Faults:

The steering rack had to be replaced with less than 60,000 kms on the car. At a cost of $1000.00.

The front differential is making a whining noise. I am told by the transmission shop that the tranny should be replaced at the same time as the front diff. The total cost for rebuilt replacements and labour will be between $7000 to $8000. Too costly a repair at only 104,000 kms.

Most of the kms I put on the car were on the highway.

There is a rattle when accelerating at city driving that has not been diagnosed yet.

General Comments:

This is the best car I have ever owned for driving in snow or on icy highways. It is unbelievable the amount of snow it plows through.

Faults:

Until now (6.5 years and 81k miles), the car was wonderfully reliable. Recently, however, I started noticing the smell of hot coolant once the engine warmed up. I didn't see any obvious leaks, but it seemed to get worse after a week, so I took it in to the dealer. They said the head gasket was leaking. That seemed odd to me, so I did some searching on the web, and it seems that the engine in this model has a problem with the head gaskets blowing at an early stage. If you want to know more about this, search on Subaru WWP-99 Service Campaign.

The dealership is going to fix it under warranty, which is fantastic, but it makes me a bit nervous. Apparently, Subaru has fixed this design flaw on later models. If you're considering buying a used Subaru with the 2.5l engine, make sure to check whether it is one that has this issue and whether it was fully resolved. If not, buy with caution. Note that the dealer had put in some sort of "sealant" to try to prevent the problem, but it apparently didn't work.

General Comments:

The All Wheel Drive is great. We live in Colorado and drive it in the mountains all the time, and it is very good in the snow and on hills.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

I loved this car; it’s low on power compared to a RSK, but if you don’t want to tow a gas tanker around, the RS25 is the next best thing. The RS25 is the same as an RSK, except for the motor which is a reworked 2.5L Boxer Phasell AVCS (variable valve timing) engine. The max engine output is (170bhp) 126.7kw @ 6000rpm and 238 Nm @ 2800 rpm. It uses the same tiptronic gearbox and Bilstein suspension as the RSK.

The handing is superb; it is inclined to under steer when pushed hard, but it has better balance than the RS30. I am 185cm tall and I find the driving position very comfortable, and have done many 6hr + drives, and arrived feeling great.

The peak torque comes in much lower than other 2.5L Subaru engines. I think that makes all the difference as you don’t have to rev the engine to accelerate away. This also this helps with the fuel consumption, which is rated at 8.4 Litres/100km combined. At 100km per hour, the engine ticks over at 2400rpm. On the trips I have done, it used around 620-630kms for 50 litres; that includes overtaking and cruising at 130-140kms per hour for periods of time.

It looked mint as well; they started producing this model in 2001 and it comes in a facelift. If you want a RSK, but don’t want to pay the fuel or insurance bill, this could be the car for you! (Previous car was a 1996 Subaru Legacy GTB)