Hi, group my family has had MANY Roos. I still have my Grandfathers '98 Legacy L Wagon EJ22, AT with 137,750 miles on it. My girlfriends '97 Saturn SC1 is about to give up with 122k on the clock. We went to Subaru of Nashua, NH and took a look at a '00 Forester LIMITED in five-speed with 116k on the clock. It drove nice. Belts had been done, no wrecks, only a drone from the rear that the stealership said they would look into. They want $8,900 for it I offered $6,500. It books for $11,500 on Kelly? It is a strange car, it has the elec. compass, barameter, temp on the dash, ALL FOUR (FRONT AND BACK) DUEL STAGE HEATED LEATHER SEATS. Bumper gaurd, running boards, fog lamps with grilles, alluminum rims. Should she go for it? Any members have this vintage Forester with the Phase II EJ25 with more miles than this? Does this year Forester suffer from the wheel bearing problems of it's Impreza platform kin??

PS. Did this year Forester have afactory moonroof option, this one does not have one? What kind of MPG should we exspect from this Forester?

PSS I am looking at this Forester again tonight, so I need some insite! What is the driveline in this '00 Forester Limited? I guess it has a viscous center diff. like all the manual tranny Roos. Does it have a limited slip rear diff. anything cool like diff. covers in the Limited trim??

the other one is a run of the mill '01 L 5-speed with 69k on the clock and $12k price tag but my girl likes the lower miles?

S Limited was the top-end trim. I didn't realize you could get one without a moonroof. It'll have a viscous LSD in the center and rear. And yes, they ALL suffer from the rear wheel bearings. If the droning doesn't change when you drive on different surfaces, a bearing is on it's way out and should be replaced with a Legacy bearing. My '01 has about 115,000 miles on it. It had the head gaskets replaced under the extended warranty at 92k for external coolant leaks, as well as BOTH rear hubs and halfshafts (bad bearings). Did the timing belt and tensioner at the same time.

If you could get the '00 for half the price of the '01, I'd say go for it, provided they're going to fix that bearing. I think there is a link to the SOA-approved Legacy bearing replacement prodecure on Scoobymods.

I had that model Forester for several years. I spent a small fortune on wheel bearing/axle/boot issues. Eventually the trans went so I gladly dumped it.