So we bought a new car a few weeks ago. 2020 Subaru Outback. I love it, until it’s fancy tablet like Digital dash display shuts down Leaving a blank screen and no access to radio Bluetooth navigation climate controls nothing.
See in my gut I had a feeling if we bought a Subaru it would have issues. But I did not expect any issues to arise at the first 400 miles. So it’s been a fun ride of documenting and emailing the higher ups to abide by the Lemon Law in my state. I dropped it off today because the display went out again and what loner car do they give me? A fricking matchbox sized Impreza. Not a fair trade imo. At least it has gas in it the last loner was a huge ass gas hog Ascent loaned to me with 1/8 of a tank of gas.
I am so bummed about this revolving door bullshit on a brand new car. I’m obligated to pay my monthly payments and I’m driving a car that is substantially inferior to the one I bought.
Thinking of buying a Subaru? Think again asked hard questions about the reliability of the STARLINK display. Bah!
I have a 2016 Subaru and while the screen is fine, maybe once or twice a year it’s had a weird error where the screen didn’t turn off even with the keys taken out.
Other problems: Throwout bearing went at 60k miles and had to be replaced and according to the research I did it was a common problem.
Electronic control module went out when it was under warranty and necessitated replacing the ECM and the Transmission Control Module
About 1000 miles after the warranty expired the A/C compressor stopped working, they told me it would be $750 to fix, I told them to put more Freon in for $60. That really pissed me off when that went out I mean I’ve seen 20 year old cars that have working A//C.
While my windows haven’t broke I have noticed they’ve slowed down a lot over time and I fear the motors may go out.
I love my car in theory if everything worked right but it’s had a fair number of issues, should have gotten a Toyota I guess.
Ok, first off, anyone else open this thinking it was about poker?
We have a 17 Forester that has had very intermittent issues with the display, it would freeze or go black. Turning it off and on again usually fixes it. I think once or twice shutting of the entire car and restarting fixed it, maybe that was before we discovered that actually turning off the screen did the trick. Overall, I like the Forester, but the screen issues is one that Subaru won’t fix due to it being intermittent. And while not really a defect, the Harmon premium sound only has two bass settings - a ton of bass, and two tons of bass. God I hate it.
No issues with the moon roof glass exploding. Not yet at least.
I wonder if they use the same company as Toyota. My 2011 Prius had a screen that went insane. I started seeing hieroglyphics (their term) on it while still under warranty. They replaced the entire module.
When I was searching for reliability and recall issues before we bought displays never came up. I test drove a Mazda CX-9 and the Outback. I was leaning to Mazda the spousal unit liked the OB. It was the boxer engine that he wanted, swallowed his dislike of the cvt and hammered me about differences on awd, ground clearance, integrated roof racks, blah blah blah. I dithered and finally came around to agree that overall the OB fit our lifestyle better. Also the Subaru dealer was way more excited about their product and spent oodles of time with us. The Mazda family was meh, here are the keys take a drive let me know, salesperson said I can throw in freebies too. Thanks I guess.
So we picked up my beautiful car and spent 90 minutes going over the car and display features. Then on our first trip out of town in the bowels of Chicago xway the display blinks and goes dark. Not good timing for the navigation to go on fritz.
Their gonna reboot it from the ground up and cross their fingers. Otherwise how many months wait for a new head unit ? from Japan.
Almost bought the outback a month ago to replace my wife’s Rav 4. Very much liked the features but she never was able to find a comfortable seat position. This was to be our post-retirement touring car so comfort was an important consideration. Tried the Ascent, still no good. Ended up with a pretty decked out Santa Fe and we’re quite happy with comfort and features. My 4 year old Santa Fe has had no issues thus far but has a fraction of the features and sensors as the new one.
I’ve read about a class action lawsuit against Suburu over cracked windshields.
Happy update, the engineers figured it out, replaced a widget and after 5 weeks in their possession it was finally delivered to me last week. Washed, disinfected with a full tank of gas. The dealer and Subaru Corp were responsive all through out and in the end provided us with a check to cover 1 car payment plus a $500 coupon which was cool. But then a box arrived from Subaru. Had no idea what was inside I kinda wanted a sunshade or emergency kit. But it was a damn Dyson vac!
Best of all my car is back in my driveway, ready to road trip I hope soon!
It’s just one of those things that’s endemic to poorly-written software. My company has similar issues. I hate having to find a safe place to pull over and reboot the system, but luckily it’s getting rarer and rarer. Oh, I’m enraged when it happens; driving without my podcast is an intolerable first-world problem.
Told this story before. Our first Subaru was a 2002 Forester Wagon, Goldie. Loved her, drove her for 10 years, 220,000+ miles, all over the US (moved cross country 3 times). Cried when we traded her in (For a Nissan, no less!) Goldie’s only real mechanical issue (besides old age) was when a head gasket leaked. Not a very expensive fix for us, except the dealer was 292 miles from home. It started when we were away, and had to rent a car to take us home to work and back to pick her up. Amazingly, it didn’t kill our budget.
Now have a 2015 Impreza Sport (wagon). Haven’t had her long enough to really love her, but so grateful for a big cargo space and all wheel drive. We’ve had no mechanical problems. The gaskets around the door on the car side and the door have come loose, and we need to schedule time to get them taken care of. Bluetooth stopped working last winter, so we’ll ask about that when we get her serviced.
I’m a believer. I don’t want any other make than Subaru.
