Subaru Outback - What years to avoid?

They're great cars, and yes there are head gasket issue.

If you wnated to feel like you're doing due diligence, and wanted to eliminate a year, 2000 and 2001 were the first two years in that production cycle. Those may be years to avoid. I have a 2001 though,

105k on the odometer, no head gasket issues here.

Later years would've had coverage on the coolant additive for a longer amount of time.

I'd say the issue would be more of trying to discern how other maintenance issues on teh car have been handled, which is often a crap shoot unfortunately, unless buying from an original owner.

If you can find an H6 3.0 though, no worries. You will pay more of course though. Probably more than preventive head gasket replacement using an aftermarket gasket would cost on a 2.5.

-- Todd H.

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

Just get any of them and make sure you have the radiator conditioner, also known as stopleak stuff in the radiator, all the time and you shouldn't have any problems with this issue.

The last two used Subaru's I've bought both had water leaks into a cylinder. I put Prestone's Radiator antileak, with the gray balls, into both and that cured that.

And yes, I would consider it a perminate fix, not just a Band-Aid, for yous that got big money to get a mechanic on this. :O)

And Subaru isn't the only new car manufacturer that uses this stuff in new cars. I think most of them do, because a couple dollars of it can prevent someone bringing back a car just because the water hose is leaking a little and it's under warranty. The real problem is when the unsuspecting owner puts new antifreeze in and doesn't know to put the antileak stuff in also.

I have 2000 OBW, and it had the head gasket blowout. Fortunately entirely fixed under warranty! I'm happy.

As for avoiding any particular model years, I'd just give you the usual advice that I give for all used cars. If you want to be covered by a decent amount of factory warranty still, then don't get a car that's more than 3 years old. So in that case avoid cars that are older than

2003, I guess. When I got my used OBW, I bought it using that 3 year rule, and therefore my head gasket was covered by the warranty.

Yousuf Khan

According to Consumer Reports.....01 and 02

Consumer reports shows the 2001 and 2002 as having "much worse than average" major mechanical engine problems. No doubt the head gasket thing. I have had both sides blow out on my 2001. The first under warranty and the

2nd at 105,000 :( I'm not used to this shoddy design from Subaru.

I saw that, in CR mag. So my question is, which rating do I look at for my car? I have a 2003 Subaru Legacy Outback. The 2003 Outback got "average" ratings for the engine, compared to black circles meaning bad. Which made me feel less discouraged. But then I looked at the 2003 Legacy rating, and that wasn't so good. So which one do I use for my vehicle, since it's "both"???