[s-cars] S-CAR-List Digest, Vol 93, Issue 32

[Mike S]

Guys, 
I went through few Subarus and must say the newer models 05+ have nothing to do with reliability of older, usually non-turbo cars (skip also great 91-94 Legacy SS). 
Most of 05+ turbo cars share the same shortblock - often failing unit thanks to their cracking oil pick up pipes. In meantime, weaker models - forester xt and legacy gt suffer their turbo fails relatively often. My family owned '05 FXT lost compression at 133 miles due to oil starvation and its pick up pipe issue. My '05 LGT had engine and turbo replaced twice - first time fully under warranty at 66k miles. Both failures happened a week after turbo replacements. Cars were stock. My 04 STI died in 130k right after turbo replacement - but it was driven hard and it was surprising it made that far. My 07 STI died at 20k area, but this was caused by first owner and his extensive modification. All these cars share same short block; heads and turbos are different.
Newer models, apart from cracking pistons ringlands and bad tunes from the factory, suffered serious quality issues. Subaru got itself into serious troubles.
 
Please don't get me wrong, these are nice cars, but you can see the failures happen relatively more often and we can call them "serious". In Subaru communities legacy Turbo LGT from 05+ are known as very un-reliable and have bad opinion. It is also reflected in their market prices opposite to non-turbo models. Outbacks apply to the same rule. Plus, you will not see any turbo subaru with mileage over 150k on original engine - sad but true.
 
 
On the good side note is their drivetrains. I may say non-turbo outbacks are pretty solid cars. They easily do 200k with only serious repair which is both headgaskets replacement.
Suspension parts are pretty cheap, fuel consumption not bad. The only problem is the power.... well... power.
 
If not AWD, I daily drive e36 M3 sedan (US 332i :>) ), not that it is the best choice, but it makes its duty reliably. (years 97-98, so its not really newer than urs). Its option of folding rear seats make my life easier too (my previous M3 sedan didn't have it). But again, I must say the beemers from these years have quality issues and are not that strong as audi components, especially interior.
 
If I would want to spend a bit more, I would try get EVO X. I drove one, and after having few evo's VIII, evo X could be a good daily. Possibilities of modifications are endless, its AWD system is great and if you don't talk to pseudo - tuners you may get yourself nice car with reliable motor. And resell after years is going to be impressive, since no more EVO's are going to be produced.
 
Just my 0.02$
 
Mike (oliwer78)