Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives To hell with Subaru.....maybe Suzuki?

I'm cured of Subaru. My first Forester was pretty good, but started having some trans trouble, then it got crushed in a pretty good dust up with another vehicle.

My current one is a 2000. Been nothing but a pain in the azz. Good news is it is super easy to work on. Bad news is I am always working on it.

It's going away ASAP. I'll have to find another way to convey my lesbian status.

Thinking about a late 90's Suzuki Sidekick. Seem to be cheap, reliable, capable little wagons. Real 4wd and a body on an actual steel frame puts it ahead of the Subby out of the gate.

Any thoughts on that era Suzuki?

Super short wheel base always concerned me with these type of outfits. No biggie if you're putzing around. But to drive one on the pavement at highway speeds scares me.

Im thinking the 4 door sidekick isn't too bad in that regard?

The wee Samurai are definitely golfcarts!

If you think a Subaru is a vehicle that you have to work on all the time wait till you buy a Suzuki. I know two people who have them and they feel like you do about the Subaru lineup.

The new Subaru Foresters are highly rated by most people who own one. Reliable, good fuel mileage, harder to work to work on than the old ones.

We love our forester. Maybe at 200,000 miles my opinion will change?

I am sure the newer Subarus are much better vehicles. They sure seem much nicer and get considerably better mileage.

That said, we just bought a Honda Pilot and I am looking to keep this purchase cheap...under 4K. It'll be a hunting/fishing/dog wagon that will see considerable commuting miles and occasionally haul my boys to school.

I'm looking mid 90's to early 2k. Need 4 doors, a bit of room, 20+MPG, and AWD/4wd.

Mooner,
My 96 Subaru wagon is about dead. I would probably replace it with an early 2000's, but for all the problems they had in those years. The 2.5 engine was so bad there are several guys here who replace them with junkyard 2.2 engines. You end up with less power and a permanent check engine light, but they run. I see some Volvo wagons for sale at reasonable prices here, they scare me though. You know this area, not much support for foreign cars here, I don't want something that is not supported locally.

I looked at some Volvo wagons as well. They are nice, but I don't want to mess with them either. Looked at an Audi. Same deal, really nice, but when things start to break, it gets expensive.

I think I'll try the 'Zuki. They're cheap enough, seem fairly capable, and lots of folks seem to like them.

Run as fast as you can from a Volvo Wagon

Lol. Not the first time I've heard that. Saab to.

First and Last...I would rather walk if they were the alternative

One of the reasons I bought my wife the forester comes from a fellow in town that I know fairly well. He has two newer subaru's and his kids have older versions too.

I suppose there becomes a comfort level with the same vehicles over and over when your comfortable with working on certain makes or models. I was visiting with him over the weekend and I asked him about this exact topic recalling it from reading these posts.

He made an interesting comment about parts availability subaru VS suzuki. Subaru sells a massive amount of vehicles by comparison. Most any decent parts place will have a significant stock of parts for them. Also many models use the same mechanical parts across the models. Even many use the same engine parts as well. I thought about this and agree, I don't think I can drive anyplace I go and not see a high percentage of Outbacks, legacy's, and Foresters. They are one of the most popular vehicles in regions with a frequency of snowfall.

I might have to default to the availability of parts. Along with the base of knowledgable mechanical folks for Subaru vehicle services alone. I see Suzuki SUV's now and then, most are the old mini jeep looking vehicle with a young man that has really created some super off road modified beast, hardly what came from the factory!

I worked with a lesbian that drove a sidekick, so I think you're status is safe.

With used vehicles in that price range my experience is the condition of the individual vehicle is much more important than the brand. Most often people selling vehicles at that price point are doing so because they know they are facing an expensive repair that will be close to or more than what the vehicle is worth.

I'd through the Toyota 4-runner in the mix, but finding one in that price range that isn't beat or in need of some spendy fixes will be tough.

Run even faster from the Audi's...

My wife's uncle loves the Suzuki's. They are pretty cheap around here, he bought 2 of his kids one and he putzs around in one himself. He says the do great in the snow and they get awesome gas mileage. He also said they are fun to drive. He did buy his wife a newer 2015 ford escape though, as she doesn't like the little zuki's as much as the newer cars.. I concur about the Subaru's. The 2000 2.5 GT I had was a nightmare. I couldn't get rid of that sob fast enough. It seemed everything was trying to go out at once and it only had 120,000 miles on it. I've heard a lot of good things about the foresters too, but test drove one (2012) that was supposedly owned by a little old lady and that thing drove like a deathtrap and rattled to beat hell... I jumped in my 09 escape and didn't even look back after that ordeal...

Funny how experiences differ.

Volvos have always treated me well.

My wife's Saab 9-3 was a great car until she drowned it in salt water...

I replaced one of my Volvos with an E320 Mercedes and it is my favorite road car..

Ya just gotta hold your mouth right and do some of your own work on these rigs.

Try changing the front struts on an E series 4 matic and get back to me on how easy they are to work on. I got a set of Billsteins to replace the blown factory shocks. When I found out I'd need a specialized spring compressor I took it to a local shop as the tool cost as much as paying someone to do the work, or so I thought. That shop wasn't able to swap them out, same story at another shop and we don't have any independent MBZ shops so it's to the dealer and they only install factory parts so $1600 parts and labor, plus the cost of the Billsteins I can't use.

I'd say few vehicles ride as well as an E class and as the sales guy said the only bad thing is once you drive one you won't want anything else, and he's right as we just got our third.

But you're best getting rid of them prior to hitting 100k on the odo as somewhere around 120-160k you're going to be dishing out some serious money on something, and it doesn't have to be a major something to cost more that $1000 or a combination of repairs exceeding $4000. Based on 220k on an E320 wagon and 165k on an E430 sedan and repairs that included front CV's, front wheel bearings, catalytic converters, water pump, shifter control and likely something I'm forgetting and that's on top of typical wear items of brakes/rotors and ball joints.

The engines and transmissions are rock solid and if you're willing to deal with the occasional repair on top of normal wear and tear items no reason they shouldn't go an easy 300k. But your blue book value on the car will drop to the point of being worth well less than a major repair somewhere around 10+ years old and 150k. Parts aren't cheap and not everyone knows how to work on them or has the proper tools to work on them.

Everything you say is right, 458.

I bought mine 20 years old, fully depreciated, 180,000 miles, most of the expensive 150,000 mile stuff already done, and avoided the 4matic.

I wouldn't recommend them to everyone, but a well maintained used one can be a thing of beauty.