Why I hate Subaru

[vtfireman85 1,780]

I just went and checked, it’s been 28.5k since the dealer charged me 563.28 for a rear brake job.

[Paystar5000 46]

Yeah two Subaru’s here.  A 17 Impreza and  17 forester.  The Impreza made it about 25 k on the own rears and 35 on the fronts.  I also had to put rear calipers on that car.  The forester made it about 35 on the rears front s are still okay but been squeaky since about 20k.  A guy I work with has two Impreza sedans that it seems one always needs brakes.  I think we are going to switch back to a Honda.  The last Honda we had had the original brakes all around at 45k when the lease was up.  I do them myself to save some cash.  

[MarkG 338]

Is that disc brakes or drum brakes? I've never saw disc brake rotors that were black. Looks like the inside portion is where drum brakes are contacting. You driving this thing on the beach? Dipping down in the surf from time to time just for fun. 😀

[lorenzo 6,191]

My Subaru experience. 

I stay at a bed and breakfast near the track in La-Mans France for the 24 hr race.

One year the owners ( born and raised in England) asked me if I would stay with a friend of theirs just a few miles away who were trying to open their own B&B and wanted to see how it goes,  so I said sure , love to.  

I was their first guest . They couldn’t speak a word of English so my friends who I usually stay with set this all up, translated for me and provided my transportation to and from the track. In the past years I was just staying at the track but as I get older that 48 hour marathon of sleep deprivation  and noise had gotten a wee bit too much .

When they dropped me off one time they had learned about a certain car I have so to my supprised the next morning he picked me up in a  Subaru WRX  STI Rally car .  Full blown race car with roll cage ect... 

.He tossed me a helmet and I crawled into the passenger window, strapped into a five point  and with out so much as one word I looked over at him and grinned with a thumbs up.

He looked over at me and with a strong English accent said “ Do you mind if I drive a bit angry”   I laughed and said “ drive as f-ing angry as you can .

He gave me a ride through the French country side I will never forget. 

That car was incredibly fast and he knew how to drive it to its potential. 

I have had a whole different opinion of a Subaru every since that day . 

[dale560 863]

I will be honest I hate Subaru because my Egg donors off spring have one. While they are probably a good vehicle to me they are equated with pure evil. Every though shall not verse in the Bible pertains to her. So needless to say no Subaru here. One of our 85 year old land lords has one she loves it. The suv that is Buick Enclave size or so

[jeeper61 90]

31 minutes ago, MarkG said:

Is that disc brakes or drum brakes? I've never saw disc brake rotors that were black. Looks like the inside portion is where drum brakes are contacting. You driving this thing on the beach? Dipping down in the surf from time to time just for fun. 😀

Those are disk brakes. 

See the disc brake pad he is holding?

The rotor castings are likely from China poor quality cast iron and then add the calcium chloride they get soaked in all winter from the roads in New England that is what you get brakes that last two seasons.

And never use drilled and slotted rotors on winter driven car all the edges of the holes and slots promote more corrosion.

The best brand of rotors I have used recently were EBC  machined in the US much thicker than stock this is the rear rotors on a 2005 2500 Silverado

[jeeper61 90]

Not too fond of them myself.

Sooner or later they start leaking oil from the head gasket area and you have to drop the motor to change them I’d rather have an inline 4 you can work on them without dropping the engine.

For that reason a  Mitsubishi EVO or Ford Focus ST is a better choice than a WRX

[Qc.Can.IH man 371]

33 minutes ago, MarkG said:

Is that disc brakes or drum brakes? I've never saw disc brake rotors that were black. Looks like the inside portion is where drum brakes are contacting. You driving this thing on the beach? Dipping down in the surf from time to time just for fun. 😀

 The emergency/parking brake is a drum style brake inside the rotor.

 That’s the way rotors look after a couple of years in the colder climates from all the crap they put on the roads in the winter time to melt the ice and snow, and then in the summer to keep the dust down on the gravel road.

 A friend of mine calls me and says my car is making a squealing sound when I’m driving, so she brings it over and I see that she has no more brake pads left, so we drove down to my local parts store two minutes away to get a new set of pads and an hour later she was happy that she had no more noise on her car, it only cost her 50 bucks plus tax.  It was a 2012 Subaru Impreza. 

[vtfireman85 1,780]

I’ve had it up to my neck with Subaru’s, moms grand Cherokee went 80k on the first set, my truck did 100k and dad’s van 90, this Subaru has 60 K it’s the newest one In the fleet, 15’, and I’ve now been around it twice, the front calipers were like 90 each, exchanged, I haven’t gotten the bill on these yet. 

The maintenance costs on a POS car like this are absurd 

[searcyfarms 465]

we love our subaru outback - first one for us and its been a VERY good car - my wife drives it 90% of the time and its driven daily

I drive my ford truck daily -

they didnt have a subaru at the time we were looking w/out the eyesight technology, that is my only complaint - it annoys me with all the alarms/bells/alerts that go off 

 

 

[MTO 5,696]

Many models eat rear rotors. No protection from trash off fronts.

Drums offer a cleaner climate. 

Suck it up Buttercup and change them

 

[SMiller 213]

14 minutes ago, MTO said:

Many models eat rear rotors. No protection from trash off fronts.

Drums offer a cleaner climate. 

Suck it up Buttercup and change them

 

30,000 mile pads and rotors and you tell him to suck it up? Drove many GM HD trucks pulling loaded trailers everyday that went over 100,000 miles on original pads and rotors.

 

Piss of Subaru 

[DOCTOR EVIL 301]

My S40 Volvo had around 120,000 miles when I did all 4 wheels brake job, pads and rotors. First 100,000 was almost 100% Interstate driving, last 20,000 almost 100% city driving.  But was an expensive  brake job, I already had the pads, but the rotors were around $100 each.  

The car depreciated terribly,  was on a par with our 1999 Chevy Lumina sedan,  Lumina was a $35,000 car, put 82,000 miles on it in 50 months and was allowed $4600 in trade on a $48,000 SUV.  A 2006 Volvo S40 was one of the first computerized Volvo's,  think there was seven Computer CAN BUSS systems in it,  you move a switch and it signals a computer to do something,  and as the car aged the power windows may or may not work, air conditioning would work about 40% of the time.  It had TWO $380 alternators fail the last couple months I had it. And that ruined Two $129 each batteries.  And it was going to need a clutch sometime soon. Volvo was also around $35,000-$36,000, 142,000 miles in 13 years and sold it private for $2000 cash.

Had a coworker that drove two Subaru's as work cars. Both used or leaked oil. His commute was less than half of my commute. My S40 with the turbo-intercooled engine got better mpg than his Subaru's.

In all seriousness,  my F250 diesel was my cheapest daily driver. Tires lasted 90,000 to 127,000 miles, brakes lasted 240,000 miles, got 18 to 18-1/2 mpg when #2 diesel was still cheaper than regular no-lead.  One summer averaged over 20 mpg over 3 months and almost 40,000 miles.  Truck stickered for $28,650 but I didn't pay that much for it,  and would still bring $8000 more or less.

[vtfireman85 1,780]

24 minutes ago, DOCTOR EVIL said:

My S40 Volvo had around 120,000 miles when I did all 4 wheels brake job, pads and rotors. First 100,000 was almost 100% Interstate driving, last 20,000 almost 100% city driving.  But was an expensive  brake job, I already had the pads, but the rotors were around $100 each.  

The car depreciated terribly,  was on a par with our 1999 Chevy Lumina sedan,  Lumina was a $35,000 car, put 82,000 miles on it in 50 months and was allowed $4600 in trade on a $48,000 SUV.  A 2006 Volvo S40 was one of the first computerized Volvo's,  think there was seven Computer CAN BUSS systems in it,  you move a switch and it signals a computer to do something,  and as the car aged the power windows may or may not work, air conditioning would work about 40% of the time.  It had TWO $380 alternators fail the last couple months I had it. And that ruined Two $129 each batteries.  And it was going to need a clutch sometime soon. Volvo was also around $35,000-$36,000, 142,000 miles in 13 years and sold it private for $2000 cash.

Had a coworker that drove two Subaru's as work cars. Both used or leaked oil. His commute was less than half of my commute. My S40 with the turbo-intercooled engine got better mpg than his Subaru's.

In all seriousness,  my F250 diesel was my cheapest daily driver. Tires lasted 90,000 to 127,000 miles, brakes lasted 240,000 miles, got 18 to 18-1/2 mpg when #2 diesel was still cheaper than regular no-lead.  One summer averaged over 20 mpg over 3 months and almost 40,000 miles.  Truck stickered for $28,650 but I didn't pay that much for it,  and would still bring $8000 more or less.

This doesn’t leak oil, it burns it so fast it maintains a pretty good vacuum on the engine so it’s probably pulling stuff in, but it’s all coming out the exhaust pipe.

[vtfireman85 1,780]

32 minutes ago, SMiller said:

30,000 mile pads and rotors and you tell him to suck it up? Drove many GM HD trucks pulling loaded trailers everyday that went over 100,000 miles on original pads and rotors.

 

Piss of Subaru 

He’s in the repair business, he loves them. 😉

largely purchased by those with little to no mechanical ability, they rely in “mother Subaru” to take care of them, Subaru keeps shoveling poo, their loyal following keeps taking it. 

[nomorejohndeere 142]

no reason to be a Brat about it

[smfarms 29]

On my second forester. Had a 15 and now a 18. Never any problems so far. Great mileage good ride. First one had 40K miles. Didn’t burn a drop of oil between changes. 18 has 21K miles so far. Much nicer car than 12 Rogue had before. Better mileage and much quiter

[searcyfarms 465]

47 minutes ago, vtfireman85 said:

This doesn’t leak oil, it burns it so fast it maintains a pretty good vacuum on the engine so it’s probably pulling stuff in, but it’s all coming out the exhaust pipe.

what year is it? how many miles? what did the brakes look like when they changed them? did they put on pads and rotors/drums? there was an issue with subaru 4cyl engines using oil in a few model years but that has since been resolved to my understanding. IF you hate it so much there are other vehicles out there to drive instead. 

I have owned everything they make in my many years. I can honestly say they all had their quirks, they all had breakdowns some just more than others. No such thing as a perfect vehicle. 

 

[jeeper61 90]

57 minutes ago, vtfireman85 said:

He’s in the repair business, he loves them. 😉

largely purchased by those with little to no mechanical ability, they rely in “mother Subaru” to take care of them, Ford Focus STkeeps shoveling poo, their loyal following keeps taking it. 

Yup everyone's got to have that "love" they have sucked them in for sure Toyota and Honda have better reliability IMO. 

  

[mader656 1,811]

In my limited mechanic days I had to drop a punctured gas tank on a Subaru wrx...i never wanted to take up smoking while removing the entire rear end to get that blankyityblank gas tank out.

[jeeper61 90]

1 hour ago, smfarms said:

On my second forester. Had a 15 and now a 18. Never any problems so far. Great mileage good ride. First one had 40K miles. Didn’t burn a drop of oil between changes. 18 has 21K miles so far. Much nicer car than 12 Rogue had before. Better mileage and much quiter

I would hope you didn't have any problems in 3 years and 40K 

[vtfireman85 1,780]

1 hour ago, searcyfarms said:

what year is it? how many miles? what did the brakes look like when they changed them? did they put on pads and rotors/drums? there was an issue with subaru 4cyl engines using oil in a few model years but that has since been resolved to my understanding. IF you hate it so much there are other vehicles out there to drive instead. 

I have owned everything they make in my many years. I can honestly say they all had their quirks, they all had breakdowns some just more than others. No such thing as a perfect vehicle. 

 

This is the second, the first made it to 70ish K before we dumped it, that was an 11’ this is a 15 with 60k, it’s a POS , I hated them from the word go but my wife wanted a manual trans and all wheel drive with reasonable ground clearance, this was about the only choice. I have never walked away from the dealer feeling less than stung, from the first oil change they wanted to do work to it that was outside of warranty. At 18k they wanted to do pads and rotors, I told them feel free If they were paying for it. A wheel bearing at 25k they tried to not cover because we had studded snow tires on it. That was good for a week long battle. I could go on. 

I will NEVER own another one, this had been by far the worst set of vehicles I have ever seen. Strange thing is people all tell the same stories about Subaru, one it’s some lady who is so grateful they found her bad brakes at the 3rd oil change “oh my that might have been unsafe “ 

or it’s me who recognizes that if it needs brakes in the first 18 months they have a major issue and that better be covered under warranty and perhaps better be recalled. 

Some people drink the cool aid, then again some people can’t figure out which bathroom they should use so there ya go. 

[Ihfan4life 1,041]

18 minutes ago, vtfireman85 said:

This is the second, the first made it to 70ish K before we dumped it, that was an 11’ this is a 15 with 60k, it’s a POS , I hated them from the word go but my wife wanted a manual trans and all wheel drive with reasonable ground clearance, this was about the only choice. I have never walked away from the dealer feeling less than stung, from the first oil change they wanted to do work to it that was outside of warranty. At 18k they wanted to do pads and rotors, I told them feel free If they were paying for it. A wheel bearing at 25k they tried to not cover because we had studded snow tires on it. That was good for a week long battle. I could go on. 

I will NEVER own another one, this had been by far the worst set of vehicles I have ever seen. Strange thing is people all tell the same stories about Subaru, one it’s some lady who is so grateful they found her bad brakes at the 3rd oil change “oh my that might have been unsafe “ 

or it’s me who recognizes that if it needs brakes in the first 18 months they have a major issue and that better be covered under warranty and perhaps better be recalled. 

Some people drink the cool aid, then again some people can’t figure out which bathroom they should use so there ya go. 

Your last sentence  pretty much sums up why Subaru is the unofficial state vehicle of Vt 🙄

[searcyfarms 465]

4 minutes ago, vtfireman85 said:

This is the second, the first made it to 70ish K before we dumped it, that was an 11’ this is a 15 with 60k, it’s a POS , I hated them from the word go but my wife wanted a manual trans and all wheel drive with reasonable ground clearance, this was about the only choice. I have never walked away from the dealer feeling less than stung, from the first oil change they wanted to do work to it that was outside of warranty. At 18k they wanted to do pads and rotors, I told them feel free If they were paying for it. A wheel bearing at 25k they tried to not cover because we had studded snow tires on it. That was good for a week long battle. I could go on. 

I will NEVER own another one, this had been by far the worst set of vehicles I have ever seen. Strange thing is people all tell the same stories about Subaru, one it’s some lady who is so grateful they found her bad brakes at the 3rd oil change “oh my that might have been unsafe “ 

or it’s me who recognizes that if it needs brakes in the first 18 months they have a major issue and that better be covered under warranty and perhaps better be recalled. 

Some people drink the cool aid, then again some people can’t figure out which bathroom they should use so there ya go. 

yea i think your 11 would have fallen into that excessive oil situation - our 15 has 105K on it and I change the oil at 7500 miles in it, its only had full synthetic 0w20 in it from new. Not sure that is a necessity but so far so good - goes thru about 1/2 quart in that time, I top it off at 5K usually. 

ours had a wheel bearing in rear go at 62K - dealer covered it out of wty no questions - there were a couple recalls on it for what i dont remember - i noticed this wkend riding with my wife another rear wheel bearing is going out, not sure why they are prone to that but so were my two pontiac gran prixs. I replaced all of them in both of them and a couple more than once. I will change this one. We have not had to put on brakes yet. 

Only other anomaly is their flex joint in the exhaust in the header pipe. I noticed it was making more noise than it used to so when my wife took it in last time they said yep gonna have to have an exhaust manifold replacement - part alone was between 1000/1100 bucks then labor so around 1500 to replace. I was like wait and let me check it. 

I researched it like the wheel bearings and found its a common issue - the flex joint is stainless and everything is one large piece from boths sides of the flat V engine. It also contains the catalytic converts so another reason its expensive. 

I removed it, took longer to get the stupid plastic aerodynamic shield on the bottom than to get the header loose and out. All these new cars have the crazy plastic shields on the bottom its annoying. 

Used my O/A torch and welded it back together because it was on a sunday after church and i couldnt take it to a shop to have them replace the flex joint. I dont own a mig or tig so couldnt get a flex joint and do it myself. I didnt have the proper rod/flux for welding stainless so i brazed it like a hack welder would and its held so far. That was about a year ago. I did all that in about 2 hours start to finish from driving into my barn/fixing/test drive. Only cost me a little brazing rod and 10 mins of O/A fuel. 

Sorry to hear you have had such issues with yours. They can all be problematic but nothing worst than a combine in my opinion. 

My 03 F250 6.0 has been a challenge its spent a lot of time getting repairs done. 

 

[560Dennis 623]

What does the other side look like ? 

Is that the left or right side