William K,
William K,
I love my 2011 Forester, and when I had my 2010 Forester I loved it.... mostly.
It's the OIL BURNING that just couldn't be missed. With the 2010, every stop light, (after the car was well warmed up), you'd smell it burning. It's get so bad on trips, we'd need to roll down the windows when we started moving again. Waiting in line while going through a Drive-Thru was a nauseating experience, windows up or down, motor running or not - we traded the 2010 in for a 2011, assuming we "had a lemon". We wouldn't have bought a 2011 if we didn't love the car.
To discovering a similar oil leak problem on a different model year, and reading of these other good folks with oil consumption problems, is disheartening. In my case, either car throws or burns oil at +65mph - at a rate near 1qt per 500mi. City driving, the car behaved itself. Driving from Raleigh, out Hwy 64 to OBX and back, typically took it from "full" to the "add" mark on the dipstick. about 300mi. Opening the hood, and on either car, oil was all over the driver's side of the engine.
Yes, the dealer already knows, both cars were under warrenty at the time we took them in.
Yup - I still like the Forester, still have the 2011, it's comfortable for me, even at 6'3", it gets fine gas mileage - we just keep adding oil, and adding oil, and adding oil - and the dealer keeps telling us they don't know where or why it leaks oil. If we could find a 2011~2013 Manual Trans., Forster that didn't burn/leak oil - I'd buy/trade for it. But, that's as unlikely as you winning the lottery.