My Subaru knows it’s getting sold. It has looked, forlornly, at my recent press cars and has deduced that its hours are numbered. In exchange, it is haunting me with the most annoying issues on the way out the door.
If you’re new here: I bought a 2016 Subaru Forester (2.5, Premium, with the cold weather package) brand new in 2016. I’d reviewed one and, of all the crossovers for sale in 2016, I felt like it was good at just about everything even if not particularly great at any one thing. While I was tempted to get a Mazda CX-5, prices for Foresters were a lot lower at the time and I got a great deal on one so I pulled the trigger.
Plus, I thought, it should have the same approximate quality over time as the Honda we’d previously had. I was wrong.
Extremely wrong! As mentioned back in February, I have come to regret buying the car after too many issues for a vehicle that gets treated well and isn’t that old. I’ve had to replace the front suspension, the rear wheel bearings, and a million headlights, all before hitting 75,000 miles. The wheel studs are notorious for cracking off and, lo and behold, one just snapped off recently.
To add insult to injury, the already bad speakerphone is almost indecipherable and the Subaru’s infotainment system feels super laggy now. I could live with all of this a little longer, but now I’ve hit yet another speed bump (but not an actual speed bump because I’m tired of this car being unable to maintain an alignment).
Are You Kidding?
Not since John Densmore has anyone been madder at some doors.
Specifically, the locks on the front passenger door stopped working for some reason a few weeks ago. I clicked the unlock button on my keyfob and nothing happened. I clicked it again and heard the hollow, unsatisfying clink of all the other locks meekly opening, but no noise emanated from the passenger door.
I walked around to the driver-side door, found it was open, and peered in to see the passenger door was still stuck in the locked position. Oh well. I clicked it by hand and then hit the lock button. Of course, nothing happened. So I went in and locked it by hand.
For the next week or so I couldn’t defeat muscle memory so I kept going to the door and finding it either locked or unlocked depending on whatever the opposite of what I wanted happened to be. And then, when I got used to it, it started working again.
Whew. One less thing!
And then, a few days ago, the driver-side door decided to stop working.
One wonky lock is bad luck, two is bad design.
“Those Subarus are starting to age, their crap, cheap build quality is starting to shine through,” SWG told me in an effort to cheer me up. “That one I recently rescued was a mess of cheap snapped bolts/fasteners etc with the work I had to do to it and it was a rust-free southern car.”
And before you ask, it’s not the keyfob.
Otherwise, the rear doors wouldn’t work and, to this point, they still work.
I Am Too Over It To Fix It
Just to make it exciting, this doesn’t seem to be a consistent issue. Sometimes both doors work, and sometimes neither do. Sometimes it’s just one.
Assuming it’s the lock actuator it’s not the worst possible job:
But, as you can see, Subaru hasn’t made it exactly easy for a regular person to do.
Is this just me? As always, the SubaruForester.org forum seems to have plenty of examples of people having this issue:
And:
And:
As always, you can pretty much find any problem online if you just search for it, so I try to keep my browsing to specific forums like this one and NASIOC and only include the screenshots if there are enough to make it seem common. This is common and people claim to have been charged $700 for the repair, which I assume is mostly the annoying labor.
Am I being a little precious about my eight-year-old car? Just a little. All old cars have weird issues (and some new ones do as well). I just feel like the issue-per-mile is a little too high for my taste and the solutions always seem to require just a bit more work to fix than I’m used to having previously owned Volvos, Fords, and Hondas.
If all goes well I’ll have this sold and out of my life before the end of the month, so hopefully nothing else significant happens to it between now and then. I’m out, Subaru!
Oy!! Not the most exciting, but our 2010 Toyota Prius that I just sold with 155,000 miles had exactly ONE mechanical repair during my ownership. The EGR valve packed it in and it was fixed under warranty! I wouldn’t touch a Subaru with a ten foot 1/2 inch breaker bar. My sanity is too valuable to me
You got out of that Prius just in time. As a former 2010 Prius owner and Priuschat forum member, ALL third Gen Priuses, in particular 2010-2012 without revised rings and pistons that delayed the problem, will blow their head gaskets eventually, sometimes as early as 100,000, but typically 150,000-200,000. The clogged up EGR is one of the things theorized to contribute to all those blown head gaskets. Having owned my older (pre-2005) Subarus for a combined 30-years, I’ve had no major repairs needed, and not had any close calls like getting out of my 2010 Prius at 180,000 miles.
Maybe it’s just our car, but our ’15 Subaru Forester has been a freight train.
Outside of oil, brakes, and tires, we did rear hubs at 130k and a clutch at 140k I’m planning on cv shafts soon, and am at 160k.
Granted Subarus of the era had some material Cost cutting that in retrospect, is terrible.
We are active people, with a dog, and a kid, and outdoor hobbies, we fit the mold Subaru pushes well, so compared to our old 98 and 99, it feels cheap. Fabrics wear and tear more than they should, plastic panels are easy to puncture, the under tray ripped off, and the driving dynamic felt muted and lacking. Plus the oil burning
But everything that era burned oil, and many felt dull.
I miss my late 90s Subarus. So much fun for the dollar, but our 15 has been more reliable than almost every domestic from the era
A lot of the major issues got solved around 2014. The previous gens were absolute mechanical disasters.
That reminds me of the annoying problem I had with my old Ford Escort. All doors were supposed to lock/unlock with the key in the driver’s door. They all unlocked – but stopped all locking after a while. I got tired of going around and locking each door individually, and just left it open. I just kept the glovebox locked. I figured if anyone really wanted a ’93 Escort stock tape deck, they were welcome to it.
Yep my dad’s 91 escort had the same issue and I think he just pulled the fuse for the central locking
My 99 Miata has a power lock on the passenger side where when the driver is unlocked/locked the passenger matches it. That stopped working intermittently but being a 2 door I decided it was more prudent to just unplug it. Easy enough to just reach across and unlock it.
Matt: “We bought an Aztek!”
Also Matt: “I’m getting rid of this car within the month.”
Interesting. Very interesting…
Oh man… I don’t think I’d win that argument, but we’d be saving so much money.
Pretty sure you’re not going to want it after it absorbs a week straight of David’s ‘alluring aroma’.
And Aztec spaghetti
I have a good friend who bought her’s new also. Same model, same year. 120K miles.
She just took it in to dealer for oil change. They came back with estimates of recommended repairs to her. Well over $11K. Yes $11 grand!
I am going to look it over for her to verify the dealer’s take.
Except for the door lock issues, the stuff wrong with her car mirrors what Matt has endured. Ridiculous.
I grew up driving 1970’s (early) Subies. Beat the crap out of them. Never a problem.
I am going to try and gently suggest to her that it may be time to start considering a new car.
Good luck Matt.
That’s rough! You’re a good friend for getting it checked out.
Sounds like about the right mileage for its first engine-out overhaul, lmao
About 120k-130k is where my friends Outback lost its first engine.
Of course is was only 120k.
Should have spent the extra cheddar on the CX-5 back then!
This is why they make therapists see other therapists. I feel like I give pretty decent car advice to everyone but myself.
True! Your advice to others was sound. Our 2015 CX-5 has been nearly flawless. It’s a great car.
Same here. We got used CX-5s for both our kids from that timeframe and both have been trouble-free. The kids love them too even without the turbo engine.
Yeah, we have the NA 2.5, it does just fine.
To be fair, these also have lower control arm wear issues.
To be fair, that in only one issue, versus the many many maladies that his Subaru has experienced, all of which are very common to Subarus.
It’s strange to see the CX-5 has a reputation for reliability in the US. The UK ones are mostly complete dogs, as are most things Mazda from the last 15 years or so. Presumably you didn’t get the terrible SkyActiv diesel that was a big part of the problem, since Mazda put it in everything.
Nope, no diesel. They sold them for like 8 minutes in top trim CX-5s only. I’ve never seen one. Most of them have a 2.5L NA gas engine that is dead nuts reliable.
Yep, my fiancee has a 2018 Mazda3 hatch with that engine. Over 80k miles on it now, he put something like 60k of those on it in the past few years. Not a single issue. I change the oil, filters, and rotate the tires, and that’s all I’ve ever had to do. As a long-time VW owner (with a habit of modifying my cars), it’s nice to have one car in our household that literally needs nothing but consumables.
Yeah, it’s nice to have a vehicle that just … works. Our CX-5 had one warranty claim when it was 6-months old for a dead center screen. Other than that, just oil changes and a set of tires so far.
Oh, we had a silly issue this spring. Something was rattling over hard bumps. Turned out the bottom inch of the left rear coil spring had rusted off, and slid into the lower control arm. My mechanic fished it out, and pronounced it good to go. Rust belt life! (Salt life?)
Hasn’t everyone had diesel issues the last 10-15 years, though? But yes, the gasoline-powered SkyActiv engines have been solid. From the 1.5L in the 2 and some iterations of the Miata all the way up to the 2.5L Turbo (and apparently the new 3.3L I6) they’ve got a good reputation AFAIK.
Seconded.
CX-5s are one of the very few vehicles I’ll stake my name and reputation on and recommend. Really pretty much the whole ICE-only modern (2016+) Mazda lineup. Even their turbo engines haven’t really had issues. My wife’s on her third (repeat leases, not the best anecdote but for how hard she can be on vehicles), countless relatives, friends, and customers have them; they’re just so solid as modern cars go. If I had to replace my current DD (knock on wood) then a CX-50 would be at the top of my shopping list.
Yet Toyota and Honda (and others) can’t seem to figure out their newest turbos despite the tech generally being proven on the mass market since the ’80s. But little ol’ Mazda has theirs sorted. *shrug* More power to ’em.
The Lotus Elise has a terrible (from the factory) immobilizer / remote lock system. If your fob or central lock module die which they have won’t to do you are well and truly screwed. You see the electric locks are NOT connected to the mechanical “key” locking mechanism. Imagine your surprise when you first discover this bit of engineering excellence.
have you narrowed down the list yet? I am hoping you get the Mazda CX-90, or the 50 just because I want to hear about them more than just about anything else on the market. Love me a Mazda.
Yes, I am pretty sure I know what’s next.
Yes, please do. The CX-90 is on the list to replace my wife’s Highlander at some point.
I like the CX-90. I’m probably going two-row, because we have just one kid.
Fingers crossed for a CX-50 or -70 (despite the relative waste of space) so I can live vicariously through your experiences. Maverick would also be neat.
Love. It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru. Not functional door locks. Not headlights that have shorter lifespans than fruit flies. Not faulty wheel bearings or alignments that are more of a suggestion than adjustment. Love man! It’s about love. When you got love all that other shit is just noise. Right? I mean … love, right?
Get out of here with your damn hippy talk…/s
I like them because they smell like stinky dogs and drool.
I think you’re referring to Stockholm syndrome…
I thought you were quoting Jerome from Boogie Nights for a second: “it’s all about love. You know what I mean? If you love someone, how hard can the world be. I mean, people will come and they will go and so will problems. But, ultimately, if you have got love on your side and it is just – I mean – it is just deep down in your soul, what’s a problem going to be that takes your attention away from that? You understand?”
My district manager came to me and said he was just quoted about $800 to fix his headlight, asked me if I could get one cheaper. I looked into it and pretty much – nope, that’s what they cost.
Head gaskets are what makes a Subaru a Subaru
Get rid of this fucking thing already, or are the clicks worth the trouble? (They very well could be, since they would probably cover the repair cost)
Since this is the family car, the clicks are not worth the trouble they just make the trouble a little more amusing. I’m not kicking and screaming when this stuff happens, now I just lightly pat Subie on its wheel and chuckle while mumbling “you dumb asshole” under my breath.
haha, I love it. Acceptance can go a long way to staying calm in life.
kind of like: “Hate the Sin, love the Sinner” 😉
This sounds suspiciously like having an orange cat in the house. Every time it does something really annoying, like knocking over a glass because it doesn’t realize where its tail is, all I can do is just say “You absolute MORON!” and then shake my head because he doesn’t know better, and it wasn’t malicious, it’s just the way he is.
I have had more than one orange cat. The last one- I wasn’t sure he knew what he was doing. The current one isn’t a moron, he knows what he’s doing and he’s just plain evil.
r/oneorangebrancell
My three cats get totally different reactions from my wife and I.
Orange – “Oh you sweet little angel muffin, there isn’t a thing going on in that little head is there”
Black – “Oh it’s okay, you didn’t mean to”
Tortoiseshell – “Oh it’s you again, you little chaos gremlin, you”
Our black cat is the chaos gremlin in our household. He started out as a cute little salt and pepper fuzzball of a kitten, then became a black agent of entropy.
Mine is a dignified lady, who rarely even meows but when she does the whole house listens. She typically is calmly curled up near my wife or me and just observes. The tort is constantly in something and rarely comes to a rest.
Why didn’t you cover the Toyota engine debris recall last week in the Morning Dump? 100,000+ ticking time bombs that might eventually need new long blocks.
My 2016 Mazda3 is acting up similarly and I also want out. The paint is failing spectacularly, it constantly blows through interior lights, the door weatherstripping has failed, the screen is slowly melting off, and now the driver’s side window is making bad noises (on top of it sucking to drive). Yet, my 1994 Miata, 2004 Tacoma, and 2014 CRV seem to be fine. It only adds insult to injury when I keep thinking that the car is only 4 years old (guess I am still stuck in 2020 mentally). I am considering selling the Taco and 3 for a Ford Maverick AWD Ecoboost.
If you do… I know a guy.
Sounds like a decision has been made…
my 2015 3 had super thin paint (the red that everyone loves from mazda)
Is it thin or just easily scratched-through? My mom’s CX-5 has that Soul Red Crystal and it gouges seemingly easily (her neighbor also can’t be bothered to keep the bushes in their shared alley trimmed) but the light scratches buff out easily enough. It seems to be a harder paint, if that makes sense, probably due to the 5-layer process.
Both lol scratches through very easily and I couldn’t believe the amount of rock chips that were through the paint compared to every other car I’ve owned. I got the top of the roof by the windshield repainted because it was genuinely that bad.
How does it suck to drive? Our ’14 Mazda3 is still a great little car at 135k miles.
It feels as if it is falling apart at 90K miles. 2nd gear grinds slightly. Clutch isn’t incredible. Front end clunks. Wind noise is not incredible. I’ve never seen anywhere close to the promised 39mpg highway (even with hypermiling).
Sounds like my ’06 “Zoom Zoom” “driver’s car”. It was even a 2.3 hatch with a manual, so the sportiest they sold at the time. It felt end of life in 5 years and well before I traded it in at 167k as well as starting to rot like it was built in 1980. To top it off, it was only fun to drive if the sportiest thing someone had ever driven was a Corolla or Camry. Replaced it with a 5MT ’12 Focus SE with the sport package with the same size tires so that it was about exactly the same spec as possible. It was built on the same platform, but felt so much better built, durable, better mileage with the same performance, even more reliable, had no rust at over 200k and 5 years and felt like it had maybe 50k (which I rate as virtually nothing) on it when it was totaled.
On my 2015 Mazda 3 (90,000klms), the gearbox grind was a TSB and fixed under warranty with a new gearbox (bad syncros). The front end clunks never went away I changed the stab links and the shocks.
Do you have the TSB number by any chance?
It was for Canada, but my TSB bulletin number was 05-008/14. From my searches, looks like there’s a few more that have superceeded it as more people had the same issue.
There were also two TSBs for front-end clunks on early cars; one added plastic pieces on the coil springs, another replaced the inner tie-rod ends (they would bind and pop).
Those were fixed under warranty on ours. Another TSB was not but I fixed it later with updated parts – the rear caliper mounting bracket would rust and cause the caliper to stick on one side, wearing one brake pad down quickly while the other has plenty of pad.
Ya it’s made me hesitant to own another Mazda. While the interior was fantastic, the other little things like suspension issues (I had the rear right spring break the bottom of the coil off??) added up. It’s what makes me look for manufacturers with better warranties because though my gearbox was covered (5,000klms short of expiry @100,000) I’m sure there are lots of people out there who weren’t so lucky.
My sister has a 2014 3 Sport (I think?) and is almost abusive with her cars, and it’s still trucking along quite nicely. Way better than the Honda Civic she had before, though she also “inherited” that [very] used versus buying new.
Yeah, that generation of Mazdas aren’t the best at outside sound insulation, but otherwise they seem to hold up well. I think that’s one of the most noticeable differences between the 2016 CX-5 my wife had and the 2022 CX-5 she has now.
Sounds terrible, how much do you want for it? 🙂
Door lock switch/actuator issues were common on some of our Saturns. I remember my dad buying the switch from the dealer parts counter and swapping it out in the parking lot on his SL1, but that was a simpler design where the lock and switch were basically one unit. His Aura chewed through them, and seemed to happen to the back doors more. That had a plunger style lock too at the very back of those long doors so you couldn’t just reach in to use it.
The passenger’s front door lock on his Niro has now done the same, and I assume it’s the actuator as well but haven’t looked into it more. Hopefully it’d be an easy fix to pop off the door card and replace ourselves.
Generally one of those annoying ‘shouldn’t really happen but otherwise nickel-and-dime’ type of things…assuming the rest of the car is otherwise reliable or cheap to maintain. For your Forester it seems like the equivalent of dropping your keys at the front door at the end of a long day: otherwise a small issue but a breaking point in that moment.
…have you considered our parsh-parts-hauling savior, the Mitsubishi Lancer?
Like, I’m just saying.
He probably would if there was a write up on said Lancer so he could see how awesome it is. Just saying
Heh. (I gotta get through this week first.)
You and me both. It’s only Tuesday and I feel like it should be Friday already. Luckily due to various things happening and holidays, I don’t work a full week again until August I think
Lancer Sportback with an Evo powertrain, you mean?
I mean, you could, but I really prefer the sedan over the sportback. If you’re gonna go Evo, go full Evo.
Now, the unobtanium CT9W wagon…hhhhrrrnnnngggg yes.
Had a Nissan who’s driver door handle stopped working. Apparently a common and known issue in cold weather if you get a little ice inside the door that the cable will pop out of the handle. Absolutely nightmarish to put it back together when you do it for the first time.
Ford F-150’s wouldn’t close their doors for like 3 model years. Our doors used to pop open while driving. Wife made me get rid of it. Somehow Ford never had a recall and kept pretending it was okay, but the forums were full of Northerners dealing with that crap.
**in winter only
My 07 XC70’s outside door a stopped working a few years back. I did a quick search an found it’s a somewhat common problem. The plastic clip on the metal rod can break, then the handle isn’t connected to anything. I pulled the door card off, which is very easy on that vintage Volvo, and secured the rod with a zip tie. Six years later, it’s still good.
I hope yours stays together long enough to sell it. I look forward to selling mine. I decided to just keep my older Outback (which is worthless) and sell the Forester while it’s still worth something.
I have a 20+ year old Silverado that I believe has the original lock actuators. I’ve replaced exactly one in any car, and it was in an Explorer with 150k miles and 12 years under its belt.
I agree that both of them failing this early suggests a design issue. That’s rough. I hope you offload it soon and get something you like a lot better.
Yeah both my 89 firebird and 92 Cummins still have the original actuators for the locks to my knowledge and both still work fine. Ridiculous something this new would already have issues. Side note windows in my Dodge actually go up and down faster then any other vehicle I own and I have vehicles from 2013 and 2018 cannot say the same for the firebird though the up and down time is measured in calendars hah
My 20 year old Lexus and 25 year old Explorer are still (mostly) on their original lock actuators. I say mostly because the rear hatch lock actuator has been replaced when the old door got bashed in and swapped with a junkyard hatch – but the junkyard hatch is on the original lock actuator from 2000.
In that vein, my 2000 Impreza 2.5RS had lock actuator issues, to the point that I gave up on the power door locks and just used the key and reached across the car to unlock the passenger door. Where other manufacturers had this figured out some time ago, Subaru has had this issue for decades.
Good to know about the Impreza. Interesting that this has been an issue for so long.
The very day I sold my 1er, the headlights burnt out in the morning, I replaced them before the new owner showed up, but I get that spite from cars is very real.
Well, you can’t sell a 2016 with puked power locks. A 2012, maybe.
I think you’ll have to bite the bullet and fix this, otherwise you’ll get dinged by the buyers big time.
Should be able to sell it without issue. I tell a buyer everything that is wrong with my cars.
I know it sounds crazy, but honesty is a thing. And a buyer finds it easier to trust a seller (and used car) if they are told up front about issues. It builds trust.
On the other hand how many people actually take the time to see if the key fob door locks actually work before a purchase?
Agree, but a 2016 Subaru will garner interest from buyers who may not have mechanical aptitude, and want a car that everything works. Why buy one with faulty locks when there’s another one that works fine just 10 miles away?
If he finds a buyer who’s willing to fix the issue in exchange for a discount, that’s fine. But that’s not the kind of buyer who looks at 2016 Subarus.
Agreed. No fuss here.
Re read comment above. My point is about honesty to a buyer. Of course there are other cars available. And to some folks the honesty aspect outweighs the potential minor issues with a used car.
What kind of buyer looks at 2016 Rubies exactly? Really do want your take please.
As you also mentioned most used buyers with any experience will almost always use a broken/inoperable item to negotiate the price.
Thanks.
That’s where selling it to Carmax or Carvana works well. They’ll give a pretty good price, little hassle, and warranty the car for the next person. At least in my experience with Carvana they don’t check the car that closely before buying. Not an advertisement for them – just speaking from experience.
Good point, they buy so many cars that they can’t go through each one thoroughly. But they do send them into a shop to make any repairs necessary for sale.
Maybe Matt would be better off trying them before doing Craigslist or Facebook.
Subaru became the carmaker that made cars no one else did. 4WD, AWD, Rally inspired, Turbo-charged fun, sometimes weird cars.
Now the feel more like Nissans of the Ghosn era.
Nissans are still like that.
Maybe Toyota’s influence in Subaru can help it be more reliable – so far, they’ve only succeeded in making them more bland.
Toyota is putting out crappier and crappier stuff as well. The entire industry went down market and upped their prices by 60%.
Maybe not the entire industry, but a large bulk of it, especially the power players. I suspect lots money went to EV R&D, plus of course the collateral repurcussions of the pandemic and such.
Yeesh that sucks I am sorry I would expect something like locks not working on my firebird or my Cummins seeing that are both over 30 year old and cars from then were not known for good electronics. But from something that isn’t even 10 years old yet? That is pretty ridiculous. I wonder if my brother will start having issues with his WRX soon as it is a 2018 or 2019 and he got it with an automatic (yuck and why?). I do not talk to him much but he lives with my dad and he has not said my brother has any issues yet.
Hopefully you find something that fits your taste better soon and is more reliable for you. My 13 FJ hasn’t had any issues like this and it is at 150k only issue I had was replacing front axle seals which are just wear items, a leaking A/C line which could have got damaged from off roading. For as much as I have beat the thing off road I would have expected more repairs would have been needed. So maybe look for a Toyota? Hah
yuck, automatic in a WRX? Is is the CVT? ugh that must be a buzz kill lol
Haha yes it is. He didn’t want to learn manual so he got the automatic. Yet for myself I looked at getting an old diesel truck with a manual to learn in and even if I was getting a newer car I would prefer manual wish my FJ was stick.
Please sell the car. If only so your obsessive, one-side rants stop.
Given the forum you have… one would have hoped you saw a need to be fair and balanced. Your write-ups are anecdotal and make assumptions not grounded in fact (Subaru uses bolts that are “weak” because they have fine threads is not accurate).
I’m sorry you’ve had such lousy luck. I’ve continuously owned Subarus since 2005. And I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to someone.
I get it, I feel the same way about Volkswagens- despite plenty of others having nightmarish problems.
Perhaps Matt’s just that customer from hell regardless of what he’s got. And that next brand will suffer his wrath of words after the first thing stops working.
Honestly, I hope so.
Experiences/info from actual owners, even if anecdotal, are valuable in a way that both new car reviews and “predicted reliability” from CR are not.
Agreed. One of the first things I do when considering a new vehicle is check the forums to see what issues owners are having. Getting that info here, from people who actually know cars, is nice. I’d much rather know about things that go wrong than hear that the infotainment screen is really responsive.
Exactly my strategy as well.
100%. Also, there is a difference when hearing about reliability between someone who trades up every 4 years compared to someone who owns for 10+ years.
Lol, I hope not! It makes for good copy (blog the misery), but I was expecting more trouble from my BMW with 236k miles on it than my Subaru with 76k on the clock. Here’s hoping my next posts are just “Oh, wow, things work” Also, I got 13.5 MPG taking my kid to school today in the Subaru.
I’ve a colleague with obsession with used, and underappreciated, cars. His most reliable he’s ever had: an old Land Rover.
Sometimes you find that rare specimen.
13.5 MPG? Something is definitely wrong, even for a Subaru. If you don’t plan on dumping it soon, you might want to look at that.
I’m glad you have had good experiences, but a lot of us haven’t. All at the same time, myself and 3 family members had Subarus, I bought mine first and loved it at first so I made the mistake of recommending them to my sister, dad, and wife’s brother. All needed major work before 90k. My 08 Legacy would never stop leaking oil out of the spark plug tubes, they were replaced 3x under warranty and still had issues, my dad’s was a 2000 Outback that had the typical head gasket issues, my sister’s 2010 Forester had all sorts of issues, I don’t even remember all of them, but it cost them several thousand to keep it on the road, and my wife’s brother’s 06 Outback needed a full engine rebuild and now needs another one at 150k and he does all the dealer recommended services. I literally do not personally know a single person who had a good experience with Subaru ownership.
I’ll quote Matt: “As always, you can pretty much find any problem online if you just search for it.”
You can find complaints similar to Matt’s about every car currently sold. None of Matt’s articles (on his Subaru) have presented any _data_ showing that Subaru is any worse than other manufactures. But he certainly presents them as such. This doesn’t seem appropriate for the “Publisher” of a car website.
Some of Matt’s articles have presented information that he would realize was inaccurate with more careful research. He wrote an entire article covering how horrible it was that Subaru used wheel bolts that had a finer thread than other manufacturers – suggesting that they were weaker. In truth… bolts with finer thread counts are _stronger_ than course-threaded bolts of the same size in both clamping ability and shear and tensile strength.
Subaru isn’t perfect. But I’ll counter your anecdotes with my own. I’ve never had to do more than change the oil and air filter in my 2016 Outback. The 2005 Impreza I used to own was similarly reliable. My parents bought an Outback after driving ours… and have had zero problems to date. I’m not aware of any of my Subaru-owning friends having problems remotely like Matt’s.
Gas mileage is admittedly not great around town. I have (not often) seen averages as low as what Matt mentions. But usually when I’m driving like an impatient jerk.
Sorry man. They’re really bad cars, especially the 2008-2014s with the horrible engine issues. Sounds like you missed the worst of it, but many people weren’t so lucky.
Source: 2011 Subaru Forester that had to have its engine out THREE times. Thats not normal for a vehicle produced this century, and it’s not anecdotal- there were multiple class action lawsuits.
are you a multi-millionaire cos-playing as a poor? Those are the only people that want to deal with Subaru’s shit, since they have other cars they can use while the Subaru is broken.
The man bought a car brand new that has had all these issues before 80k. I’d be a little ornery too.
I’ve also owned (and recommended) subies since around that time period. Despite my username….I’m out. In the nearly 20 years I’ve been around them (and between my family and friends, it’s been a lot of cars) they’ve just gone downhill. Maybe that’s true of other manufacturers too, but I am sick of chintzy subaru shit. My wife’s 17 legacy with 60k on it already has tearing seat fabric, along with the myriad other little bugs that shouldn’t happen in a car driven as lightly as it is. My 14 outback (80k on the odo) has fared better but it’s starting to have its own….quirks. a decade ago most of my friends had subies and rarely had problems. These days it seems like they’re all in the shop. At least when I had a wrx it was fun and worth the hassle.
Hey, I found the Subaru employee and/or blind apologist.
It’s OK and even healthy to take criticism, especially of things you like. Perspective is a good thing. Introspection also. Blind loyalty is just removing one of your senses without any benefit.
I’ve been in auto service for decades. I’ve watched subaru’s decline from their apex in the early 2000s (when I nearly bought a couple myself) with disappointment. That disappointment has since turned to disgusted horror.
Their use of cheap parts is factually correct.
They have some of the thinnest sheet metal and paint in the industry. They may argue it offsets the weight of the crash structure, AWD system, and yields better fuel economy, but they’re just that cheap.
They’re not really that much safer than any other brand, and actually should do better in some of the tests if they were as good as they claim. Thank modern safety requirements for that more than the company.
Their poorly-integrated infotainment and “driver-assist” systems are relatively abysmal, and inexcusable for a company of their size and expertise. There are Chinese start-ups with better integration and function.
I would be wholly embarrassed if it were my company or if I had to represent them.
Making cars is hard, but they shouldn’t be having THIS much trouble with it.
I’m neither, thanks.
I simply find it problematic that the publisher of this site is writing pieces that insinuate that, among other things, Subaru is using substandard, weak wheel bolts.
This was done with purely anecdotal evidence and was based on incorrect assumptions about bolt strength.
Matt is free to hate his Forrester. And it’s fine (useful, even) to discuss problems in a public forum. But some of his “accusations” seem borderline inappropriate for a journalist. Frankly, that piece makes me question his criticisms in general.
Care to correct my take, Matt? Maybe I’ve misunderstood.
This has been my absolute take as well. I’ve owned a handful of things including many Subarus of all generations including current, and have had excellent luck. Nearly every car from any manufacture has issues but some of this is extremely misleading. It seems that this is more clickbait “I hate my car” that keeps being repeated. It’s clogging up a site of otherwise typically interesting articles.
Dude, buy something else.
Not trying to say Subarus are the best thing ever but, for some people they work excellent.
Please move on and complain or praise about your next car.
It’s a shame, but subaru is kind of riding off a reputation earned in the 90s at this point.
When we were very young, my wife and I both inherited 3 subarus from her grandparents as they replaced their cars: a 96 Impreza, then a 2001 Outback, and then a 2005 Forester. They each made it well past 100k with nearly zero issues, and served faithfully as work cars well into the 200k range, at which point head gaskets crapped and transmissions went out, but neither car owed us a damn thing.
Her whole family were Subaru Diehards, her uncle even went and got a job as a service advisor in the local subie dealer. He would sing their praises, as they were a split Subaru/ Chevrolet Dealer, and he saw the huge contrast in quality and issues.
But about 10 years ago, he told me subaru was starting to piss him off. The head gaskets, little dumb issues on low mile cars, the CVT issues, and more and more.
Last I talked to him he said he sees more issues out of Subies than chevys at this point.
I think its the growing pains that come with the increased production theyve had in the past 10 years. Maybe back when they didnt build so many cars it was easier to keep QC in check?
I had this problem with 00s Impala and like yours it was random which door it would affect. That was a company car though so I have no idea what the fix was, I just dropped it off at the local Chevy dealership (again) and picked it up a few days later.
Impalas and that era of gm (up through the end of the W-body era and beyond) they use really cheap door lock actuators and HVAC door motors. I have a couple on my desk to show my customers how the junky plastic teeth fail and prevent the mechanism from working.
Ok, so perhaps my bedside manner isn’t the greatest.
If the power actuators in my mass produced mainstream SUV failed before 10 years / 100k miles, I’d be pissed too. This just seems like poor build quality.
There are ’72 Oldsmobiles out there with original power locks that still work.
Weren’t those vacuum actuated?
No, they were electromechanical.