Faults:

Car is still being run in, so nothing significant to report here.

General Comments:

Just purchased this vehicle and am still running in. Can't really comment on reliability or service costs. So this could be a biased initial review. First impressions are that this is a very well built Subaru (with quality, refinement and security vastly improved over the old ones). The fact that I have upgraded from an Audi A4 (lots of expensive problems) should speak volumes. Even though I am taking care to run it in, acceleration on light throttle is still excellent. Have driven older model (MY2000) WRX's and I think this is as smooth and as rapid as ever! Had doubts about buying a performance car in an auto, but new Sport-shift gives a good compromise not available before. And you don't build up a sweat in traffic. But you do build up a sweat every time you park it!

Faults:

Transmission was hard to shift into second gear and grinding going into first gear the first day of purchase. Second gear went out completely within a week (800 miles). The dealer denied warranty coverage with claim of abuse. Missing gears because of tranny problem probably led them to their conclusion.

I purchased a second trannny (new) from dealership and It has started the same problem less than 2,000 miles, but it is hard to shift in all gears this time. I got it to the dealer before anything totally failed this time. They tried (special) tranny oil with no result. Now they are waiting on a decision from their rep. I wonder if abuse claim is going to be their out this time, even after I paid over $4,000 cash for my second transmission.

General Comments:

I bought car for performance and price.

Reliability and Subaru not standing behind their product is unacceptable.