Cannonball
New member
Agree 100%. Subaru customer service really sucks. I had a starter issue that was an even bigger deal. I can't believe the lengths I had to go through to finally get fixed.
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I want to love the 2014-15 Subaru Forester
- Thread starter billski
- Start date
Agree 100%. Subaru customer service really sucks. I had a starter issue that was an even bigger deal. I can't believe the lengths I had to go through to finally get fixed.
Never had any of these issues; never heard of a car just losing oil. Where does it go?
Maybe it's new Subis, mine are(were) 1996, 2004, 2005, 2005, and 2011.
Never had a bad CS experience either. Just sayin'.
Maybe it's new Subis, mine are(were) 1996, 2004, 2005, 2005, and 2011.
Never had a bad CS experience either. Just sayin'.
I'll be interested to hear the class action lawsuit results.
Does it involve the head gasket? As far as I'm concerned, pretty much every Subaru owner who has paid to have a head gasket repaired should get a refund. It sounds like the problem still persists. That's a $2k fix. When a problem is that common, it is a design flaw. Head gasket replacement is an extremely rare issue with all other brands. It's not routine maintenance. How Subaru has gotten away with defrauding their customers over that issue for all these years blows my mind.
Does it involve the head gasket? As far as I'm concerned, pretty much every Subaru owner who has paid to have a head gasket repaired should get a refund. It sounds like the problem still persists. That's a $2k fix. When a problem is that common, it is a design flaw. Head gasket replacement is an extremely rare issue with all other brands. It's not routine maintenance. How Subaru has gotten away with defrauding their customers over that issue for all these years blows my mind.
Edd
Well-known member
Same here. I've had a 2002 and a 2010; very fortunate with reliability.
180
Well-known member
we have had 3 outbacks and 1 imprezza, no oil burning issues
steamboat1
New member
I've had good experiences with Subi's customer service.
There is an existing class action lawsuit that is still open for new customers. I think the settlement is extended warranties on the engine. I'm with you, how they manage to tout "reliability" is beyond me. The things really start failing around 65k.
Has the 2014 had any issues since?
My 2015 Impreza with 6k on the clock is scheduled for a new engine. Since mile 1, it has consumed approximately 2.5 quarts of oil per 3,000 miles. The oil consumption test didn't take long to determine that someone is seriously wrong with the engine. My guess is that they're going to send the small block back to the manufacturer and test/try to diagnose what is causing their equipment to not operate so spectacularly.
In my case, it was a company car, so I wouldn't be entitled to a benefit. It was a 2005 Legacy Wagon with 94K miles on it when it completely went to hell. Head gasket gone, tie rods, timing belt, CV boots, rotars. It was basically a $4K repair bill.
I took over the vehicle when it was 3 years old and had 67K miles and it felt like I was driving a 10 year old vehicle. Granted the prior rep lived in Manhattan. That said, I spend a great deal of time driving around Boston for work and haven't had any issues with my Mazda 3 (124k miles) or the Hyundai Sonata (167K) miles before it.
I'd like to think I had a lemon, but then I read about your experience and that of so many others and I question whether I buy a Subaru someday even if the utility makes sense.
I took over the vehicle when it was 3 years old and had 67K miles and it felt like I was driving a 10 year old vehicle. Granted the prior rep lived in Manhattan. That said, I spend a great deal of time driving around Boston for work and haven't had any issues with my Mazda 3 (124k miles) or the Hyundai Sonata (167K) miles before it.
I'd like to think I had a lemon, but then I read about your experience and that of so many others and I question whether I buy a Subaru someday even if the utility makes sense.
I don't get why Subaru has such a cult following. When I was car shopping they just did not make sense. If you're after utility, there are more reliable and more practical vehicles for the money.
You should never have to put oil into a car between changes which should be at least 7,500 miles apart. It is not normal to need to refill the oil.
There are a lot of reliable manufacturers on the market today, but Subaru is not one of them. Who has looked at the J.D. Power's Dependability studies? You might be interested by the results. It's not pretty if you're Subaru.
2016: http://www.jdpower.com/cars/awards/Vehicle-Dependability-Study-(VDS)-by-Category/843ENG
2015: http://www.jdpower.com/cars/awards/Vehicle-Dependability-Study-(VDS)-by-Category/433ENG
I change my oil at 5K, but that's mainly due to rotating tires at the same time. Perhaps I'll push it out to 7500. I wonder if I'll notice any appreciable loss in tread life on the tire. I like doing both oil and rotation at the same appointment out of convenience.
On both my vehicles I change the oil and rotate the tires at the same time. On my Hyundai Santa Fe, that's every 7500 miles. On my Chevy Silverado, it's whenever the computers tells me to do so, which is about the same but changes based on driving conditions.
SkiFanE
New member
I have a longstanding (maybe outdated?) stereotype against Subarus, so never look or consider them.
But - as a 5'4" woman all seats suck. Both our cars have lumbar support but it's too high for my back so it's useless. Part of my daily core excercise is sitting up perfectly straight in all cars because none are ever comfortable. So don't even consider seat when choosing car.
We have a 2013 Mazda CX-5 - didn't realize at the time it was a new model. Have absolutely loved it. Has almost 80k miles and is only new car that I've never had to take to dealer for warranty items (thankfully, dealers suck lol). Only problem is brakes wore out by 26k miles which pissed me off - and I felt compelled to have tire store fix for fear of my life (lol). Later I learned Mazda recognized some flaw in brakes eventually, husband has done last 2 brake jobs. They now have a V6 which i'd probably get. Going from a BMW to this was like going from cheetah to rhino lol, but I learned pretty fast I can't merge into highway traffic like I used too. But truly no big deal. Gas mileage is consistent 26mpg.
But - as a 5'4" woman all seats suck. Both our cars have lumbar support but it's too high for my back so it's useless. Part of my daily core excercise is sitting up perfectly straight in all cars because none are ever comfortable. So don't even consider seat when choosing car.
We have a 2013 Mazda CX-5 - didn't realize at the time it was a new model. Have absolutely loved it. Has almost 80k miles and is only new car that I've never had to take to dealer for warranty items (thankfully, dealers suck lol). Only problem is brakes wore out by 26k miles which pissed me off - and I felt compelled to have tire store fix for fear of my life (lol). Later I learned Mazda recognized some flaw in brakes eventually, husband has done last 2 brake jobs. They now have a V6 which i'd probably get. Going from a BMW to this was like going from cheetah to rhino lol, but I learned pretty fast I can't merge into highway traffic like I used too. But truly no big deal. Gas mileage is consistent 26mpg.
Interesting on the brakes. At 124K miles I'm still on my original pads and rotors with my Mazda3 and they perform good as new. Granted, I drive a stick, so I use the transmission for much of my braking. That said, I keep expecting my mechanic to tell me it's time for new brakes and it hasn't happened yet.
Seriously? I change my own pads religiously every year and I average 20-25k per year. I could *maybe* get 50k from the front pads, longer on the rear. But I don't like to push it because regularly changing the pads helps the rest of the brakes last longer. The cost of pads is a small price to pay to keep the brakes fresh. A full set of quality ceramic pads are $60 for my SUV and $75 for my truck. On top of that you'll sometimes seem rebates if you keep and eye out, which can bring the cost down to about $30/vehicle.
Rotors get changed as needed. My SUV seems to eat up rear rotors about every 50k. Fortunately it's only about $50 for a quality pair of rear rotors. The front rotors are still original at 105k, but I'll probably just replace them when I do the rear rotors this summer. That'll set me back another $80 for the front pair. They don't need to be replaced, but I take the attitude that I might as well while I have things apart.
Bostonian
Well-known member
What about leasing an Audi Allroad or Q5? I had a Q5 I traded in at 50k miles with no issues, wanted to get back into a car and now have a 2016 A4 - but it's wicked low to the ground...
Yup. I've had similar experiences with other manual transmission cars.
Outside of driving performance I prefer manuals for the lower maintenance costs. Transmission issues are much cheaper fixes with a MT as well.
Because I have owned 5 and all have been great values and very reliable. My wife and kids drive them. The 11 Legacy is mine. Always treated right if I had an issue. Personal experience over 20 years of Subi ownership trumps any consumer test.
Maybe you guys just have sh*tty luck.
Cannonball
New member
The 2014 has been fine since. Sounds like you have the exact issue she had. The frustrating part is that it is clearly a well known problem, yet the dealers and Subaru HQ pretend that it isn't.
The same is true with my starter issue. From day one (new car) it wasn't starting properly. I had it back to the dealer SIX times. Each time they made a diagnosis that ranged from "it's normal" to "we made a minor adjustment". Then one day I was in a random store parking lot cranking the engine furiously to no avail. A random guy walked over to me, introduced himself as a mechanic at a different Subaru dealer, and told me it was a well-known problem that Subaru had yet to confess to. Three weeks later Subaru HQ officially recognized the problem and I got my starter replaced. I got no acknowledgement of the extensive time and aggravation I had spent going back-and-forth to the dealer for a problem they pretended not to understand.
Cannonball
New member
More likely that you just have really GOOD luck. Considering that the issue is big enough to result in a couple of class-action lawsuits and a recall, it's not just a couple of people with bad luck.
Cannonball
New member
"The excessive oil consumption problem appears to be with "unanticipated wear of the oil control piston rings as the root cause of the oil consumption defect." - See more at: http://www.torquenews.com/1084/subaru-sued-over-excessive-oil-consumption-your-car-list#sthash.37sqsKKa.dpuf"
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