Thread: Are Subarus the best cars money can buy?

My friend just scrapped his XJ because he dumped $1900 into fixing the transmission a few months ago and then just a few days ago, his headgasket blew.

EDIT: Fixed to XJ, because it had the 4.0L HO that blew up. Sucks for my buddy because he bought a Ford Escape instead....

No 4.0 HO tho..




YEAH

Subaru's are great cars, and even better in the snow. For the price of a Subaru, you can't go wrong. Sure there are better cars out there, but not in the same price range.

subaru makes every se-r guys wet dream, turbo, awd, stick. yet everyone hates

I will agree, Subaru took a dive a bit, but new Subaru's seem to be very sound. They get fantastic gas mileage, they are dead reliable, have better interiors then Nissan's.

What year Jeep? Also what about comfort, gas mileage, power?



Denial man, I was there myself, but as we grow up our opinions change. I like being able to full throttle the car in the rain with 0 traction loss. At the same power levels between the Subi and the Sentra, Subi is 200% safer to drive, especially for the wife.

Working on the Subaru is the painful part though, I will agree to that.

Agreed here. When Subaru went to the STI 6 speed, they beefed it up quite a bit. Before that, the transmission cases were split down the middle length wise. The Subaru community was, maybe still is in debate on why these fail; case or shaft flex was the argument. The STI 6 speed case is different, actually looks kind of like a 350Z transmission and has large gears, I believe a synchronized reverse and better support. Drivetrain wise, they seem to be one of the most reliable as far as AWD turbo cars go.

I can't say much about the Mitsubishi as the Evolution 8s and 9s were not readily available in Canada; think that the helical transfer is kind of neat. As far as transverse transmission/transaxles go, I suppose you can only reinforce it so much; I think the FWD SR community knows this well enough.

I would go Evolution if it it were between that and the Subaru mostly because they are not overly common. Sometimes, transverse AWD stuff is quite troublesome labor wise; look at AWD turbo Celicas, Pulsar GTI-Rs and the likes. I went to the West Coast Subaru show a couple of years back and saw rows and rows of WRXs. I hung out in the parking/camping area in my GTI-R. It may not have been the fastest or most reliable car there, but it has character.

Sure, a WRX STi would kick my VE's ass in a snow storm.. but on dry pavement - nope.

The EVO vs WRX and STi really comes down to what your intentions are for the car. Evos feel way more surgical, racey, tight... will make more power on a stock bottom end than an EJ, will make more power on a built bottom end than an EJ too. Evo would be my choice for track only. That said, if you want a weekend warrior that you can also daily drive without feeling like you got your ass kicked and you feel more comfortable buying a car from a company that might be around long enough to honor the parts of the warranty that you haven't voided its all about the scubies.



Pick an XJ.. I'll go with '94. Comfort is subjective I guess... It's no lexus but I had no complaints last time I drove one a few hundred miles from the hamptons home to upstate NY. For mileage I got multiple tanks between 23 and 25mpg on 87... so comparable to the OXT/LGT (taking premium into account). Power is sufficient with the 4.0 H.O. and 5sp.. would give stock sr20s a run for their money (2wd might be faster...).



I have an unreasonably high level of adoration for my b13 too but other than possibly the one mph advantage in trap speed you'd have over a 2004 STi, and some purely subjective tactile sensation, that is a fairly delusional statement. The STi in stock form is superior in every measurable performance metric other than MPG.

Power to weight is not the same. VE in a P11 (2900lbs) is DOG SLOW. I learned the hard way, I was lucky to get 0-60 under 8 seconds!

We love to dog on stock fast cars a lot, I know I've been there, but at the end of the day your still in a glued Sentra. STI's actually have usable cup holders



I personally always hated Subaru's, I hate the boxer motor even now. Before 2013 I would have chosen an Evo hands down over a WRX. But when it came down to wanting an offroadable AWD 4 cylinder, Subaru delivered with the Forester XT. Then when it came down to replacing my P11 with something more comfortable yet peppy, Subaru yet again delivered with the Legacy GT. If Mitsubishi made a 4 cylinder turbo AWD family sports sedan, I might have considered it over the Legacy.

Another thing with EVO's is tiny trunks and interiors, still horrible gas mileage, timing belt interval is at 60k (Subaru is 105k), and it's a Mitsubishi, which like you said probably wont be around to honor warranty work soon...