Faults:

Until 4 weeks ago, nothing was wrong with my car except for a faint smell of coolant, which over the past several months was getting more and more strong. I was adding more and more coolant to the car.

I took it to a mechanic to have the timing belt changed and mentioned the smell of coolant. He checked the car and told me the head gaskets were leaking. The car never overheated. He couldn't do the work, but after 4 days he finally found someone who could. I refused to take it to the Subaru dealer as the last time I was there for a brake job, my brakes had air in the lines as I was driving home, and I had to take the car in to a local shop to have the lines properly bled so the pedal wouldn't go to the floor when I tried to stop the car.

I took it to a local repair shop for the head gasket problem 3 weeks ago. After a week, I got the car back and was ecstatic. I drove the car home on a Friday, took it on errands through the weekend, drove to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and by Wednesday evening driving home, it overheated on the freeway. I was towed back to the repair shop. The next day I was told it was the radiator cap. They replaced it, and couldn't get it to overheat.

I drove the car home Thursday night. I drove it to work Friday, and on the way home, it overheated again. I was towed back to the repair shop. The car was in the shop until the next Thursday as they attempted to get it to overheat. When they finally did, they were still stumped. The engine didn't test hot on their laser tester, however, the mechanic was convinced that deep in the engine, it was hot. He suspected a hairline crack in the block, which was progressively getting worse now that the gaskets were causing increased pressure. The block was checked for problems before doing the finished work on the gasket, but nothing was found. So... I'm out $2200.

I drove the car to an auto dealership and traded it in. They knew what was wrong as their mechanic checked it out, and it was quite apparent by this time as a black mist was spewing out from the engine block when it overheated. They didn't give me squat for it. I expected to drive it a long time... I was told by Subaru of America that I would get at least 200,000 miles out of it. HA HA HA... I will NEVER, EVER buy another Subaru. They are great cars until they die prematurely.

General Comments:

The car is a piece of junk with a cracked block.

Faults:

Head gaskets failed at 80,000 miles, requiring over $1000 in repairs, not including the head gaskets.

No advance notification by dealer or S.O.A. of the head gasket problem.

Door seals failed at around 50K miles. Interior of the car is extremely noisy.

General Comments:

Seats are hard as bricks. They're OK for trips under two hours. For longer journeys, they're unacceptable.

Good car for snow. Tracks well and maintains traction even with ice and slush on roads.

Lots more interior room than one would think.

Faults:

Wind noise front passenger window.

Lots of hot coolant and burnt oil smells.

Head gasket blew at 109,300 miles.

General Comments:

Has been a relatively good car.

Disappointed with head gasket problem, seems they put in coolant additive to postpone known head problems till the warranty runs out.

Always seemed to have coolant or oil smells.