Hi all haven’t been on here in ages and I know the Foz isn’t to everyone’s taste but I’ll stick it up anyway.

Purchased for the wife a few years back after I wrote her Cube off, fresh import on 45k. She used it for the school run for a couple of years and it didn’t really see any action.





Jan this year we realised a long time family dream of moving from London to Cornwall. Great as this was it meant my main ride, an Audi RS6, was no longer affordable but being a petrol head I couldn’t have a normal car. That was the Foresters cue and my wife relented ownership to me, don’t worry I bought her an 05 Focus for £300.

Currently the car is standard apart from a Hayward and Scott catback system, Mishimoto radiator and GrpN engine mounts. I don’t have any major future plans just a decat/map/springs approach.

 

Last summer it overheated and broke
down on me whilst on holiday, I immediately knew it was the head gasket choosing the worst possible time to fail. RAC recovered it the 400 miles home and I stored it for months with little interest.

Over Christmas my work always slows so I decided it was the perfect time to get it sorted I’m in the trade so did all the work myself. Heads skimmed, arp stud kit, Cosworth head gaskets, new cambelt, GrpN mounts, new clutch and flywheel and all other little bits refreshed using OE Subaru parts where possible.

 

And other than that she’s lived a very quiet life, never driven in anger really and always pampered with regular washes. I service it every 4k I know overkill on a gentle driver but old habits die hard.

Ive previously owned an STI blobeye and an Evo 9 going back some years and although the Forester isn’t on the same level it always surprises me just how close it gets to them both performance wise given its size and height.
I did find the EJ20 more characterful than the EJ25, although the lesser boost lag helps progression the bigger engine feels lazier and isn’t as happy at high rpm?

Thats it for now. Any news or updates I’ll post here.

 

A few of my previous other cars, I was a massive petrolhead going back a few years i lived and breathed fast cars.

Now I’m all grown up with a family and little spare money the Forester suits the happy middle ground perfectly. I’ve always had a DC5 itch but for now the Foz is keeping that at bay.



Blobeye STI, 350bhp

Clio 172 ph1 trackcar

Iggy Sport

69 Beetle, still have this in storage back in London

Rs6 C5 Avant 500bhp

 

That looks excellent in white. Where are you in Cornwall? I'm down in Penzance, always up for a meet up once this crap is over

 

I’m in Lostwithiel mate, nice to know there’s at least one other enthusiast down here! Doesn’t seem to be any scene to speak of.

Be great to go for a blast once life is back to normal you can show me the decent roads.

 

Looking good mate, I also replaced mine with cosworth gaskets ,stud kit ect myself.
Its handy when you can do these things yourself and save a few quid!

 

Lovely cars you had mate How quick was the rs6 and Are they reliable? Cheers

 

I love the face lift fsti apart from the massive wing mirrors , ive got the same as smithys apart from the motor being a 2.35

 

Show off lol...

 

come on I thought I was being quite modest , they do look great in white , ive also never seen a white pre face lift …. do they exist ?

 

yeah they do, I enquired about one in july 2017 before I bought mine and it's still for sale now.

 

I had a white pre face lift , 198k miles out of it in the end , a silver and a dark grey face lift are current ones now 😁 i’ve always really liked the fsti a quick car plus a really good all rounder

 

 

 

 

having issues posting photos but think that’s worked , the only negative is no cruise control , if you have a paint defect on the bottom lip of the offside rear window then you can get rust on the same side rear sill , plus the 2.5 engine issues , what mileage did yours let go at , my first fsti was around 90k miles , the second one was about the same , went forged on both with arp head bolts

 

the grey ones are very rare

 

ones sort of a grey silver colour , the other one looks black but is a very dark grey