Subaru Poor reliability in US, Aus trend?

Show me some statistics. Not just usenet posts.

Do you know that for a fact or is it an assumption based on this group's messages?

I don't think there is any sort of pattern of major breakages at under 100k. The people that come here either have a strong interest in Subarus or they come here for advice regarding problems. For every person that comes here with a problem, there is probably

100k owners that don't have one.

Mine was made in the US and the only problem I've had is the front crankshaft oil seal. It's pushing 100k miles and it's still running smooth and strong. Better, in fact, than new. If anyone needs to be blamed for the oil seal issue, it's the Japanese engineers. The seal and oil pump were certainly assembled properly.

I don't care whether or not you buy a Subaru. In fact, if you're going to gripe about Subarus and demean US production, I wished you would buy a Honda.

You got it.

Well, like you said, the Outback / Legacy that the Yanks get it is made in the USA, the Australian version is fully imported from Japan - big difference. I haven't heard of Aussies suffering from broken sway bars or blown head gaskets (Phase 2 engine) down here.

I am sorry Jim, but I am by no means trying to belittle US production. Neither was I trying to make a stand or criticize US quality, esp. since I don't have first hand experience and yes my observations were made on user net or various web forums.

I was merely stating the general gist of user net posts that I have come across. In fact all I was asking if other Subaru owners would concur with my conclusion. I don't have any hard statistics on warranty claims or general Subaru breakages. Finally I was only griping about Subaru US production since I believe that Japanese quality would be 10 fold better. However I absolutely love the feel and quality of the latest MY04 Subaru outback and about to get a large loan to purchase the vehicle. Can you blaim me for wanting to find out the pros and cons of Subaru ownership?!

Vlad

Hi,

I can't or won't speak to the other issues, but IME, front crank seals going out aroung 75k miles is becoming more common with several makes. One of the guys at the parts shop says he sees it, too. OTOH, I've seen cars go 200k miles on the original. I've no idea why the big differences, but would suggest heat/driving conditions as a prime suspect.

Rick

It was my understanding thet the Forester, and Impreza models were all still "Made in Japan". I know my WRX was...

Aside from that, I agree with the views expressed by both Tony and Edward.

(The real question is why the same factory in Indiana turns out both high quality Subarus AND low quality Isuzus...)

Cons of Subaru ownership is the cost of maintenance. You won't want to have it repaired by a random independent mechanic. They tend to screw up. If only because they don't get their hands on Subarus all that often. A safe bet therefore is to have the car serviced by a dealer. Not a big deal for you really since you can afford a new $20k+ car.

Impreza/Forester/WRX in the US are imported from Japan. US Outback & Legacy are assembled in some place where people speak slooowly and work pooorly. But to be fair there are a lot of minor assembly problems reported for WRXes.

From what I've read on this NG, the opposite seems true. Dealers are in the business of selling you a new car.

Their shops have piles of spare parts available which seems to lead them to rather extensive repairs and less focus on diagnostic.

Aside from that; they're simply expensive: I've paid almost $700 (CAN) for a wheel bearing, stub axle and CV boot.

florian

I now have 3 Subarus... an 80 GT, 90 Legacy, and 2002 Outback VDC. The 80 and 90 are well over 150,000 each (of course) and I have had no reliability problems with any of my Subarus.

It disturbs me that you would write "It seems that Subaru has proven to be very unreliable in the US market." Upon what facts do you base this statement? Without supporting facts, statements like that tend to show a predisposed bias and that your mind is already made up. Regards, John

Hmm, I guess this is where YMV greatly. In my experience the service department at the local Subaru dealer did a superb job at making no unnecessary repairs while an independent shop struggled (and failed, repeatedly) to find the cause of the problem making unnecessary repairs. It was not a bad independent shop mind you, they simply lacked the experience to deal with the specific problem I had.

I go to an independent mechanic -- the place attached to the Caltex gas station 300m down the road from my house, to be precise. They seem to be OK, and so far we've had them work on an '84 323 wagon, '85 Daihatsu Charade, '86 Mirage, '91 Toyota Corona, and now our '95 Legacy 250T wagon.

The owner had a 250T himself, and his good report was one of the reasons we got ours. He now has a GTB Legacy wagon.

We got our Legacy with 100,000 km on the clock. It'll be hitting

160,000 sometime next week. Until recently it's never needed more than oil & filters and costs about NZ$120 (US$70) each 10,000 km service, which is trivial compared to the cost of fuel to travel 10,000 km (about $1200), and the depreciation (maybe $1000). Our six-monthly WOF inspections have never cost anything extra.

But it now seems to be falling apart!

While on holiday over new year it developed a bad oil leak, losing up to a litre for every tank of fuel. It cost me about $25 (US$15) in oil while on vacation and then $54 (US$35) to have it diagnosed and fixed when I got home (an O-ring on a bolt in the head had gone bad).

Now this week with a WOF inspection due the right rear door started to refuse to open from inside the car AND we lost low beam on the left hand headlight. Today it cost me another $27.50 (US$20) for labour to have the bulb replaced (plus $17.45, US$10, for the bulb), the door dissected and fixed, and the tyres rotated (for good measure).

The sharks!

And it's now becoming obvious that Subaru have cleverly engineered everything in the car to last precisely 100,000 miles and then self-destruct.

I look forward to the next year's driving with interest.

-- Bruce

i have a 2000 OBS (made in japan). other than a poorly connected (and shorting) connector in the steering wheel (that caused the horn and cruise control to not work) and two wheel bearings going out, i haven't had any other trouble (at 104K now). i used a dealer for all warrenty work, but i have at least two different, independant subaru-only mechanics to choose from now since my warrenty has expired. i've heard too many dealer-service horror stories to trust them with my car. my advice to you would be to find an independant subaru only mechanic (or maybe a japanese car specialist) and ask them what models they see in there the most and what is generally wrong with them. they are the ones who will see the trends. or ask them what they would buy. you can preface your request for data with the notion that you are also looking for a mechanic.

Modern auto wheel bearings are more expensive than in years past, because designers often integrate the ABS wheel speed sensor into the wheel bearing assembly. I don't know for a fact whether this is the case on your particular Subaru, but it is the case on both of my newer cars (which are admittedly GM-made). A wheel bearing assembly all by itself for my Oldsmobile is in the neighborhood of US$400 -- just shy of the CAN$700 cost for your Subaru's bearing, stub axle, and CV boot. IOW, I don't think it's fair to assume that *all* Subaru parts are going to be expensive based on this one example, because this example seems to correlate pretty closely to other auto parts costs.

- Greg

Is that a 2.2l or 2.5?

florian

Well, my '01 OBW just turned 44K miles. It has had more trips to the dealer and more days down time than my '94 Explorer has had in 120K miles. Growling brakes, oil pump leak, head gaskets, very loud piston slap, a bad moonroof switch, and windshield wipers come to mind without checking my paperwork. And did I mention the dent the dealer installed in the fender when they did the head gaskets? Now it looks like the head gaskets are going to be a recurring problem. Just bought a transmission oil filter - $31 vs. $15 for a Saturn. The only thing I really like is the AWD, but in case Subaru hasn't noticed they are not the only manufacturer offering AWD anymore.

Mike

The 96 AT Outback has the first 2.5l DOHC.

Must have been built on a Wednesday :-)

Yes, the AT Outback had the 2.5l standard. Same engine in my GT, BTW. Wasn't 2.5l of that year the beginning of all those head gasket problems? I am keeping my fingers crossed...

Wednesday afternoon, if you're lucky.

florian