is subaru impreza sedan a good choice?

[grape]

I saw it's price... not overpriced as I thought(maybe I watch too much wrx
sti.. haha), so I decidide to move from ford focus to this little subaru
car....

anyhow, Iam living in Canada toronto, where I've heard that there's no parts
made in Canada, and everything has to be shipped from Japan(hell ya... it'll
be expensive to repair, even changing oil), is it true?

however, is this car reliable? I think in the future 10 years I will stick
with it if I bought this sedan, so I want to know its quality.

thank you

best regards,
Cliff

 

[Remco]

They are very solid cars - very reliable and they run forever. You'll
like them when it snows.

I don't think the fact that all the parts come from Japan means very
much at all. Car part replacement is what keeps most companies in
business, so - whether you get hosed by an american or Japanese company
- it makes very little difference in that regard.
What may make a difference is that they are a lot more reliable than
most (certainly Ford), so ultimately repairs will be easier on your
wallet in the long run.

Just my opinion based on Subaru experience. I'd imagine most here will
tell you similar things.

Remco

 

[y_p_w]

I saw it's price... not overpriced as I thought(maybe I watch too much wrx
sti.. haha), so I decidide to move from ford focus to this little subaru
car....

anyhow, Iam living in Canada toronto, where I've heard that there's no parts
made in Canada, and everything has to be shipped from Japan(hell ya... it'll
be expensive to repair, even changing oil), is it true?

Sure, many of the parts will originate from Japan. However - the
prices aren't likely to be that expensive and will probably be
available in warehouses or dealers near you. Many of the factory
parts for your Focus are going to be imported too.

however, is this car reliable? I think in the future 10 years I will stick
with it if I bought this sedan, so I want to know its quality.

Subara has typically had a good repair record. Every manufacturer
has its own set of problems, and it's probably most important to
figure out how well they deal with them and back up their product.

 

[Dominic Richens]

They are very solid cars - very reliable and they run forever. You'll
like them when it snows.

I don't think the fact that all the parts come from Japan means very
much at all. Car part replacement is what keeps most companies in
business, so - whether you get hosed by an american or Japanese
company - it makes very little difference in that regard.
What may make a difference is that they are a lot more reliable than
most (certainly Ford), so ultimately repairs will be easier on your
wallet in the long run.

My Legacy is a 1995 and now things like axle bearings and half-shafts are
starting to go and need replacing. However due to the fact that these parts
have been in production for 10 years, "remanufactured" parts are available
at typicall 40-50% of the price of "new" parts.

 

[Birdy Num Num]

Yo Cliffy,

You're lucky you're in Toronto. There're more dealers out there and you can
get a better price shopping around in the big city than tiny Otta-what. We
have two dealers in Ottawa (another in Hell, oops, Hull, but that's a
strange and foreign country anyways so they don't count). Two of my
colleagues went all the way to TO to get their Subbies, one an Impreza, the
other a Legacy. There're more and more of us at work driving Subbies.
They're great cars and they probably won't be Found On Road Dead.

 

[Andy Leszczynski]

I saw it's price... not overpriced as I thought(maybe I watch too much wrx
sti.. haha), so I decidide to move from ford focus to this little subaru
car....

We have got two Subies - mine 2002 Legacy Outback 5MT and my wife 2002
Imreza 2.5 TS automatic. First used (5Kmiles on it) bought at the
beginning of 2003, second new in August 2001 (2002 model - first with
buggy headlights). Like both but prefers Impreza - we kind of regret
that the Outback is not auto and Impreza is not manual.

We have put 55K miles into Outback and almost 80K miles into Impreza. I
drove the second a lot and think that Impreza it superior contruction
(when compared with 2002 Outback). When we (me+wife+6 years old son) go
for longer trips we prefer Impreza it in spite it is smaller. It better
handles, has got very cozy/high quality interior, nice engine sound
(other day I after driving Honda Civic after 5 minutes I have enough). I
love its front seats, controls, dash. I flys when driven 100 MPH.
Loading it with baggage and travel gear only helps. On a trip
Chicago-Denver-Chicago and average spead 80MPH we have got 25-25 mpg
which is quite decent for such a speed. Stock tires easily survived 50K
miles.

Technicaly the biggest/only problem we have had was real axle bearing
(it costed us $100 parst plus $100 labor - by a friend).

The Impreza's model we have got is a 2.5TS, a wagon what improves the
capcity dramaticaly.

Hope it helps ...

A.

 

[Charles Leblanc]

Hi Cliff

Well, I own a 2000 Impreza, I previously had a 1984 Turbo 4x4 wagon and a
1988 AWD RX-turbo.

The old subarus had a rust problem but they were fairly reliable... anymays,
I never had to much problem but the RX had cracked heads, I choosed to
repair. My friend had a 1992 Loyale 1.8 5spd, he had compression problems,
one head was warped, he changed it

On my 2000 Impreza (less than fine years old) I already had numerous
problem: Battery failed the first year, Read wiper stopped functionning
(repaired it myself), Read windshiels washer noozle stopped functionning,
repaired it myself, Driver side window mechanism broke (repaired by the
dealer), Injector failed, replaced by the dealer 1600$, radiator failed
(cheap plastic and aluminium unit) replaced by the dealer. Numerous light
bulbs burned, had to be towed because it woudn't start last year and the
winshield cracked and the coils of the rear suspension have sag.

I had to pay for all the repairs except the battery that was replaced under
warranty. The car is not driven hard and is always maintained according to
the maintenance schedule.

Upgraded the plugs to Iridium, Upgraded the oil to synthetic (engine,
tranny, diff.) It did improve the gas milleage and the performance
Install a tower strut to stiffen the front end after changing the cracked
windshield.

The only person that I know that had more problems with a car drove a SVT
Contour but he picked the extended warranty.

My Impreza handles very well, had adequate power and good traction but I
WOULD NOT CALL IT RELIABLE! also when you live outside of a big center, it
takes forever for the parts to be delivered so the repairs almost always
take close to one week. This reliability issue is giving me problems for my
work.

I will probably have the timing belt replaced this summer. I will probably
also change the crackshaft seal, the water puimp seal and the oil pump.

All of my Subarus had oil pump and water pump faillures at around 160000km

Charles Leblanc
Impreza 2000 2.2L 5spd

 

[grape]

appreciated all of your replies.

 

[grape]

I saw the price on subaru.ca is about $22995 CDN, how much you think I can
get for sedan?

 

[Spudster]

My family cars have been a '95 Ford Taurus wagon and a '01 Focus wagon. When
the Focus got written off we went with an '02 Impreza Outback Sport and
other than interior space, I find everything about the Impreza to be
superior. I do my own oil changes, and I've never encountered an oil filter
harder to get to than on the Ford Zetec. What a difference with Suby as I
don't even have to jack it up to do an oil change... the filter is hanging
straight down at the front of the engine!

I've always had a sports car for my commuting so it wasn't long after that I
got a WRX for myself. After installing larger turbo, intercooler, injectors,
fuel pump, free-flow exhaust and tuning to 330hp, I haven't seen any
reduction in reliability over 40,000km or in fuel economy (I get 32 imperial
mpg on my longinsh commute).

Steve.

 

[grape]

my dad's toyota camry had battery failed in the first year--1999(though
it's a 2nd hand car made in 1994), and ignites failed twice, wiper replaced
by my dad, our windshield is full of cracks(since it's an old car , so we
don't care) ,the driver side window droped 5 times, alll repaired by my
dad(he is a mechanical engineer). CV adjoint&shaft replaced once after it
sounds like (click click~~~)
radiator doesn't fail, but we washed it by high-pressure water gun,since the
temprature is too high during one summer. and it worked after washing.
once the car can't start and it can be started 4 days later (weird)
the air condition repaired once, but it failed again, then we decided not to
repair it anymore, so our car is like a toaster during the summer.
abs never works, and cruise control are dead ever.
air-bag warning is constant but we decide not to repair it.
upon running, there's a fan noise coming from the engine hood .. but it's
been 3 years this loud , but no problem at all, so we just enjoyed listening
to the loud *hummming*(you can hear this 30 meters away)coz I can
distinguish that it's my dad's car coming when he picks me up at school


but we still call it --- a reliable car. since it never dropped us at
somewhere and has to be towed back , never.


so I guess every car has cons,but yours seem to have an injector failer....
hmmmm... is it worse than the ignitor failure? we replaced 2 sparkles after
that failure.

so I think y our car is ok, except for the injector failure.

 

[grape]

we do all oil changes by ourselves(I mean... by my dad)
and 40000km is ok, but I still can't conclude the reliability.
our toyota camry is almost 400000km(my dad runs 50,000km /year), and all its
problem is like what I described in the replying post to Charles Leblanc's.

hmmmm....but it'll be my first car,( I share that camry with my dad now),
and I always liked subaru (from the game richard burns rally, I drove a
subaru wrc rally car and started loving it, hehe)

news:N5_9e.1096328$Xk.798767@pd7tw3no...

 

[Charles Leblanc]

Every car have their problems, especially after 6-7 years

On my Impreza, everything happened on the third and fourth year of ownership

My car was a 2000 Impreza purchased new from the dealer in 2000. It will be
five years old next month.

Subarus are intersting cars and if you live in Toronto, you will not have
problems with parts or repairs.

I really love the handling but I do not know if I am going to pay the
Subaru's premium for my next car unless I move back in a bigger city.

I had alot of problem with it and with the price of fuel going up, I will
probably move to a more fuel efficient car for my next purchase.

The last thing is that already in 2000, my dealer was looking at the Audi
buyers and if you only purchase an Impreza, you will notice it. Since they
are selling many cars worth twice the money of your car, it will show in
the level of service that you are getting. My dealer was located in
Montreal and was selling more Outback H6 than he was selling Imprezas. Of
course they will suck up to you when you are making your purchase but after
that, the level of service dropped. I eventually moved to another city and
I had a better dealer. He gave me much better service even if I did not
purchase the car from him.

Charles

 

[uglymoney]

we do all oil changes by ourselves(I mean... by my dad)
and 40000km is ok, but I still can't conclude the reliability.
our toyota camry is almost 400000km(my dad runs 50,000km /year), and all its
problem is like what I described in the replying post to Charles Leblanc's.

hmmmm....but it'll be my first car,( I share that camry with my dad now),
and I always liked subaru (from the game richard burns rally, I drove a
subaru wrc rally car and started loving it, hehe)

Charles was doing a lot of complaining about Bulb failure. Man BULBS!
Shit, my Outback is an 02 and god forbid bulbs are going to start
failing shortly. All hell is going to break loose.

I'm going to be so pissed at that piece of shit Subaru is bulbs start
popping on me. A japanese car is supposed to have bulbs that are
bright and shiny for the life of the car. It might be time to trade.

nate
02 Outback
no bulb failures at 40k

 

[Birdy Num Num]

beats me. i got my outback limited in vancouver when i was still living
there and had it shipped out to ottawa. your best bet is to call around.
sorry for not being too helpful there.

 

[Birdy Num Num]

In all, my parents and I have owned 2001 Forrester, 2001 Outback Ltd, 2002
Impreza, 2003 WRX, 2005 Legacy 2.5T, and 2005 STI. The Impreza is better
handling than the Outback and Forrester. The WRX and STI are amazing
though. Bloody awesome handling and amazing power. The Legacy with the
2.5T is very nice driving too. I was a VW driver before switching over to
Subbies. You can't beat the gas mileage of a diesel VW but you also can't
beat the all wheel drive of the Subaru.

 

[DK]

I saw it's price... not overpriced as I thought(maybe I watch too much wrx
sti.. haha), so I decidide to move from ford focus to this little subaru
car....

anyhow, Iam living in Canada toronto, where I've heard that there's no parts
made in Canada, and everything has to be shipped from Japan(hell ya... it'll
be expensive to repair, even changing oil), is it true?

however, is this car reliable? I think in the future 10 years I will stick
with it if I bought this sedan, so I want to know its quality.

By all ndications, Subaru in general and Impreza in particular
became considerable more reliable than they were 10 years ago.
I have first years Impreza, 1993, which means presumably it was
full of bugs then. Over thes years, the following repairs beyond
normal maintanence have been done: starter replaced, front
half-axis replaced (negligence on my part - broken CV boot for
too long), clutch went and needed replacement at 75K. All
in all, about $1,100 US over 12 years which I would consider
reliable.

DK

 

[abc]

A japanese car is supposed to have bulbs that are
bright and shiny for the life of the car. It might be time to trade.

nate
02 Outback
no bulb failures at 40k

Ho Ho Ho. I live in Japan with a 16yr-old Toyota Corolla, and lo and behold
1yr ago I lost a high beam, and this (rolling) year, the other high beam,
one each front and rear turn signal indicators, and one running light. Those
engineers make sure all parts reach an end-of-life at pretty much the same
time, and isn't that a great thing? The car still runs great at 90K, but I
am tired of it and ready for an Impreza STI around 4yrs old and about
USD$17000 from an auction. The Corolla will get a new life (free booty for
the auction access to buy the Subaru) in the middle east, or Africa where my
guy ships his under-appreciated yet still fine Japanese (Toyota's are most
reliable) cars.