Driven: 2010 Subaru Legacy, the car Subaru needs...

hammer · Sep 14, 2009

deadheadskier said:
well, I'd imagine coming from an S40 as you're everyday driver, there would be a significant drop off in performance.

I really dig the styling of the new Accord Coupe and hear it has decent performance with the V6. I don't expect it to perform like an Audi, Accords have always been fairly vanilla, but then again I don't require that much out of a car.

I like the exterior styling and when I first saw the car I thought "great, Accords are nice cars", but after driving it I felt like they have "Americanized" or "upsized" the car too much. That wasn't the case with the Acrua RL I test drove several months ago...and that car at least as big if not bigger.

Read what you need to have done on the Subaru...ouch.

Edd · Sep 14, 2009

DHS I have an 02 Legacy (different year than yours but the same generation) with 147,000 miles on it and I've had stellar reliability. The car drives like new. The one big issue with that generation was head gasket failures, which I haven't experienced yet. I've treated the car very well. If the previous owner of your car was neglectful while driving in harsh NYC conditions I can see any car being tired. Sorry you're taking it on the chin financially.

deadheadskier · Sep 14, 2009

Thankfully it is a company car and is not my financial obligation. Well, if they decide to not repair it and I have buy a new car, then it will be. The latter scenario I think J is hoping for as she's been driving 'my' car for the past 18 months and wants something a bit more 'chickish' :lol:

hammer · Sep 14, 2009

Edd said:
DHS I have an 02 Legacy (different year than yours but the same generation) with 147,000 miles on it and I've had stellar reliability. The car drives like new. The one big issue with that generation was head gasket failures, which I haven't experienced yet. I've treated the car very well. If the previous owner of your car was neglectful while driving in harsh NYC conditions I can see any car being tired. Sorry you're taking it on the chin financially.

From what I've heard/read, the failure rate after 100K miles tends just as, if not, more dependent on how the car was treated than on how reliable the make/model is as a whole. That said, I'm tired of people saying that Subarus are so reliable when there are so many out there that are having head gaskets replaced...:roll:

Edd · Sep 14, 2009

hammer said:
From what I've heard/read, the failure rate after 100K miles tends just as, if not, more dependent on how the car was treated than on how reliable the make/model is as a whole. That said, I'm tired of people saying that Subarus are so reliable when there are so many out there that are having head gaskets replaced...:roll:

Consumer Reports puts out an annual auto issue with a million stats, one of them being the reliability of a brand as a whole, taking all models into account. In recent years at least Subaru has been in the top 3, with Toyota and Honda. They do enjoy an advantage, though: they don't make many models, and even fewer platforms. This reduces the risk of falling in that rating. CR recommends every model last time I checked.

hammer · Sep 14, 2009

Edd said:
Consumer Reports puts out an annual auto issue with a million stats, one of them being the reliability of a brand as a whole, taking all models into account.

I'm a regular CR subscriber and I get a lot out of their reviews, but over the past year or so I've started to question their reliability assessments...

Reporting reliability based on frequency of repairs alone can be misleading. If a car has very good reliability on most components but has one major problem (head gaskets on the Subaru, sludge on 6 cylinder Toyota engines come to mind), then I would think that their overall reliability assessment wouldn't be that great.

I'm really not knocking Japanese brand cars...with the exception of the head gasket issue, I have had no real complaints about my Subaru Outback or the other Japanese brand cars I have owned. I still would pick a Japanese brand car over the offerings from the (not so big) 3 in the US.

ski220 · Sep 14, 2009

Only my opinion - I think that one reason the head gaskets blow is that Subarus were/are chronically under powered thereby putting to much strain on the engine.

One thing that I noticed (and like) is that now the rear seat splits. Previous generations did not have this feature and it was a prime reason I passed on the Subaru last time.

Currently driving a Volvo. Talk about undeserved reputations. Drives great. Nothing handles like a European car. But the upkeep is dragging me down. Thinking Subaru again. Have had 3 previous.

hammer · Sep 14, 2009

ski220 said:
Currently driving a Volvo. Talk about undeserved reputations. Drives great. Nothing handles like a European car. But the upkeep is dragging me down. Thinking Subaru again. Have had 3 previous.

What year and model is your Volvo and how bad is the upkeep? This new 2009 S40 owner is curious...

And to give the newer Subarus some credit...I think camp said that the head gasket problem was solved a while ago.

Edd · Sep 14, 2009

Pretty tough to not find split seats. Even my 02 has them. I think it was 12 to 18 months ago I was car shopping a bit because of gas mileage concerns. I looked at the base Honda Civic (the current generation). I shit a brick when I found that trim level didn't have split seats. Bad move Honda.

ski220 · Sep 14, 2009

hammer said:
What year and model is your Volvo and how bad is the upkeep? This new 2009 S40 owner is curious...
.

1998 V70R Nothing too major at the moment but lots of little things. Very annoying. That being said, I just turned 100K. Their AWD system is very sensitive to out of balence conditions. I could see drive train i$$ue$ cropping up in the near future. European cars cost more to upkeep IMO.

deadheadskier · Sep 14, 2009

ski220 said:
1998 V70R Nothing too major at the moment but lots of little things. Very annoying. That being said, I just turned 100K. Their AWD system is very sensitive to out of balence conditions. I could see drive train i$$ue$ cropping up in the near future. European cars cost more to upkeep IMO.

I'd be pretty pleased with that. The car is almost 12 years old. I've always part far more miles on vehicles though. My 07 Hyundai, which is turning 3 in October already has 75K miles on it.

I suppose this is why reliability and low repair costs matter more to me than performance. I do need some power though. My POS 1982 Accord Hatchback with 200K miles on it would smoke my Subaru :lol:

hammer · Sep 14, 2009

deadheadskier said:
My POS 1982 Accord Hatchback with 200K miles on it would smoke my Subaru :lol:

And that's why Hondas are so popular...

I still remember the 1988 Civic that we bought as my wife's first car...worst "problem" it had was that it didn't have fuel injection and could be cranky when it was cold. I would not be surprised if it was still on the road today.

Geoff · Sep 15, 2009

hammer said:
From what I've heard/read, the failure rate after 100K miles tends just as, if not, more dependent on how the car was treated than on how reliable the make/model is as a whole.

This.

If you beat on it and aren't anal about the maintainence schedule, most cars will have problems. My lifetime driving pattern was always a huge number of highway miles. My cars usually ran a very long time. My biggest issue has always been front suspensions on SUVs since you can't do much about pot holes winter driving.

Personally, I'd rather drive a car with some soul that has a lesser reliability history. My VW GTIs are econoboxes but the interior is way nicer than the Korean and Japanese options, they're fun to drive, and they're designed for 6'2" Europeans rather than 5'6" Asians. I just stick a 100K extended warranty on them and don't worry about it. Well... my extended warranty with this one is from AIG rather than VW so I'm a little bit worried. I drive them beyond 100K until I've reached my comfort level.

I personally can't justify driving a luxury sports sedan or euro wagon. A BMW or Audi AWD wagon would be a good option for me but I don't feel like eating the depreciation. You can also find VW dealers who don't price gouge. Good luck with a BMW or Audi dealer. I own a boat so I already have a money pit. I don't need my daily driver to be the same.

Glenn · Sep 15, 2009

Geoff said:
This.

If you beat on it and aren't anal about the maintainence schedule, most cars will have problems. My lifetime driving pattern was always a huge number of highway miles. My cars usually ran a very long time. My biggest issue has always been front suspensions on SUVs since you can't do much about pot holes winter driving.

Personally, I'd rather drive a car with some soul that has a lesser reliability history. My VW GTIs are econoboxes but the interior is way nicer than the Korean and Japanese options, they're fun to drive, and they're designed for 6'2" Europeans rather than 5'6" Asians. I just stick a 100K extended warranty on them and don't worry about it. Well... my extended warranty with this one is from AIG rather than VW so I'm a little bit worried. I drive them beyond 100K until I've reached my comfort level.

I personally can't justify driving a luxury sports sedan or euro wagon. A BMW or Audi AWD wagon would be a good option for me but I don't feel like eating the depreciation. You can also find VW dealers who don't price gouge. Good luck with a BMW or Audi dealer. I own a boat so I already have a money pit. I don't need my daily driver to be the same.

I buy used German cars. I let someone else eat the initial depreciation. We tend to drive our cars for a long long time so resale isn't a concern.

Geoff · Sep 15, 2009

Glenn said:
I buy used German cars. I let someone else eat the initial depreciation. We tend to drive our cars for a long long time so resale isn't a concern.

It's not a German thing. I feel the same way about Lexus, for example. My usual driving pattern puts 30K to 40K per year on a car. I just can't justify the cost per mile of a luxury sport sedan or wagon. I prefer to tie my cash up in non-depreciating assets. My cars are usually pretty trashed after 5 years.

hammer · Sep 15, 2009

Glenn said:
We tend to drive our cars for a long long time so resale isn't a concern.

That's why I'm OK with new cars...

It can be nice to have someone else take the depreciation hit, but when I was looking at CPO cars, the depreciation wasn't as much as I would have hoped, and I would have lost out on a few years of trouble-free (or at least warranty-covered) driving.

Anyone else test-driven the new Subaru?

deadheadskier · Sep 15, 2009

As I suspected, company has decided to scrap the car. It's really not worth the 5K in repairs

So, the focus becomes 100% reliable, safe, economical, car to get from here to there for work.

Was surprised somewhat to see what Edmonds recommends as the best value used compact car for 2002-2007

http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/bestbet/articles/#csedan

This weekend we'll look at an 06 Hatchback with 44K miles for 8500 for J to drive. I'll take back my Sonata.

I am so happy this Subaru is dead and to move on from it, even if it means more money out of my wallet each month. Such a piece of crap

Edd · Sep 15, 2009

A Subi-hating skier.....(sigh). It makes me sad.

deadheadskier · Sep 15, 2009

:lol:

skijay · Sep 15, 2009

I like my 09 Forester so much that I am replacing my daily driver with a 09 Impreza, I was going to pick up an 09 Yaris, but for a few thousand more I get another 2.5 flat four & AWD & power sunroof.

The only time I owned the same make for both cars was with my Saturns.

Driven: 2010 Subaru Legacy, the car Subaru needs...

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