Any Subaru drivers...

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Were looking for a new car.  Only thing that matters to us is being able to go to the dealer,  see the car,  pay for it,  and drive it home.   They don't seem to have anything like that around here.

No Carmax? 

[Tennessee Boy]

5 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

No Carmax? 

Used cars cost more than new cars but you can actually drive one home.

[TnRiver46]

10 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Used cars cost more than new cars but you can actually drive one home.

Used tires are still cheap, that’s me on the rack haha. 2 for $100 

[CountryboyinDC]

Don't you have to wear Birkenstocks with wool socks to drive a Subaru?

 

10,000 rural letter carriers can't be wrong, I guess though.

[Bird]

Don't dare look at New pickup trucks, there asking 5k over MSRP here.

 

 

[TnRiver46]

35 minutes ago, Bird said:

Don't dare look at New pickup trucks, there asking 5k over MSRP here.

 

 

Knock on wood, my pistons are still firing so I’m not in the market 

[throttleplate]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Used tires are still cheap, that’s me on the rack haha. 2 for $100 

I learned my lesson on buying used tires. I bought 2 and one of them was out of round and as i drove over the bad spot it would thump down the road.

I got my money back and then went somewhere else and bought 4 brand new.

[TnRiver46]

20 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

I learned my lesson on buying used tires. I bought 2 and one of them was out of round and as i drove over the bad spot it would thump down the road.

I got my money back and then went somewhere else and bought 4 brand new.

My last two used tires lasted two and half years. It’s a risk I’m willing to take, I’ve got a spare 

 

 

[fishwizzard]

16 hours ago, CountryboyinDC said:

Don't you have to wear Birkenstocks with wool socks to drive a Subaru?

 

10,000 rural letter carriers can't be wrong, I guess though.

man if you aren’t wearing wool socks you are missing out…..

[CountryboyinDC]

8 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

man if you aren’t wearing wool socks you are missing out…..

I've nothing against wool socks, but if you see me wearing Birkenstocks with them, you'll know the Russians have captured me and are making me wear Birkenstocks with wool stocks as their means of torture through humiliation.

[Skunkmaster-k]

I had a Subaru for a couple of years. That uncomfortable death trap got 42mpg on the highway . These days I wish that we hadn’t sold it. 

[Bankc]

On 2/28/2022 at 4:31 PM, Tennessee Boy said:

Used cars cost more than new cars but you can actually drive one home.

That's the truth!  I bought a 2021 Subaru Forester last March.  Within a month, I saw someone selling a used one with 8k miles for $10k more than I paid.  I'm still seeing people asking $8k more than I paid for a year old Forester (same trim and options) with about the same amount of miles as I have on mine.  I briefly considered selling it to turn a profit.  How often can you do that on a new car?  But then I thought, what would I drive?  I'd have to BUY a car in this market.  No thank you.

 

And I really like my Forester.  It's one of those "jack of all trades, master of none" type of cars.  It's been great on long road trips and bad weather.  Much better than expected.  My biggest issue is that it's slow to merge onto the highway.  But not dangerously slow.  Just slow enough to remind you that it's a big, heavy car with a NA, 4 liter engine.  

 

I drove a Nissan Altima before this one.  They both have CVT's.  But the difference between them is night and day.  The Altima always felt like a rubber band.  Like the engine had more to give, but the transmission couldn't deliver.  The Subaru feels much more like a regular automatic transmission.  Nothing spectacular.  But it works well enough that it's easy to forget it runs on a CVT.  The Altima never let you forget that.  

[Randy Price]

I needed to purchase a new small/midsize SUV last fall for work.  I had bought my son in college a Rav4 a year earlier and he has been very happy with it so I almost bought myself a new one.  However, last November new Rav4's along with pretty much every other new SUV was hard to find OR the dealer wanted $ 3K-5K over MSRP which I wasn't willing to do.  My oldest son bought a 2021 Outback last March and has been very pleased with it so bought a 2021 Forester Sport.  I only have 6K miles on it so far but the more I drive it the more I like it.  Gas mileage has been decent and my dealer has been awesome.  This is my first Subie but have a couple of co-workers that will not buy anything else.  

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Randy Price said:

I needed to purchase a new small/midsize SUV last fall for work.  I had bought my son in college a Rav4 a year earlier and he has been very happy with it so I almost bought myself a new one.  However, last November new Rav4's along with pretty much every other new SUV was hard to find OR the dealer wanted $ 3K-5K over MSRP which I wasn't willing to do.  My oldest son bought a 2021 Outback last March and has been very pleased with it so bought a 2021 Forester Sport.  I only have 6K miles on it so far but the more I drive it the more I like it.  Gas mileage has been decent and my dealer has been awesome.  This is my first Subie but have a couple of co-workers that will not buy anything else.  

My buddy has one of those 2-3 years older, him and his wife love it. They take kayaks everywhere 

[Boomstick]

The engine problems with Subarus are definitely legitimate. My mom was looking at one once, and the comments on the car on Edmunds was thousands and thousands of people who were mostly posting mileages which would be the mileages at which they replaced their head gaskets. They have had the problem since 1984 and use the same engine design to this day. At one point they were listing head gasket replacement as a maintenance item, and often consider adding head gasket sealant as a maintenance item as well.

 

The other thing is maintaining a Subaru usually makes parts and labor on BMWs and Mercedes look pretty tame. They may be cheaper to buy, but they are  not cheap cars to maintain. This goes from using a timing belt instead of a chain that is a bit of a job to replace to just costing more for simple things like brake pads.

That said aside from the cost to own and head gasket issues, I've known people who while on literally their tenth head gasket have made it to 300k with otherwise minimal problems.

[Randy Price]

My understanding on the head gasket issue is that in 2012 Subaru started using a different material to solve this issue.

[DaubsNU1]

Wife needed new wheels in summer of 2016. We spent two weeks test-driving 10+ different make and models (Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Lexus, Infinity, Mazda, Subaru). 

 

Ended up getting her a 2017 Outback 3.6 (6 cylinder). She loves it!

 

I've done all the routine maintenance myself, including installing new brake pads. It's got 76k miles on it as of today...no major issues...only time it has been in to the dealership was for a computer system software update.  

 

About the only negative was the buying experience...that dealership was completely old-school...

 

"I'm going to write a number on this piece of paper...would you agree to buy the vehicle at this price today???" Um, nope...

 

We did opt for an extended warranty, which was a bit shady...but I negotiated the price down from the initial $3,500 to $1,500. Covers bumper to bumper, $0 deductible for up to 7 years, 100k miles.

[RB 77]

On 2/28/2022 at 3:08 PM, CountryboyinDC said:

Don't you have to wear Birkenstocks with wool socks to drive a Subaru?

 

10,000 rural letter carriers can't be wrong, I guess though.

 

 

Well, I don't own Birkenstocks, but I do own a Subaru and a few nice pairs of wool socks to wear with my waders to duck hunt in. I do drive my F150 to go hunt though... Haha 

 

 

 

I own an Outback and an F150. Been thinking about selling both and downsizing to just a single vehicle. It's been tough deciding what to go with, even with gas $5+ a gal here in CA. For a while just another single truck was a no brainer for me, however Subaru's are really that nice. Wouldn't hesitate to own another, even being a truck guy. 

[Mat_ski]

I have 2018 Outback, bought new, now has just under 60k. Zero problems. Spectacular fishing vehicle. Easy to load a yak, easy to fit a whole lot of fishing gear inside, pretty good mileage. 

[TnRiver46]

21 hours ago, Mat_ski said:

I have 2018 Outback, bought new, now has just under 60k. Zero problems. Spectacular fishing vehicle. Easy to load a yak, easy to fit a whole lot of fishing gear inside, pretty good mileage. 

That’s the one mom got! 

[Tennessee Boy]

On 2/28/2022 at 4:20 PM, Tennessee Boy said:

Were looking for a new car.  Only thing that matters to us is being able to go to the dealer,  see the car,  pay for it,  and drive it home.   They don't seem to have anything like that around here.

We found a dealer today that actually had a new car!  It didn’t have the exact options we were looking for but we were able to drive it and we ordered one like we wanted.  We should get it by the end of September.   It cost $4000 less than the exact same car with 4000 miles on it cost at CarMax.  
 

They won’t let you pay cash for a car unless you buy an extended warranty for $3,000.   You can finance the minimum which is $20,000 and then pay it off after 6 months.  It’s a seller’s market for sure.

[Big Rick]

On 8/25/2022 at 5:49 PM, Tennessee Boy said:

They won’t let you pay cash for a car unless you buy an extended warranty for $3,000.

What???

 

Dealerships have lost their minds.. Always remember, the pendulum always swings back the other direction. These dealers that are taking advantage of their customer base by selling over MSRP and forcing customers to buy unnecessary add-ons will eventually lose these same customers for life. 

[DitchPanda]

1 hour ago, Big Rick said:

What???

 

Dealerships have lost their minds.. Always remember, the pendulum always swings back the other direction. These dealers that are taking advantage of their customer base by selling over MSRP and forcing customers to buy unnecessary add-ons will eventually lose these same customers for life. 

Agreed. If everybody said to hell with it I'm not buying a new car the dealership would be begging people to buy them...they would knock $5k-10k off sticker price and offer all kinds of freebee stuff. 

[throttleplate]

30 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

Agreed. If everybody said to hell with it I'm not buying a new car the dealership would be begging people to buy them...they would knock $5k-10k off sticker price and offer all kinds of freebee stuff. 

Coming soon, you will have to pay the manufacturer a monthy fee to use your brand new cars radio.

[Drawdown]

I have a 2009 Outback 2.5L.

 

Every 115,000 miles or so, the self-tightening valve system can overtighten, causing trouble. It’s an expensive repair. Adjusting them before it happens is also expensive.

 

As for head gasket leaks, Subaru makes an OEM coolant additive that seals it. Funny it works so simply, but it does.