Faults:

The Subaru has been extremely reliable (just the recommended maintenance -- even with a teenager learning to drive on it, and taking a while to get the feel of shifting gears) until yesterday. I noticed an odd noise and slight loss of power at highway speeds. When I brought it in to the dealer, they spotted a leaking head gasket and a bad wheel bearing. They said the wheel bearing needed immediate replacement, and that the head gasket could wait, but probably shouldn't (they were really good about stating all the options). I decided to do all the repairs at once (apparently when they have the engine out for the head gasket repair, it's very easy to do a fair amount of other stuff).

Overall, I'm slightly disappointed -- I didn't get these very expensive repairs on my Toyota until 200,000 miles -- but if the repairs make the car last another 3-5 years, I will have gotten my money's worth (I bought it new for $16,000 in 1996 and it's now fall 2007)

General Comments:

Handles really well on the highway. I lived in Montana when we had no numerical speed limits -- and on dry pavement, during the day, it would behave beautifully on long (ca. 700 mile) drives at 90-95 mph. Generally, it's a very good highway car. The suspension is a bit soft/sloppy for dirt and gravel roads (especially washboarded ones -- I preferred my Toyota which was built on a light truck body). But I'd strongly recommend it if you do a lot of long distance driving. It's also quite roomy -- I can carry a 6 foot bookcase and still close the back -- and very stable in high winds, even with a canoe on top.

The AWD isn't as good on snow and ice as true 4WD -- but if driven conservatively, is adequate (better than front wheel).

Faults:

Cv joints needed replacing. Camshaft position sensor needed to be replaced. MAF sensor needed to be taken apart and re-soldered. windows roll down on their own. Rust developing on rear panels.

General Comments:

I needed a "snow" car, and was debating between this, and an used Outback. Decided on this when I found out the 2.5L had head gasket problems. Think I made a mistake. Gas mileage from the 2.2 is on the low side for a 4-cyl (20 city, 27 highway, 22 overall), and power is adequate at best. Would have preferred the extra grunt of the 2.5.

Anyway, since I bought it used, I expected it to have some problems. Worn CV joints being one of them. The check engine light flashing, it dying on the highway 3 times, and refusing to start 5 times weren't. Camshaft sensor fixed the starting problem, but the MAF was a nightmare. Car would suddenly slam forward, like the transmission locked, then sputter out and refuse to run. Turns out a connection for the wires leading from the sensor, INSIDE the housing for sensor were bad, so replacing the sensor to the tune of $200 did nothing. It was an easy fix, though, once I found out what was wrong. Just pulled the cap off the sensor housing on the air intake and re-soldered the connection.

Once I got past those quirks, the car became my buddy. It's like a Jeep in the snow, takes muddy construction sites like a truck, and I can throw anything and everything in it. I'm surprised how versatile a wagon is. Seats are comfortable, it has the best air conditioner of any car I've owned, and apart from some rust, it doesn't look 12 years old. Only things I dislike are the frame-less windows that somehow manage to creep down after a few days, and the flat-engine vibration at idle. Doesn't bother me all that much though, and I actually enjoy this car enough to consider buying a new one despite the initial problems.