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Describe your traumatic experiences with your Subaru here. From automatic transmission failures, to blown head gaskets and everything in between. We have all been through a lot with our Subies, love them or hate them.. they have provided us all a great learning experience. We as a community of Subie owners need to help eachother during the bad times.
**This thread was edited on Dec 13th 2018 at 10:57:21pm
Bro, Idek where to start.
Love subies as much as my family, but just like my family they've given me my fair share of headaches, heartaches, and plenty of scares.
Former friend of mine had a wrx that made about 330 wheel at one point. He blew the manual transmission, rear axle shaft, and 2 motors, one of which was supposed to be able to hold up to 600hp, all in a year. They're pretty reliable if you don't modify or abuse them but head gaskets are definitely their weakness.
Honestly, if you know anything about subies before you buy one then the head gaskets aren't even a big deal, you know what you're in for. If you're buying one pre 09 and they haven't been done, you basically just gotta add it to the price you're paying for the car. If they have been done, then you really just don't have to worry about it again.
loshHonestly, if you know anything about subies before you buy one then the head gaskets aren't even a big deal, you know what you're in for. If you're buying one pre 09 and they haven't been done, you basically just gotta add it to the price you're paying for the car. If they have been done, then you really just don't have to worry about it again.
So many cars are like this and so many people think they're unreliable because of it. From BMWs with plastic water pumps to Ford trucks with blocked EGRs if you just do the scheduled maintenance or address known failure points every car can be dead reliable. Except British cars, British cars are a nightmare.
Some fucker in a jeep Cherokee made an illegal move on an exit ramp to another highway and cut off a line of cars. Damn bitch car Nissan versa came to a dead stop from 60mph. I rear ended the Nissan at thankfully a low enough speed to not deploy airbags (or my car woulda prob been totaled), but my car was not drive able cuz it was overheating. The radiator was fucked with a bunch of other stuff and with all the repairs was around $5500. Thank God for insurance. First accident too... The jeep drove off. I was cited. Yay.
Other than that, this asshole of a car consumes too much oil that's enough to be inconvenient and hard on the wallet but also not enough to fail Subaru's test because having your light come on after 2500 miles with expensive ass synthetic is OK in their minds. I just top it off and wait until the recommended mileage cuz fuck that.
**This post was edited on Dec 14th 2018 at 12:24:12am
6 hours into drive back to school. Late at night, temp below 0, and all of a sudden cruise control shuts off, the check engine light comes on, and the e brake light starts flashing. Turns out thr car was spazzing out because the gas cap wasnt tight enough
Always loved Subies, so when I was a junior in college I thought fuck it I'll buy a subaru. End up buying this beauty a 2002 Subaru Impreza Hatchback 5 speed manual and it was louder than piss. Had it for a whole summer and then took it to school up in Wisconsin. Idk how I made it anywhere in that thing but it was a fucking trooper. Long story short ended up getting pulled over for not having my lamps on my license plate lit up because on those old subaru's you have to manually turn them on. Wouldn't of been a problem had I not been token up at the time. Lost the license for 2 years. Hard lesson Learned, but now I have a 2016 forester so still in the family.
Had my forester break down (imploded wheel bearing and bent rim) a couple miles out of hite, utah, a literal ghost town on the north end of lake powell, 30 minutes from cell service and 4.5 hours from home in salt lake. Towing it would have cost a fortune and i would have been at the mercy of tiny rural southern ut repair shops, so I left it on the side of the road, went back to salt lake in a friends car, and drove back the next day with my buddies truck and a uhaul auto trailer to pick it up. 9 hours round trip god damnit I love my car but WHY COULDNT YOU HAVE BROKEN DOWN IN SALT LAKE FUCK
Modding any car will make it unreliable unless it's a warrantied tuning brand such as Dinan through BMW. Subaru's get a bad rap because WRX kids push stock internals to 28 PSI with 480 crank HP then blow their motors and cry stating Subarus are unreliable. If you don't mod your turbo'd Subaru it will stay quite reliable as long as you go through with the scheduled maintenance. Living in Colorado there is a big WRX scene and if you do decide to mod it who tunes the car makes or breaks the longevity of the motor. Harvey at the Boost Creep is the best tuner in Colorado and with some supporting mods you can keep your slightly modded WRX running smooth. But it really comes down to simple psychics, a 2.5 L motor can't handle the pressure from a big ass upgraded turbo without forged pistons etc.
Man I loved this car. 2004 Forester XT, one of the fastest non sti's ever made by subaru. In the first three weeks of owning I blew up the turbo on the way back from skiing and had to limp it 45 miles home. 3 months later the throttle body went. The following year I blew up the radiator. Then I spent a lot of money rebuilding the suspension. Spent more than it was worth fixing it, but god damn it was a fun car to drive. It was a quick, all wheel drive boat. It did everything from offroading with big trucks, to street racing with mustangs.
Now I drive a grocery getter 2012 outback, but I still beat the hell out of it.
Film.Modding any car will make it unreliable unless it's a warrantied tuning brand such as Dinan through BMW. Subaru's get a bad rap because WRX kids push stock internals to 28 PSI with 480 crank HP then blow their motors and cry stating Subarus are unreliable. If you don't mod your turbo'd Subaru it will stay quite reliable as long as you go through with the scheduled maintenance. Living in Colorado there is a big WRX scene and if you do decide to mod it who tunes the car makes or breaks the longevity of the motor. Harvey at the Boost Creep is the best tuner in Colorado and with some supporting mods you can keep your slightly modded WRX running smooth. But it really comes down to simple psychics, a 2.5 L motor can't handle the pressure from a big ass upgraded turbo without forged pistons etc.
A 2.5 can handle that it’s just the boxer design sacrifices a lot of strength vs an iron block inline 4 with 5 main bearings.
brotoHad my forester break down (imploded wheel bearing and bent rim) a couple miles out of hite, utah, a literal ghost town on the north end of lake powell, 30 minutes from cell service and 4.5 hours from home in salt lake. Towing it would have cost a fortune and i would have been at the mercy of tiny rural southern ut repair shops, so I left it on the side of the road, went back to salt lake in a friends car, and drove back the next day with my buddies truck and a uhaul auto trailer to pick it up. 9 hours round trip god damnit I love my car but WHY COULDNT YOU HAVE BROKEN DOWN IN SALT LAKE FUCK
Usually wheel bearings get loud long before they blow out. I actually have a similar story from my bronco, I took it in for inspection before the fall semester started, they tell me I should replace the water pump and I don’t. Long story short, driving back from lake Powell with some buddies and the water pump gives out outside of rifle CO. Friends mom picks us up and drives us back to Boulder I leave the truck at a shop and go pick it up months later. Drive it 5 miles down the road and the new water pump pulley snaps off completely, taking out the radiator this time. Shop refuses to warranty their work so I end up getting it towed back to boulder and fixing it properly there.
I have a 2006 Impreza 2.5i that I have had since 2007. The only thing I have had to get done other than normal maintenance is the usual 100,000 mile timing belt and head gaskets plus a wheel bearing which I probably messed up using the E-brake too much. I have driven the hell out of that thing too and its still going strong at 158,000 miles.
Rum_HamUsually wheel bearings get loud long before they blow out. I actually have a similar story from my bronco, I took it in for inspection before the fall semester started, they tell me I should replace the water pump and I don’t. Long story short, driving back from lake Powell with some buddies and the water pump gives out outside of rifle CO. Friends mom picks us up and drives us back to Boulder I leave the truck at a shop and go pick it up months later. Drive it 5 miles down the road and the new water pump pulley snaps off completely, taking out the radiator this time. Shop refuses to warranty their work so I end up getting it towed back to boulder and fixing it properly there.
Wheel bearing is going bad and I have a 500 mile drive coming up next week. Should be interesting
everlastnope. i leased a toyota rav4 back in 2016 and loved it. i barely ever remember going to get gas when i had it
The legacy (not sure about the other models) have an 18.5gal tank. I drove from Columbus to South Carolina before stopping for gas. Prob coulda made it a little further too
Lonely
Man I loved this car. 2004 Forester XT, one of the fastest non sti's ever made by subaru. In the first three weeks of owning I blew up the turbo on the way back from skiing and had to limp it 45 miles home. 3 months later the throttle body went. The following year I blew up the radiator. Then I spent a lot of money rebuilding the suspension. Spent more than it was worth fixing it, but god damn it was a fun car to drive. It was a quick, all wheel drive boat. It did everything from offroading with big trucks, to street racing with mustangs.
Now I drive a grocery getter 2012 outback, but I still beat the hell out of it.
It's so crazy how the curb weight of those older XT's was ~3200 lbs. Such a light car. Still super practical though, It's not like they sacrificed size.
I think those XT's are perfect. The new ones are okay but are heavy and huge with CVT's.
Had a 2000 outback , 180k, great car for about a year, blew the head gaskets and it was totaled. Know a bit about cars, but wasnt really trying to mess with the timing belt.
Have a 2005 outback, standard, 150k, also a great car, power steering is temperamental and sometimes it decides to work, and other times it does not, makes taking corners very interesting. Leaks oil like a sieve, other than, been an awesome car.
Does anyone else see the similarity in the back of the latest wrx sedan and the Nissan versa? When Subaru of America stopped bringing over the hot wagons and hatchbacks the were dead to me. They basically just build cvt equipped appliance cars for people who go to the climbing gym and own a kayak.
I feel that I am now qualified to reply to this thread. My 2013 outbacks transmission went at 123k miles for absolutely no reason. Took good care of it and now its was basically worth nothing.
Some rodents chewed through the wires on subaru. $1300 fix yikes. Also I’m a retard and thought, oh I’ll just park it in the garage from here on out. Yep, there were mice in garage. Subaru came in really clutch and only made me pay for the 2 fixs once and I put down a shit load of traps, fabric softener, and chili powder around my car lol
2006 Forester I’ve had for 6 years now, the engine seized 3 and a half years ago, heat shield got loose once, and the radiator had to get replaced recently.
I was trying to diagnose a whine coming from the back of my 2006 Impreza which I initially thought was the rear diff. I jacked up the car on 4 jack stands, hit the gas to bring it up to 45mph and set the cruise control then climbed under the car to see where the sound was coming from. Ended up being a wheel bearing (Prob from abusing the E-Brake). It was probably the scariest thing ive done with a car, being under there with all 4 tires whirling around you.
TnskiWhy do people buy subarus if they're nothing but problems, probably just like their goofy commercials or something
icedthe same reason people join frats
This and also they were building very reliable somewhat niche cars until about 15 years ago so they're still feeding off they're good reputation, kind of like BMW.
Got an engine put in. Asked multiple times to confirm head gasket was done. They lied. Blew up half way across the country. Paid for far less than everything cost. I wish bad things on them
SuspiciousFishI was trying to diagnose a whine coming from the back of my 2006 Impreza which I initially thought was the rear diff. I jacked up the car on 4 jack stands, hit the gas to bring it up to 45mph and set the cruise control then climbed under the car to see where the sound was coming from. Ended up being a wheel bearing (Prob from abusing the E-Brake). It was probably the scariest thing ive done with a car, being under there with all 4 tires whirling around you.
I appreciate your research. Hearing that same noise from my 2002 forester.
I definitely have a little ptsd, however it’s not my car’s fault, but my own.
Right before I moved cross country, my 99 Impreza (automatic) absolutely fell apart mechanically, but I also had an ex that ripped my glovebox out of the dash because it was locked, he dumped a bunch of angry orchards down the defogger vents, puked out the passenger window and didn’t tell me which ate a giant hole in my paint, and ripped the e brake on me while I was going 80 on the highway. So it was time for a new car.
I’ve bought all 5 shitholes I’ve driven, and I spent pretty much my entire savings account getting my life started in CA, and my parents being the amazing and generous humans they are, helped me out with a new one for my birthday, total surprise and I wish I had a hand in picking it.
I was gifted a beautiful 2013 Impreza five speed. My first standard car and something I’ve been wanting forever, but I had literally 4 days to figure out how to drive it. My mom tried to teach me and stalled and giggled through the whole experience. My best friend who has driven standard her whole life tried to teach me, stalled and sweared the whole time. I gave in and went to a one on one class with a driving instructor.
After the 4 days, I was solid, and hit the road and started making my way across the country and through traffic and stoplights, I was fine. Then I hit Colorado. I’ve never been so scared shitless in my whole entire life. I was going up hills at a crisp 35 in 70mph zones, and holy hell the drivers in Colorado are terrifying. I was jerkin around just trying not to lose my boyfriend in his car that was miles ahead of me by this point, no service to try and call my mom for a pep talk, and no turnoffs to try and take a break, cry, and regain composure.
I haven’t been to Colorado since and I have no desire to.
I hit a curb and it shattered everything. Replaced control arms, tie rods, fixed wheel hub... Even got Subaru to replace a wheel bearing under warranty, but there’s still a moderate sporadic hum somewhere.
I curbed TF outta my Camry in HS understeering into a curb, needed alignment. Kissed a curb in my Infiniti—wheel rash. But the Subaru? *boom*
SuspiciousFishI was trying to diagnose a whine coming from the back of my 2006 Impreza which I initially thought was the rear diff. I jacked up the car on 4 jack stands, hit the gas to bring it up to 45mph and set the cruise control then climbed under the car to see where the sound was coming from. Ended up being a wheel bearing (Prob from abusing the E-Brake). It was probably the scariest thing ive done with a car, being under there with all 4 tires whirling around you.
That works? I might have to try it
connecticuntThen I hit Colorado. I’ve never been so scared shitless in my whole entire life. I was going up hills at a crisp 35 in 70mph zones, and holy hell the drivers in Colorado are terrifying.
Thanks :-)
**This post was edited on Feb 17th 2020 at 10:05:22am
