I have received some bashing for the negative comments about MY 05 OBW. I wish that I could get excited about Subie like many of you obviously are, but I can't. I have taken my OBW to the dealer 3 times in the past 2 months for problems I have had. A few of the problems include antifreeze smell, hesitation when engine is cold, poor gas mileage, passenger side seatbelt chime would go on when the seat was unoccuppied. I hope that the problems will go away and I can enjoy the car like many of you obviously do.
I'm sorry to hear about your experience, thus far, with your Subaru. Not to excuse Subaru of their responsibility to fix the vehicle, but this is the first model year for the new Outback. As such, I think you would be hard pressed to find any new vehicle without a few bugs to work out.
In regards to your poor gas mileage, it took my 02 OBW about 8000 miles until the engine was completely broken in and I started realizing the MPG that I expected.
I'm now at about 50k on the vehicle and am pleased with its continued performance and utility. I had a few snafoos in the beginning, but all were covered under warranty. These issues included replacing a seal on the air conditioning and performing the clutch\flywheel TSB issued for clutch chatter. Both were handled reasonably and quickly.
From my own experience, and that gathered from posts here, it appears the Subaru's dealer network is rather lackluster. But, I have never received worse service from Subaru than I have from any other dealer. In fact, its been somewhat better than VW, a self-declared "luxury" brand.
Kurt, I find myself in the position of now wanting to 'defend' Nic... there is
*no* excuse for a car to come of the line with *any* problems in this day-and-age... *none*. Especially true for Subaru, in my opinion. A new customer/buyer needs to be made esctatic about their new car. If not, you're going to lose a customer. And for a niche market like Subaru, that can be deadly. I agree that Subaru's dealership network is 'lackluster'... and that is a shame. It seems to me as if Nic is really trying to like his new car... Subaru should do everything necessary to make that happen. Regards, John
I agree that Subaru, nor any other manufacturer, should have these problems with the testing regimens used. However, history tells us that there usually is some problems with new models, indeterminate of the manufacturer. Even legendary Honda and Toyota seems to be afflicted with some new-model woes when new technology is implemented. Although, I do recognize that the aforementioned makes do seem to get the basics down pretty well the first time around, which is where Subaru seems to have some issues.
I also agree with you about the dealership experience. Since they are a niche market, they should take a page out of Saturn's book and sell on that uniqueness and customer service. This is even more appropriate given Subaru's recent decision to move their marquee upscale. Had I not been in the engineering field and was able to appreciate the engineering aspects of my car, I doubt I could have been sold by one of the salesman at the dealer.
-Kurt
John A. Mas>>I'm sorry to hear about your experience, thus far, with your Subaru. Not
Thanks guys. You are right, I want to jump up and down and be excited about my 05 OBW. I agree that new production models do occassionally have some "bugs" in them.
I have had my 05 Subie for about 10 months now. I have noticed that gas mileage has taken a dive in the winter months due to two reason: cold weather and snow tires. I am waiting for the spring weather to see what improvement I will get. In the summer and fall I was getting excellent gas mileage (for a Subie). We'll see! Otherwise the car has been a dream.
Which can be less with Japanese makes than any other. It's been a while, but I remember the excitement when the Saab 9000 came out. Finally, a car with all the things that Saabs were famous for, plus sleek and fast! Road & Track magazine got one for an extended test/research report. I remember reading there how, after they _replaced_ the engine _and_ transmission within the first year, they were finally able to start testing it . . .
At 10 years old, my Subaru has little in common with the latest models. But it's been absolutely amazing over the 60k I've driven it, for a total of
174,000 miles. At that age, most vehicles are worn out or close to it, but honestly my Subaru "feels" like a 4 or 5 year old car, with the unfortunate exception of some rust near the driver's side rear wheel well. I do have a bit of an oil leak that needs to be taken care of, but aside from the smell it isn't too bothersome - works out to about 1.5 quarts leaking out every
3000 miles.
As for keeping it on the road, aside from a few accidents it has only failed once. My alternator bit the dust shortly after I'd spent a week jumpstarting several vehicles at work that wouldn't start due to extreme cold. Little did I know that the stress on the charging system probably did my alternator in, but a failure is a failure I guess. Anything else that's been fixed amounts to quickies like sensors and CV joints.
I'm planning on getting another one soon, probably within 2 years.
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