I lived on a 8,000 foot mountain top for several years in New Mexico. My Subaru was a lifesaver -- especially in snow and ice. I hear that they're very popular in Colorado.
Senoritalamanita Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I hear that they're very popular in Colorado.
That was certainly true many years ago when I lived in Colorado. One morning I was driving up into the mountains and counted something like 14 Subarus in a row driving down the mountain!
2. There were electrical problems (airbag light, and tire light came on when there was nothing wrong).
Wife and I converted to Nissan. Love the cars (we have three), and all have had zero problems in four years. The wife's ROUGE is a better drive than the Subaru outback.
My experience with a Mazda is that as it aged, parts became a lot harder to find. I also felt that it was not quite as well made as my Hondas and Toyota. I still got about 137,000 miles out of it however. And in terms of driving style, it was a lot of fun to drive.
DH had a subaru, little 2 door hatchback for 15 years. Then we traded it for the Outback we have now, which will be 15 years old in January. The Outback is our "snow" car. Love how it handles!
You know you're in Oregon when you pull up to a stop sign and you're surrounded by five Subaru Outbacks!
Love mine. It runs well, with little trouble. The engine is NOT a Chinese puzzle for my mechanic to work on, unlike my former Ford.
I prefer the Outback because it seems to have more room and is a little lower profile than the Forester.
The car gets decent enough gas mileage and you can go nearly anywhere in them. The only car I could get farther in, but is not a fair comparison, is my Landcruiser!
I'm pushing 120,000 miles and know people who get over 275,000 miles out of them. Just maintain them.
I have a 2004 Subaru forester and it works like new. As long as you treat it right, and take it to the Subaru dealership for upkeep you will be good. The car will treat you as good as you treat it. Keep up with oil changes and recommended services at certain mileage markers and you will be golden. My 2004 is at 130,000 miles and works like new. It has a turbo engine in it and is pretty powerful. Although we also got a Prius to save money on gas mileage. We use the Prius for day to day driving and utilize the Subaru now for camping and long road trips.
Anyway, Subaru is an excellent brand. It is AMAZING in snowy conditions. I have witnessed many struggling in their cars on bad snowy days and hummed right past them like it was nothing in my Subaru.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2013 10:18PM by jl1718.
We had an Outback and loved it but had to sell when I found out I was carrying twins and we would be needing three carseats soon. We had no issues with the car but had only owned it a bit over a year, and we hadn't even driven it that much. It was a 2008.
My parents owned two Outbacks, both for several years, but although they liked them, they always say, "Don't believe the Subaru hype--they're great but not perfect." Both of theirs had several minor issues. After giving their last Outback to my brother and his wife, they bought a Lexus. (Can't comment on how the Subaru continued to hold up, as shortly after my brother assumed ownership a car load of teenagers ran a stop sign and totaled it--amazingly, my bro and SIL were okay.)
I will say that the Outback's resale value is terrific. We posted ours on Craigslist, and I had dozens of emails within just a few hours. The first guy who responded (and whom we sold it to in the end) was in Seattle and BEGGED me not to sell it to anyone else; he booked a flight from Seattle to San Francisco that weekend, took public transportation to our house, and bought the car after barely checking it out. Granted, it was less than two years old and had very low mileage, but I was still a little surprised. He told us that Subarus are so popular in the Pac Northwest that they are very hard to come by, even used, so he felt flying in was more than worth it.
I guess I have to get in on this one. I have a 06 Subaru Baja - leather - top of the line with turbo and am quite happy with it. Fixed all the minor problems just over 100,000 miles and runs great and quite peppy when needed.
my boyfriend drives one and loves his. However, my dad bought one brand new a few years ago and had nothing but problems wit it until he finally couldn't take it anymore and traded it in.
Our family has owned several. I put a new engine in one, run them thousands of miles. I've owned three - I won't drive anything else.
I do the recommended upkeep/service, (son is a mechanic- in a different state now -- he raced them at one time). Very important to keep the service up to date.
They will run forever if they are kept up and not run in the ground. We always use Mobile One.
I drive a 2005 Subaru Outback L.L. Bean model, (bought it used in 2008 with very low mileage), all leather, all the bells and whistles. Love the six cylinder! Mileage is not great, but it's reasonable.
Honey customized it by crash - bunch of nicks and scratches here and there before he stopped driving. :-) Then I took collision and comprehensive off the insurance!
Love love love subarus! Had a legacy that was SO old with so many miles on it and it still pulled a small boat with stuff loaded on top 20 hours in our move from Utah back home. Then we still kept driving it for a year. Now have an outback. Love the all wheel drive and back end space.
Our second car after we got married was a Subaru, which we loved and only gave up when our family outgrew it. We've had several other cars since then, but my wife always talks wistfully of the Subaru as the best car we ever had.
The only thing that ever went wrong with it was the timing belt broke at about 90,000 miles, and because it had the boxer engine in it, it has 2 timing belts, so you have to replace both. Ironically, the timing belt broke right in front of the Subaru dealership. After that I just made sure to check the condition of the belts and never had any issues.
Currently I have a 2012 Honda Accord, and it has the best build quality of any car I've owned. My wife says she still prefers the Subaru.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2013 07:51AM by runtu.
janebond462 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I freaking love Subaru! I had a 2000 Forester > (stick shift) for 11 years and 157K miles. I sold > it to a co-worker who is still driving her. > > Her replacement is a 2011 Forester (also stick > shift). One of my fave things about the Premium > trim line is that the sunroof is enormous!
Yes that sunroof is so big that it almost feels like a convertible!
From the mouths of a brother and a friend, yes and no. The problem is that they worked well until they started having problems and then they turned into nightmares. The repair costs are enormous. In the case of my friend, the dealer never did resolve the problem, so he sold the car and swore to never buy one again.
My own research found that the reliability is highly variable by model and year (much more so than most cars.)
We owned two Loyales over a two decade period and loved both of them. Eventually they started to die and we decided to let them go rather than continue to repair them.