When we first purchased the car we found that the driver side wheel made a noise. The dealer attempted to fix it by "balancing" the tires. Our mechanic said it was a bearing which the dealer then fixed and it took care of the problem. Since then I have had one sensor go out at a cost of $250. This car has been overheating the last 2 months. I have carried coolant with me and filled it when needed. The first mechanic I took it to could not find the problem. It has now been at another shop for the last 2 weeks while they diagnosed the problem, order a head gasket kit and is waiting to be fixed. Cost to fix will be $1250. Now I'm trying to decide whether to continue to drive the car or trade for a toyota.
Very disappointing. My previous subaru was a '93 which handled fabulously in the snow and I never had any problems with it. The '93 had 175,000 miles on it so I wanted to get a newer one since I drive 100 miles a day and hoped to have a dependable car for years to come. It doesn't handle as well as my old one and has had many problems. I still see my old one driving around town.
I experienced the same problem with my 2000 Outback and this is what was told to me. The engines in the 2000 Subaru were sent to the US to be assembled. it was blundered in the assembly and the head gaskets are prone to leak. Subaru knows about it and extended the warranty. They have since stopped shipping engines to be assembled in the US since they cannot control the quality of the work. Engines are now sent assembled.Don't blame Subaru blame the US assemblers.
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