I do not see how you can compare a:

Turbo AWD SUVish Wagonish Grocery Getting Drive Anywhere Forester

with either:

a. V6 Altima (Enterprise Rent a Car?)
b. Saturn VUE (Huh? Saturn what? What a second, ... a Saturn?!)
c. Dodge Neon SRT-4 (NOT a boy racer? And, IT IS A NEON!)

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Yes, I am being overly sarcastic, but I think neither of these cars are even near Forester. Not only did you pick the funkies cars to compare the Forester with, but they also not really even in the same category, besides VUE, which is, once again, a g.d. Satrun.

Are you trying compare them by price? Performance? Usability? Coolness factor?

 

I agree with imprezer... Forrester is the bomb. Nothing compares, even cars that are SUPPOSED to compete with the Forrester (RAV-4, VUE, other small SUV's) cant match the AWD, the car based chassis and suspension, and most of all the 210 (though dynoed to be more like 220-230)hp turbo charged 2.5.

 

Twin Turbo Porsche Cayanne.... Thats about it.

 

Since the chassis is based on new WRX chassis, one must not underestimate Forester's true performance. Yes, it is 2.5L turbo, but there is more to it. With some suspension tweaking, it will handle nearly as good as a WRX. I would like the GLUE or whatever you call it do that.

Plus, Forester is a real trooper in terms of passenger and cargo space.

Did you know its got more cargo space than a Cherokee?

 

take the price of the Cayanne

buy a XT

spend the rest for rocket packs

 

I have to give props for the forester. My girlfriend bought an XT back in July and it is pretty sweet. She picked the automatic since she drives in more traffic, and she wanted the premium package (the moonroof is huge!). I would definitly purchase the forester over ANY of the other cars you are comparing it to. I just wish they had offered the premium package as an option with 5 speed, or even the 6 speed!

 

the Pathfinders / Explorers / Blazers

 

xt is fastar than the wrx

 

Those are mid size SUV's and the forrester is small. Also, those are body on frame vehicles where as the Forrester is Unibody. Also, those are larger, less powerful, not car based, and of couse... not turbocharged

 

but i believe for the sticker, the XT's competition is in those vehicles, that is the market where subaru is aiming to sell too

 

No, the target is the CR-V, Highlander, Escape, etc. crowd. You listed $30k+ midsized SUV's.

 

Well to actually answer the original question......

The SRT-4 is of course whipcrack fast, is a 4 door, and before long will have lots of different tuning options. New ones come with the sorely needed limited slip front differential.
On the downside its the smallest of the cars being considered (okay, obviously), you'd need various racks to carry big stuff, its a bit of a ripoff magnet, and crash ratings are lukewarm.
It should hold its value somewhat decently in the short/medium term.

The Vue is true SUV, with handling to match. Only consider the V6 of course. Pretty well appointed, more or less acceptable crash ratings, and pretty good reliability from the entire Saturn line, especially considering its a GM product.
On the downside, its the slowest of the cars being considered by a wide margin, will handle like a truck, and no guarantee with resale value.

The Altima is interesting. Nissan's V6s of late have been absolute crackers, and this one is no different. VERY good power out of this engine, and a 5 speed would be terrific with it. Overall bodyshell is well made, it should be very reliable for a long time. Its got a nice amount of interior room.
Downsides are cheap interior, somewhat anonymous styling, and I think those things have pretty low ground clearance. I know the new Maximas do. Resale value would be somewhat above average with the V6-5speed combination vis-a-vis other Altimas. Very good crash ratings.

At the end of the day though, the Forester has superb power, lots of room for stuff, excellent reliability, 4wd, and ability to tune it to near STi levels of performance. Add to that impeccable crash rating performance. All in all, its a pretty clear winner.

Proceed to checkout.
Cheers,
-Mirror

 

http://www.car-videos.com/performanc...?id1=277&id2=0

 

I know that the TrailBlazer has 270hp, the Path must have greater than 210hp (with the a 3.5l VQ), but i'm not sure about the base Exploder. At any rate, the new XT is in the same position the WRX was in two years ago, in that there is nothing to really compare it w/ based on price, drivetrain or performance. In Oct 01 Car & Driver did a comparo w/ a S4, WRX &330ix. They chose to test the $40k cars to the WRX b/c there wasn't a comparable 25k car. And, today, there is no $27k SUV, SAV, tall wagon, etc that goes as fast as an XT. You could compare the new X3 (C&D writer thinks that next to an XT, the X3, "...seems like an inflated 3-series wagon...") or 4.6l X5 or Turbo Cayanne, but that isn't really fair to any of these cars.