I would avoid the Subi turbo'd cars outside of a warranty. They don't only have a bad tune but they have poor design.

I own a Legacy GT, rebuilt the motor and am Stage 2 now. Still not in love with the car. I've got the AWD stuck several times. It's really a FWD car with an AWD badge. Go see how easily the stupid system gets stuck. One wheel can bleed all the power off.

Go research ringland failure, cracked pistons, turbo failures and the like. They are between domestic and Honda/Toyota quality. So keep 3-4k ready to replace/fix your motor.

 

Are they really that bad? Even the wrx?

I love the idea of the leg gt or wrx. For every story like yours there is another saying "trouble free for 200k miles".

 

They are not perfect but no, they are not that bad. Think about it this way, a turbo boxer engine with 4wd is always going to have more problems than an 2wd NA I4. Subaru is a much smaller brand than Honda or Toyota and a much more enthusiast oriented brand. Given that fact, Subaru has generally done very well in reliability surveys but you hear more about the problems because their forums are very active. Here is my caveat, Subaru are run HARD by most owners, buying one used is a much trickier proposition than buying a used Honda. Thats my two cents...might be more like 3 or 4 cents

P.s. your signature gif makes it really hard to read your posts. Very distracting in my peripheral.

Also, damn this thread for making good suggestions, now I am drooling over a 2006 S4 Avant with a 6 speed.

 

Maintenance is key for them. If the turbo blows it usually takes the motor out with it. So you need to be careful to replace turbo before it grenades.

Stock tunes are usually bad on subarus. A custom tune will make it run safer for sure.

They have wheel bearing issues regularly, clutches are fairly weak and turbos can starve of oil easily if you have the screen filters still in the oil lines.

If maintained well they should lags a long time!

Clutches don't last very long it seems either. Mine is going now at 82k miles in sport sharp mode it slips.

Might last for a while if I kept it in sport mode however.

 

It's a complicated setup.

• H4 which has trouble not burning oil.
• Turbo which wears.
• Certain years have a cat before turbo which often fails taking out the turbo and then your motor.
• Subi put in a crude oil screen which has clogged, yes taking out turbo and motor at the same time.
• The AWD system is just a bunch of fluid diffs. No smarts. No really AWD.
• Wheel bearings are bad
• Many, including myself, have had the fluid lines leak enough to cause massive gas smells. Subi rarely helps with defective stuff
• TMIC often begins to fail
• Boost leaks are common and cumbersome to fix
• Legacy has weak firewall giving before poor brake feel.
• Legacy's brake performance is horrible
• General engineering on this car will make you cringe

For me this is my first and last Subi. I bought an 05 in great shape in 2011 with 60k on it. By the time I got to 90K I had:

• Replaced CV joint
• Replaced fuel lines
• Rebuilt motor

It's a total of $6k in work. The most I've ever put into a car.

What's failing now:

• Power steering pump
• Wheel bearings

 

goddamn... and people say bmw is bad? where is the rant against subaru? lol

 

Really the fan boys down play it. You post much negative on the subi forums and you're told you bought the wrong car.

Where is the auto tranny filter? No where near the tranny. It's relocated by the front drive side headlight in the fender behind the batter. So if you get in a fender bender you might drive away thinking everything was ok and kill your tranny. Engine work is a PITA.

When my fuel lines leaked. The ex-wife just b!tched about it to me. So I look into it. They did a bunch of recalls in 'colder' states. They knew they had a problem. I pushed back and said a lot of factual things, and the simple fact is I've never had fuel lines fail. They under spec'd the rubber grade I gather. They covered half the cost. While people in the recalled states paid nothing.

Turns out my then ex-wife got a massive discount because of a parent company connection and so we paid very little. I've never had that problem with my Honda;s. When the TL tranny issue came about. Acura just replaced my tranny, no questions asked.

Don't get my started on how Subi tunes in knock and runs lean into the first few psi of boost. Dramatically increasing the chances of failure.

 

Subaru crowd does try and downplay any issues or weaknesses in the car! Answer to anything breaking or being poor quality is you gotta pay to play lol.

 

Really the fan boys down play it. You post much negative on the subi forums and you're told you bought the wrong car.

Where is the auto tranny filter? No where near the tranny. It's relocated by the front drive side headlight in the fender behind the batter. So if you get in a fender bender you might drive away thinking everything was ok and kill your tranny. Engine work is a PITA.

When my fuel lines leaked. The ex-wife just b!tched about it to me. So I look into it. They did a bunch of recalls in 'colder' states. They knew they had a problem. I pushed back and said a lot of factual things, and the simple fact is I've never had fuel lines fail. They under spec'd the rubber grade I gather. They covered half the cost. While people in the recalled states paid nothing.

Turns out my then ex-wife got a massive discount because of a parent company connection and so we paid very little. I've never had that problem with my Honda;s. When the TL tranny issue came about. Acura just replaced my tranny, no questions asked.

Don't get my started on how Subi tunes in knock and runs lean into the first few psi of boost. Dramatically increasing the chances of failure.
[/quote]

Wow between this, brz engine failures, and such difficulty in getting Subaru NA to get warranty work done on a stock car, I'd never buy a Subaru.

 

Really the fan boys down play it. You post much negative on the subi forums and you're told you bought the wrong car.

Where is the auto tranny filter? No where near the tranny. It's relocated by the front drive side headlight in the fender behind the batter. So if you get in a fender bender you might drive away thinking everything was ok and kill your tranny. Engine work is a PITA.

When my fuel lines leaked. The ex-wife just b!tched about it to me. So I look into it. They did a bunch of recalls in 'colder' states. They knew they had a problem. I pushed back and said a lot of factual things, and the simple fact is I've never had fuel lines fail. They under spec'd the rubber grade I gather. They covered half the cost. While people in the recalled states paid nothing.

Turns out my then ex-wife got a massive discount because of a parent company connection and so we paid very little. I've never had that problem with my Honda;s. When the TL tranny issue came about. Acura just replaced my tranny, no questions asked.

Don't get my started on how Subi tunes in knock and runs lean into the first few psi of boost. Dramatically increasing the chances of failure.
[/quote]

Wow between this, brz engine failures, and such difficulty in getting Subaru NA to get warranty work done on a stock car, I'd never buy a Subaru.
[/quote]

Don't forget piston ring land failure in all newer wrx/sti. I have heard that it's not if your motor blows it's when. Seriously people say your almost guaranteed to have engine failure with 2008+ wrx/sti no matter the tune. That why I bought an evo