Ginger,
Concerning your current Forester… The compass and external thermometer don’t really effect much, the TPMS would certainly be annoying, You may be able to recalibrate the compass, there may be instructions in the owners manual regarding this. Despite currently owning 2 Subaru’s, I don’t know if Subaru includes a TPMS in the spare, but it wouldn’t hurt to check the tire pressure of the spare tire. The head gasket would be a bigger concern, but I have known people that drove their Subaru for tens of thousands of miles with a head gasket that “seeped” oil without any further issues. Just check the oil level regularly. With 130k miles, have you had the timing belt replaced yet? My 2009 Forester spec’ed the timing belt replacement at 110k. Timing belt replacement, along with other routine service that was due, cost almost $1k. If you haven’t had the timing belt replaced, you should either get it serviced or move quickly on replacing the vehicle. You do not want the timing belt to break. That would result in extensive engine damage.
I’ve never heard of a head gasket “seeping oil”. Antifreeze, yes, but oil? I guess oil leakage would not be impossible, but it would not be indicative of the kind of gasket failure that matters.
And regarding the seepage/leaking of antifreeze, normally the leak is internal and you won’t ever see it. After all, that’s the part of the gasket that is stressed by combustion pressure and it’s where failure normally occurs.
RLS, yes, I had timing belt replaced at about the cost you mentioned.
Guideboatguy, the local Subaru service department said I had an oil seep and it was related to the head gasket rather than the valve covers, My regular mechanics had put fluorescent dye in with the last new oil (after I had a surprising loss of oil), so maybe the dealer’s service department saw where the dye was coming out. I don’t know about it myself. I like the car and will drive it probably into the start of 2019, but I’d sure like to be in something more trustworthy within a year – for my trips, you know? Fall trips coming right up; I go to those thinly populated swamplands and salt marshes of northeastern N.C. Great places!
Ditto Ginger’s experience with a Honda SW I owned years ago. Bought the car used and not long thereafter, every time the car needed gas, would check the oil and have to add another quart or so. Mechanic ran tests and replaced head gasket. Problem solved.
As to a manual transmission, they’re just about nonexistent on a new vehicle. I had to wait six months before a dealer found one for me. If I lived in a temperate area, I’d go with an auto tranny - but for me, a manual is the best in snow and ice.
To various above -
gingernc is absolutely right. As I said above I went thru the oil seep on both heads, one then the other. If you haven’t heard of it maybe you have not spoken with Subie owners who experienced head gasket failure. There are Subies that never do. But if you have a car that does, you are quite sure of what you are dealing with.
To gingernc -
Make sure you check the weight bearing load of the rails if you go with Volkswagon. We could not get info that made us feel comfortable about 2 sea kayaks from any Volkswagon rep. That said, I know two people who did go to a VW as an alternative after Subaru came up with the ridiculous 2010 redesign of the Outback roof rack. No reported hauling issues, both went to other cars from the VW for non-rack reasons.
And re the thermometer and compass - if I was right that it is in an auto dim rear view mirror, it is computer failure. Ginger, I have never had this happen but have known a couple of people whose mechanic attributed the failure of theirs to being near the EZPass. Latter usually mounts right below. It might be crazy, but in the newest car the EZPass is over on the right side of the windshield. Still works fine and further away from the mirror in case those guys are right.a
If the oil is just a seep right now you have some time. But at some point mine went pretty quickly from a tolerable seep to a level that really got in the way of reliability. Good choice to start focusing on replacement now.
You might find a home for the car with someone who works on cars themselves. The labor involved in a head gasket job is the biggest cost, since they have to take everything apart. Usually a good time to replace the water pump while they are there, another chunk of change that you won’t get the cost for until it is open.
To gingernc -
Make sure you check the weight bearing load of the rails if you go with Volkswagon. We could not get info that made us feel comfortable about 2 sea kayaks from any Volkswagon rep. That said, I know two people who did go to a VW as an alternative after Subaru came up with the ridiculous 2010 redesign of the Outback roof rack. No reported hauling issues, both went to other cars from the VW for non-rack reasons.
VW says the capacity is 165 lbs, total, including the racks. That works for our two sea kayaks, weighing about 55 lbs each.
My sister in law has a VW Alltrack and she loves it. I rode in it and it’s very nice…it has a nice European ride like a Golf. However even my brother says it sits low and is not easy to get in and out of. The back seat is small and very hard to get in and out of…which may not matter to many people. VW quality and resale value may not be quite at the level of the Japanese brands but they are working to improve since their future depends on it. I am not sure if they are offering a 10 year warranty yet but if they are that’s quite a sales feature.
My last car was a manual transmission Subaru. Had to go auto since I had back problems that made it hard to drive a manual so had to borrow my wife’s car which is not a good long term strategy. Now we have two automatics. Some day I’ll get a manual Miata.
TomL: The Mazda CX5 front wheel drive wagon that I have has the same 6 speed gearbox as the Miata – fun to drive though admittedly not as cute as the little sports car Shifts much more smoothly than the Outback I had before buying it. Synched so well I can often slip between lower gears without the clutch. More comfortable driving and clutch position than the Subies too.
I took notes of the various vehicles roofs on my road trip this week thinking about this thread. I noticed the Mitsubishi Outlander (not the smaller Outlander Sport) appears to have a fairly flat roof, if not perfectly level. Seems to be a good size and not too terribly tall.
High Desert, thank you!
@willowleaf said:
TomL: The Mazda CX5 front wheel drive wagon that I have has the same 6 speed gearbox as the Miata – fun to drive though admittedly not as cute as the little sports car Shifts much more smoothly than the Outback I had before buying it. Synched so well I can often slip between lower gears without the clutch. More comfortable driving and clutch position than the Subies too.
I love Mazdas. I worked for Ford at a time when they owned 25% of Mazda and we had some interaction in engineering plus we were able to lease Mazdas…so I’ve had a few. They were always best in class for handling and that’s part of Mazda DNA. I think it is so cool that Mazda is kicking butt in the market while they are such a small company compared to their competition. Plus they are all made in Japan with almost 100% Japanese suppliers and that is rare these days and worth something. I leased three Miatas and they were all perfect with zero squeaks or defects and the quality of construction (materials and craftsmanship) was better than most BMW’s of the day. I remember that my 1999 Miata with sport package did not even have a low fuel light or power windows, but it did have HED headlights (expensive) plus HED fog lights! So I used to point out to my wife that even the top BMW’s and Jaguars were using the old fashioned plain lights in their fog lights. So cool that the Miata has such clear priorities.
High Desert, just FYI one downside of those Mitsubishis is resale value…they are below average. Just something to be aware of.
TomL, I have a couple of complaints about the CX5 (besides the close roof rack spacing.) The headlights have a weird abrupt upper visual cut-off for one thing. This is likely meant to protect oncoming drivers from glare but the sharp delineation can be very disconcerting on dark hilly roads, so much so that my ability to spot things like deer on roadsides ahead is diminished. The dealer says there is nothing that can be done to adjust this… Also the rear side visibility is dreadful – quarter panel pillars are too wide.
And the rounded design of the whole body causes issues, from having to buy Mazda brand wipers to match the curvature of the windshield (every aftermarket version has been a fail) to my having a really hard time judging the rear dimensions of the vehicle. I’ve always had great depth perception with handling my cars and was a precision parallel parker before buying this car. After over 3 years of driving this car I still can’t accurately gauge where the corners of it are especially on the driver’s side rear. I’ve scraped up that corner multiple times and backed into a freestanding mailbox (one of those with the extended chute) in a parking lot during a blizzard last year and shattered the rear hatch window and badly creased the hatch metal.
But it is way fun to drive and I trust it mechanically way more than the “lemon” Subaru that preceded it. Zoom Zoom! One of my best friends, who is kind of a gearhead, has both a Miata and one of the little hatchbacks, an older model similar to the current model 3. She loves them. In fact it was another of my “gearhead” friends who suggested I buy a Mazda based on the reputation of the engine. The dealer was great too – I had been treated rather shabbily at both a Kia dealer (dodged that bullet!) and even the Subaru/Hyundai dealer that I had loyally patronized for years with prior cars. Walked into the Mazda dealer and was treated promptly with respect and honesty (often a problem for a single woman car shopping.) They found me exactly what I wanted and I had a new car for a great deal in less than an hour.
By the way, I had an '03 Hyundai Santa Fe before the Subaru and found it to be similar to the Mazda in quality of construction, great road feel and comfort. If it had not begun showing serious rust (prior owner had neglected maintenance) I would have kept it. Still got a good price selling it at 112K on from another stick shift afficionado. Should have held onto it. That lousy Outback cost me more in 2 years than it would have to completely restore the Santa Fe.
Oh, some of those modern headlights are horrible, which is odd since some are quite good. Sorry for my rant, but headlight effectiveness is a “thing” for me. My latest work vehicle is a full-size GM pickup, and it’s headlights provide the absolute poorest road illumination of any vehicle I have ever owned or driven. The low beams have that abrupt cut-off along the top, so that when approaching even the slightest swale in the road profile, the road remains absolutely dark aheadunless high beams can be used. Switching to high beam adds two VERY narrow vertical bands of light above the area lighted by the low beams, but the vast majority of this light is wasted, being far too high to ever hit the road (and changing the headlight alignment won’t help because lowering the aim point would make the low beams even worse than they already are). High beams just BARELY let you see farther than low beams, and meanwhile, the shoulders and the space off to the side of the road remains nearly in the dark. With all my previous cars, especially the ones with old-fashioned headlights, I could easily see deer very far off the side of the road. With my 1980 Subaru which had those big rectangular sealed-beam headlights that were common in those days, I could see deer far off the side of the road at 1/6th of a mile (ten seconds worth of driving time at 60 mph - that’s how I know the distance). In my new truck, my only good chance of seeing a deer is if it’s right in the road and close enough that I’m soon to run it down. Oh, and on sharp turns at night, like into my driveway, there is NO illumination of the area the truck is headed. I’ve never had that problem with a vehicle before.
Now, my own primary car, a 1995 Blazer with sealed-beam headlights, came from the factory with exceptionally dim lights too, but I traced the problem to poor-quality wiring and connections (high resistance under load), and once I bypassed all the factory wiring and switches, the lights were great, roughly four times brighter by my estimation (shortly after I did that, I read a magazine article explaining how to do this with a ready-made aftermarket kit, which shows it’s a pretty common problem). My secondary car, a 1987 Suburban, has very good lights as is - far better than those of average modern cars. I could probably re-wire the headlights on my company truck to make the lights brighter (I haven’t verified that there’s high resistance in the wiring, but I’m willing to bet there is), but that won’t help the abysmal beam-distribution pattern and the incompatibility of the optimal aim points of the high and low beams.
(Rant over)
With all this Honda fit talk I just had to post this pic from the Lakeshore RV Camp ground in the UP. As you can see that’s a tandem with bicycles in the overhang.
TOML. I hear you. I don’t really know that much about them. Driven a few as rentals and they seemed adequate if not inspiring. I’m not a fan of the CVT trans, but Mitsu has a great warranty. Dealer network is also worth considering. I owned a Galant years back and it was a good car. Vehicles are a personal decision and expectations vary widely depending on the buyer. I’ve always liked cars that depreciate quickly because they often represent a good value when slightly used.
Anyway, didn’t mean to get off track, just pointing out cars with flat roofs since that seemed to be an important characteristic. I think the best I saw was the Toyota 4Runner but it didn’t jive with the other important factors.
We’ll, I’m confused. So many good cars and a month to decide.
All with pluses and minuses.
Paddled with a guy yesterday who was driving a CRV but said he also liked Subaru.
I had a '78 Subaru DL wagon that was definitely in the top 3 of the many cars I have owned and driven. But the '02 Outback was an absolute piece of crap, I would rank it even below the $200 rust bucket Ford Maverick I bought when I was an impoverished working college student.
This is the problem with the marque – inconsistency. Note that their marketing slogan has nothing to do with reliability, mechanical excellence or driving performance. The fact that they continued to produce cars with KNOWN mechanical issues for years makes them just as guilty as VW in not caring about their customers. It is ironically true that “love” (i.e. indefinable gut attraction) is pretty much what makes moat people buy the things, a manufactured identity loyalty. If you luck out and get a good one, bless you. But I would not waste my money on one of those overpriced pigs in a poke again.
We’ve been driving Toyotas going back to '78. They’ve been nothing but great.
Along the way I have sworn off Chrysler and GM.