What caught my eye was the non-original brand-logo on the back of this Forester ahead of me in traffic. I didn’t even notice another Subaru photobombing me. So let’s take a closer look at both of them, especially their very similar-themed logos.
It’s a Subaru SVX, but for those of us who studied Latin, we know it’s really a SUX.
And this Subaru isn’t even resorting to Latin to get its message across.
Well, until 110,000 miles comes up and they’re in for their 110,000 mile scheduled maintenance…tune-up, timing belt…and don’t forget the leaky head gaskets and while you’re in there, replace the water pump.
$1500 in repairs for us on our 2005 Outback. We got off cheap because the dealer was willing to combine the flat rates for the timing belt and head gaskets; many of the disassembly/reassembly procedures were the same. We learned many other Subie owners paid upwards of $2400 for the same repairs.
Nevertheleas, when a head gasket leak was noted again – around 178,000 miles, we ended up replacing…the Outback!
The 2011 Equinox my wife drives now just passed 110,000…with nary a peep.
Doesn’t suck to be us anymore.
Well, until 110,000 miles comes up and they’re in for their 110,000 mile scheduled maintenance…tune-up, timing belt…and don’t forget the leaky head gaskets and while you’re in there, replace the water pump.
My Aunt had an 87 Loyale. The T belt was the subject of a recall, so she had that done free somewhere along the line, so that was not impending at 100K, The amounts of oil, coolant and exhaust leaking from the engine room was more than a bit offputting tho…then there was the rust. The mechanic at the Subie dealer was telling her “you *need* to get a new car” Her next ride was a 98 Civic, which suffered none of the Subie’s ills. According to Carfax, it looks like that Civic, on it’s third or fourth owner, finally succumbed last winter, at something over 226,000
At the Detroit auto show a couple years ago, I checked out the Subie stand, where they had a cutaway model of their engine. Subaru has finally joined the new millennium as their engine now uses a timing chain.
Chains and sprockets wear and stretch belts replaced as required provide more accurate timing more cheaply and quietly,
Chains and sprockets wear and stretch belts replaced as required
All true. The chains in my Ford Taurus X made a terrible fluctuating whine and Chevy Cobalts and early Mk V VW Rabbit/Jetta with the 2.5 are notorious for a short lived chain.
Americans tend to drive cars until they break, with little to no maintenance. I am sure more than a few vintage Hondas met their end with a broken timing belt. Unlike a belt, which works fine until it breaks, a worn chain gives some warning. If the driver of a chain car turns down their headbanger music for a moment, they have a chance of hearing the rattle of a loose chain.
Some belts are a lot cheaper to replace than others. I think a belt and water pump job on my old Civic cost $450. I have seen estimates for a belt on a 2.0L Mk IV Jetta or a 1.8L Astra H nudging $900.
And, with a chain, you don’t have to worry about dry rot, like you do with a rubber belt, so a 12 year old, low mileage, chain engine will be fine, while a rubber belt the same age and low mileage may be on the brink of failure. The age limit on my Civic, according to the maintenance schedule was 7 years. On other belt engines I have seen as much as 10 years. There is no such time limit on chains.
Of course, the rubber guys keep tinkering. The 1.4L that is now the base engine in the US market Jetta uses a belt. The “product specialist” at the VW stand at the Detroit Auto Show assured me that rubber belt is good for the life of the engine. I’ll let other people be the beta testers for that.
Here is an article about the EA211 and it’s “lifetime” (which VW doesn’t specify) belt.
http://blog.caranddriver.com/we-sample-the-ea211-volkswagen%E2%80%99s-next-global-four-cylinder-engine-series/
I love that.
(Just as awesome: It’s been 30 years since I’ve been in a pickup of that vintage. Those pics, with the long, flat, square-fronted hood and the curved windshield, thin A pillar and dusty dash with requisite miscellany sliding around on it just makes me smile.)
SVX, now there was something outside of Subaru’s Birkenstock clad corporate look/style.
It has to be admitted that Subaru’s marketing is very effective, approaching those marketing icons Jeep and Harley in promoting a very specific lifestyle. While VW and Prius are quite good in this department, as well, I’d go so far to say that Subaru is the best in that their vehicles are practical, reasonably priced, reliable, and (generally) low maintenance. At least they used to be.
VW was good at that, not is.
Yes, the TDI was, until the fall of 2015…
Even though I studied Latin, I must not have studied hard enough because I never made the leap from SVX to SUX. But in the unlikely event I see another of these, that leap shall be made.
In the SUX2BU department, my sister just ditched her 2015 Outback following a less than happy experience, including multiple instances of every single warning light in the dash coming on and staying on – until she got it to the dealer, by which time they went out, thus making it undiagnosable. So, such a nameplate might need to go onto the car for its new owner, now that she has traded it in.
Jeep Wrangler Unlimited for her now, with a 6 speed. She promises that I will get to drive it next time I see her.
If she turns the key just one more notch so the engine starts, the warning lights usually turn off. 🙂
Bummer for her, but it sounds like she is fond of the Jeep so far, eh?
Yes, especially getting to shift gears again. Subaru discontinued a stick for 2015, which she didn’t realize until the 2014s were so thinly available that they weren’t worth trying to chase from halfway across the country, sight unseen.
You can still get a new Outback with a stick in Canada, but they are rare and not available on all trim levels.
Umm, in actual Latin script, the letter pronounced as “U” is written “V”. You flunked! 🙂
I tried to tell you that I didn’t study hard enough. 🙂
I had the experience of all of the warning lights lighting in my 86 Merkur XR4. I was driving along and all of the warning lights in the row on the IP came on. I said, “Let’s see now, I just filled with gas, so I’m pretty sure the low-fuel light is lying to me, and I’m pretty sure you’re lying to me about all of these other dire things, too.” Soon, one by one, the lights went out, and I never had the problem again. This also was the car in which, on a hot day, depressing the brake pedal would cause the rear wiper to wipe once. Although the car was assembled in Koeln, I was sure the electrical system was British. My boss had an XR4 pool car one summer night, and mentioned the wiper thing too, so I guess it was endemic.
Something similar on various Fox-body cars (Mustangs and a T-bird) was for all of the IP gauges (fuel, oil, temperature, ammeter) to peg themselves full right at random times. The first time it happened I had just gone through a rain shower, and when I stopped the car and popped the hood the engine was cool to the touch, so I figured the temp gauge was lying (also in this instance I knew I didn’t have a full tank of gas). I waited for the gauges to recover from their collective freakout and everything was fine.
Wonky electrical issues scare me. She had other problems with the car like air and water leaks in the body and another thing or two that I am forgetting. She made the decision to not have to start having to deal with that kind of stuff once the warranty expired. I can’t say that I blame her. I have tended to keep good cars for a long time (too long, maybe) but bad ones do get made, and there is no reason to double down on one.
Gauge issues are always fun. My Volvo would often, upon startup, have none of the four small gauges working (fuel, coolant temp, oil temp, voltage) and the tachometer would randomly bounce from the bottom of the gauge up to about 2000 RPM and back (the sound of the engine did not change, among other reasons I knew it was lying). Start driving and the tach would settle down, and eventually the other gauges would usually come around. Oddly, the speedometer seemed to work reliably.
Of course the car is 28 years old with almost 180K miles, so I suppose time and corrosion are not great friends of electrical contacts!
Stancing your Scooby does take away the offroad ability, but whatever, at least it is not another silver hohum sedan. There are a bunch of Scooby fanatics in the Northwest and it is amusing to see their dedication since I doubt the rabid fan base exists in such numbers anywhere else in the country. That dent on the SUX is interesting, wonder how that happened? Around Ithaca, NY there is at least one person who brings rust free Scoobies up from elsewhere since people love them, but they rust out and people are willing to pay good money for a rust free circa 2000 Outback.
I assume Paul there are not too many Washingtonians in Eugene given it is about 120 miles from Vancouver. Oregon plated vehicles get thin on the ground once you get into Washington’s interior as well.
I didn’t realize until recently that there was a Vancouver, WA, that is nowhere near Vancouver, BC (which in itself is ~30 miles from the US border…with Washington State). That always confused me.
I have a simple love/hate affair with Subaru: Love ’84 and older, hate ’85 and newer. Simple. And we all know what Subaru spelled backwards is. Ur-a-bus!
I had an ’80 Subaru way back when with the old pushrod engine. Slow, but good on gas and reliable as an anvil. Rust wound up killing it.
I still prefer the MI UB HI on the tail gates of low rider Mitsubishi mini trucks back when low rider mini trucks were all the rage.
Dont forget removing To and ta to get YO on your lowriding hilux!
I’ve seen a Tacoma running around town with a few letters removed, so it reads:
TOY TACO
Way back when I had a trusty ’91 Grand Marquis as a DD and thought long and hard about cutting up a couple of “Mercury” and “Grand Marquis” nameplates and use the letters to spell out “De Sade” on the deck lid…
buddy of mine and I got a bunch of ’80s Pontiac badging and cut them up to make GTO badges for my ’86 6000-STE. No one ever gave it a second look.
“SUX2BU” would have a very specific meaning in Boston.
Around 2005, I remember seeing a vandalized rental Chevy Classic (the N-Body Malibu that was fleet-only by then) – ASSLIC.
Don’t forget the ever popular rearranging of PASSAT badges to read TAP ASS.
a funny one I heard about was a neighbours daughter who drove a buick skylark.
her brother took the prominent BUICK on the back and with some cutting and
redoing made it to read PUBIC. she was not amused when she noticed it…several days later! sometimes I think I missed out growing up as an only child.
I’ve seen more than one old BUICK with the “I” removed and the “B” modified to spell a naughty word.
SVXs are quite rare here but Foresters are everywhere theres a tidy black one for sale around the corner the 4sale notice has nearly washed off the windows now 2k must be too much for it.
If I lived anywhere but on the southwest coast of Canada, meaning a place where it regularly snows and does all manner of yucky weather related things, I’d be driving a Subaru Crosstrek. It’s a great car for bad winters, as the AWD system is light-years better than the slip and engage types in other cars like the CRV. A Subie is legendary for its snow going ability and at the price it’s a good value.
When I was home in Québec last year, I saw loads of Crosstreks. Not surprising, really.
I like the form factor of the Crosstrek, but could never live with its power train. Now if only they put in a WRX engine…
For commuting in a snowstorm, one doesn’t need 300 hp. Or at least I don’t!