Subaru Cars reliable?
 

My parents don't believe me when I tell them I could buy an old Subie wagon for like $500 and it would run practically forever, probably until the body rusted off around it.

A little uninformed, arent they. ;) :D

It depends. Like any old car, you're goign to have problems with it. But I agree that if you got an old Subaru (or Toyota, or probably Nissan or Mazda), its problems would be less severe than an old Cavalier, for example.

I briefly had an '85 GL wagon with 205k miles on it. The car was not well cared for, and I was constantly fixing it.

Overall, I absolutely agree with you - Subarus are mostly fantastic cars and incredibly reliable. I was very happy with how reliable my SVX was as a daily driver.

I suppose its better than my Avenger, at any rate. 83k->107k and ~1 thou in different repairs......not including the excessively expensive new tires either.

I hate my car, its going in the spring.

I would consider that unacceptable for a '98 model-year car.

But then there are people on this site who would consider it normal for the same number of miles for an SVX. Of course, the SVX is a much more complicated car - and an older one at that.

What makes the tires for an Avenger expensive?

215/50-17s (stock)

4 tires for $500, of course they were decent tires, but Tirerack doesnt have any really cheap ones either.

Yes, that is excessive. And thats the reason its going away in the spring.

Re: Subaru Cars reliable?
 

After putting better than 300,000 miles on Subarus, here's my experience...

One failure to start: '86 GL, broken pin on choke thremostat on a 10-below morning

Four breakdowns: '86 GL, two broken timing belts and a failed fuel pump; '90 Legacy, failed alternator

They're very reliable, when reasonably maintained.


dcb

My 88 RX Turbo has been a wonderfully reliable car with 150,000 miles on it. It has been maintained flawlessly for all of its life, but, still, it runs like a brand new car and i havent had anything break on it. (have done some preventative maintenance though.)

Mike

Subaru Cars reliable?
 

ask these guys:
http://usmb.net/gallery/album133

And you went and sold that RX too. :( If you sold it this summer, I would have been all over it. Too bad.

See this is one of those things that depends on your perspective. What is your definition of reliable?

In my opinion - if I were to say that I want a solid reliable daily driver car, I mean I want a car that is not only depedable, but also one that doesn't require me to take out a loan when it DOES need repairs. Reliable and cheap to fix seem to be mutually exclusive concepts these days.

For instance, take Mr. Pockets example of an old Subaru vs. a Cavalier. I'll use the 92 SVX as the old subaru since we are all familiar with it and I think we would agree it's a pretty reliable car. If you were looking for a reliable daily driver, which one would you pick? Without a doubt i'd take the Cavalier. I would expect to have more problems with the Cav, but even knowing that I would take it because the last thing I want to do is dump piles of money into a daily driver, and the average cost of repair (per problem) is well under $100 for the Cavalier vs. about $300 for the SVX. Seems to make sense doesn't it? I know the SVX is an expensive example but if you look into it, all the real reliable subarus are close in price of repairs. Same goes for just about any of the highest rated cars in terms of reliability...they are all quite expensive to fix. Then there's Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and the like - all very unreliable AND expensive to repair, yet people still buy them up like they're going out of style. All the effects of Image based promotion. But that's another discussion.

I can say my girl's SVX has been quite reliable in that it has never left her stranded. It can always be depended on to get her home or to wherever she has to go. It still has had it's problems though. My daily driver (1994 GTP) has done the same...it's had more problems than the SVX did...but again it has always been there to get me where i needed to go. The difference is, that even with all the problems i've had with it, i've still only put a fraction of the money into the GTP that Mandi has put into the SVX. So in my mind then, the GTP is a more reliable car.

On the other hand, if you want a toy or project car (second car) there's almost no reason not to go with the SVX. Style, power, driving fun, and in this case, if there's a problem with it, and you don't have the money to fix it, then the car can just sit. No problem.

That's the way I look at it.

and to actually answer your question - no I don't think it would be a good idea to buy and old subaru for $500. I think it would be a good idea to buy an old Lumina, Cavalier, etc...think of how many of those cars are populating junkyards...you could get a replacement for probably ANY part for like $10. To me that's the way to go.

It depends. We sold our legacy wagon for that price, 131k, just had some body damage thanks to a deer and a slipping clutch(Which i saw nothing wrong with it). I saw it a couple of days ago. new body panels and a rear hatch. A liitle paint id look brand new.

Good god...this is too easy....:rolleyes:

Ummm...I think that's the point, I AM thinking about how many old Luminas, Cavaliers, etc. are populating the junkyards - and there's a reason for that. They start off as junk:D

Go with the Subaru.

Things tend to be easy when you put absolutely no thought into them...

...and you end up with comments like that. You're right, there is a reason that they are populating junkyards, but if you'd think about it for ten seconds, you'd realize that you're reasoning for it was just ignorant (to borrow a word from an old network friend of mine). Both the lumina and cavalier sell at a rate of well over 100,000 cars per year. Subaru is lucky to reach that number if it includes it's entire line. THAT, my friend, is the reason that there are so many cavi's and luminas...etc in junkyards. if a particular car outsells another car 10 to 1, you can figure that you'll see a 10 to 1 ratio in the junkyard too.

Yeah they're junk...well more than 100,000 people a year seem to disagree with you on both counts.

ah, the "numbers can't be wrong" arguement.

if that's the case then-

McDonald's has the best food
Dell makes the best computers
Britney Spears makes the best music

then again, i'm not a tool that follows the dim-witted masses. ;)

i'd say if you live where there is snow, the older Subaru may be the better choice. i've owned a Lumina, and my wife had a Cavalier. total junk. cheap parts that break often.