STi Light: 2004 Subaru Forester XT
It’s dirty and it’s ugly, but it is ready for a rallycross event or a nasty SF Bay area commute. The second generation Subaru Forester was released for the US market in 2004 with an available turbocharged model called the XT that produced 210 horsepower from a 2.5 liter flat-4 that was based on the STi powerplant. This next example won’t win any concours events, but it’ll be perfect to taking the dogs to the park or kids to school AND hitting some dirt on the way home. Find this 2004 Subaru Forester XT offered for $6,500 in Milpitas, CA via craigslist.
From the seller:
2004 Subaru Forester
condition: good
cylinders: 4 cylinders
drive: 4wd
fuel: gas
odometer: 188000
paint color: black
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: SUV
Up for sale is a 2004 Subaru Forester XT manual
STI short block with nitride coated crank
6500 OBO
See a better way to drive a turbo Subi? tips@dailyturismo.com
This would be a lot of fun. Maybe do some local rallycross events in it. I feel like this generation had some build quality issues, they sure are loud on the freeway (window frames anyone?), but who cares at this price.
Note to seller: don't shoot pictures with the car on it oil satined driveway đŸ™‚
You can very easily fix the window noise by (a) replacing the door gussets and (b) not closing the doors by pushing on the windows, as some heathens apparently do (this bends the aforementioned gussets and prevents the windows from seating properly).
This gen Forester is awesome.. I have a basically stock MT 2.5X the same age, and you can enhance the driving experience a lot by throwing a little JDM goodness at the interior. And the way the diffs are set up, even with the NA (on crap tires or a damp road) it'll do a nice powerslide if you kick it just right. Super fun in the snow. And the ground clearance means you don't have to tiptoe over speedbumps and driveways.
The turbo EJ25s are a bit temperamental at those miles – ideally you'd want to get a leakdown/compression test done – but they're not too difficult to work on.
Plagued with head gasket issues?
2nd gen Subaru forester was released in 2003, not 2004. Albeit, 2004 was the first year they started producing the forester XT.