Legacy Reliability & Durability?

Sorry, meant 4 or 6 cyl.

I doubt folks would defend Subarus as being MORE or even AS reliable as Toyotas. Even if they had exactly the same engineering and build quality

- the presence of the AWD system alone means more complexity and use in rougher environments.

still, it is possible to get excellent, long service from them;

Carl

You realize plenty of folks have had Toyotas throw rods and clog with sludge right?

still, its a shame you had such a bad experience and anyone would be bitter. Folks thought I was crazy for buying an '81 Civic wagon after my '78 Civic sedan swallowed piston number 2!

So, if you win the Outback are ya gonna keep it?

;^)

Carl

It ain't no damn toyota particularly given my recent experience!

I'd be interested to hear about the new ones whether they have solved the head gasket issue or not. I may have won a 2008 outback since I pledged my local NPR station, ya know. Okay, the odds of winning are very tiny, but still. :-)

----- Original Message ----- From: "Otto" Newsgroups: alt.autos.subaru Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 4:12 PM Subject: Legacy Reliability & Durability?

The four is AOK and better mileage.

I just traded an-05 Legacy, no such problems. Yes, but the coolant is cheap enough, and it doesn't require a whole bunch of it. I changed it myself with the help of a guidebook.

The engines are pretty much bulletproof with proper maintenance. Downside is expense of timing belt changes. Difficulty changing spark plugs. The new Camry I just traded the Legacy in for has a timing chain :")

Each Camry I drove (three 07s) all seemed better screwed together. Not that they really were though. The Legacy had several predictable rattles which I never bothered going back to the dealer to have fixed. Each Camry, and the one I bot, are not so plagued. The Legacy was fine and did not worsen over the course of the miles. Legacy is a great car and the wagon is a great value.

Good luck with your choice. Post back when you've chosen.

*The coolant is first cousin to a modern "Barr's Stop Leak". Its crap! It is designed to TRY to plug minute leaks in the headgasket. Rather than REDESIGN the crappy headgasket or go back to a thicker wall they use this shit.* *Nothing has changed.The 2.5L engine is STILL a turd. It STILL blows headgaskets.Past experiances (Documented here and elsewhere) say you will NOT get 100,000 miles out of it before it fails. Subaru simply refuses to re-design this rotton engine.Toyota/Honda/Nissan continue to beat Subaru HANDS DOWN in reliability.The 2.5L engine WILL fail even if you do the required service, at the designated intervals. MANY Subaru victims as well as mechanics will testify this.* *Most of them are grenading around 85,000 miles. Blown head gaskets are the main reason. Oil leaks from front,rear engine seals are a common problem.A cooling system designed by idiots is a common problem.A common problem is a alternator that cant support the full load in the summertime.The AWD drivetrain is COSTLY and a fuel waster, especially if you dont have a real need for it.Underhood items are HARD to get to. You will NOT be doing much of this at home unless you REALLY want to get into turning wrenches.* *SUCKS!* simply sucks. From windows that rattle and whistle, tail light assemblies that fill with water and windshields that mystery crack for no reason top the list. Add cheap-ass paint that will chip by looking at it, drains that clog in sunroofs and flood the interior during rainy seasons,add this to rust spots that appear after a few seasons in the roof. You will find rust ALL over the car. Metal is so thin that small rocks will ding the hood and other cars will dent the doors.* *Bottom line* If you ***MUST*** have all wheel drive this really narrows down the choices. If your looking for a car that will give you 100,000 trouble free miles, hold it's value and be trouble free (excludes regular maintenance) SUBARU IS NOT FOR YOU. Toyota is one of the most reliable on the road. Honda is as well.Nissan has improved dramatically.Even Hyundai has cleaned up its track record! STAY AWAY, FAR AWAY from DAEWOO, the low end of Kia, and god forbid (if you can find one) a Chery. Subaru of America is NOT your friend. They will renig on verbal agreements, even on written ones. Every interaction will be a fight. Parts are EXPEN$IVE. God help you if you need an engine part,interior part or trim. They will rip you off. Parts support is *POOR*.Fuel mileage is rotton for a car this size.Toyota and Honda do much better than Subaru here too. *Some owners get REALLY upset that I post negative comments about Subaru.Personally speaking I am NOT brand loyal to any car company, but rather judge them by their own track records. Each manufacture will have a "Lemon" from time to time.No car company has a perfect track record. Subaru has the WORST track record company wide (The early Subaru's were bulletproof and a lot of the 2.2's and smaller are still running today).It's really hard to believe this is a JAPANESE car company. I expect this from a Korean car company (like Daewoo)*.

This is *MY* opinion and others will vary. I urge you to do a LOT of research on this before you sign for a car, no matter where you buy it. You will be paying for it for a while and you deserve to be happy with it.No one I know of likes to have to take their car to the dealer for service when it should be running.

TOP POST: Further comments:

Even though the car was basically trouble-free for me during the ~50k miles I owned//drove it, I traded it because a. it hadn't reached 50k mi yet, and I didn't see better trade prospects later b. although it was trouble free operationally, I was getting paranoid about possible mechnical troubles with it b. I really wanted a timing chain engine, vs belted engine d. the fuel mileage while acceptable, really wasn't as high as should have been for a car this size and weight e. the comfort level was starting to test me f. adding the 'conditioner' at each coolant change seemed weird; its a stopleak type product it seems g. a new problem surfaced with the turbo: possible banjobolt screen clogging: causing possible turbocharger and/or engine grenading, something much discussed in a LegacyGT group on the 'net; something which some dealerships were quite swamped with; something that lowered my confidence h. the automatic trans was balky in lower speed kickdowns; something I could compensate for but was something that could have caused problems for unfamiliar drivers

If you're going to look at a normally/aspirated engine model, be reminded you will only get a four-speed automatic.

Now that's not fair.

I got 107,000 miles out of mine before it failed last week. ;-)

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA

Yeah, probably. Until about 60k. :-)

150,000+ on mine, still running

My 1997 Legacy Outback needed head gasket repair in August, 2006 with

296,000 km (about 184,000 mi) on it. It's running well now at nearly 307,000 km. So include about 1 cent per km for head gasket repair costs when you consider operating costs. This is quite small compared to gasoline costs in Canada, or even in the USA.

David