1990 Subaru Loyale LX review from North America

Sometimes I think this car got cursed:

Since 55,000 miles the starter and the alternator have each blown three times

(seems like every 12,000 miles one or both break)

At 65,000 electrical system needed to be re-wired.

At 75,000 the muffler rusted off.

At 81,000 the shifter column rusted in half.

By 100,000 miles I have replaced the cv joints and the bearings for both front tires twice.

At 101,000 power steering pump broke.

At 102,000 electric shorts started to constantly blow fuses (example every time I press eject on my tape deck or turn on the defroster I blow the fuse for my tail lights)

At 109,000 engine has started to burn oil.

The 1990 Loyale was one of subaru's first cars and it shows.

The car has the spirit of a jeep. The combination of the 4wd and the surprising ground clearance of this car let it go any where today's SUVs can go.

I've found that this model has higher ground clearance then some Ford Explorer models with running boards.

Car handles well in any road condition and takes to the snow like a champ!

The small motor provides more than enough power to make this car fly! On a straight away it will easly go over the legal limit and will not slow down on steep inclines.

I've found this car is great for mountain driving: This model has excellent "gear braking"-down shifting

allows for great control of speed no matter the steepness or length of inlcine.

HOWEVER, the car was not reliable. Some sort of problem seemed to arise every 10,000 miles. Other owners of this model report similar problems with the starter. The car more often seemed like the black hole of auto repair just sucking more and more money in.