I thought the big grills had something to do with pedestrian safety. They’re supposed to soften the blow of being hit by a car. That’s why pretty much every car has the same front end these days.

Totally agree. They smoothed the front bumper and grill for the Gen 2 facelift, which makes it look blah. 2003-2005 were the Forester’s best years, especially in the XS and XT models.

Any word on the tailgate? Does it still swing to the side? The one picture of the back makes it look like it lifts up now.

“It’s got a cop motor, a four hundred and forty cubic inch plant. It’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters, so it’ll run good on regular gas.”

I was hoping someone would post about this book. The book covered everything in the R&T article... 20 years before the article.

The EA81 engine is going to be working REALLY hard to move this thing around. 74 horsepower and 92 lb. ft. of torque was barely enough when this car was stock. Definitely all show and no go.

I’m with you 100% on this one brother. Why in God’s name do children scream so much and why do their parents just let them do it?

Can confirm. It’s so underpowered, it’s actually scary to drive.

Wait, isn’t that a Wrangler? There is no way in hell anyway ever described the Compass as “fun.”

I rented one once. I don’t have very high expectations from economy class rentals but this POS very nearly didn’t make it to the top of a steep hill in San Francisco. I’m pressing on the gas and we’re barely crawling up the hill - to the point that I’m actually scared we won’t make it. Jeep Compass = total POS.

There’s a fan base for everything, even this lumpy, dumpy turd shaped car. It’s a NP for someone.

This definitely falls into the category of something I would never ever want to own but for someone out there, this is a NP.

I’d really like to have a Subaru SVX but my husband doesn’t want me to have nice things (or maybe we have too many cars as it is). Sigh.

My mom bought a white, 2 door Tercel 5-speed brand new in 1980. We affectionately named it Sweetpea. In 1983, we took it up into the Sierras to go Christmas tree hunting. We took it up snowy Forest Service roads (with chains) and made it in and out with no problems. My mom adored that car. It was the first utterly…

Does anyone else think that silver stripe makes it look like a hearse?

Hey! I live in SE Washington, I could have helped out with an inspection before you bought it. (I’m pretty sure that Maxima wagon is still floating around CL, btw)

Try running and restoring a car that no one thinks of as a classic or a car worthy of restoration - case in point, my ‘83 4WD Subaru GL wagon. Body shops won’t give me a quote on body work or respray, mechanics have refused to work on it, and despite what people say about how you can find any part on the internet, no…

“Chevies run badly longer than most cars run at all.”

Ugh, I’m having PTSD flashbacks of living next to my dirtbag neighbor who drove the “RS” version. The best part was, he added one of those talking backup indicators that said, “attention please, this car is backing up; attention please this car is backing up.” **shudders**

It looks a lot like the shifter out of my dad’s ‘89 Ranger. Sorry to disagree but I don’t recall the throws being too terribly long. Just truck-like long.