Jim Stewart said:
I'm the proud owner of a '99 Outback and a '04
WRX (my wife's actually, but I encouraged her to
buy it) so I know something about Subarus.
I've listened to complaints about reliablility
and gas milage on this group for months and I'd
like to vent my opinion.
If you want 28 mpg, buy a Honda Accord.
If you want a bulletproof engine, buy a Honda
Accord.
If you want a plain-vanilla car, buy a Honda
Accord.
Subarus are none of the above. If you want to
have an exceptional car that does things that
a Honda Accord could never hope to do, buy a
Subaru. And don't complain if it's not a
Honda Accord.
I've been kind of mystified about the reliability complaints. 167,000 miles
and all I've bought (beside maintenence items) is an alternator and two
cheap sensors? I don't have much record of what came before my ownership at
108,000 miles, but during the warranty period only a few things were
replaced, at least by Subaru that I have record of.
Gas mileage should be a no-brainer. It's AWD. More moving parts = more
drag. Not to mention the extra weight added by the crash safety. Then
there's the issue of the nut behind the wheel - most of the gas mileage
posts I've read start or end with a sentence that goes along the line of
"...and I'm a very good driver." Well, that's a matter of perspective. At
16, I thought I was a good driver. I also thought I was a good driver at
21. I'll tell you this, at 25 I wouldn't willingly get into a car with
myself at either of those ages or anything in between. (I think I'm a good
driver now, though, but ask again when I'm 30.) And how many of us have
gotten into a car with another "good driver" and been gripping the armrest
and making involuntary jabs at the nonexistent brake pedal on the
passenger-side floor.
Anyway, I know this much. When I got my Subaru, I expected lower gas
mileage. And as expected, the gas mileage from the 2.2L Subie was the same
as the mileage from my 3.8L Ford. (22 MPG mixed driving) After gas hit
$2.00 a gallon though, I decided that I was going to make some changes to my
driving style. Suddenly, I was getting 26 MPG mixed driving. Not bad for a
10 year old car with AWD.
I also find it amusing that one of the big complaints USED to be power.
"Needs more power" was what you'd find in the summary of many automotive
publications reviewing a Subaru. Now we've got 200 and 300 HP Subarus
flying around out there and power is more than adequate, but of course those
bigger boxers are going to consume a bit more fuel.
About Honda, I've got no complaints. When my friend was in the market for a
new car, he was initially drawn to Subaru. It's a long, pointless story as
to HOW it happened, but anyway he ended up with a Honda Civic. He's had it
for a year. He's had no problems. He's happy with it, but he's about as
happy with his Civic as he is with his new refrigerator. As in, his Honda
is an appliance. It's boring. Everyone has one it seems, there are about 8
on his street and 3 have the same paint job and exterior options as his.
And although he is happy with his purchase, he often talks about wanting
"something more unique."
I can totally relate. I had a clone car once. That Mercury Sable was so
prolific in these parts that THREE times over the course of my ownership I
accidentally entered someone else's identical Mercury Sable that was parked
near mine. I can tell you that will never happen with my '95 Outback - over
4 years of ownership, I've only seen about 5 of them in the area, and two of
those were at the dealer. Only one was the same color as mine.
-Matt
