Subaru durability

[treillw]

Who makes a truck with an AWD setting that isn't 4-hi?

My 2007 Chevy has it. I believe Chevy and GMC have been doing it for a long time...

 

[treillw]

Trucks are supposed to be trucks.
Stick shift and manual fwd.

None of that electronic bs that leaves you stranded.

The entire vehicle is made up of electronic BS.

I'll take the gas mileage and significantly less wear and tear on the four wheel drive system any day.

 

[MuleyFever]

Absolutely not you will not see more vehicles with engine out services than Subaru. Steer clear of Subaru unless you want a WRX and understand that it’s not as reliable as the average car.

As shown by all the posts here about how they have been great for those users.

Truth is all cars have issues. Subaru is a reliable car manufacturer. I keep trying to get my wife to buy a new car so I can have hers a s a daily driver instead of my diesel.

 

[np307]

Dang, did Subaru change?

Back in the day most of the power always went to the front, unless there was slippage , then it shifted power to the back.

Last one I had was a 2012 I think, so things have probably changed since then

No, they use the same system they did then. Default bias is 60 front/40 rear but can be shifted to 50/50 when slip is detected. Computer takes care of all that.

 

[BRTreedogs]

The entire vehicle is made up of electronic BS.

I'll take the gas mileage and significantly less wear and tear on the four wheel drive system any day.

Obviously you've never been on a hunting trip with an electronic transfer case truck that won't go into 4wd and ruins the entire trip.

Have you ever driven a truck in 4 high and actually had issues?
I've litterly driven hundreds of thousands in 4wd high on hard pack with patches of dry asphalt. I've never actually heard of a problem except people making stuff up.

Sure if you try and do a U turn on dry and floor it.
But even then have you ever actually seen a maintained vehicle have the 4wd system actually explode?

 

[roosiebull]

Well I drive Rams, they have a good enough stereo you don't hear all that stuff.

Pretty much all of my family drive rams, only one has had issues of those, but nothing like the OP… I think my brother in law had 2 pretty bad oil leaks.

I would trust any dodge pickup over any Subaru based on my personal experience

 

[Billy Goat]

Pretty much all of my family drive rams, only one has had issues of those, but nothing like the OP… I think my brother in law had 2 pretty bad oil leaks.

I would trust any dodge pickup over any Subaru based on my personal experience

There's 2 and 2 in my driveway right now. I find the Subaru's more reliable personally, but they don't get the abuse my trucks do.


My '11 grenaded on the interstate at 80 mph.


That was moat likely due to the double cardian front driveshaft. I guess it came apart. I was driving and thought I blew out a rear dual. Made it to the next exit, pulled into an Arby's. Got out and saw a trail of stuff behind me, said uh oh.

My '17 went into limp mode on a wheel bearing. It shut down the 4wd system, which then caused me to loose exhaust braking and tow mode, pretty crappy for a truck that's made to tow. And it's not like I was pushing the WB, it had just gone out. Actually had just recently been looked at, like within 600 miles and didn't have any play.




Vehicles are all a pain in the butt.

 

[alpine_troop]

First car I bought myself was a used 1997 Outback with 164K miles. Drove that up to 219K before trading it in. Yes, that ‘97 was from the older years that required some head gasket repairs to take care of oil leaks. Replaced the exhaust eventually too. Timing belt again at 200K. That’s pretty much all standard stuff on a high mileage Subaru from that era. That was a highly reliable and durable car for me. Drove it all over the mountain west on alpine climbing trips.

Traded that ‘97 towards a new 2012 Outback, which I am still driving today at 165K miles (I have a fleet vehicle for work so this hasn’t always been a daily driver). All those miles have been a mix of highway road trips, mountain roads, city stop and go, blistering hot summers, extreme winter conditions, everything. This has been a zero drama vehicle for me. I follow a more frequent maintenance schedule for oil changes than what the factory recommends. At 200K I will have to do the timing belt again, but I don’t care. I fully expect to have this thing until 250K or so. It has been highly dependable.

It’s even become my hunting rig. Got a 290” bull rack and meat, plus all my gear, in the back on a trip to Utah this past season.

I highly recommend a Subaru for what you’re looking for. Then add a set of Blizzaks for the winter.

 

[treillw]

Obviously you've never been on a hunting trip with an electronic transfer case truck that won't go into 4wd and ruins the entire trip.

Have you ever driven a truck in 4 high and actually had issues?
I've litterly driven hundreds of thousands in 4wd high on hard pack with patches of dry asphalt. I've never actually heard of a problem except people making stuff up.

Sure if you try and do a U turn on dry and floor it.
But even then have you ever actually seen a maintained vehicle have the 4wd system actually explode?

I'm most concerned about the gas mileage when I drive from MT to SD in a day for work and back the next.

The issues I'm thinking of would just be logically if there are more moving pieces, there is more to break, more wear and tear, and more maintenance.

It's also nice to set the auto 4wd and forget it on intermittent snowy roads than playing axle breaker on an 8 hour drive.

Haven't had an issue with my 07 Chevy at all in 20 below weather.

 

[BRTreedogs]

I'm most concerned about the gas mileage when I drive from MT to SD in a day for work and back the next.

The issues I'm thinking of would just be logically if there are more moving pieces, there is more to break, more wear and tear, and more maintenance.

It's also nice to set the auto 4wd and forget it on intermittent snowy roads than playing axle breaker on an 8 hour drive.

Haven't had an issue with my 07 Chevy at all in 20 below weather.

My 15 forester only get 22 mpg in real world btw

 

[Danny Hoey]

Oh, I don't know. I'd like to find one for a reasonable price with 100k miles on it - seems hard to do now. I hope to pay six or $7,000 for it.

Also considering getting a new Forester.

Anything over 110k, ask if they’ve had the tim8ng belt done. If not, use it as negotiating leverage.

I hunted out of our 2011 forester for a few years when I was in between trucks. Zero issues, more than enough room for all my hunting stuff. Sold it to get an Ascent with a 3rd row. Wife loves it.

 

[hikenhunt]

My 15 forester only get 22 mpg in real world btw

That's unfortunate. My manual '02 forester gets about 27/32 city/hwy

 

[PredatorSlayer]

Things are crazy expensive too most of the time.

I was just pricing the outback and rav4 out as a third vehicle. They seem to be in the same price range. We have alway had great luck with Toyotas. My inlaws are big subaru fans and they seem to be hit and miss.

 

[CHWine]

Bought a 2011 Outback new. Lived 2 miles up a gravel road at that time. Plenty of rain and slick conditions to drive in. At about 80k the head gaskets went. Found on the web about the history of the bad head gaskets were mostly in the 1990's.

Also found a hotline to call Subaru about any service issues. I asked for some financial relief due to the problem. They said had I have contacted them before I took it to the dealer, they might have helped.

After more haggling they gave me $2k credit towards the purchase of a new model. Long story short that Outback served me well for many miles. I sold it to a coworker when we left CA.

Bought the wife a 2017 Forester and was able to apply the $2k towards purchase. It doesn't quite of the power of the Outback, but it's a very practical car. One last gripe.....quite a bit of road noise.

 

[np307]

Anything over 110k, ask if they’ve had the tim8ng belt done. If not, use it as negotiating leverage.

I hunted out of our 2011 forester for a few years when I was in between trucks. Zero issues, more than enough room for all my hunting stuff. Sold it to get an Ascent with a 3rd row. Wife loves it.

You're only going to have negotiating leverage for a timing belt on pre-2011 Foresters and pre-2013 outbacks. The FB25 is a timing chain engine.

 

[Danny Hoey]

Bought a 2011 Outback new. Lived 2 miles up a gravel road at that time. Plenty of rain and slick conditions to drive in. At about 80k the head gaskets went. Found on the web about the history of the bad head gaskets were mostly in the 1990's.

Also found a hotline to call Subaru about any service issues. I asked for some financial relief due to the problem. They said had I have contacted them before I took it to the dealer, they might have helped.

After more haggling they gave me $2k credit towards the purchase of a new model. Long story short that Outback served me well for many miles. I sold it to a coworker when we left CA.

Bought the wife a 2017 Forester and was able to apply the $2k towards purchase. It doesn't quite of the power of the Outback, but it's a very practical car. One last gripe.....quite a bit of road noise.

Road noise is real with those cars.!

 

[Terrapin]

I didn’t read all 118 comments, but me and my family have had a few. 85, 86, 95, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2011… I might have missed a couple. Two kids in hockey in Idaho and Minnesota. Lots of miles on bad winter roads.

We beat the living snot out of them. I wouldn’t pick one unless dealing with bad roads was my number one priority. With 4 studded tires, they are way better than anything else. The mileage is mediocre and it seems like the maintenance is worse than our Toyotas. I’ll buy another one, but I’ll whine about it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CorbLand]

I have generally had good luck with Toyotas, but I’m hoping my zr2 continues to be reliable, because I like it way, way more… but sway bar endlinks are toast, and when I start it cold, it sounds like it’s going to rattle apart for about 30 seconds… not sure if it’s a loose heat shield, or gravel trapped in them or what… it’s almost as annoying as a week old taco trd with leaf springs squaking like a dying parakeet on a paved parking lot, haha

My 2001 Tundra rattles really bad on cold days to. Especially when you turn the heater on full blast to defrost but I am pretty sure that is from all the .22 shells down in there.

 

[puckhead]

I know my way around Subarus. Generally best years are 2015-19. The ones that are consuming oil are usually 2011.5-14 model years with 1st generation timing chain engines. Piston/ring design in those engines could lead to excessive consumption over time. Issue was corrected in 2015-later models. I like the old timing belt engines for reliability but the head gaskets are an issue on the N/A cars. Can replace with gaskets from turbo engines when they start to leak and usually they won't after that.

 

[wind gypsy]

Wife's '20 outback 2.5 gets around 28 MPG on avg combined. Gets over 30mpg when primarily on the highway in summer time. That's with the OEM tires on it. I suspect it will do a little worse when we put some michelin CrossClimates on it soon.