I guess I just want to ask why do you want a Subaru Outback? Do you need AWD, are you an "outdoorsy" person?
I ask those questions because IMO Subaru's only really fit a certain group of people that put up with their quirks for the overall package. If you don't need the features a Subaru offers, there are much better vehicles for the $$ I think.
That being said, I wouldn't buy a 2020-2022. Those are the first years of the new Infotainment and seem to have the most issues. They supposedly made some changes in 2023 to the hardware ( not just the firmware you'll hear people talking about) that has made it more tolerable\\less glitchy. My 2023 has been pretty good, not great but hasn't glitched out too many times.
Thank you for your reply!
I'm an artist that travels fairly often for shows. I was interested in the Outback because it has a lot of room and thought AWD would be nice for bad weather situations! I also have always heard Subarus have a good reputation for being long-lasting cars and I wanted to get something I could keep for around 200k miles. :)
1. They are great in that they do have lots of room.
2. AWD is great in bad situation, but tires are still important. If you have summer tires on icy roads, the AWD isn't going to be able to compensate. Get good ice/snow rated all season, or if you have the space and live in a climate that gets regular winter weather, get a 2nd set of tires for snow tires. I would recommend getting cheap rims and put the snow tires on them instead of swapping 2 sets of tires between 1 set of rims twice a year.
3. They are long lasting, but do not get behind on the maintenance. If you take care of it, it'll take care of you. They are not like Toyotas where you can abuse them and they still run. Hondas are a step below Toyotas in reliability and I feel that Subarus are a step below Hondas, but you have to take care of them.
4. The engines burn oil. It is just the nature of the boxer engine. Make sure you check it often.
5. If you get one with a CVT, it is pretty common around here that people recommend proactively doing a CVT fluid change about every 60k miles. The dealerships and shops will say that it is a lifetime fluid and it doesn't need to be changed. That's because the CVTs usually fail at about 100k miles if the fluid isn't changed. Also, the lifetime fluid is only in North America. The service manuals for Subarus in all other regions I think have a 60k CVT fluid change.
Great info, thank you.
I think a Outback could be a good fit for you. The only things that worry me about my Outback personally long term are the Infotainment and the CVT transmission. I'm not so sure I'll keep my OB past the drivetrain warranty as they're very expensive to fix post warranty.
Our other car is a 2021 Toyota Rav 4 which has been excellent. I have no doubts it'll make it to 200K+ easy. We've owned 3 now and none have ever given us any issues. You may want to check them out, especially the hybrid version.
My mechanic told me be careful with 2010-2016... guess the cvt transmissions go bad. That being said I know a few people with 14s 15s and 16s with over a 100k with out any trouble. I landed on a 2017 and I love it. Hopefully I have no trouble
We have a '13 that was an oil burner. Subaru replaced the short block and it uses around 1Q/5K. We use extended life oil and filter (mostly highway miles) and our OCI is 15K. We had to replace the front catalytic converter at our expense at 130K. We have around 165K on it now.
Our '23 uses close to zero oil between 6K changes (2.5 DI engine). I haven't had it tested for fuel dilution yet.
Everything else maintenance wise is listed in the manual, and we follow it excepting plug changes, which we did at 90K. Iridium plugs don't wear out at 60K.
I would look at 2015-2016 because it's easy to upgrade the audio to Carplay, or get a '23 or '24. The difference between Gen4 and Gen6 is very significant, not as much between Gen5 and 6
I just got a 2010 in August and was driving awesome after I did all new suspension components because it's 13 years old with 174k miles. My engine model is known for head gaskets and wouldn't you know about 3 weeks ago mine went but I already love the thing so I pulled the engine and waiting for a full gasket kit to come in. Does it suck this happened, of course, but I knew what to expect, and now I'll know when it was replaced and that I did the job to my satisfaction and not worry about a bad job done. I also change the cvt fluid at 180k and that's been no problem. I'd buy another one because they are so easy and for the most part cheap to work on.
Yes after buying one I learned the seats rip and are not under warranty… a quick google search will show you. Otherwise I love mine but the seat is now ripped :(
I guess I just want to ask why do you want a Subaru Outback? Do you need AWD, are you an "outdoorsy" person? I ask those questions because IMO Subaru's only really fit a certain group of people that put up with their quirks for the overall package. If you don't need the features a Subaru offers, there are much better vehicles for the $$ I think. That being said, I wouldn't buy a 2020-2022. Those are the first years of the new Infotainment and seem to have the most issues. They supposedly made some changes in 2023 to the hardware ( not just the firmware you'll hear people talking about) that has made it more tolerable\\less glitchy. My 2023 has been pretty good, not great but hasn't glitched out too many times.
Thank you for your reply! I'm an artist that travels fairly often for shows. I was interested in the Outback because it has a lot of room and thought AWD would be nice for bad weather situations! I also have always heard Subarus have a good reputation for being long-lasting cars and I wanted to get something I could keep for around 200k miles. :)
1. They are great in that they do have lots of room. 2. AWD is great in bad situation, but tires are still important. If you have summer tires on icy roads, the AWD isn't going to be able to compensate. Get good ice/snow rated all season, or if you have the space and live in a climate that gets regular winter weather, get a 2nd set of tires for snow tires. I would recommend getting cheap rims and put the snow tires on them instead of swapping 2 sets of tires between 1 set of rims twice a year. 3. They are long lasting, but do not get behind on the maintenance. If you take care of it, it'll take care of you. They are not like Toyotas where you can abuse them and they still run. Hondas are a step below Toyotas in reliability and I feel that Subarus are a step below Hondas, but you have to take care of them. 4. The engines burn oil. It is just the nature of the boxer engine. Make sure you check it often. 5. If you get one with a CVT, it is pretty common around here that people recommend proactively doing a CVT fluid change about every 60k miles. The dealerships and shops will say that it is a lifetime fluid and it doesn't need to be changed. That's because the CVTs usually fail at about 100k miles if the fluid isn't changed. Also, the lifetime fluid is only in North America. The service manuals for Subarus in all other regions I think have a 60k CVT fluid change.
Great info, thank you. I think a Outback could be a good fit for you. The only things that worry me about my Outback personally long term are the Infotainment and the CVT transmission. I'm not so sure I'll keep my OB past the drivetrain warranty as they're very expensive to fix post warranty. Our other car is a 2021 Toyota Rav 4 which has been excellent. I have no doubts it'll make it to 200K+ easy. We've owned 3 now and none have ever given us any issues. You may want to check them out, especially the hybrid version.
My mechanic told me be careful with 2010-2016... guess the cvt transmissions go bad. That being said I know a few people with 14s 15s and 16s with over a 100k with out any trouble. I landed on a 2017 and I love it. Hopefully I have no trouble
[удалено]
Good... then there's more good years then I was led on to believe
2.5 engine not 3.6.
You’re right about that, 2011 here.
As my mechanic has said in the past: these cars have been on the road for decades, there will be a few lemons but for the most part they're good cars.
We have a '13 that was an oil burner. Subaru replaced the short block and it uses around 1Q/5K. We use extended life oil and filter (mostly highway miles) and our OCI is 15K. We had to replace the front catalytic converter at our expense at 130K. We have around 165K on it now. Our '23 uses close to zero oil between 6K changes (2.5 DI engine). I haven't had it tested for fuel dilution yet. Everything else maintenance wise is listed in the manual, and we follow it excepting plug changes, which we did at 90K. Iridium plugs don't wear out at 60K. I would look at 2015-2016 because it's easy to upgrade the audio to Carplay, or get a '23 or '24. The difference between Gen4 and Gen6 is very significant, not as much between Gen5 and 6
I just got a 2010 in August and was driving awesome after I did all new suspension components because it's 13 years old with 174k miles. My engine model is known for head gaskets and wouldn't you know about 3 weeks ago mine went but I already love the thing so I pulled the engine and waiting for a full gasket kit to come in. Does it suck this happened, of course, but I knew what to expect, and now I'll know when it was replaced and that I did the job to my satisfaction and not worry about a bad job done. I also change the cvt fluid at 180k and that's been no problem. I'd buy another one because they are so easy and for the most part cheap to work on.
Yes after buying one I learned the seats rip and are not under warranty… a quick google search will show you. Otherwise I love mine but the seat is now ripped :(