Who here has/had a Subaru? Good car?

[watchmainspring]

I'm heavily considering the purchase of a new 2006 subaru impreza (not WRX) wagon.

Anyone have any good/bad things to say about subaru? My only other car has been a honda civic.

 

[d wade]

my dad just bought a suburu franchise and put it into his automall. so i say YES!

buy a suburu (from Palm Beach Automall in WPB, FL)

 

[count chocula]

i know two people with subaru outbacks, they're good cars. never given their drivers any trouble.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

I had a Subaru, quality was outstandiing never had a problem with it.

 

[Doctor Q]

I'm gonna watch this thread because I've considered the Impreza for my next car purchase.

That's only because my local car dealer isn't selling flying cars yet, even though it's the 21st century.

 

[OutThere]

I don't have a subaru personally, but it seems like everyone I know does.

They're very good cars...comfy, zippy, great in the snow, and reliable too!

They're sort of a unique niche in the auto world, because they're relatively inexpensive, AWD, station wagons. Audi has some models that resemble them, but they carry the Audi pricetag. Otherwise, similar cars are few and far between.

 

[count chocula]

That's only because my local car dealer isn't selling flying cars yet, even though it's the 21st century.

no, no fllying cars

 

[gonyr]

My wife is absolutely a subaru fanatic. She won't even consider buying any other car. Personally, I'm not a big fan, as I prefer a full sized vehicle.

In any case, she has had 3 subarus, and they have been remarkably reliable. Her first one was a 1984 GL that finally got retired in the mid 90's when it rusted away to nothingness while still running very strong. Currently she has a '96 impreza that has never had anything other than regular maintenance, and still runs like new, and a 1980 BRAT that's her toy, with some rust, but no mechanical problems. With any newer subaru (mid 90's or later) I think you're making a good choice. The older ones seem to have some rust issues, but that could just be true of any car that old. All we've ever had to do is regular maintenance and wear stuff - oil, brakes, the occasional water pump or the like. The horizontally opposed engines that subaru uses can run forever.

 

[nbs2]

We had a Subaru and a Civic when we got married. Lori brought the Subaru and I brought the Civic. There weren't any major quality issues that I can remember - in the time that we dated until we sold it (about two years), there was only one minor problem. Small enough that I can't remember what it was. While I have had the Civic for about 20 months and haven't had any problems, it is almost 10 years old now...

Point of the above rambling - when we sold the Legacy, it had lost a ton of value (about 50% in 4 years). The car is good, but you have to want to keep it until you run it into the ground or for quite a long time to get your money's worth.

 

[Felldownthewell]

Here in the rugged Northwestern Suburbs (*sarcasm*) everyone drives either an SUV or a Suburu. Well not really, but anyway, my family (and therefor me with the permit but no car to call my own drive it as well) drives a '99 Outback wagon. Amazing car; gets up Mt. Hood and back down as many as 15 a year, has never needed work, and still runs amazingly now 7 years later. It is a manual transmission, which I love, and has a lot of power, even though I belive the engine has >175HP. The AWD is usefull and the gas milleage is good but not at Prius-levels.

I would say go for it.

 

[applefan]

I have a 98 Forester that I purchased used over two years ago. It's been very reliable and is nice to drive. It feels very stable on the road, but the MPG are lower than I expected from a 4 cylinder engine, about 21 city and 27 hwy. That said, I'd still buy another, and I actually might.

 

[CompUser]

Lots of people around here buy Subarus around here and seem to be happy with them. From what I have heard they are reliable. We had one as a rental car once and it was a pretty comfortable car.

 

[Doctor Q]

Given how often forum members complain when they have anything conceivable to complain about (e.g., "That free patch required a restart and ruined my uptime" or "It's an outrage that I don't get a free upgrade to QuickTime 8.0 Pro!"), the praise so far for Subaru is all the more surprising!

But I'm still waiting for someone to tell us the inevitable "lemon" story.

 

[floriflee]

We had a Subaru and a Civic when we got married. Lori brought the Subaru and I brought the Civic. There weren't any major quality issues that I can remember - in the time that we dated until we sold it (about two years), there was only one minor problem. Small enough that I can't remember what it was. While I have had the Civic for about 20 months and haven't had any problems, it is almost 10 years old now...

Point of the above rambling - when we sold the Legacy, it had lost a ton of value (about 50% in 4 years). The car is good, but you have to want to keep it until you run it into the ground or for quite a long time to get your money's worth.

Either way I have to say that the AWD was nice to have in bad weather. If I were to buy another Subaru (and I'd consider it), I'd go used. You'll get more bang for your buck that way. My problem was that I bought it new and I then moved to an area where Subarus are not so common so the value went down very fast.

The interior quality wasn't as nice as what you'd find in, say, a Honda, Toyota, or Hyundai, but it was decent. I had the base model. I think the interior quality is nicer in the higher models.

I have some friends that have an Outback and they love it. It hasn't given them any major problems (that I know of), and it handles great and has great storage.

 

[cycocelica]

Subaru makes great cars. In fact so great I jsut bought a 2006 Impreza wagon yesterday. A couple of my friends have them and htey are about 3-5 years old and never have had any problems.

The seats are real comfortable, the interior quality has definitely improved over the past three years. They are very safe (safest in its class). Standard side impact air bags, abs, and disc brakes. AWD is great too. The cargo room is really great too when you fold the seats down. Quality wise, Subaru, Toyota, and Honda are all on the same level. Don't second guess it.

 

[dmw007]

I don't own one, but I know a few people that do and they love them!

That's only because my local car dealer isn't selling flying cars yet, even though it's the 21st century.

I have one- you made it for me Doctor Q.

 

[neocell]

That's only because my local car dealer isn't selling flying cars yet, even though it's the 21st century.

Well they're out and about, you just gotta get your hands on one
linky and pinky

And for sceptical humour you'll see why we don't have one yet ... "do you think Einstein didn't like hacking peoples feet off..."?!?

 

[Frisco]

Don't doubt Subaru! They are Japanese. They are good cars.

Stay away from American *******s and their cars!

 

[flyfish29]

I have a Forrester and love it. My sister/bro in-law have had an Outback and Legacy wagon. They liked them both. very reliable and safe. My brother in-law would still have his wife's legacy if he hadn't listened to his father who said "no, go ahead and park it here on the beach while we kyack." Well you can imagine what happened after that. Yes, everything under except for the roof! Insurance paid for it to be replaced- and we wonder why insurance is so expensive.

We are getting ready to purchase an Outback for our second car we like Subaru so well.

 

[vniow]

Grandma used to have one for her mail route. Tough little bugger, it stood being driven in constand stop and go traffic almost every day on dirt roads which aren't too friendly to smaller cars like that. The vast majority of people in her area own a truck of some sort since they simply handle the roads better. It gave her little trouble however and what did become a bother was mostly due to the road conditions and the driving habits.

 

[khammack]

They suck.

I know, everyone I know tells me how what great cars they are and how they are so reliable. That has simply not been the reality with my 1998 Legacy Outback wagon.

I kept up with my service, in fact I had very recently sent it to the dealer for it's 60,000mi service. I was driving on a freeway in the middle of oregon when it suddenly overheated. It was staggering how fast, I actually didn't believe it at first. I pulled over at the next exit (there was nowhere else safe to pull over) and it died on the exit ramp, never to start again.

The subaru dealer, who had just taken almost $1000 of my money, offered to fix it for $8000. Yes, you read that correctly, eight THOUSAND dollars to replace the engine. Apparently, not only do they overheat immediately when low on fluid but the heads warp, the valves need redone, and the cylinder sleeves crack rendering the entire engine unusable.

Subaru, being the helpful bastards that they are, offered to sell me a new subaru instead. I declined, and had the lump towed to a mechanic that I actually trusted who replaced the engine for $3000.

That was a few years ago, it's been running fine until 2 weeks ago. This time we know why it overheated at least---a radiator hose burst. (Last time neither the dealer nor my mechanic could explain why it suddenly overheated). My wife was driving uphill and had the presence of mind to pull over immediately after seeing the check engine light flashing and the temp rising. For her reaction time she managed to spare the cylinder sleeves from cracking, but the heads were damaged, head gaskets blown, oil in the radiator. The price? $1500. We lost $1500 in two minutes.

I'll say it again, Subaru sucks.

Now, I know, many out there think they are wonderful. And I've come to find out that this particular engine (2.5L V6, 1998 model) has 4 cams, a design which came out in 1998 and disappeared in 1999. Apparently, the reason they ditched the design was because it was a reliabilty disaster. So perhaps it's just this particular engine. If so, you can safely disregard my experience.

However, you may want to compare the price of subaru parts to the price of parts for your second alternative. It may be illuminating.

Just my $0.02.

-kev

 

[khammack]

But I'm still waiting for someone to tell us the inevitable "lemon" story.

Your wait is over. ;-)

-kev

 

[steamboat26]

i don't own one, but the impreza is a sweet car. Why the wagon? The sedan is so much cooler looking...

 

[cycocelica]

Just my $0.02.

You say check the price of your second alternative, because as we know, Subbies can be somewhat expensive for the class they are in. But you have to consider what you are getting. You get a lot of things standard including safety and reliability (which doesnt seem to be your case). If you want AWD, then your best bet is Subaru. There isn't many wagons that have the features of Subaru for as cheap as Subaru.

 

[njmac]

I had a 1998 Suburu forester and I hated it.
It was bad on gas and not very roomy.
The back seat had barely enough room for 2 car seats and the trunk area just fit 1 stroller with no room for groceries.
The interior seemed cheap and nothing was where you'd expect it to be... so not very comfortable. For example, the cupholders - they were pull-out flimsy holders that were just above the vents. So when I had a cup of coffee and my air conditioner on, my coffee would be ice cold in 5 minutes.
Everything about the car felt cheap.
The ride was never smooth and always noisy.

One thing I liked about it was it was good in the snow.

I owned a Saturn before my Suburu and switched because I thought that it would be a little bigger and better in snow, but I missed just about everything in my Saturn. It always ran smooth and quiet. Everything had a place that made sense and didn't feel flimsy and cheap. It was great on gas, it resisted dents and was a great car. After I sold my Forester, I bought a minivan and am much happier.

Good Luck with whatever you get