Undeserved reputation for reliability?

[bcpianoman]

Over the years there have been many many comments made on this board and elsewhere that suggest that the SVX is an unreliable vehicle – one that, while fun to drive, perhaps should not be relied upon as one’s primary mode of transportation. That reputation is so widespread that in 2003, before I bought my first one, I was warned against buying an SVX that was for sale at a local Subaru dealership. It was a salesman who worked there that warned me.

Well, I bought one anyway. Now I have 4 of them. My wife and I and our two sons each have one for a daily driver. I’m guessing that between them we put 30 to 40 thousand miles on them each year. Collectively, we’ve driven SVXs for an estimated 100 thousand miles. To date, the following is all that I’ve had to do, other than routine maintenance:

Power steering hose (two cars);
Real wheel bearings (one car and those bearings were worn when I bought the car);
Coil pack (one car);
Steady bearing in rear drive shaft; and
Heater core replacement (one car).

This doesn’t include minor problems like cruise control repair consisting of reattaching the vacuum hose, automatic seatbelt track cleaning and lubrication and O2 sensor replacement.

Two of my cars have 5-speeds which have given me no problems at all. The other two still have the stock automatic transmissions. I’ve installed a transmission cooler and in-line filter in the first one I bought (over 4 years ago) and have had no problems at all with it. The other automatic, which I bought only a few months ago, will soon get a cooler and filter too.

I don’t consider any of these difficulties to be unusual for 15-year-old cars with close to 600 thousand miles between them. Despite having been warned about the maintenance requirements and expense associated with SVX ownership, I’ve found them to be very dependable and I don’t think they deserve their bad reputation. And no – I’m not going to knock on wood – I don’t think I have to.

[PDSides]

Some folks get good service out of their Yugo. Go figure. Few cars in the modern era deserve an overall poor service rating. Some are much better than others but you can find good ones in each brand. I'm with you. My SVX was virtually trouble-free, far and away the best overall car I have ever owned. I give it that rating not simply because it was trouble-free, but due to its fun-to-drive and unique-to-own factors as well. If you start with a good SVX and maintain it properly, it should be as reliable as any other car on the market, maybe more so.
Preston

[sicksubie]

I agree with the first post. I have had 3 SVX's and they have all been great cars.

[Crazy_pilot]

A well maintained SVX is as reliable as any car you're going to find. Things rarely "just break" on these cars, except for maybe the plastic rad tanks and a couple misc items. A poorly maintained SVX however, could be a different story.

[benebob]

It isn't unreliable. In fact every year it, the mita, the non-turbo z and the supra of its day were the only sports cars listed by Consumer reports as being recommended (based mostly on reliablity as reported by owners). Issue is its an EXPENSIVE car to upkeep properly (which upkeep is what keeps it reliable). Then you bring in the lack of resale value for 'em the car is barely worth its annual maint. if you're in the 60k or 120k service years.

Try driving a 92 Corvette 100k without being religious about its maint!

[Hop]

IMO, it's not that they're unreliable, but when something goes wrong it's just hard to find someone that knows enough about them to fix them. Even so, I'm keeping mine and probably will for a long time.

[redsvx]

One thing you have to keep in mind is that the SVX was a radically new design in 92 for Subaru.
Any new model will experience growing pains and the SVX is no different.

With no major changes for 5 years ... and being daily driver cars for over 15 years ... I'd say the SVX is in the reliable class. :)

Not many cars in it's class can boast that. :D

[subarufamily]

I agree it is a huge ordeal on finding a good mechanic that knows our cars , I ended taking mine to the steelership, AND ONLY 1 tech knew about the car!!:eek::eek::eek: so when he went on vacation for a month I prayed it didnt break down it didnt and I have now driven it for 2.5 years w/o any problems (knock on wood ) you just gotta have the $$ for the maint.

[Nomake Wan]

A well maintained SVX is as reliable as any car you're going to find. Things rarely "just break" on these cars, except for maybe the plastic rad tanks and a couple misc items. A poorly maintained SVX however, could be a different story.

Doubly agreed on this point, as it was the point I was going to make. :)

[ensteele]

I would also add that if someone drives it like it was stolen, you will develop many problems that the average driver doesn't have often. If you treat it with respect, it will treat you right. If not, you will be paying and paying and paying ... :rolleyes:

[NikFu S.]

I'm one of the people who drove it like it's stolen. :D

Tranny has been the only major issue due to that. Everything else is regular maintenance. If you ask the right people, you'll find plenty of new cars having plenty of problems the SVX does not have. I know a guy with a Mazda 6, the tranny has been replaced or fixed 3 times in 3 years.

[crazyhorse]

Something my dad taught me, back when I was riding BMX: "The harder you ride it, the harder you have to take care of it" This holds true of almost every car I've ever owned.
Subarus are reliable in general, but expensive to repair when they do break. The SVX is no exception. Although if you have to send it to a shop, almost no-one knows anything about these cars. This leads to even more expense.
Thank goodness I can do most of my own work.

[Trevor]

I have pointed out all that is being said here many times. My SVX has been 100% reliable as a daily driver.

I do not understand all the problems with mechanics regarding the car as a complete oddball. It is a bloody motor car for goodness sake. Kiwi mechanics are in no way frightened by it. :lol:

[Turbone]

It is somewhat of a oddball. Not to many cars in the US have a flat 6.
I can only think of 2 at the moment.
Most mechs are used to working on in-line 4/6's, V6/V8's. When they see a flat/boxer engine, most start having a tizzy and are scared to work on them.
My DD has 203K on it, so the PO must have done something right (except for not installing a tranny cooler, which is now fixed).
Good preventitive maintenance is the key to making any car last.
Unless it was a poorly designed POS to begin with :p

[Mike621]

My Claret is nearing 170k and has never let me down, because the maintenance on it has always been done properly, and I have every record since it was new.

As for other SVXs Ive owned, a few of them have been cases of me trying to undo years of neglect.

I will testify that the SVX is a reliable, safe, and sturdy vehicle built for the long run.

[Tim]

Out of all the problems I had, the svx never left me stranded. All of the problems allowed me to continue to get home with caution :)

[Myxalplyx]

Well, I'd love to join the crowd here but I can't say the same. I was one of those folks that had the fear of purchasing one due to the problems that I knew about. The two main problems that discouraged me was:

1) Possibility of needing to buy a new transmission,

2) Wheel bearing issues.

I have been part of the SVX community since the yahoo days and I only bought one last year. Those two items scared the crap out of me, especially the tranny so I said I would never purchase one unless the person I bought it off of cared for their car (Thanks Chike).

Another thing that discouraged me is the car's weight. I always felt like Subaru was used to making lightweight or fairly lightweight vehicles. Going to this heavy car would pose them some long term problems due to parts being stressed over the years and eventually breaking. It was just my personal philosophy. Funny thing is, I still feel this way about the SVX (Not the late model Subarus). It just the transition from to the SVX and it being new territory and all. The car looks so heavy.

I don't drive it much. Perhaps my attitude needs to change with threads like this. Currently, I have anti-freeze leaking from somewhere (It never hits the ground but I smell it big time) and a left turn, clicking from the drivers side. I just have been lazy to fix those items. No other problems I know of. Something in me though is just waiting for something major to happen. :( I'm a pessimist at heart so. :o

I do like the car very much though. Always wanted one, hence me lurking forever on the boards.

[CorSVXette]

You talk about a transmission cooler and in-line filter. Is that a good idea for these cars? Should I install those things?

[Trevor]

Well, I'd love to join the crowd here but I can't say the same. I was one of those folks that had the fear of purchasing one due to the problems that I knew about. Something in me though is just waiting for something major to happen. :( I'm a pessimist at heart so. :o

I do like the car very much though. Always wanted one, hence me lurking forever on the boards.

The bad reputation, because most of the stuff posted here, relates to problems is surely the reason for this thread. I came here after purchasing my car and the inference was that I had been stupid and purchased a lemon. By contrast the SVX has been the best all round car I have owned, and I have had a good cross section of makes and models.

When I delved deeper, it did not take long to realise the degree of abuse dealt out to the car on many fronts. Four wheel burn out attempts, red line at every opportunity, mods galore upsetting the original design parameters, stalled transmission starts, etc. Worst of all, piss poor butcher mechanics.

Most cars well over ten years old and with over 100,000 miles achieved, and all that is visible to visitors here, is moan bloody moan. :(

THE SVX IS A DAMN GOOD AUTOMOBILE. :p

[crazyhorse]

No matter what automotive forum you go to, you're going to hear stories of broken cars. It's what forums are for. The more "love" you read from a forum, usually the more reliable the car.
The most love I've ever seen in a forum is at the www.fordpinto.com forums. The Pinto guys not only love thier cars, they suffer the slings & arrows of it's "firey" reputation. (yeah 7 cars caught fire injuring around 15 people) Taking that out of the picture, Pintos are likely MORE reliable than any Subie, & cheaper to fix. (unless you bend it)
The Subie sites I belong to are more friendly though. (subaruxt.com USMB, & here)

[Turbone]

You talk about a transmission cooler and in-line filter. Is that a good idea for these cars? Should I install those things?

Yes, by all means, install a cooler and change out the in-line filter. If yours has the recall filter on it, you can change it to the Perma Cool set up.
Look in the "How To Docs", theres info for both installs.

[nextse7en]

I hate to be the one to disagree, but the svx was well thought out in may areas, the others, however, are for more prone to failure than most modern cars (the exception being land rover, the other car I own.)

In many areas, the car indeed was a new platform, and deserved to be designed as such, but for whatever reasons, subaru really dropped the ball on the last 5% of development.

While it is certainly not a major issue, the sun visors will provide me with an excellent example, regardless.

If one tears into the visors they will find that they are EXACTLY the same visors used on all loyal and GL-DL cars, they have simply been wrapped in velour, as a result, the retaining ring cracks due to additional weight. And we have to replace them.


The 4EAT was designed to push a lighter car with a smaller motor, if heat doesn't kill your tranny, then the weight will grenade the front diff, it's a matter of time.

Bearings, PS pump, brake system, all designed for lighter cars, all fail.

I love my SVX, I love what Subaru did right, which is most of the car. Someone obviously loved this car in the design stage, and it shows. I salute Subaru for allowing the public to drive something almost no one ever gets the chance too.


We get to drive a concept car. I just wish they had conceptualized better.


-Patrick

[Myxalplyx]

The 4EAT was designed to push a lighter car with a smaller motor, if heat doesn't kill your tranny, then the weight will grenade the front diff, it's a matter of time. ........
Bearings, PS pump, brake system, all designed for lighter cars, all fail.

-Patrick

Thanks Pat for putting what I was trying to say in a better assortment of words.

I still ain't giving this car up though. :p

[shotgunslade]

I have probably abused my car as much as anyone here. It now has 19 track days on it, for a total abuse duration of almost 30 hours. It has almost failed me a couple of times, but always got me back home. Closest shave was when the power steering return hose split at Pocono. Luckily the local mechanic fabbed a replacement out of generic high pressure hose, and I got home. Most esoteric problem was when the power steering pump began hemorrhaging, spilling fluid on the AC belt, which jumped a groove and wore a hole in the timing belt cover, allowing a plastic shard of the cover to get lodged between the belt and the cog, causing the belt to jump a tooth or two. Young Tom scoped that one out and got my power back.

This post is just to reaffirm 2 points made previously. The car is no more fragile than the great majority of cars out there. Remember that our community, among car groups, is celebrating cars well beyond social security car years. Most of these cars aren't garage queens, either. Many of them are daily drivers and don't even have benefit of garages. Yet they plug on from day to day giving good service for 150,000 mile vehicles.

The second point is the necessity of having a good mechanic who knows the cars. The Subaru dealership checked out my car when I complained it was down on power and didn't find the shredded timing belt cover and jumped belt. I had to call in Super Tom for the rescue.

By the way, had a great day at Lime Rock Saturday. Will post some pics when they come out.

[JaySVX]

I don't think it's that the SVX is unreliable at all. Just that it can be quite expensive to properly maintain, especially if you frequently enjoy spirited driving.

I think the main point of unreliability is the automatic transmission. This, I have to agree with. However, I also have a 5 speed manual transmission in mine. After that, my problems have gone away(other than MAF, coil pack, lower control arm bolt) and most issues have been generated by me.

Over-all I love my car. There aren't many I'd be willing to take in it's place. Sadly, it seems the 2door sports car is on it's way out, so I'll be driving mine as long as humanly possible.

[dcarrb]

IMO, it's not that they're unreliable, but when something goes wrong it's just hard to find someone that knows enough about them to fix them.
I continue to be surprised by how much trouble folks seem to have finding someone competent to service an SVX. Guess I should count my blessings.

In four years of SVX ownership, my mechanic's only dismissive comment about my cars targeted Subaru in general and had to do with the cost of tone wheels: "Fifteen cents wortha pot metal!" for close to $200 bucks each. And he didn't believe me at first when I told him my teal SVX had a rear wheel bearing going bad again, after some 40,000 miles. When once I asked the tech if changing the plugs and cam cover gaskets had given him any trouble, he rolled his eyes and said, "Pffft." Foolish of me to ask.

Someone raised the excellent point that these are old cars that should be driven and maintained as such to remain roadworthy. I cringe every time I read here of someone having this problem or that at "WOT." Spend much time there in a fifteen year old car and, well, duh... that car is not long for this world. And thus the fleet dwindles.

The bottom line is that with the exception of one dead battery (which was overdue to be replaced), my cars get me home. So long as they do that, they're earning their keep.

dcb

[svxistentialist]

On balance I am for the motion, and I have always said to intending owners that once they buy a good, cared-for SVX and attend to the known problems, they have got a very reliable vehicle.

On the other side of the argument, Kevin and Patrick are not wrong, there are parts of the car under-engineered, at least under-engineered for the uses to which it may be put.

A tranny cooler is needed. A well and properly rebuilt gearbox will last the life of the car.

Bearings once gone the first time will probably always recur unless the installer does it all perfect. Even doing this it is my opinion that the OEM bearings have an inadequate spec for the weight of the car and the forces it exerts. The heavier grade bearings installed by Tony in Australia have never broken down even under the most extreme use.

Knowing all these problems I would still buy another. The combination of virtues this car has far outweighs the known problems.

Joe:)

[redsvx]

The combination of virtues this car has far outweighs the known problems.

Joe:)

Well said !!! :)

[AlcyoneDaze]

In a year (celebrating next week!) of owning this car, I haven't had to do anything beyond what I would label as standard maintenance: tires, belts, radiator, brakes, hoses, sensors, etc...

When you include stuff that falls under standard SVX maintenance, replacing the wheel bearings, brakes all around, and transmission ARE standard wear items for this car - i knew that before I bought it and suck it up

In response to the non-WOT crowd, I fully understand that every run up to 130mph is probably shaving years off the end, but its kinda like smoking; the last years are the wheezing, dying, crappy years anyway - so live for the present. have fun with what is a well-built reliable daily drivable car that sees 200+k regularly

[redsvx]

Looking in the 1996 Canadian Car guide from the Toronto Auto Show ... it lists the SVX at $45000 cdn ...
well if I bought the car today at around $5000 I guess ...
I could justify putting another $40000 into it to make it good as new or better :D

[Trevor]

In a year (celebrating next week!) of owning this car, I haven't had to do anything beyond what I would label as standard maintenance: tires, belts, radiator, brakes, hoses, sensors, etc...

When you include stuff that falls under standard SVX maintenance, replacing the wheel bearings, brakes all around, and transmission ARE standard wear items for this car - i knew that before I bought it and suck it up

In response to the non-WOT crowd, I fully understand that every run up to 130mph is probably shaving years off the end, but its kinda like smoking; the last years are the wheezing, dying, crappy years anyway - so live for the present. have fun with what is a well-built reliable daily drivable car that sees 200+k regularly

Be very sure that I do not believe that WOT should hurt the car. Driving a car quickly does not constitute abuse. In a motor race one must drive to finish.

Maximum power can be utilized and maximum performance achieved, without the intent of damaging or abusing the machinery. However some of the antics portrayed display a complete lack of skill and or absolute stupidity. Children are inclined to break their toys.:lol:

[crazyhorse]

+1 for Trevor
Driving fast isn't abusive to a car. Driving violently is.
If you're smooth with all your inputs, you're not hurting a car. However, even smoothly, frequent trips to redline, and holding it there, are bad juju. Driven sensibly, even if it's being driven hard, any car should take it for a LONG time. Just remember to keep up with ALL the regular maintenance on the "severe" schedule.
Respect your SVX & it'll serve you for MANY years.

[bwb3]

Driving home from Christmas dinner at the in-laws in Daytona Beach (100 miles) in the Volvo, the transmission warning light came on and it went into limp home mode. Basically the same as its manual setting where is starts in 2nd and shifts gently at lower RPM's (snow driving mode). The next day my mechanic ran the codes and it indicated faulty transmission position sensor and faulty selenoid 1 (he said it has a total of 7). Getting it fixed for a reasonable price, luckily. I guess the point is I got a lift home and started up the SVX. Ended up driving over a 100 miles in the country with Ben and came home with a big grin on my face. It's always there when I need it, or not.:)
Gene

PS: Last year the transmission did fail backing out of the driveway, $1,200 rebuild with heavier duty clutches, and a power stearing hose sprung a leak on a trip, simple connection came loose. Did stain a good friends driveway though, very embarrassing.