is subaru impreza sedan a good choice?

I saw it's price... not overpriced as I thought(maybe I watch too much wrx sti.. haha), so I decidide to move from ford focus to this little subaru car....

anyhow, Iam living in Canada toronto, where I've heard that there's no parts made in Canada, and everything has to be shipped from Japan(hell ya... it'll be expensive to repair, even changing oil), is it true?

however, is this car reliable? I think in the future 10 years I will stick with it if I bought this sedan, so I want to know its quality.

thank you

best regards, Cliff

Reply to
grape
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They are very solid cars - very reliable and they run forever. You'll like them when it snows.

I don't think the fact that all the parts come from Japan means very much at all. Car part replacement is what keeps most companies in business, so - whether you get hosed by an american or Japanese company

- it makes very little difference in that regard. What may make a difference is that they are a lot more reliable than most (certainly Ford), so ultimately repairs will be easier on your wallet in the long run.

Just my opinion based on Subaru experience. I'd imagine most here will tell you similar things.

Remco

Reply to
Remco

Sure, many of the parts will originate from Japan. However - the prices aren't likely to be that expensive and will probably be available in warehouses or dealers near you. Many of the factory parts for your Focus are going to be imported too.

Subara has typically had a good repair record. Every manufacturer has its own set of problems, and it's probably most important to figure out how well they deal with them and back up their product.

Reply to
y_p_w

My Legacy is a 1995 and now things like axle bearings and half-shafts are starting to go and need replacing. However due to the fact that these parts have been in production for 10 years, "remanufactured" parts are available at typicall 40-50% of the price of "new" parts.

Reply to
Dominic Richens

Yo Cliffy,

You're lucky you're in Toronto. There're more dealers out there and you can get a better price shopping around in the big city than tiny Otta-what. We have two dealers in Ottawa (another in Hell, oops, Hull, but that's a strange and foreign country anyways so they don't count). Two of my colleagues went all the way to TO to get their Subbies, one an Impreza, the other a Legacy. There're more and more of us at work driving Subbies. They're great cars and they probably won't be Found On Road Dead.

Reply to
Birdy Num Num

We have got two Subies - mine 2002 Legacy Outback 5MT and my wife 2002 Imreza 2.5 TS automatic. First used (5Kmiles on it) bought at the beginning of 2003, second new in August 2001 (2002 model - first with buggy headlights). Like both but prefers Impreza - we kind of regret that the Outback is not auto and Impreza is not manual.

We have put 55K miles into Outback and almost 80K miles into Impreza. I drove the second a lot and think that Impreza it superior contruction (when compared with 2002 Outback). When we (me+wife+6 years old son) go for longer trips we prefer Impreza it in spite it is smaller. It better handles, has got very cozy/high quality interior, nice engine sound (other day I after driving Honda Civic after 5 minutes I have enough). I love its front seats, controls, dash. I flys when driven 100 MPH. Loading it with baggage and travel gear only helps. On a trip Chicago-Denver-Chicago and average spead 80MPH we have got 25-25 mpg which is quite decent for such a speed. Stock tires easily survived 50K miles.

Technicaly the biggest/only problem we have had was real axle bearing (it costed us $100 parst plus $100 labor - by a friend).

The Impreza's model we have got is a 2.5TS, a wagon what improves the capcity dramaticaly.

Hope it helps ...

A.

Reply to
Andy Leszczynski

Hi Cliff

Well, I own a 2000 Impreza, I previously had a 1984 Turbo 4x4 wagon and a

1988 AWD RX-turbo.

The old subarus had a rust problem but they were fairly reliable... anymays, I never had to much problem but the RX had cracked heads, I choosed to repair. My friend had a 1992 Loyale 1.8 5spd, he had compression problems, one head was warped, he changed it

On my 2000 Impreza (less than fine years old) I already had numerous problem: Battery failed the first year, Read wiper stopped functionning (repaired it myself), Read windshiels washer noozle stopped functionning, repaired it myself, Driver side window mechanism broke (repaired by the dealer), Injector failed, replaced by the dealer 1600$, radiator failed (cheap plastic and aluminium unit) replaced by the dealer. Numerous light bulbs burned, had to be towed because it woudn't start last year and the winshield cracked and the coils of the rear suspension have sag.

I had to pay for all the repairs except the battery that was replaced under warranty. The car is not driven hard and is always maintained according to the maintenance schedule.

Upgraded the plugs to Iridium, Upgraded the oil to synthetic (engine, tranny, diff.) It did improve the gas milleage and the performance Install a tower strut to stiffen the front end after changing the cracked windshield.

The only person that I know that had more problems with a car drove a SVT Contour but he picked the extended warranty.

My Impreza handles very well, had adequate power and good traction but I WOULD NOT CALL IT RELIABLE! also when you live outside of a big center, it takes forever for the parts to be delivered so the repairs almost always take close to one week. This reliability issue is giving me problems for my work.

I will probably have the timing belt replaced this summer. I will probably also change the crackshaft seal, the water puimp seal and the oil pump.

All of my Subarus had oil pump and water pump faillures at around 160000km

Charles Leblanc Impreza 2000 2.2L 5spd

Reply to
Charles Leblanc

Reply to
grape

My family cars have been a '95 Ford Taurus wagon and a '01 Focus wagon. When the Focus got written off we went with an '02 Impreza Outback Sport and other than interior space, I find everything about the Impreza to be superior. I do my own oil changes, and I've never encountered an oil filter harder to get to than on the Ford Zetec. What a difference with Suby as I don't even have to jack it up to do an oil change... the filter is hanging straight down at the front of the engine!

I've always had a sports car for my commuting so it wasn't long after that I got a WRX for myself. After installing larger turbo, intercooler, injectors, fuel pump, free-flow exhaust and tuning to 330hp, I haven't seen any reduction in reliability over 40,000km or in fuel economy (I get 32 imperial mpg on my longinsh commute).

Steve.

Reply to
Spudster

my dad's toyota camry had battery failed in the first year--1999(though it's a 2nd hand car made in 1994), and ignites failed twice, wiper replaced by my dad, our windshield is full of cracks(since it's an old car , so we don't care) ,the driver side window droped 5 times, alll repaired by my dad(he is a mechanical engineer). CV adjoint&shaft replaced once after it sounds like (click click~~~) radiator doesn't fail, but we washed it by high-pressure water gun,since the temprature is too high during one summer. and it worked after washing. once the car can't start and it can be started 4 days later (weird) the air condition repaired once, but it failed again, then we decided not to repair it anymore, so our car is like a toaster during the summer. abs never works, and cruise control are dead ever. air-bag warning is constant but we decide not to repair it. upon running, there's a fan noise coming from the engine hood .. but it's been 3 years this loud , but no problem at all, so we just enjoyed listening to the loud *hummming*(you can hear this 30 meters away)coz I can distinguish that it's my dad's car coming when he picks me up at school :P

but we still call it --- a reliable car. since it never dropped us at somewhere and has to be towed back , never.

so I guess every car has cons,but yours seem to have an injector failer.... hmmmm... is it worse than the ignitor failure? we replaced 2 sparkles after that failure.

so I think y our car is ok, except for the injector failure. "Charles Leblanc" wrote in message news:OKZ9e.49525$VF5.11157@edtnps89...

Reply to
grape

we do all oil changes by ourselves(I mean... by my dad) and 40000km is ok, but I still can't conclude the reliability. our toyota camry is almost 400000km(my dad runs 50,000km /year), and all its problem is like what I described in the replying post to Charles Leblanc's.

hmmmm....but it'll be my first car,( I share that camry with my dad now), and I always liked subaru (from the game richard burns rally, I drove a subaru wrc rally car and started loving it, hehe)

Reply to
grape

Every car have their problems, especially after 6-7 years

On my Impreza, everything happened on the third and fourth year of ownership

My car was a 2000 Impreza purchased new from the dealer in 2000. It will be five years old next month.

Subarus are intersting cars and if you live in Toronto, you will not have problems with parts or repairs.

I really love the handling but I do not know if I am going to pay the Subaru's premium for my next car unless I move back in a bigger city.

I had alot of problem with it and with the price of fuel going up, I will probably move to a more fuel efficient car for my next purchase.

The last thing is that already in 2000, my dealer was looking at the Audi buyers and if you only purchase an Impreza, you will notice it. Since they are selling many cars worth twice the money of your car, it will show in the level of service that you are getting. My dealer was located in Montreal and was selling more Outback H6 than he was selling Imprezas. Of course they will suck up to you when you are making your purchase but after that, the level of service dropped. I eventually moved to another city and I had a better dealer. He gave me much better service even if I did not purchase the car from him.

Charles

Reply to
Charles Leblanc

Charles was doing a lot of complaining about Bulb failure. Man BULBS! Shit, my Outback is an 02 and god forbid bulbs are going to start failing shortly. All hell is going to break loose.

I'm going to be so pissed at that piece of shit Subaru is bulbs start popping on me. A japanese car is supposed to have bulbs that are bright and shiny for the life of the car. It might be time to trade.

nate

02 Outback no bulb failures at 40k
Reply to
uglymoney

beats me. i got my outback limited in vancouver when i was still living there and had it shipped out to ottawa. your best bet is to call around. sorry for not being too helpful there.

Reply to
Birdy Num Num

In all, my parents and I have owned 2001 Forrester, 2001 Outback Ltd, 2002 Impreza, 2003 WRX, 2005 Legacy 2.5T, and 2005 STI. The Impreza is better handling than the Outback and Forrester. The WRX and STI are amazing though. Bloody awesome handling and amazing power. The Legacy with the

2.5T is very nice driving too. I was a VW driver before switching over to Subbies. You can't beat the gas mileage of a diesel VW but you also can't beat the all wheel drive of the Subaru.

Reply to
Birdy Num Num

By all ndications, Subaru in general and Impreza in particular became considerable more reliable than they were 10 years ago. I have first years Impreza, 1993, which means presumably it was full of bugs then. Over thes years, the following repairs beyond normal maintanence have been done: starter replaced, front half-axis replaced (negligence on my part - broken CV boot for too long), clutch went and needed replacement at 75K. All in all, about $1,100 US over 12 years which I would consider reliable.

DK

Reply to
DK

Ho Ho Ho. I live in Japan with a 16yr-old Toyota Corolla, and lo and behold

1yr ago I lost a high beam, and this (rolling) year, the other high beam, one each front and rear turn signal indicators, and one running light. Those engineers make sure all parts reach an end-of-life at pretty much the same time, and isn't that a great thing? The car still runs great at 90K, but I am tired of it and ready for an Impreza STI around 4yrs old and about USD$17000 from an auction. The Corolla will get a new life (free booty for the auction access to buy the Subaru) in the middle east, or Africa where my guy ships his under-appreciated yet still fine Japanese (Toyota's are most reliable) cars.
Reply to
abc

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