Subaru - experience
 

I know a few people have sung the praises of scoobies on this forum and I have not heard bad things about them - my general impression is that they are pretty much bullet proof. So I have been offered a really good deal on one - 4 years old with only 35k on it and I am about to bite their hand off (i know the history of the car and the deal is genuine, car has just been fully serviced etc etc) but just wanted to see if anyone had any back experiences? BTW its a loaded Outback Limited - it will be a second car with low use but the AWD will be handy in NY i'm thinking!!

Thanks guys!

Re: Subaru - experience
 

I only have friends with them, all over here, they command very good prices.

I would have a Garage check it out, around here they charge $90 for the service.

Re: Subaru - experience
 

http://www.kbb.com to see what the average price is for that car in that condition in your area.

Re: Subaru - experience
 

Cheers - I know what its worth, and its just been serviced and looked at by a garage so I'm happy with the car and price - just really wanted to make sure there were no horror stories out there!

Re: Subaru - experience
 

The 30k service knocks you back ~$500 -- they change all the fluids! Apart from that horror, they're a great car.

Re: Subaru - experience
 

Subaru's are sound cars. As Boiler said, they are very popular here for their overall reliability etc. They handle great in the snow. The only subjective thing people mention is the power factor... depending on the engine though. Look up subaru forums and see what people say etc and what quirks exist.

Personally, I would contact your insurance agent to see if they can pull some sort of history on it, sorta like a C.L.U.E. report... also do a VIN check with the PD; Carfax(s) are merely guidelines of history but don't catch everything... has it ever been a grey market car?!?

Did your garage do a compression check? I know the mileage is low but if the deal sounds to good to be true... now is your chance to throw caution into the wind

Re: Subaru - experience
 

Yeah, its only (can't believe I'm saying only!) 2.5 litre so its no rocket ship - fine for second car though - we've been driving it for the last few weeks - the car is genuine, I know its history (not grey - bought from and serviced by our local scooby dealer) so I don't have any concerns on that - to be honest the price I'm getting it for I could turn it at a profit even after paying the sales tax - so its pretty much a no brainer, just wanted to get people's views on the cars to confirm my own.

Thanks for all the input!

Re: Subaru - experience
 

There solid, not bad re-sale nor insurance....services aren't to cheap though, but if it's already had a full service at the dealers, it'll be sweet for a while yet.

I know a few people who drive them, and they all like them, especially on dodgy roads, but parts aren't the cheapest if they do go funky, but when are they these days.

Re: Subaru - experience
 

My husband bought a new Subaru Outback for my son's 17th birthday (lucky boy!).

It's a great car, even though it's the one with the smaller Boxer engine and it has a nice 'growl' to it. The boot space is large and cavernous when you put the rear seats forward and sometimes both skis and snowboard go inside if too tired after a long day on the slopes to put on the roof and there is still ample space for four people in the car.

The roadhandling is excellent and it sticks to the road like glue; our son likes to snowboard in the Poconos or upstate NY so we only felt comfortable getting him a car with 4 wheel-drive and of course the Outback has a 5-star safety rating; this was important to us with a young teenager driving in the overcrowded New Jersey suburbs and in the mountains during the winter. The cars are pretty good at holding value for the secondhand market - sounds like the one you are interested in is a good buy, especially as you know its history. Do they have a genuine reason why they want to sell it?

My son's car has only about 11k on the clock and have only had a couple of minor niggles (covered under warranty): the front passenger seat belt alarm wouldn't turn off when the engine was running, and the wiper blades were stuck on to the window by ice and needed replacing. We bought it from and get it serviced at Wayne Subaru in NJ even though there are a couple of Suby dealers closer to our house; the mechanics are real enthusiasts as they are road rally fans. There is a really good forum for Suby owners which is a mine of information for prospective new & used Suby buyers - which I'll send to you by PM later (I'm not at home and it's bookmarked on my laptop).

Re: Subaru - experience
 

The AWD will have absolutely no value in NYC. In addition, if you know how to drive in snow, rain and fog, you don't need a 4x4 to drive competently and safely. It is the driver and not the car that will make or break the driving in inclement weather. I speak from experience.

Since you know the car, the owner and its history, what are you waiting for and why are you asking if someone had a bad experience with a subaru. Everyone loves Toyotas. My daughter drove her brand new one off the lot and 1/2 a mile later the metal timing broke and damaged a good portion of the engine and they would not replace the car but would only fix it. Someone having a bad experience with a car doesn't mean they are all bad apples.

Re: Subaru - experience
 

Agreed.....but you don't know how experienced he is at driving in inclement weather and perhaps he plans to use the car mainly for trips outside NYC (would love to know where he's going to park a second car in the Big Apple and how much it will cost LOL!). The UK winters are much milder than over here in the northeast. My first car in England had front-wheel drive and it had much better roadholding in snow and ice than the rear-wheel drive car that I bought later. The weather patterns have changed and winters are now extremely mild in Britain, so perhaps the O/P hasn't had much practice at driving on snowy, icy roads.

I wouldn't feel comfortable driving in the mountains in heavy snowfall over here without a 4x4, but then again I haven't lived here all of my life, unlike you Rete.

PS: We had a Toyota Corona (called Carina in the UK) when we lived in Singapore, we had no choice of make or model as it was a brand new company car which HR had ordered. We really didn't like it, it was underpowered and the most boring car we've ever had. We paid for the servicing and spare parts and it was pretty expensive. It was no more or less reliable than the European cars we'd driven in the past.

Re: Subaru - experience
 

I have two Subarus right now. One is a 2006 which is great, the other is a 1991 with 115,000 miles on it. When we bought that we had to have quite a bit of work done but this was related to AWD. Apparently the previous owner didn't follow instructions about having all 4 tyres the same/all replaced at the same time as it can cause problems if this isn't done. Our car had different makes of tyres and as a result had a slight torque bind problem (lots of web research found me that phrase). Anyway, it's fine now. Basically, if it's been looked after it should be fine. A friend of mine has had Subarus for years, their first one lasted for 240,000 miles, but their latest seems to have a major problem at about 120,000 - they're not sure exactly why yet but this doesn't sound like it's the norm for Subaru.

Re: Subaru - experience
 

You are absolutely right – the decision is made and I said it’s a no brainer – guess I was just after some conversation and interested in others views and opinions, so thanks for all the replies!

I probably need to update the location as we moved out to Westchester from the city apartment – I have done a fair bit of driving in the ‘inclement conditions’ of the north east (including a winter trip in a 5 liter rear wheel drive Trans Am in Michigan!) and agree that you can drive safely without AWD, and that you can’t legislate for the other idiots on the roads, – doesn’t mean that it doesn’t help and make life easier, so if it was a choice of with or without I’d take it every time!!

Re: Subaru - experience
 

Tires are more important.

Re: Subaru - experience
 

Friend of mine had a Subaru AWD for years and adored it - no problems at all. And even if you CAN drive well in the snow, the AWD sure is nice.