Subaru's stubborn low grades in the U.S.

And he's back with another JD Power survey stupidity about number of defects per 100 cars with no weighting for severity of the problems.

Not sure I trust JD Power surveys as they have sponsors, probably competitors in the industry. Consumer Reports who only makes money from their subscribers gives Subaru top marks.

A Subaru salesman told me that they were the most profitable automobile company. Maybe in part due to saving in advertising and promotion. We have three dealers in my area and none of them advertise but sales are brisk.

Don't blame the messenger. According to the article, even the Subaru CEO is concerned.

The rules says: Caveat emptor, "Let the buyer beware."

The problem is many manufacturers pay less attention to quality nowadays. I think the late 80s and 1990s where the time when best quality cars were made.

The general pattern of manufacture also car manufacture is first to produce a superior product, at relatively low profit margin, make a name for yourself, then raise prices margins, and capitalize on fame.

Then continue profiting by reducing investment in plant/people/equipment, let quality slowly slip, while enjoying continued sales growth.

Next step, face problems, need for turning around the deteriorating production/business, satisfy need for substantial new investment or make decision to liquidate, exit business or market.

I think Subaru made its best product in the 1990s up to early 2000s.

Basia

You could be right but in my mind it was American car manufacturers who wanted to make good quality cars cheaper and Japanese who wanted to make them better. Maybe some have adapted that concept.

Of course he's concerned about a bad rating, whether the rating is valid or not.

Of course manufacturers are concderned about quality. Please present some evidence that shows that they pay less attention to quality now.

One of the issues that is often addressed in surveys of new car experiences is that cars today are vastly most complicated than cars of the 1990's and early 2000's. Many of the complaints about new cars relate to the advanced electronics, not the mechanics. Even when things like the entertainment systems work correctly owners complain in surveys about how hard they are to figure out and how expensive GPS map upgrades are, not that the car itself is bad.

Who said they are not? Quality is a continuum, what I suggest is that quality fluctuates, is highest when manufacturers work to establish themselves in the market, then slides as they conquer market share.

For example, Hyundai in the 90s, and early 2000s in the US, was trying very hard to wrestle away market share from Japanese and paid great attention to quality, constantly improving it.

Today when it has finally permeated the market, it can afford to be less vigilant, hence we see deterioration, more than a million engines quite recently recalled due to manufacturing defects, also excessive use of plastics, plastic oil pans, transmission pans, manifolds, supposedly even some parts of Hyundai engines are now made of plastic.

Quality is lesser that that of several years, or a decade ago.

And it is not only Hyundai, other manufacturers follow a similar pattern, Subaru among them.

True, but even controlling for that. Here is a link telling about 1.2 mln Hyundais recalled because of failures of simple metalurgy, faulty machining of metal (!) not some high-tech related issues.

Included are the 2013?2014 Hyundai Sonata and Santa Fe, 2011? ?2013 Kia Sportage, 2011?2014 Optima, and 2012?2014 Soren to. During machining of the engine crankshaft and crankpins, metal shavings may have been left within the crankshaft oil passages, and the crankpins t hemselves may be too rough on the edges. As a result, oil may be blocked an d cause the connecting rod bearings to wear, which would then cause them to fail and seize the whole engine. That, of course, would cause the car to s tall during driving.

Subaru has lost how many class-action engine failure lawsuits?

Three or four now. Again not some high-tech related issues but failing engine internals, rod bearings, in WRX/XT engines.

It is a similar pattern.

We don't know the exactly the cause, as Subaru prefers to quickly settle suits without revealing the true cause.

I personally, having read many texts about the issue, suspect inadequate engine block cleaning, flushing after block is cast. Likely, in my opinion, sand is not adequately flushed away from all engine crevices during standard flushing procedure, ...later in use when a small grain detaches from somewhere it can lead to a rod bearing failure. This concerns only so called closed-deck engine blocks, found in turbo engines. These particular engines are made using sand casting forms.

Basia

"... This concerns only so called closed-deck engine

You're scaring me, Basia, because I was planning to buy a turbo engined XV when I move to Europe next month. Of course if somehow the 2020 models show up by then and there is a hybrid XV among them, then that would be my choice.

A bunch cut.

Remember the head gasket issues? I have a 99 2.5 RS. Subie's solution was to send me a bottle of sealant. I eventually took it to the local independent repair shop to have it fixed right. By the way, whatsa matter with today's kids? This kid thought he really wanted by Impreza. He left a couple notes and eventually found me at home. He lost interest when I said 5 speed. "I can't drive one."

It's only partially a joke: The best anti-theft device you can buy today is a manual transmission. Apparently, only us old-timers can still drive one.

Its the previous generation 2.5L turbo engines that are problematic. The newer 2.0L turbos seem to be OK.

I got spoiled driving in the US., western US, where roads are wide, and spaces still empty.

If I were to go to Poland I'd be looking for a small car. Streets are just too narrow, I can't believe how people drive bigger cars and even SUV's there nowadays. When I lived there in the 80s it was mostly tiny Fiats that people drove.

You may have an eye on the Honda Urban EV, it is about to debut in Europe. Seems like a cute litte car.

Bon voyage, Basia

Why? Is the Crosstrek/XV too big? For a smaller SUV I kinda' like Hyundai Kona. With Crosstrek though I would not be afraid to drive up to Zakopane in the winter.

Stop citing the same messenger who only has the same message to deliver, and delivering it more than once doesn't change the count of the message.

You've always been this rude?

True, Crosstrek is a great car for the winter, also for country driving where roads may be bumpy or muddy if unpaved

- lots of rain everywhere in Europe.

My preference is for manuverability and zippiness of a small urban car. Fiat

500X AWD would be ideal if it weren't horrible quality-wise.

Basia

Btw, it is one of the reasons I cling to my 2000 Impreza 2.2L coupe. Such a versatile car; great on the highway, on backroads, economical, and superb in city traffic, San Francisco parking.

I think Subaru is missing a small car offering.

Basia

Sounds like you would like Hyundai's Kona, the 1.6L turbo version. I read great reviews about it.