guys who drive Subarus

TXDawg said:

There were some years that your could get a Subaru with a fully mechanical non-interference engine and a manual transmission that never died. Buddy of mine put something like 400k on his. It was built like a brick shithouse. After that, they went the way of Europeans and have expensive maintenance at regular intervals.

In the last four years, I know of only three people who have faced major, expensive auto repairs. The first was me, with a Honda Odyssey that needed it's engine rebuilt three times and both axles replaced by 70K. Now, I have two friends that are/were looking at $9K repair bills: A 2014 F150 Ecoboost that needed a complete timing rebuild and both turbos replaced, and a 2017 Fusion Energi that needs a new transmission (he's since found an independent shop that'll throw in a reman for $5K).

Honda, Ford, Ford. (And the only reason I got my F150 for $3500 was that the engine was blown at 140K miles, like thousands upon thousands of other 3-valve Ford modulars of that vintage.) My BMW was far cheaper and more reliable by comparison. I think it's a crapshoot these days. Everything is built incredibly precisely, so it's just a matter of whether there's a design flaw.

As for Subarus, the the VRI up at Western consulted on the cylinder head design when they went to DOHC 4-valve heads. The boxer design has challenges with oiling and whatnot, but both they and Porsche have been making it work for a while. I test drove an Outback a bit over a decade ago when looking for a wagon, and I was shocked that any car of that vintage would actually struggle to get up a steep hill, but it was the 4-cylinder with the CVT, so maybe that's just too weak of a combo for the weight it carries.

Subaru motors are soft. Axe any WRX owner about turning up the boost.