but
if one became versed in subaru head repair there might be a lucrative trade in that…
Just anecdotal
And therefore no reason to not buy one. But a woman I work with has the Mazda wagon and I was admiring it. She said it is the WORST car she’s ever owned–always breaking down. And she’s always had Mazdas and been very happy with them until now. It looks like a real nice car, thoughm and I’ve never checked out its reliability raitings.
Other issues
Other things break about that time. I had my tail-lights/blinkers go out, and it turned out I needed the whole flasher/blinker arm replaced. That simple thing cost a couple of hundred bucks. The usual little things that break on all cars around 100k can break on a Subaru, too. And there all more expensive. Keep that in mind before you buy an older one. Even if the headgaskets aren’t an issue, expect to pay double for any repairs over what you’d pay to repair a Toyota, Honda, or American car of the same age.
You are a good driver then
near 30 is excellent on those cars. Owned five over the years…wife drives one now. Better than average cars. BMW’s I’ve owned are superior cars with longer lives…just better engineered. But Subaru’s, like Rec, boats, do a lot of things well at a high value proposition for most buyers…thus the success. I much prefer my big dodge cummins truck, as it does so much more work, and runs on waste veg. oil. It’s also been more reliable. But anyone who slams a Subaru is just silly. Mechanic friend who runs a big shop says Toyota, Honda, Subaru in that order in terms of reliability…but all good products.
03 Outback
Curious what you’re getting mixed mileage-wise. I’ve not come close to the 30 mpg with our Outback, but maybe I have a leadfoot. I find the Suby sluggish at best. It’s been a good car (knock on wood) thus far. I much prefer its AWD system to my CR-V’s; Subaru might be second only to Audi in their AWD. The CR-V 4 cyl. is vastly superior in power and fun to drive ratio. That said, the Outback is a great highway car, and feels supremely ‘locked down’ in the rain and snow. I like the low roof height for loading/unloading boats.
Two of my family members have Subies also; my mother’s Legacy GT sedan is starting to give her all kinds of sensor problems at 75K mi. My brother has the new Outback GT-maybe too much power for that ride height. As noted in another post, you find out quickly what the definitions of body roll and oversteer are if you come into a corner a little too hot-very easy to do when it pulls the way it does. It’s very comfortable and great fun to drive also.
trilobite
– Last Updated: Feb-08-07 11:13 AM EST –
If I'm on the road (highway) I get about 28 mpg. 25-26 in the city for more evenly mixed driving.
I was getting about 22 or so mixed, and kept getting a service code (check engine light) on the catalytic converter, changed it with an aftermarket converter and mileage went up. Was told that the converters on subarus do not last long. Have you had the converter replaced?
I will say mine uses a bit more oil. Unfortunately, I know head gasket symptoms very well; fortunately in this case the oil consumption doesn't appear to be consistent with HG failure.
Finally, I agree on the sluggishness. I dream of finding a cheap wrecked baja turbo (the legacy based truck) so I can pry out the 210 hp turbo engine and pop it into my wagon...
I’ve owned many Subarus…
Back in 1995, we were getting ready to leave on a year-long sailing trip… so I wasn’t exactly putting much energy into maintaining our 1982 Subaru wagon which already had over 200,000 miles on it. It had two bad CV joints, a bad master cylinder, and LOTS of rusted through places on the body. We were just planning on getting anouther car when we returned home.
As it turned out, that wasn’t necessary; while we were away someone broke into my garage and STOLE that 13 year old Subaru They knew a good car when they saw it!
Since then we’ve had five other Subarus. All had over 100,000 when I got them. The 1988 Gl was a particularly good year—old enough to still have a dual-range manual transmission, and new enough to have fuel injection. We had three of those… eventually relegating one to junk-car status and pulling parts off it to keep the other two on the road. That game of musical chairs ended recently—due mainly to rust. Old Subarus die of rust—not mechanical problems.
Our latest Subaru is a 2000 Forester.
One interesting thing about Subarus: they never seem to break down without first giving you months of audible warnings. As long as you give some attention to what you are hearing, they go on, and on, and on.
disagree
Lot of that has to do with where you go, geography, etc. I have my 01 repaired and costs are only slightly over that of my toyota.
People who always go to the dealer for repairs are asking to get taken. Shop around, source your own parts. Most shops will accept the shipment and warranty the work.
mm hm
The CW I’ve picked up from mechanics is that if you keep up on the service/maintenance for subarus they tend to go a long way.
I thnk that is true for labor
in terms of qualified mechanics available to work on certain types of cars. It was easy to find a reasonably priced mechanic in Ann Arbor to work on my old Volvo–and hard to find one that had ever seen a Volvo in rural Ohio. But is there really a significant difference in the price for parts? Perhaps it is, and Subaru parts will become cheaper for those of us living in the boonies as they get more market penetration. Until two or three years ago, Subarus were as rare as zebras in my neck of the woods, while they were required equipment for liberal professionals in college towns and across the northeast. But they are becoming more ubiquitous even here in the sticks. I now know a couple of farmers who own them.
matrix comes in a 4wd
Hey Hurricane
Whos pissed off?Its only intertanment anyways I`m in southern B.C.
Hate to tempt fate…
I have a 99 OB, 4cyl. bought used now has almost 100k. Had very few problems other than the front oil seal.
I drive flat sea-level warm weather roads so I’m not your typical Subie user. I really didn’t need it but it drove so nice and is awesome in the rain.
Yes
The cars like to seep oil, and things like water pumps, CV boots/joints, oil pumps, cam belt tensioners, camshaft seals, bla bla… need refreshing. I’ve driven BMW’s for 300k on the original clutch… My Subarus have needed more care past 150k, and that care has not been cheap. If you stay on top of them and give them the care they need they will deliver. Cost per mile on a Toyota will probably be less. The BMW’s were less actually! But Sub’s do a lot well. My advice would be to turn them over before 150k, or keep em forever and keep em up.
Hmm…
the catalytic converter replacement was not something I had even considered-thanks for the tip. This would be especially applicable on my mother’s Legacy GT sedan, where the ‘check engine’ light has lit up at least three times now, all sensor problems. At 200 cabbages a pop it’s adding up; unfortunately, she lives a distance away, so staying on top of her auto is not easy.
On head gaskets, while I’ve heard that Subies have been prone to these failures, no manufacturer is immune either. Had an '87 Civic 4DSD that blew a head gasket as well-that car was a POS, so out of character with every Honda or Acura I’ve owned. Generally, it’s just gas, do your oil changes, and they just run, run, run.
My Saturn is only about 150k, but …
no breakdowns at all yet … I just need to fix a deteriorating engine mount when I get around to it.
I am jealous of the more comfy Suby seats, though – I drive A LOT for work and I want to find a lower mileage seat to replace mine!
Do you have stick, or auto? My '97
with stick has always had plenty of performance, under all conditions. The '97 autos I tried were a bit sluggish in some circumstances.
Our Outback has always used more oil than our Accord. I’ve wondered if the horizontal piston position requires the rings to be less tight. At present our Outback has 160k and needs a quart about every 2000 miles, not too bad, and that has not increased much with time. The Accord has 140k and needs a quart about every 3500 miles, showing a slow increase from an initial rate of a quart every 5000. The Accord oil stays much cleaner, longer, which makes me wonder whether Subaru has to run higher clearances with those horizontal cylinders.
There’s a lot of sideways…
– Last Updated: Feb-26-07 1:39 AM EST –
...force on a piston during the mid-point the power stroke and even the compression stroke (the three-o'clock/nine-o'clock position of that piston's crank throw), and anyplace close to that position. With forces like that happening, the orientation of the cylinders is pretty unimportant as far as "fit" goes. There'd be no reason at all to make a horizontally-travelling piston fit looser than a vertical one when the force induced by a diagonally-oriented piston rod would dwarf any other force affecting how the cylinder slides along the piston walls.
As far as the oil staying clean, it sounds like the Honda motor is holding up better, but a comparison of two motors isn't much to go on. Too much room for chance with such a small sample size (someone else with those same two kinds of cars might see the opposite thing happen, for all we know).
Subaru Owner Since…
shortly after college. We’re on the fourth one. Wife drives the Forester which we bought brand new. The previous three were used. Loved them. Unfortunately, inexpensive and Subaru does not go hand in hand anymore. My car is a Suzuki Aero SX AWD. Other not getting the mileage advertised, it’s been an okay car.
Oh, never thought of kayaking through the first three Subaru. So that had nothing to do with it. Maybe the cost of subaru has gone because they are targeting the kayaking crowd?
sing
I guess you missed the 300HP version
in the WRX STi…