biakalblaster

Yup ordered a new Hilux last week via the BASC scheme 12% discount on the vehicle and 12% discount on any accessories free metallic paint option worth £500 VAT is calculated after the discount is applied you have to have been a BASC member for at least 1 year and you have to keep the vehicle for 1yr min

you wont be able to see the blue rinse if the drivers in a 2.5Xt ! 0-60 under 6 seconds or under 5secs in the STi version

Had a 2002 non-turbo model from new. done 117k miles replaced discs/pads on front twice clutch replaced under warranty (possible towing a heavy trailer caused this) O2 sensor replaced under warranty replaced back box exhuast after 8 yrs and cat section (£700) after 7 yrs replaced rear shocks last year, and rear springs off a mates forester i dismantled did 2nd cambelt change, plus tensioner, pulleys and waterpump in december and sump got a pin hole through rust, so i replaced that. bodywork hasnt been good on ours compared to most others i see. salty roads in scotland or a bad one? average about 30-32mpg, never less than 28mpg and best got 35mpg in norway in a loaded car on a long days driving at the Norway speed limit of 50mph looking to get a 2.5litre turbo model soon and keep the non-turbo to use more to save miles on my landcruiser

butt-sagg of the rear suspension. Happened on our 02plate n/a forester, solved with new springs on back they do seem to sag after a few years. our model doesnt have the "self levelling" suspension - mainly its the turbo models that had this the rear shocks have an extra cannister on them (very expensive to replace - so when they fail most people seem to fit non-self leveling suspenion)

interesting point stokie for someone like me who hasn't driven the greenlanes in wales, thats an option, one benefit of spain/morocco is much warmer and drier weather for camping!

interesting point stokie for someone like me who hasn't driven the greenlanes in wales, thats an option, one benefit of spain/morocco is much warmer and drier weather for camping!

Go for it! planning 2 weeks travel down to N.spain and the pyrenees this summer. so slowly getting kit together still cant decide between roof-tent or ground tent though...

did you fit a new fuel filter? as would be worth it if you have had fuel problems the fuel filter has a water trap at the bottom - the water comes from the fuel and not wading the crusier!

interesting - i filled the landcruiser up at morrisons a couple times and was only getting 22mpg, then filled up at Shell and got 24mpg on that tank, filled up this last time though, so will have to see how that does. will have to keep a record of what place i use and the mpg, to see if there is definitely a correlation long-term

indeed my all time best is 25 birds decoying on a kale field. i rarely decoy though 9maybe 2 days a year on grass/clover field), usually I am standing in a clearing in a strip of pine, and flightline shoot birds coming in a few hours before dusk i only normally got out these days when wind is blowing strong from NW or N, as I have discovered through trial/error than light winds or other directions make it very challenging as birds flying too high/fast as they come in to roost mainly from the S/SE if I get 10 flightlining over 90mins I am well chuffed! but normally I get 4-6 pigeons, but only go out for a couple hours, for some offroading, and freshair and a few pigeons for dinner and freezer. never get the huge numbers of birds up here on my local shoots

NO-WAY! I had a wheel-stud snap on our subaru forester whilst on holiday in Norway at Trondheim, the car had started to wobble. i tightened up the remaining 4 wheel nuts and drove on a mile to get off the dual-carriageway and in that time the remaining 4 wheel nuts had started to loosen again! luckily there was a subaru dealer in Trondheim and we got the stud replaced, and 2 others that had become damaged. so i wouldnt drive anywhere with 2 of 5 snapped!! and wouldnt drive with 1 of 5 snapped again either

yep - there are still a lot of uncut barley fields up here. The main farm i shoot on hasn't cut theirs yet, but i have never had much luck on the stubble their anyway - you just dont get the pigeon numbers. saying that i was down your way (Tarland) a couple weeks ago, and driving over to GlenKindie via Towie and there was one of the biggest pigeon flocks i have ever seen up here, lift off a field as i drove past it

s this a series 90? - yes it is a 90series, but an import not a UK model, the UK model is Colorado and import a prado what does it mean by the term full time 4 wheeldrive? the dealer said its still a switchable between 4 and 2 wheel drive never heard of a 2wd 90 series, normally full time 4wd, with centre difflock High, and lowbox the UK colorado has a rear axle electric difflock, on prado's the back axle usually has LSD diff

I have averaged 24-25mpg over the last year in my automatic colorado - yr2000. 3.0TD with the newer D4D engine that became available in 2001 - 30mpg is achievable, but not sure if 30mpg possible in the older engine (like i have) and automatic

Ive got a yr- 2000 W-plate Auto FX Colorado LWB, and had it a year, had a Toyota 4runner for the previous 5 years. The Colorado has been much more refined on the road, and good off road. The 4runner had a suspension lift, so was a bit better offroading. However the Colorado has a rear difflock as standard - check it works!!, it may have seized if not being used. a new rear difflock actuator is £300. Great truck, wanted one for years and haven't been disappointed. prices seem up this year, compared to last year, a quick look on autotrader the other week showed trucks similar spec to mine are 1000-1500 more now than a year ago,

snowplough smoothed over a ditch... blackrat hand-winch in keep in boot had us out and stuck another time recently, waffleboards used this time

yep - good cars, both for road work, snow driving and fields. I have a non-turbo model, done 100k miles in 8 years. A mate had one, which he converted to lpg, but valves wore out early. He fitted a 2nd hand engine, but a few weeks ago it blew out one of the sparkplugs - stripped threads. he decided to scrap it, as car has done 180k miles, and T-reg. But he offered it to me. So borrowed a car trailer off a farmer and towed it home with my landcruiser, in exchange for a bottle of single malt! So now have a spare parts forester in back yard. it has newer exhaust than mine and new back springs, another mate has a T-reg one too and is going well, exhaust didnt need anything replacing until after 100k miles and 10years!

wife said chickens were acting odd yesterday, didnt go into shed at normal time and squaking got home last night, and discovered a stoat in the trap again!, nearly one year on to the day that a stoat slaughtered 6 of them last year. i had started setting the trap again about 4 weeks ago with an egg as bait another stoat tail for making fishing flies! it didnt half stink too, scent. dispatched with .22 airgun, both times stoats have been caught in the catch-alive trap, and avoid the fen trap in a wooden tunnel

wet soggy and boggy indeed.. got the landcruiser stuck in soggy field yesterday, already had centre diff locked, but even with rear locked as well, still stuck lucky i had enough cable and webbing strops to reach trees 35m away and used tirfor style handwinch to extract the truck from the mire, took 45mins to get unstuck but saved a walk of shame to the farm managed 4 woodies - flightlining before that and a rabbit with the rimfire

one would need a draw full of clean underpants to do that descent and it doesnt look like the camera was tilted to make it look steeper

Not got it yet, but have COD3 and 5 on my PS3, currently working my way through: Operation Flashpoint: Dragon , which i prefer in some ways to call of duty, as you have a lot more freedom in where you go on the map. but its pretty difficult. the .5 sniper rifle great.

Took up Sea Kayaking this year, went on a 2 day course/guiding near Oban on west coast of Scotland. Since then got out own boats and kit, and been back for more trips on west coast, and a kayak rolling course at GlenMore lodge - Aviemore - still cant roll the boat though... great sport, see a lot more wildlife like Otters and seals than you do walking on cliffs, a lot to learn though - tides etc and its hard to fit in all my hobbies now e.g. shooting, fishing, kayaking, mountain biking, skiing....

a mate went on one a couple weeks back at Dunkeld (perthshire) he invited me along, but i had already arranged to go fishing/shooting with brother on same day he said he really enjoyed it and was amazed by what the defender could do

¨I intend to retire soon, and my thoughts are towards a diesel X Trail, as they are more common than Foresters plus most are diesels. The lack of a low ratio and permanent 4 wheel drive would be a slight handicap, but the right model X Trail has the large sunroof. Don¨ My brother was looking at xtrail, until we discovered last night they use renault engines now.... and having both owned french cars in past -never again! i think the navara had a french engine too - and the early ones have had quite a few problems

are you after turbo or non-turbo (n/a model) turbo a lot more powerfull, but running costs a lot higher i have a n/a forester = non-turbo, from new since 2002. I run it on snow tyres in winter and its been very good. i get around 30mpg average only problems - within 20k miles an O2 sensor on cat failed, replaced under warranty around 25-30k miles i burnt out clutch, due to letting it slip when towing a very heavy trailer - replaced under warranty - did i mention trailer... its now just hitting 100k miles and 7yrs old, and replaced the cat converter section of exhaust, due to rusted hole near a flange = - expensive at 600 for the part from dealer, i did get a 150 quid part off ebay first, but that was wrong part, only had 1 O2 sensor hole, needed holes for 2 and it failed MOT on corroded brake pipes at rear. other than that replaced front discs/pads once, and pads again once. Everything else is original. no breakdowns the car is fine for light offroading - muddy fields etc, and has a low-range option on gearbox, nopt that low geared, but good for engine braking on steep descents in snow/ice pulling away with trailer and hills etc i have found the forester a much better to drive in snow compared to a big heavy 4x4, like the 4runner (hilux) I owned at same time. replaced the 4runner for a Landcrusier colorado this year, so will see how that compares. Of course in very deep snow i would take the 4runner as its better clearance helped. however, when i go shooting i take the landcruiser, as for really rough stuff there is no comparison I still hanker for a turbo forester, as on the road they are exceptional! it handles well on road, reasonable power, tows ok, We got is as an estate car to carry dogs, ski kit, mountain bikes etc, to have a bit more ground-clearance than normal cars, and AWD and it has ticked those boxes and performed as well if not better than expected. It has suprised us sometimes on steep snow roads/tracks with just how well it has gripped (with snow tyres of course) I even towed a neighbours shogun once on a wet muddy grassy slopes. The shogun was running, and one of rear brakes was binding on, yes the scooby wheelspun, but i towed the shogun out of the field. suppose the only downer is cost of parts - but due to reliability of the car, you should have to shell out on them very often (hopefully!) would i get another - yes a pre-2008 model, i dont like the new foresters as much, they have gone fat and SUV, rather than an estate 4x4 which the forester i have is, although there is a diesel option now, but no turbo petrol anymore.