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.

[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!! 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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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 ...

[NikFu S.]

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

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.

[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

[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.