2004 Subaru Outback review from North America

Door window seal not sealing properly at about 2,000 miles.

Front windshield not properly protected by rubber seal. A chip near the windshield edge (i.e, glass not protected by the rubber) will propagate causing entire windshield to fail.

Clutch failure due to improper engineering. They have a technical service bulletin on this item at least. Clutch failure at about 20,000 miles.

Cold start failure repeatedly at about 0F. No start. We have to figure this out. Unfortunately, there is no error code, and the problem is inconsistent, therefore making diagnostics impossible.

Engine failure at 42,000 miles. Piston rod failure caused engine to lockup (actually blew a hole in the crankcase).

Bad bearing on idler pulley causing the timing belt to fail. Belt jumped by one tooth. This insignificant failure caused the valves to hit the pistons ultimately putting holes in piston. This completely destroyed engine. 50,000 miles.

Manual transmission failure at 65,000 miles.

Premature wearing of brakes. Front rotors warped. The rotors most likely warp because of too much drag pressure on the pads. Improper cooling at highway speeds in summer will cause this failure.

This is one of the most over rated cars on the road. I could never recommend this car to anyone. Subaru is now building an engine that has serious problems. For example, the second engine failure was unwarranted from an engineering perspective. Proper design dictates that the timing belt will fail eventually or prematurely. This failure should not cause engine failure. However, on this engine, timing belt failure will cause engine failure.

I purchased this car based on consumer reviews. Subaru customer care is terrible. Subaru refuses to admit that the car has serious problems. Completely over rated. Time to set the record straight.