It hit 100* where I am today. I had errands and also decided to stress-test my cooling system (2006 Legacy GT, bone stock, 123k miles).

Well…it passed, but not with flying colors. I normally run ~190-200*, but with the ambient heat and the AC cranked, I was running 206-210* today, and it looked set to climb a bit more. That was at 70mph on the highway with cruise set. In-town it was much happier, the fans could keep up and I was under 200*.

I know that leaves me with a little margin for error, but I’m also moving to a desert state next year, and I’d like to have some additional margin, doubly so because I anticipate going down desert dirt roads into the backcountry at low speeds, and down highways at high speeds. What radiator upgrades are worthwhile? What else should I be thinking about? I’ve flushed the cooling system myself once, and the shop did it again when I had my timing kit replaced. I don’t think anything is “wrong”, I just don’t think the factory setup is quite adequate for doing turbo Subaru things in really hot places.

Hi!

My 2017 crosstrek does a rattling sound at exactly 1500 rpm.

Could it be this part? Is it supposed to move that much?

SiriusXM is offering me$3 per month for 36 months.

2016 Subaru outback Limited with Harmon Kardon audio package. Purchased this vehicle in July 2024. I am the 3^rd owner.

Do I need to subscribe to Starlink to use SiriusXM in the vehicle?

Hey scoobs, saw this pop up near me and it seems like a good deal but figured I'd take it to the experts as I'm not familiar with subarus yet. Asked if it was an l or gt and which engine it had but owner didn't know and idk how to tell, no pics of engine bay either. Thoughts?

I lost my house in the fire. Subaru Finance wouldn't wave the charges for the key and manual.

Owning my 2021 Jetta has been an absolute nightmare over the past year or so and it’s just time to part ways with it. It’s been in and out of the shop, and 6 repairs later I’m just at the point now where I want a non problematic, stress free vehicle.

I’ve been shopping around and after plenty of research, I’m leaning more towards a Crosstrek. I stumbled upon a 2016 Crosstrek 2.0i premium with only 73,000 miles. It is listed at $16,480, seemingly has had regular maintenance done, and is also in the desert khaki exterior color that I want.

Am I going to regret financing this? Am I overthinking it? I’m also looking at a 2015 XV Premium with 120,000 miles for only $9,450.

Last, what should I expect before 100,000 miles maintenance wise and possible problems I may experience with it?

This would be my first Subaru, so any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to steer me in the right direction with this. I know 2016 was one of the more problematic years, but this one is very much in my budget.

Thank you in advance!

'21 Forester just hit boobs. That is all.

Hello community.

I have been struggling lately with a rattle from a lose up pipe heat shield. Its come completely lose and has been broken to the point where I doubt I can bolt it back on. I cant seem to find much information on this, and I have been under the car now multiple times to see if theres a way to get it off, which I have not figured out.

I wanted to hear if anyone has had experiences with this issue, if anyone knows about an easy fix, and opinions on removing it vs trying to replace/fix it.

Hey folks, I may be in a bit of a pickle and am trying to get ahead of it.

Long story short, my current vehicle (2008 Ford Explorer, 160k miles) has some repairs that need to be done that are more expensive than the car is worth, and me/my family have already dumped so much money into the car just to keep it limping along.

So I will probably be getting a new car soon, and I’ve been looking at getting a Subaru for years. Many of my friends have had them and rave about them, and they do fit a lot of my requirements. Of course, now that the time is (potentially) upon me, I’m starting to get anxious.

I’ve mainly been looking at a crosstrek. I’ve only driven large cars (prior to my current one I drove a minivan, and I learned to drive in a Chevy Traverse), and I absolutely don’t need a true full sized SUV (and I can not continue to do the gas budget). However, I live in the middle of nowhere that receives a LOT of snow (upper peninsula of Michigan) so having AWD is sort of a must have, and I don’t love the idea of a true sedan.

Budget is a bit of a concern, so I would be looking at used. Right now I’m looking mostly at 2018 Crosstreks with 100-120k miles as those are mostly in my price range (trying to stay below $20k, preference would be under $15k but I also know the used car market is atrocious right now so I’m trying to be realistic).

My daily commute is minimal, but I am making ~1000mi round trip drives a few (3-4) times a year. I’m also planning to move into a bigger city in the next ~5 years, and I’m hoping I can make whatever car I get now to last beyond that.

Any advice/expertise would be appreciated. Thanks, and I hope to be joining the Subaru family at some point in the future!

Hi all. Spotted this legend at one of my customer's today. Is this a real 1998 22B? To me the rims look off, but I'm no expert. I would have loved to ask the owner, but the pilot I originally suspected as that person walked right by it and got in a Hyundai Elantra.

***edit I notice this is left hand drive. Thinking it's not real.

Last year I purchased a high mileage 96 GT Turbo. It had about 362 000 km on the clock and 25 previous owners, so I am proud owner number 26. First picture is the moment after purchase. I drove it 1000km home without any issues, although the car had many issues. Brakes were terrible, lots of weird noises, wheels rubbing up the rear arches, almost no travel in suspension in the front so it was a rough ride. After a week the blow off valve flew out and knocked off inner axle boot and its contents greased up the exhaust. Blow off valve was just shoved in the hose and not clamped in. So that was the first fix. I changed engine oil, filter, air filter and coolant next.

I drove it for 3 months, barely used any oil. I checked coolant 2 times in the month after changing it and it was good, didn't check it later. One day the coolant temp went up and I pulled over asap. I let it cool down, checked the coolant and it was low. No visible leaks, nothing on ground. First thought was headgaskets. Took it to a mechanic and they told me it was leaking from the water pump. So new water pump and timing belt. When I picked it up again, I couldn't even get home before the temp went up and when I took it back the second time they told me it was headgaskets, both of them. They changed the headgaskets, heads were in good condition and was put back in after machine shop. They told engine was in good condition and after I got it back engine's been great.

The car is originally pre face lift, so I also put in pre face lift grill and headlights, hood isn't easy to get cheap so haven't gotten around to it. The brakes were terrible and front springs were too, one of them were snapped. All wheel studs were cut to fit spacers. With good help from one of my friends I got to fix it by myself. Front brakes were STI Brembos and I wanted to fit 15" rims so they had to go anyway. Rear were stock brakes, very rusty and easier to just replace. Got a new set of stock brakes all around, painted them, new discs and pads. Braking is a joy compared to before. New springs in front made the car much more comfortable as well and I got more ground clearance, no wheels are rubbing anywhere.

It has clearly been through a lot and it shows. Headgaskets, water pump and timing belt kit has been costly, but the engine runs great. I was expecting it to be worse when I bought it. Really enjoying this car and now it's it for up a classic car event. As it is 30 years old now, it's a classic. The event is a long roadtrip with a big group of classic cars. Never done anything like it before and it will be fun with this car. Hopefully it won't let me down.

The plan when I bought it was to build and register it as a rally car. It is still my goal and I hope I can make it happen!

GUYS I DID IT!!! This is how to make your Subaru air conditioning stay just as cold as it gets hotter this summer:

Go to your local Home Depot, grab some pipe insulation and aluminum tape. Slide the insulation around your LOW pressure A/C line, and wrap it with aluminum tape.

How it works:

Subarus are notorious for not having great A/C, and that’s mostly due to the low pressure line (cold line) running over the exhaust. The line is bare metal, which heat soaks from the engine. Directly above the exhaust. By isolating that line from that heat, it can keep much much colder! And not be prone to heat soaks nearly as much!

Hello everyone,

I was pursuing reddit for car buying advice and am fairly new to Subaru. I’m looking to buy a newer car soon (used, not brand new) and hear nothing but good things about Subaru. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I’m not a “car guy” per se, but am willing to learn. I did not learn how to drive stick (yet), and am looking for a reliable daily driver with a road trip sprinkled here and there. My preference is automatic but am not opposed to manual. I’d want to have the car for a while (5+ years min)

I was looking at the WRX and really like the design, but the consensus I get is that you really should buy a manual one. Some were suggesting the GT trim for automatic.

Any suggestions?

Do you guys use the dealership for all service? Prices seem high. He kept asking what my budget was which made it feel scammy.

I also have a broken visor which they quoted $250 for labor alone...

I love seeing special/fun badges on cars :)

Just moved to a snowier area and picked up a 2022 Onyx XT. When I shopped coverage, the quotes I pulled for identical limits were hundreds of dollars apart per 6 months. Same car, same driver, same address. I knew i am supposed to compare but i didnt expect the spread to be that wide on a car with some of the best safety ratings in its class.

What are you paying ballpark and was the spread that big when you shopped too. Starting to think the car matters less than whichever zip code formula each company runs.

Got this offer from a local Subaru dealer for 2026 Subaru brz tS. Out the door seem like a good deal? Or do you think I should look elsewhere and negotiate something better?

I am looking into buying a nice and safe SUV, with AWD so it’s good to drive in snow and rain. I am between the Kia Seltos and Subaru Crosstrek.

I love how the Crosstrek looks, the only issue is the screen. I feel it is a bit janky, and I’d be using Apple Car Play, but I’ve seen some videos where it looks really slow and has a slow response time.
Is this true?

Just curious as to when the Subaru factories stop production on the 2026 models and dealerships will no longer have in transit inventory on the way?

It seems my local dealerships haven’t posted in new in transit stock in a bit.

2019 Crosstrek with 116K.

AT temp light flashing and this code.

I assume I need a new valve body (would go ahead and replace the whole thing instead of just one solenoid - the other solenoids may be near end of life too).

But wanted to check if anyone has any other thoughts on this issue. Thanks!

My CarPlay in my 22 Crosstrek premium has stopped working and charging. I’ve reset the infotainment system a couple times to no avail. Any advice?

Which one of you in Rhode Island is this?

I have a 2009 Outback 2.5i with the H4, non-turbo with 160K miles on it. The head gaskets have probably been blown since I bought the thing at 117k miles. There has always been oil on the bottom of the oil filter when I go to replace.

I check the oil level regularly and really don't have to top it off that much between my regular 5K mile change intervals.

I was replacing my catalytic converter this weekend and was able to confirm drop of oil forming on the bottom side of the engine where the head meets the block.

The engine oil is always clean, no forbidden milk shake, no overheating. SO my question is: How risky is it to keep operating like this. It is my daily driver, we take it on road trips, etc. Is there a high risk of this external head gasket leak turning into an internal one? Looking for a gut check from those with anecdotal evidence. I've love this car and have put quite a bit of money and sweat equity this year with a timing belt kit, rear wheel bearings and now OEM cat. Would love to give myself a little more time to save up for a cherry picker (or potentially professional) to replace the head gaskets.

Bought the car brand new near the end of 2024 from dealership.

Took it into the dealership after front driver side brake caliper seems to have been sticking / and having grinding / vibrations when releasing brake.

They checked the front and back calipers stating they're fine but both front and rear left brake pads are essentially metal on metal and right side brakes close to the same point. 80% driven on the highway which is pretty ridiculous for them to be gone like this unless they used the cheapest brake pads I've ever seen.

On top of that they wanted $1800 before tax to change the brakes and rotors which would be $600/hr for labour. Going to pay a ridiculous diag fee of $170 before tax and going to take it to my mechanic now to check.

Also tried to contact their support and [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) is no longer in service and 1-800-894-4212 was a dead line which I tried calling 5 times with dial tone response.

Pretty disappointed in general with this brand now and probably won't buy another one of their vehicles in the future.

--------------------------------

Edit; So I got into contact with the corporate customer care with the new number and shortly afterwards got an email saying;

Regrettably, the replacement of components under normal maintenance, such as brakes, pads, rotors and any other element subject to normal wear and tear, is not covered by warranty. These are the responsibility of owner, along with maintaining the vehicle as per the maintenance schedule.

Ironically their own maintenance schedule is 24,000km and that's only overall inspection.

Anyway, went to the dealership and the service manager couldn't really believe it so had them test drive and check all brake calipers and besides them running low on grease they're perfectly fine and since I live in Ontario even said there's still almost no rust still after the two winters.

So far he delayed the diagnostic fee and is going to talk the regional manager next week as he really wanted to push for it to be fully covered or me just paying the labour fee and taking it back after 10,000km to see if it happens again. ( Would've done it without any issues within first 18 months but needs to argue there's no clear signs of the car sitting and even then at worst they should still last at minimum 35,000km )

I had to come back around in the rain to take a photo. I am guessing it has to be your work place. 🚙
In Connecticut