Way back in the summer of 2016, my life was changing fast. I suddenly had a kid. My wife, an academic, got offered a rare tenure track job at a small college in the ‘burbs. My Brooklyn life was soon to be in my rearview mirror. The only problem was that I didn’t even have a rearview mirror because I was carless.
Being a smart automotive journalist, I was quite sure I knew what I wanted: a manual Mazda CX-5. Unfortunately, few were to be had and the ones out there were way too expensive. My friend and colleague Tom McParland suggested a Subaru Forester as there were a ton of 2016 models they were looking to offload at a nearby dealership and that, for $25,000 all-in, I could walk out with a completely fine new car.
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This seemed like a sane idea at the time. Of all the crossovers I’d driven, the Forester was seemingly alright-to-good at everything, even if it wasn’t great at any one thing. I didn’t love the design of the RAV4, the meek engine in the CR-V, or the price of the Mazda. The Forester seemed like the ultimate good compromise.
I planned to own the car for about 10 years or 95,000 miles, whichever came first. I made it to eight years and 76,000 miles before I got so fed up with the car I decided to sell it a couple of years early.
The Many Ways My Subaru Let Me Down
If you’ve read about this car all along you can skip down to the next section, but for those of you only vaguely familiar here’s a quick recap of the many issues I’ve had with the car over the approximately eight years of ownership.
Right off the bat, the fuel economy in “Subie” was abysmal. I had the Forester with the best fuel economy at 27 mpg combined (24 city/31 highway), though my mileage around town was regularly in the 21-22 mpg range. I get that this number depends a lot on where you live and how you drive, but the usual combined fuel economy in my experience was around 25 mpg.
That’s not great and, in light of new cars, is kinda terrible. Perhaps superior fuel economy would have made me feel better about the car’s CVT (continuously variable transmission). Most CVTs are bad and the Subaru CVT isn’t early Nissan bad, but it’s still an experience that went from mildly annoying to so jerky over the first 30,000 miles that I started to wonder if it was breaking. Nope! Forums and a trusted mechanic assured me that’s just how Foresters are.
And then stuff started breaking, conveniently around the time the warranty expired. The thing scarfed headlights like Joey Chesnut. Both front lower control arms cracked, requiring expensive replacements. Both rear wheel bearings went out before even hitting 70,000 miles. The battery crapped out early and was awkward to replace. The car was never aligned.
As mentioned, the thread pitch chosen by Subaru on its wheel studs is supposedly designed to keep the wheels more securely to the car, but the result is the studs crack off too easily. Gilligan somehow got better reception on his coconut radio than my car’s speakerphone, much to the annoyance of my coworkers.
And, finally, the locks have just randomly stopped working. My best estimate is that I spent about $7,500 on top of car payments, gas, and insurance to keep this car running for less than eight years.
All this means that when I got an email from Carvana offering me $11,400 for the car I knew it was time to say goodbye. I have no specific proof of any big problem about to occur and, yet, I can feel one in my bones.
Now That It’s Gone Here Are Some Reasons I Don’t Regret Buying A Forester
For all the disdain I’ve had for the Subaru I had a sudden pang of regret as I was signing the title over at a local Honda dealership that agreed to take the car for the Carvana price.
I’d planned to sell the car alone, but a timing snafu meant I needed to bring my daughter and she cried the whole way to the dealership. Then she started crying again as I handed over the keys. She doesn’t remember all the problems, she just knows that this is the only car she’s ever had. All the road trips, all the drive-in movies, and all the car camping happened in Subie.
Seeing these memories flood back for her made them flood back from me.
While I think I paid too much to keep a new Japanese car running, the reality is the Forester never left me stranded. It never broke so badly it couldn’t be fixed. The local Subaru dealers I had were fine and often would let me take a loaner on short notice and without an appointment.
It also did a few things quite well for the price.
It’s a bit of a joke that the Subaru Forester should come with an REI Co-Op membership, but it was only shortly after getting a Forester that I decided I should go camping for the first time in my life well into my 30s. I do not come from an outdoorsy family. I come from a hotel/airbnb on the beach kind of family.
The Forester, in this trim, has more than 74 cubic feet of space, which is better than average for the class. With one seat up for Bette it still managed to have enough volume to swallow my overpacking. I take everything with me camping and there was always room in Subie for just one more pillow, or camp chair, or extra propane bottle I’d never need.
When the camping trips were over the Forester was also easy to clean. I’ve had press cars whose plastic would scuff at the site of a sharp edge and whose piano black interior touches would dirty merely from the pressure of staring at them for more than five seconds. Not Subie! A little spit and a dirty sock would clean up just about anything.
I think the ruggedness of the interior on the Forester gives people the impression that these vehicles are mechanically rugged, which isn’t always the case.
And speaking of the interior, I gotta credit these seats. The cloth seats in Subie are fantastic. Neither too firm nor, as cloth seats often are, too lumpy and soft. I did exactly one full detail in year 7 of Subie ownership and they looked great afterward.
This thing was comfortable on long road trips and even returned a non-terrible highway mileage in the low 30s.
So it’s not all bad. I think, over time, I will even look back fondly at Subie as an important part of our family just as our family grew to be three.
It’s Gone
The final reason I sold the Subaru was that I hope to know a car dealer who, after constantly kvetching, suggested that he might be able to help me out in purchasing something new. I’d have been much happier selling the car for the $11,400 Carvana offered, but I delayed for too long and Carvana knocked that down to $9,500.
Thankfully, the dealer I spoke with nearby was willing to honor most of the $11,400 and kinda begged me to go down to $10,900. Comparable cars are selling for about $14,000 nearby, but my car’s registration was almost up and I had some maintenance I needed to do on the car. Selling before July 7th would save me an immediate $600 and I’m too busy to sell it private party.
I was able to take that $10,900 and apply it to a new car and ended up basically back where I started with a $25,000 car. What did I get? I think most of you can guess at this point. If you can’t, an announcement post is coming soon as it’s silly to tease a car that’s just another crossover for this long.
Farewell, Subie.
I have no real opinions on Subaru never owning one but nothing about this car sounds good.
Not leaving you stranded under 80k miles is a very low bar to clear, no car under 100k has done that to me and I own 1 Dodge. There is no way around that lackluster city mpg either.
Best wishes to you and your guaranteed upgrade!
My 2020 WRX has eaten several thousand dollars in brakes due to various reasons. Calipers, rotors, pads, all replaced, front and back on a car with 18k. Not warranted. Then they needed to replace the right front seat. Airbag issues. That was covered at least. It’s a fun car, not an STI, because just wanted a car that could get out of its own way. Having owned many Imprezas, I figured it’d be a hoot. Warranties cover stuff right?
That mirrors my experience with our 2011 Impreza. Constant issues, some of them not insignificant (gaskets, throw out bearing) but it never left us stranded. I’ll never do a Subaru as a primary car again.
I also have a 2016 Forester though with the 2.5 liter NA engine and manual transmission. Fortunately my car hasn’t had all the issues yours has. With roughly 90k miles I’ve replaced the battery, brakes, and tires once.
The issues I have are an oil leak (there’s a small leak at the cam) and the emergency brake light would come on when going around sharp or long turns. I have to change the oil every 4k miles or top it off with a quart if I want to change it at 5k. Changing the brakes fixed the emergency brake light coming on. I plan on replacing the timing belt at 100k and it looks like there is a leak on the rear control arm bearings. It hasn’t affected the suspension so I just left it.
The story of your daughter brought tears to my eyes having little ones of my own. I was thinking of getting a bigger SUV as we struggle to fit everything in especially on road trips but I know my kids will be sad after hearing your story. I’ll probably just get rooftop storage and hope my car can last to 150k and maybe get the new Delica or 4runner.
I had a small oil leak at the cam on my W203 C180K. The timing gear didn’t get enough lubrication, lost some teeth and lunched the engine. I trust you will get it looked at.
Thanks, I appreciate the advice. Sorry about your car. Did you get any warning before it happened like the oil light coming on?
Subarus are known for oil leak/consumption issues so I regularly check (and top off) the oil.
I had the dealer look at it hoping they’d cover it under warranty but they wouldn’t and wanted $1000. I will probably have my mechanic fix it when I get my timing chain replaced if it’s not too expensive, then I can do oil changes every 7500 miles again. Haha
The oil was low in the car and their was I think a ‘weep’ around what is referred to the camshaft ‘magnets’. That was all. Shame because it was a really nice car to drive. Hopefully nothing happens with your Subaru though and I appreciate very different cars.
My last new car purchase, I was trading in my wife’s base 2011 Matrix for a new Sienna.
When my 4 year old realized that we were leaving the Matrix at the dealer, she protested, and demanded her “white car” back. I had no idea that it really meant anything to her. I was just caught up and figured she would just be excited to get our new van.
Something else great about Subarus is the visibility. Most crossovers have gun-slit DLOs but driving a Forester is like being in a fish-bowl on wheels. That said, Subarus do seem to be created with the engineering prowess of two monkeys of different species with nothing more than a socket wrench and some twine. Things that you didn’t think were possible to fail do, and the powertrain is highly maintenance-dependent to stay reliable. That said, Subaru people are fanatics (like Volvo people) so will pay to do that maintenance, thus the many high mileage Subies that you see.
I guess you got an OK run, but a Mazda would have been better. We got a 2016 CX-5 in early 2017 and have not had a major repair, just tires and a battery in 2023, plus it’s fun to drive. On the minus side, my wife can’t see out so its days are numbered
My kids were un-demonstrative when both of our long term rides were let go, perhaps because they were already teenagers (we keep cars a long time)
I’m sure you’ll find plenty of CX5’s with troublesome histories…but outward visibility isn’t the luck of the draw, nor is the far better ride quality of a modern Subaru vs the CX5.
Overall the CX-5 tends to be more reliable than comparable Subarus, I find the ride firm but the tradeoff is very good handling. As for visibility it’s more an issue side curtain airbags forcing thick A pillars, the modern fashion of high belt lines, and my wife is very short. We’re looking at older cars as a replacement because she is fine in my old F150 and loved our Mazda5.
Best decision you could have made with that Subie. Alas I miss the glory days of that brand.
Aww, poor kiddo. My mom says she remembers her parents selling their 1948 Ford, and that she cried as the new driver took off down the driveway.
Well given you went to a Honda dealer and you have a family, I’m completely sure you made the correct choice and replaced the Subaru with a Honda Odyssey.
The thing scarfed headlights like Joey Chesnut.
Joey scarfs headlights? That is competitive eating I would like to see!
I bet I could eat 100 headlights!
Congratulations!
I had a ’71 Peugeot 504 I bought used in 1976, with 60K miles on the clock and put 90K more miles on it before it was hauled off to a wrecking yard after a Plymouth Fury station wagon, “piloted” by an uninsured motorist plowed into the back of it at 35+ mph. Its funky trunk was folded up all the way to the rear axle. My insurance company gave us $900 for it. Even adjusted for inflation, I don’t think I’ll ever get 90K miles out of a vehicle and only have it depreciate by $600.
I was very sad to see that car (“Winnie the Peugeot”) towed away. It took my wife and I on our honeymoon after the ’74 BMW Bavaria I foolishly purchased a year or so before we got married blew a head gasket enroute to the rehearsal dinner. It also saved her from serious injury in the above-mentioned crash. She was stopped at a light and not wearing a seat belt when the Plymouth took out its fury on the poor little Pug. She walked away with a bump on her left shin from where her leg had flown up and hit something under the dash.
The departure of the BMW (which by the end our ownership was being referred to as “The Antichrist”), on the other hand, was a day of celebration. I managed to have it running well enough to sell and have someone else join the foolishly bought BMW club.
P.S. Thanks for turning me on to Shoresy, Matt! I haven’t laughed that hard at a TV show in a long time.
This is a very unfortunate part of your story:
“when the Plymouth took out its fury”
but I just HAVE to ask:
Was it a Plymouth Fury? (Christine)
If memory serves me correctly it was… But it was a station wagon much newer than the move character.
I still remember crying when my dad sold his 1989 Accord, I was five so that would have been 1998. I was especially upset that I could no longer ride in the front seat, as my mom’s Volvo and the 1998 Accord that replaced the old one both had passenger side airbags. I had similar feelings about the aforementioned Volvo (identical in every way to the 850 in Mrs Doubtfire) when they sold it in 2003. It was the car I went home from the hospital in so I had spent my entire life up till then being driven around in it.
And I remember crying when my Dad traded in his 1951 Chevy in 1962 for a Rambler. It had been his first new car, and it brought me home from the hospital in 1955. Mom cried too.
You definitely lost some “cool points”, but I’ll bet that Rambler was extremely competent. At least if he bought a Classic and not an American [shudder].
The Subaru Forester interior is what I want in a small truck. Simple, easy-to-clean surfaces that are generally pleasant. As much as I enjoy some luxury, there is a certain honesty to the Forester that I will always admire, no matter how many stupid little problems we had with our 2010.
7.5k in additional maintenance converts to about 1k a year, which is not too bad, and not getting stranded. Obviously it is not a Toyota. You might have spent that for getting the Mazda CX-5 (with less headache though). However, it’s gone now which is the important thing. Think you can blame Tom though for recommending it in the first place. Hope you didn’t get the small Toyota though and went for the Maverick or RAV4.
Betting Honda CR-V.
I work in field sales and drove a 2018 Crosstrek with Method 15″s for 5yrs/125,000 miles. Great car, but slow as molasses on a cold day, and lucky to hit 25mpg intown. Other than a battery at 3.5yrs/80K miles(Texas) I had no issues. That said I have been in 4-5 rented Foresters, all had jacked up transmissions and broken things inside. For two cars that share a chassis, they could not be more different.
I worked for Subaru very briefly. Poor fuel economy is expected and acknowledged within the company.
Also, third and fourth gen (yours) Foresters have absurdly poor build quality. I’ve seen and experienced it myself, but it seems like most people just suck it up instead of vocally complaining about it for some reason.
Are you talking about people inside Subaru?
I think he’s talking about the owners.
For whatever reason, many Subaru owners seem particularly blind to the constant annoying failures of basic components that most other car manufactures have had sorted since the 90s. Never mind the ridiculously common (not if but when) head gasket failures for the 2.5 until ~2012.
If for example, Dodge (or some other brand that people like to dunk on) had such drastic quality problems and high rates of engine failure, they’d have been run out of business. How Subaru managed to survive that era with their reputation intact should be a marketing school success story.
Subaru owners are like single issue voters- they are so fixated on the image and the supposed unique benefits of the symmetrical AWD system, that they ignore the rest of the vehicle crumbling around them. I’m honestly convinced many ‘Subaru families’ just haven’t driven anything else for 20 years and think all vehicles must be like that.
Yes, very much this.
The love Daryl Hall & John Oates pics and reference! That’s my favorite of theirs!
I particularly like the build to the last chorus toward the end of the tune (starting about 4:15 on the album cut). Payoff there is great. Hall and Oates songcraft is first rate.
I felt the same selling my old Cruze. I saw it the other day and the new owner honked and waved. Glad to see it still in use.
Oh man I cannot wait until the day that I am free from my Cruze! I hate that thing with enough passion to fuel a thousand suns. It’s such a terrible car that I got in terrible shape needing a terrible amount of work, of which I did maybe half of it, so I still have a Christmas tree on the dashboard and it makes all sorts of awful noises. I just wish it would die already.
I dated a girl who had a manual Cruze, which I thought was pretty cool. I got the chance to drive it from Sacramento to Shoreline Amphitheater in the Bay for a concert, and it was a pretty hateful car to drive. I remember the throws on the shifter most, for being roughly 1/8 mile in length.
I would probably hate a manual about half as much, but man I hate the auto.
It is honestly the only manual transmission vehicle that I have driven where I can say I’d prefer the auto. The terrible transmission seemed to make all the other driving flaws of the Cruze more apparent. At least with an auto, you aren’t forced to think about how bad it is every time you have to shift lol.
Wow. That’s bad. Yeah I don’t think I’ve driven a manual cruze, but I have never encountered a vehicular food pill that wasn’t made at least slightly better by being able to shift my own gears. The auto in mine shifts hard and weird and I do end up thinking about the shifts too much of the time still.
I’ve never driven an auto Cruze, so you might be right!
The second rental car I ever had was a new (at the time) Cruze back in the summer of 2011. It felt like a MASSIVE upgrade from my first ever rental car a month earlier, which was a similar vintage HHR.
I swear I have camped in that very spot – west of Woodstock? Lots of bears around last time I went, we actually had to move.
the hall and oates reference is more than appreciated