Faults:

Head gaskets went at 168 000 km.

Have had to replace wheel bearings at least twice on each one.

Love the AWD.

General Comments:

I am wondering if anyone has had a case where the head gaskets have gone again, after already replacing them? Mine were done at 168 000 km. and it seems I am getting the head gasket symptoms again. Is this possible?

Faults:

Number 3 cylinder threw a rod bearing. Was advised to replace the engine. I have yet to put 10,000 miles on it myself and have only had the car for a year and a half. Was informed that the excessive piston slap that these engines have, may have caused this failure.

General Comments:

Love this car.

Comfortable interior, roomy for it's size.

All-wheel drive handled great.

Great in town and on the highway.

However the engine failed after 100K.

Gas mileage nowhere near EPA estimates.

Faults:

Engine completely went out at around 120000 miles. Cost of repair was about 5k.

Needed new axles.

New struts at about 120000 miles.

General Comments:

Slow acceleration and slow in general.

All of the repairs we've done on it so it could run, cost more than a new car.

This was my first car, so I just kinda got stuck with it, and I hate station wagons, but that's more of a personal opinion.

Poor gas mileage at least for the engine and how slow it is, about 19 mpg, maybe 23 highway.

It does handle very smoothly and is rather comfortable.

Fun to drive, but just because it's a manual transmission.

Faults:

I have owned this car since 1999, and have had a few problems with it.

The transmission is the major problem at the moment. I reverse out of driveway and then put car in drive; it stalls, and then after a brief delay, finally goes into drive. I have it at the shop at this time, $2,300 dollars to rebuild the transmission. I am not happy knowing that this is a common problem, and yet I still have to spend money that I do not have to fix it.

I also have a problem with a scraping noise coming from the rear of vehicle. I have had it at the shop on at least three occasions, and although the mechanics can hear the noise, they cannot locate it, to repair. This includes the Subaru dealership. I am not a happy customer.

I also have the issue of an oil leak; that of course is going to cost even more money to repair.

Faults:

Within the first year we had noticed that oil seemed to be disappearing too quickly. The dealership claimed it had a minor leak.. didn't leak fast enough to trigger the warranty. Knowing this I always kept the level checked.

At 95000 miles the radiator plugged and overheated.

It blew the head gasket. This was on the way to a transmission shop to find out why there was a lag in shifting into gear. It turned out that after the head gasket was replaced the engine was toast. While the car was at the mechanics, the transmission went t-u.

Still cheaper (tho not by much) to replace with "good used" parts, we spent over 5k to fix it.

Mechanics told us this was the first year with a double overhead cam and it was a year.

General Comments:

This was the first new car we'd ever bought. I expected at least 200k miles if not 300,000 miles before it died.

With exception of the oil leak and the engine & tranny blow up, it had performed reliably. (that's a big exception tho). The car felt solid and very comfortable.

It handled well tho a fast correction in steering would trigger a fishtailing. This car was perfect for our needs as you could pack a lot into it without having an suv or van. My bike fit perfectly into the rear (with the back seats down) so I didn't need a carrier for it.

I used to have a horse and and hauled gear in the back- the all wheel drive was good on gravel roads.

Loved the styling with the hood scoop (last year that had it).

I would probably go back to a Honda after this experience unless I could be convinced it was a fluke.