By Popular Demand - The Car

A 2024 Subaru Forester Wilderness -- 

I bought this this past May and I have driven it a little over a 1,000 miles. During my research I found out the difference between Subarus Outback and the Forester models. The Outback came out with the Wilderness package first in 2022. I had test drove an Outback Wilderness in 2022 and told myself "if you ever decide to get ride of the FJ buy one of these" ... I didn't think anything more about it.

The Wilderness package is built for off road driving. The suspension is bulkier, it is heavier than the Sport model, like the one I had in 2021. The tires are made for off roads. In fact I had the same exact tires on one of my past FJ Cruisers. The big thing is in this package the ground clearance is 9.2"

I don't know why I still feel I need an off road or 4x4 vehicle. The chances of me going back out west are slim and none. Where I would want to go, the area is even worse I am told than it was in 2021. Still I never know, that off road package might be needed sometime.

My brain cells shifted a little one day when Watson flat out refused to get int he back of the FJ, just as a test. IF he would have gotten in we might have gone for a ride but at the time my only goal was to get him in the back of the white FJ so I could take him to his scheduled vet appointment about a month later.

Where Sadie and Stella would jump up in the back of my other FJ years ago, anytime I would open that back door ... Watson wasn't going to do it no matter what. As he stood behind the FJ I tried to help by putting his front paws on the rear bumper then lift him up with my hand under his butt .. he sat 130 pounds worth of butt on the floor and didn't budge. He wasn't going to help me in any way.

I can't lift 130 of bloodhound dead weight ... then I tried bribing him by putting large Costco bones on the cargo mat ... not a chance, took off running. I tried a ramp and he didn't budge, he wasn't walking up that either even for a large bone treat.

What I forgot was October 28th, 2021 Watson rode in the back of that white FJ cruiser over to the East Pines Animal Clinic for emergency surgery. He had eaten so much of the Mexican wool blanket he was sleeping on, it plug his intestines plus they found a couple of landscaping lava rocks in his stomach when they took x-rays.

He remembered that ride in the FJ to and from surgery ... I didn't.

Now the reason I knew that he remembered that FJ ride ... when I brought this home, I folded down the two back seats and opened the rear hatch ... guess what?

Watson jumped right in. Henry stood his front paws on the bumper so I could lift him in and Walter was already in my front seat. Ava?? she was in the back with Watson.

You might think, well he did that easy because the height of this bumper on the Subaru is much lower than the FJ bumper. In my research before making a final decision, I drove the FJ out to the Subaru lot on a Sunday morning where I wouldn't be bothered by salesman, although the two I were dealing with were NOT high pressure sales.

On that quiet Sunday morning I pulled the FJ up near the back of this Wilderness to get a visual of the two bumpers. I was actually wanting a bumper to be lower than the FJ and more than an inch. After my visual I took my tape measure from the ground to the top of the bumper on each vehicle ... one inch difference!!

Even on the Sunday morning drive back to the house, a little over 9 miles, I still wasn't sure I would trade my FJ for this Forester. I don't need a new car. But there are positives in having a new car, warranty is one. But you are talking to someone that puts around 3,000 miles in a year and the times I moved out to Arizona and the year I moved back to Indiana, those were still only 7,500 mile per year of driving.

There was nothing wrong with the 2010 FJ except the intermittent check engine light. I knew about the light when I bought it in 2021 and when I bought it again from a different car dealer in 2023. A previous FJ's check engine in a different FJ I had, was due to catalytic converters and O2 Sensors. Of course when I bought it in November 2023 I made one of my infamous spreadsheets to track mileage for when that light came on or went off, plus the temperature and weather conditions.

The data did not show any consistencies for the check engine light. After about 400 miles of driving since the light went off, about a mile from the house that Sunday morning the light came on. I always said it was cheaper to replace the three catalytic converters and sensors than it was to buy or trade cars.

Maybe that's not true.

When the economy started changing in 2021 I quit buying my cars with cash. I decided to keep as much cash handy in exchange for a car payment after a good amount of down payment. In this case I could do that cheaper than I could have Toyota put in new catalytic converters and sensors.

Plus I MIGHT have a car that Watson would get into so he could make his vet appointment in June. 

Long time blog readers will know that I go through cars like drinking water. Although "the faucet" has slowed down quite a bit the past 2-3 years.  I mean at one time in Sierra Vista I had five different vehicles and at times those five were all different cars from the previous five cars at the same address !!!

But I like the one car garage. I have become use to it and it doesn't take a lot of time maintaining just one car. 

So where was I??

So I have researched. I have test dove both the Outback Wilderness and the Forester Wilderness. I have measure bumpers of the Forester and compared it to the FJ Cruiser. I have gone back into my personal blog to see why I traded the Subaru Forester I had in the winter of 2021. There wasn't a negative reason I traded that Silver Forester Sport. I thought then and wrote "this is a great car". 

So the ducks are starting to line up in a row as they say. Things were coming together in the universe and once the moon and stars lined up a car trade might happen. And ... that's what happened. Monday morning while drinking some coffee I am looking at the local Subaru website and there is a price drop on this Forester ... more than I expected and in the ballpark range of wanting to do the deal right now !!!

I decided I would finish the coffee, go outside to "clean the yard" and talk to the hounds and dogs to see what they thought as I walked through the yard. I LOVE FJ Cruisers LOVE THEM. I have had many of them, like 9 or 10 since 2014. I'd hate to get rid of that car but I really need to trade it for this deal to happen. Plus, I don't want two cars anymore.

The longer I walked the more I thought ... I couldn't do it. So nothing happened on Monday, except the thoughts of that car kept coming back to me that night.

By Tuesday morning I had called the sales manager. He was a young salesman just 3 years ago when I bought the Crosstrek out there. Now he was the manager. I told him what I wanted. He had already seen my FJ a couple of weeks before and knew about the check engine light.

He said "if the light is off and it comes on while we drive it then we will have to give you less than if it were off" ... sounded fair. Since the light was still on from that Sunday drive. I got on Kelly Blue Book, NADA to find a trade in value for the FJ.

I had decided all things considered, even with their lowered price for the Forester ... If they offered me less trade in value for the FJ than what I had in my head from KBB, I would keep the FJ and come back home. To me the check engine light was not a factor in trade in value because they would be able to fix it cheaper than I could have. So I had a number in my head that they had to match or more for me to make this deal. 

Well by the time I got out there after their 9am salesman meeting, they dropped another $1000 off the sales price of the Forester. In the meeting the dealer manager wanted to move 2024 inventory for their new 2025 models. So they dropped the $1000 because of that meeting.

Things got better though.

He asked what I wanted for the FJ. I never answer that and told him what I have told a million car salesmen in the past ...  "you tell me what you will give me and I will say yes or no, then we can go from there". He said I'll be right back. "That's a very nice FJ and we really want it even with the check engine light. ALL of the your cars we have seen in the past are well taken care of" ... he comes back with a number that is $1500 more than I wanted or expected.

Case closed ... deal is done.

Where in September of 2021 I was fitting three cars inside this garage, now I have one new car that I really really like and room to park my John Deere mower. Plus the hounds and dogs like the new car. Even Walter doesn't hesitate in hopping up in the driver seat, stepping over the console into the passenger seat.

Oh I almost forgot this part of the story ... remember when Ava cut her leg on that Sunday June 30th ??? Well I had towels for her to sit on and a towel to cover the seat, but blood is literally shooting out of her leg and I didn't have time to really make sure to protect my car. We had to go and go now.

My new car is five weeks old and doesn't even have 120 miles on it ... and Ava is sitting up in the passenger seat bleeding while I try to get to the emergency vet five miles aways. Luckily she was calm and sit up looking out the windows. 

I was told when I bought the car it would handle any kind of dog damage. The interior material was stain resistant, puncture resistant ... I could trash it out camping if I wanted and it would hold up.

Well these blood stains were going to give it a real test I thought.

After things settled down on that Sunday with her leg stitched up and wrapped, I decided to go out with a fiber cloth and a small bowl of water with dawn dish soap and see how bad these blood stains were going to be. Just as a test I took the damp fiber cloth I was going to use for rinsing after the other would wipe with the detergent.

With only a damp fiber cloth and no soap or cleaner all the blood stains wiped right off. Even those on the console and on the gear shift. Came off with ease.

I let the sales manager know how well the interior held up ... but like Subaru he was more interested in what happened to my puppy, if she was okay and "is there anything we can do" ... pretty impressive.

Do I miss the FJ? Yes ... but not as much as I thought I would. This Forester is a really nice car. Plenty of room in back with the seats folded down. I did compare the specs of all the dimensions between this car - the FJ - a Mini Cooper Countryman. Remember I moved from Arizona to Indianan with a bloodhound, basset hound and the bulldog in a Mini Countryman.

I will say it is fast for me. It has more power than I thought the heavier Subaru would have with the 2.5L engine. I tested it the other day on my drive home where the last 10 miles is my Formula 1 race course. It performed well. It is extremely easy to get in and out of and I never feel that occasional twinge in my hip as I get in the car like I did getting up and in the FJ. So probably good for my replaced him in the future.

It is the easiest car of all I have had to put a bicycle in and out the back of it. Plenty of space. It has hauled 10 bags of topsoil, it has taken Ava numerous trips to the vet in June and July for her leg and to be spayed. Henry loves riding in anything that has wheels but he likes jumping in my driver seat and refusing to move. 

Sometimes you have to be honest with yourself. When I answered some questions I had asked myself honestly, this 2024 Subaru Forester Wilderness was the perfect car for me. The FJ was a good memory.

Oh, the difference between the Outback and Forester ?? Some of you may already know, I didn't. The Outback is a wagon. It is a little shorter headroom in the back cargo area but longer. The Forester is more like a box they say where it has more headroom in the cargo area ... that gives Watson more room for his head as he sits in the back and looks out the windows.  More headroom for Watson, a lower sales price and higher trade in value for me ... made it a great deal.

Still only one car in the garage here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.