on it. This was my first experience with a Subaru, and overall it was very pleasant car to own and drive.

The electric clock did not function; I'm told the clock malfunction was a widespread problem of that year make/model. It had a constant oil leak and needed oil added to it regularly. Sometimes the check engine light would come on.

I drove this car HARD for the last two years, and yesterday it finally died at 177,000 with a thrown rod. My mechanic likens it to having a heart attack at age 60. Before yesterday's issue, I never had one problem with this car. The AC worked fine, the tires and steering mechanism all performed fine as well.

Two years of good service - 43,000 miles. I paid 3500 for it - that's about 9 cents a mile. I'm happy to have had such a great car.

I purchased my 1999 Subaru Forester L brand new back in April of 1999. It is a 5-speed manual transmission, which I wanted for control reasons. It now has 167,500 miles on it. I love my car. It has performed great for over 10 years now. This past couple years have been the most troublesome in terms of repairs. I've had to replace the head gasket and cam shafts/seals due to fluid leaks. The check engine light came on a couple months ago -- the diagnoses was that cylinder #1 was misfiring. The mechanic replaced the spark plugs and wires and the car ran much smoother, but the engine light came back on. I now think that the ignition coil needs to be replaced. Now I'm just debating whether to spend more money on the car or get a new one.

Most recently, the driver-side door lock stopped working with the auto-lock/remote alarm. The alarm still works, and all of the other doors unlock, but my door doesn't unlock automatically anymore. :( I struggled manually unlocking the door for the first few times as the lock hadn't been used in a decade! Because all of the other door locks still operate with the auto-door lock, I'm told the actuator/solenoid in the driver-side door probably needs to be replaced.

I've never had the issues with excessive tire or brake wear as mentioned by many others. I'm pretty diligent about rotating and balancing my tires and checking for proper alignment, so I've been fortunate.

Of course, my overhead clock has been out for well over half of the life of the vehicle, but I've never bothered to replace it as my custom in-dash stereo displays the time.

The thing that amazes me with this car is that I'm still on my original clutch. Back in the day, I had to replace my clutch several times on my old Toyota Celica and Acura Integra, neither of which had near the number of miles as my Subaru.

The one thing that I did not see in any of these posts is the quality of the windshield. When I purchased the car, I upgraded the vehicle with the cold weather package (heated windshield, heated mirrors, heated seats). I've had to replace my windshield three times due to cracks. I live in the Pacific NW where we don't sand the roads when it snows -- we use gravel, so I'm accustomed to having chips in my windshield every winter. However, my previous two cars survived similar winters without ever having to replace them.

All in all, my experience with Subaru has been good. I would consider buying another one in the future, however, my next purchase is going to be a minivan due to my growing family.

I own a 1999 Subaru Forester. Of course the upper clock is broken as with everyone else's. The car has about 70,000 miles on it and I drive it at most 2000 per year as now I keep it in Florida. The check engine light just went on. Looking for opinions. Should I fix it or is it not worth the cost and just keep driving?

Thanks for any suggestions you can give me.