1993 Subaru Loyale 4WD 1.8 L V4

Summary:

This is a good 4WD winter beat-the-crap-out-of car

Faults:

Just bought this car as a winter beater. Step on the gas as much as you want, this car is not going any place fast. The 4WD seems to be nice, but the car seems to be an oil-guzzler.

General Comments:

I have owned mostly sports cars. My first being a Shelby Turbo 2, second was a Nissan 240SX, and now I own an Eclipse. If you go from the Eclipse to the Subaru, get ready to watch the speedo. What feels like 150 mph is only 45. If you want a car with get-up and go, this is not for you. If you want SUV sluggish performance in a car with a little better fuel efficency, this is the car for you! Be ready to buy a lot of oil though.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 30th September, 2001

8th Sep 2003, 08:45

I agree about oil consumption. Mine ('92) started drinking oil at about 140K and consumed about 1 qt/ 1000 miles. Unacceptable. Ended up putting a junk yard engine in it with 100K miles. Much better.

1993 Subaru Loyale 1.8L

Summary:

A good winter grocery getter

Faults:

The exhaust system rotted out at 60,000 miles.

The car has been through 6 (six) starters.

The head gaskets leaked A LOT of oil by 60,000 miles. They have since been replaced.

The car now burns about 1 litre of oil every 1000 miles.

General Comments:

If it were not for this consistent starter problem, then I would say that the car is reliable. The worst part of that problem is that it is intermittent - so of course it never happens when a real mechanic is around.

I am pretty disappointed in both the lack of power in the engine (expect to go up hills no faster than 45mph) and the oil leakage and burning from an engine with well under 100,000 miles on it. I also gets rather poor gas mileage - 19mpg around town and 21mpg on the highway. It has been this way since we bought it at 34,000 miles.

The 4wd system is hard to beat. I believe that this is one of the last Subarus with 4wd on demand, rather than All Wheel Drive.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 5th August, 2001

22nd Apr 2004, 20:05

I was having the same problem with gas mileage. My car has 197,000 miles on it, and I was getting around 19 mpg out of my 1993 Loyale with a 3-speed auto. I had the engine rebuilt... head gasket, timing belts replaced, valve job, new pistons... and I also had a 5-speed manual put in the car. It all cost about $1100 and I did most of the work with a good friend of mine who works on nothing but Subarus. I am now averaging 25.5 mpg city/ 29 mph highway. I absolutely love the gas mileage. Even when I'm hauling around 3 football buddies of mine who are all well over 200 lbs, I still average very good gas mileage. I plan on keeping this car for a very, very, VERY long time. And oh yeah, you have to love those tanked up front and back bumpers. I had to pay $600 for a Dodge Dakota rear bumper because I ran into it and did quite a number on his chrome bumper. Amazingly, it did absolutely nothing to my car. A VW Beetle rear-ended me about 4 months ago and cracked her radiator. Once again, did nothing to my car. What a tank.

11th Nov 2004, 10:00

My 1993 Subaru Loyale Wagon also had starter problems with which I'm sure I drove my mechanics mad. Finally, they solved the problem by locating the problem in the ignition switch. Since that has been replaced I have had no more annoying 'click, click, click' with the starter not turning over. Maybe this is the problem in the above Subaru Loyale.

In reply to 22nd Apr 2004, 20:05

30th Jun 2016, 20:23

The stock plastic bumpers?