Subaru feedback

rabb11d

rabb11d

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Location
Statesville,NC
I am thinking about upgrading my dd/kid hauler and a subaru is on the short list. I am looking in the early 2000 around 4500 bucks area. Checking to see if anyone has any experience good or bad with these cars. Thanks
 
Get it on a lift or get a reputable shop to check the back bottom corners of the heads for any coolant leakage at the head gaskets. I have seen two that had bad blocks, but most of them can be fixed with machining the heads and replacing the gaskets. Listen for any wheel bearing noise and the heat shields rattle on the exhaust. Otherwise they are decent little cars. We work on several of them at our shop with no real common issues other than what I mentioned.
 
Unless you're planning on saving another 4500 for all of the issues in the near future, find something else. Those years especially suck. People that are rabid subaru fans somehow forget or just don't care about all of the problems the cars have. Buy a new one or stay away, in my opinion.
 
Im a subaru fan and their great cars but like anything they have their quirks. Last night my son sold his 03 impreza so he could buy a wrx or lgt. We have spent the day looking at them and the things to look for are head gaskets leaking oil or coolant and bearing noise in manual trannys. The fuel filler necks tend to rust out on the older models due to road salt getting trapped in the plastic sheild in the rear wheel opening. Their easy to work on and and nothing has changed much over the years.
Good luck and feel free to message me with any questions about them.

Buckeye Performance Inc.
offroad fabrication
drivetrain/differential service
828-779-2242
 
Thanks for the feed back guys. With the head gaskets and worse than I expected mpg I think I am going to try to stick with honda or Toyota. Besides I'm not hippie enough to drive a subaru.
 
I bought a 2004 Outback Sedan in 2011 as a commuter car. I'm a supervisor and not going to work when it snows is not an option and I have around an hour commute.

I've put 80,000 miles on the car, it gets 28 mpg religiously, I've put a CV axle on the drivers side (busted boot), a wheel bearing on the passenger side, tires (2 sets), brakes, and changed the oil several times. Drivers side head gasket is leaking externally and has been since I bought it....just keep adding water. One thing folks didn't mention is these things are notorious for piston slap. Mine sounds like a my Cummins for the 20 minutes it's running...I simply turn up the radio.

These things are tanks in the snow. We had an 11" snow this past winter and the Subaru never stopped.

I would certainly buy another new or used one.
 
I had a 2003 WRX for about a year. I really liked it for the most part, but it was also quick and extremely fun car so that made up for it a lot. :lol:

The gas mileage was marginal. Better than any of my other cars but not good enough to justify driving around a tiny little car. My Trans Am actually got better gas mileage and it is faster and more fun.
The interior was crap. Extremely cheap and felt tin-can like. When I vacuumed the carpet it would suck it into the hose, it was like the carpet was made of t-shift material or something. I wasn't impressed with the interior, it was so cheap. And I drive GM cars. :lol:
The shifter sucked. I mean really sucked. I rebuilt it with new bushings and all, adjusted it, etc. It just sucked. I hated that part of the car.

Mine was fairly low mileage and a one owner car and was really well maintainted and it was a good car when I had it. Really reliable and fun.

I'm sure other ones may not be as cheap as mine, but I wouldn't own another one it felt so cheap for the price I paid for it.
 
I have a 99 outback limited with 165k on it. I think everyone covered the normal issues pretty well. Check for head gasket leakage, rust in filler neck, and wheel bearing noise. I don't have any HG leakage yet (knock on wood), but I do have the filler neck rust, have replaced wheel bearings and ball joints, need a new PS pump, and just replaced the knock sensor. I get 21-23 mpgs, which isn't that impressive for a 4 cyl car IMO. However, I will say that the AWD is awesome when the weather is bad. Supposedly the 6 cyl is more reliable and gas mileage is about the same.
 
I should add that the head gasket issues were solved sometime after 03 or I have not seen any past that point and if they have been replaced and covered with copper spray then you wont have anything to worry about.
My wife drives a 09 legacy and its a sweet little car she likes it a lot.

Buckeye Performance Inc.
offroad fabrication
drivetrain/differential service
828-779-2242
 
novacayne75 said:
I should add that the head gasket issues were solved sometime after 03 or I have not seen any past that point and if they have been replaced and covered with copper spray then you wont have anything to worry about.
My wife drives a 09 legacy and its a sweet little car she likes it a lot.

Buckeye Performance Inc.
offroad fabrication
drivetrain/differential service
828-779-2242
Click to expand...

But after 03 ring lands began to fail lol
 
After looking at these a little more, the gas millage isn't quite where I wanted it to be. Also not crazy about head gasket issues or whatever might happen with a failed ring land. Guess I will be sticking with the Japs. Thanks for all the info guys, seems there is always someone on here with the info you need to hear. (Except for Hurley and his element comment????)
 




Funny enough, fiancé's aunt shows up in a 2011 Outback sport this weekend, and it's leaking oil over one of the header/manifold runners. rest of the car is CLEAN
 
Hurley said:




Funny enough, fiancé's aunt shows up in a 2011 Outback sport this weekend, and it's leaking oil over one of the header/manifold runners. rest of the car is CLEAN
Click to expand...

Thats a factory option to keep the pipe from rusting.

Buckeye Performance Inc.
offroad fabrication
drivetrain/differential service
828-779-2242
 
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