quattro Digest, Vol 3, Issue 58, Re: I am fed up!

[l.leung at juno.com]

Brendan,

When I was last at Liberty Subaru to pick up brake parts
(as I said, expensive compared to aftermarket VAG)the guy
asked me if I had a turbo or not. I said no, and that was
a bummer. He said, no, the turbos were ALOT more problematic,
than the aspros. My GF's family has 3 Subies, none are turbo,
all are problem free except when people hit them. It might
mean the best (read FUN) Subies (i.e. WRX, STi, turbo Forrester,
upcoming Legacy GT) MAY not be such a good idea after all. Guess
I'll have to watch them more on the reliability front before I really
consider one (i.e. Turbo Legacy GT, due possibly even this summer,
according to Autoweek)

Sorry for your pain....

LL - NY

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My 2 cents...
93 subaru legacy turbo, PITA, blown brake booster @ 110k, try finding it for
under $400us, and try stopping without it., main pully cracked(yes, cracked
in half, thank god for non-interference motors), cam bearing seized, all in
a 2 week period, tranny was not happy and heading for a rebuild. now at this
point the car had 130k, but the oil was changed like religion all other
maintenance on schedule. to me it implies a poor quality in oem parts,
especially the pully. Cast parts should not crack in normal driving. spark
plugs are plenty easy to reach with two extansions and a flex to get around
the master cylinder, winshield washer resevoir, and the mass of other tubes
crammed in there.  I liked the performance of the car 160hp 180ft\lbs of
torque even with the autobox it was still fun, but reliability was a major
issue. the flat four is damn near impossible to work on, excluding the
belts. parts are sent in on a raft from japan into a headwind, 3 months to
get a caliper!!! I can't imagine what it would be like to work on a WRX.
smaller chassis, plus that giant intercooler wedged in there? as for the
inside, the most comfortable seats i've ever had, headroom was a non-issue
at 6' even. Great car if you don't have to fix it, or can pay someone
else...
But hey, that's my opinion i could be wrong.

brendan
Northern nj