(First Posted December 21, 2014) I pulled up behind a new Mini Cooper at the red light and came to a full stop. Then I looked in the rearview mirror, saw the front of an F-150 and came to the quick realization that he was approaching awfully fast and not going to stop…
Before I could say anything to warn my wife there was the loudest “Bang!” I’d ever heard and then immediately another one as our car was catapulted into the Mini and all of the airbags went off.
The next thing I recall is that my wife was screaming at me to get out, there was smoke everywhere from the airbags and we could not see how to get out with all of the white fabric enveloping us. Eventually we both got out and I just dropped to the street and rested there with my ears ringing while seeing people come running from all directions.
Back in the spring of this year, shortly after finishing the original run of my COAL series, my wife and I replaced our VW Touareg with a Mercedes GL450 and then I decided to trade in our Honda Odyssey on this, one of the last 2014 Subaru Outbacks made with the 3.6 liter flat-six engine and a conventional 5-speed automatic transmission.
I had deliberated for a long time and looked at several cars but kept coming back to the Subaru. Not because I was a fan of the styling (In fact I’ve long thought this generation to be by far the least attractive of all Subarus since the 70’s and on top of that find the 6-spoke wheel design from 2013-on to be borderline offensive) but because it is quite roomy inside, seemed well put together, had permanent all-wheel-drive, and would serve as a great combination work and play vehicle while having phenomenal resale value as well as hopefully better than average reliability and durability.
Eventually I took my wife with me to drive an Outback. We started with the 4-cylinder and CVT version, a quick drive revealed that it was quite a bit underpowered at our altitude (for me anyway) and made noises that were not particularly refined. Then we tried the 6-cylinder and found it to be a significant improvement. Smooth, quiet, fairly refined. OK, this would do.
After some more research I was aware than the 2015’s were restyled and due to be released soon and that the 2014’s were ending production any day now. So I spoke with several dealers and in the end was able to do a deal with the dealer in Boulder (about an hour away) for a car that was in the pipeline to be built and about four to eight weeks away, depending on transit. We agreed on a trade-in value for the van and they let me drive it until my new car was ready at the end of April.
There had been no published pictures of the new model yet and the entire time I was waiting I was kind of secretly hoping that it would not be a stunner from a styling standpoint. When it was finally released I noted that the new model looks a bit smoother but basically very similar so I was happy.
Subaru builds these in their factory in Lafayette, Indiana with 45% US/Canadian parts content and 45% Japanese (including engine and transmission); the unpredictable part of the order process was the rail shipment, with so many trains apparently being diverted to oil production, there was a three week window within which the car would arrive at the Denver rail yard. Once it arrived there, it was unloaded and delivered to the dealer quite quickly.
Taking delivery in same month as build month, April 2014
As the regular readers know, I’ve bought plenty of cars in my lifetime but not that many brand-new ones. Picking up a new car at a dealer is always a treat. In this case I took my son with me and the dealer had us in and out within half an hour, totally painless and even the finance person was pleasant to deal with and accepted “no, thank you” as an answer the first time…
The color of this car is Venetian Red Pearl with a Black leather interior. The 3.6R Limited’s are pretty well loaded up with most imaginable options, since it was the end of this model series, the dealers were offering fairly significant discounts (Not quite up to large pickup standards but certainly notable) along with 0% financing for up to five years. I’ll always take the free use of someone else’s money but still gave them the old van as a trade-in and covered the taxes out of my pocket as I tend to do.
The car drove very well; plenty powerful enough, quiet, smooth, and somewhat economical. Only regular gas is required and while the sticker reads 17 City / 25 Highway with 20 Combined I averaged around 22-23 mpg with a mix of mostly city driving which in fairness around here generally does not really consist of any stop-and-go. Weirdly enough, I realized my garage now contained two different water-cooled 3.6liter flat-six engines, the other being in my 911, which gets pretty much the same mileage but sounds surprisingly different doing so. (and is a little quicker…)
The Outback in the North American market differs a bit from the rest of the world, most noticeably in the cladding and roof rack areas. We have more cladding at the bottom edge of the car and our roof rack is a much bulkier affair than the sleek unit sold elsewhere.
What our rack does have that is not obvious at first glance though is integrated crossbars – they swing out and lock into the opposing side, the newer models (since 2013) also let them be locked in a couple of different positions front to back. A very nice touch, out of the way when not needed, and right at hand when needed.
The interiors of these are a comfortable place to spend time with generally hard wearing and durable materials. The dashboard is not soft, which I don’t care about as I have never found myself caressing the dashboard in any car anyway.
The door panels, while decently contoured, come across as a bit flimsy, when pushed there is a lot of “give”. In addition, Subaru is a bit behind the curve in regard to modern amenities and general ambiance.
The fake “wood” in the upper trim levels is quite unconvincing, even in the matte finish of ours. And the stereo, even with the Harman-Kardon branded system in ours, is merely adequate with a somewhat sub-par display.
At least the Bluetooth integration worked easily and seamlessly. I suppose all of that is par for the course when you buy the upper level of a vehicle line that at its most basic level currently retails for just over $20,000. In any case, it was easy to clean and seemed like it would hold up over the long haul.
The HVAC system worked great, the heated seats were wonderful, and the space in the back helped me to haul stuff to renovate a house over the summer. For reference I was easily able to fit a standard size washing machine in the back with the rear seats folded with room to spare, and when in the up position three kids fit across the rear bench for at least shorter trips around town with one still in a booster seat. In front there is enough space so elbows are not fighting for center console space either.
As a bonus the kids could all fasten their own seatbelts and even the smallest could open the door from the outside, neither of which I can say for the mid-size SUV loaner I am currently driving. Oh, the joys of what is basically a car…
As time went on I just came to appreciate the basic goodness of the car more and more. It just did its job, unobtrusively, non-flashy, and always willingly. Kind of like a good dog, I guess. Which reminds me, this is also the car I used to take our dog of 16 years to the vet this summer when it was time for her to enter the great rabbit field in the sky…
Here in Colorado, Subaru Outbacks are pretty much the “Official Car”, they are simply everywhere. I started to play a game where if I was stopped at a red light I would see if the light would change to green before I saw another Subaru, since I bought the car in April, I have not once lost!
At least one other Subaru was always there and more often than not it was another Outback. The 4-cylinders seem to outnumber the 6-cylinders about ten to one in my opinion, and now I am starting to see significant numbers of the newer version as well. I also belong to a Subaru Outback forum and posted there about this wreck, one of the respondents was another local Outback owner that happened to pass our accident right after it occurred…
I was just starting to look around to see if I could find another set of wheels for snow tires. We had our first snow a few weeks back and while the car was very sure-footed, snow tires are always helpful for cornering or stopping in the white stuff no matter how many driven wheels you have.
We’d even named the car “Mary” (something I’ve never done before) after my youngest’s preschool teacher at the time, a feisty older woman who we weren’t sure about at first but grew to really appreciate; she had bought a virtually identical car in the same color a couple of years earlier, so we thought it would be fitting.
I sort of let the kids decide which of several colors we should get (of the few that were available) and was happy when they chose the red. Subaru is one of few makers that still makes cars in actual colors, although some trim levels are severely limited in that regard.
That’s me, Your Humble Servant, sitting on the grass while very dazed and out of it…
Which brings me back towards the end (or the beginning) of this story, about seven months and 8000 miles since we took delivery of the car. Subarus have been known as safe cars for some time now and they definitely use it to their advantage in their advertising – Have you seen the “They Lived” campaign? YouTube it if you haven’t. Wow.
Anyway, I didn’t really know or have time to think about it when that F-150 was barreling at us and while I have no doubt that my 911 is a strong car as well, I am glad that we were not in that and I am sure the lady in the Mini that was in front of us is glad we were her buffer. As long as Subaru spends money on crash safety they can keep on having hard dashboards as far as I am concerned.
The car, at first glance, does not look that bad. However it did sacrifice itself for us. The truck hit us at an estimated speed of 40-45mph, and we were then pushed into the Mini. The truck ended up slightly ahead of where the Mini was originally and we were both thrown all the way across the intersection so that the wrecked cars didn’t even block the cross traffic when all was said and done.
The truck hit us pretty much square on the back, smooshing all of the back end in and crumpling the right rear fender a bit as well as reducing all of the panel gaps to Lexus-like tiny gaps. Then we hit the Mini with our front right, causing a lot of damage there and the cars “locked” together, the tow truck drivers had to work for a while to separate them.
However, all of the doors still opened. The roof was bent a bit (the sunroof glass is flush at three corners and sticks up about an inch in the other corner.) Both front airbags as well as the side curtain airbags went off.
The damage to the truck was just astounding as well. There are a lot of trucks around here and when they get in wrecks usually the truck looks pretty good and if a car is involved, the car usually looks significantly worse. This truck was just destroyed as far as the front is concerned at any rate.
Most of the people at the scene were quite impressed with the Subaru although I completely understand that the whole point is for the vehicle to absorb the impact energy so the soft squishy people inside don’t have to.
The body shop adjuster said the damage amounted to well over $25,000 before he stopped calculating and recommended totaling the car. Apparently the engine and transmission still worked but at least a part of the engine cracked and broke (camshaft cover?). The car really did sacrifice itself for us which I suppose is the whole point of the engineering that goes into it.
As much as I like the cars we call curbside classics, I would not want to have been in most of the cars that we all love to read about on these pages in this situation. My wife and I both pretty much walked away, we are sore and a bit bruised and both have a few lingering things that should hopefully improve over time but all in all are basically happy that it wasn’t worse.
The driver of the truck admitted fault to the police (said he felt light-headed and passed out), and since it was his girlfriend’s truck, her insurance stepped up and agreed to pay the entire claim (the insurance in this state goes with the car, not the driver, remind me not to let others drive my cars!). I don’t want to divulge details, however as regards the insurance company’s payout for the loss of the car itself, we were quite satisfied with it.
As for me, I now get to do that thing that my wife says I like the most, that being looking for and purchasing another car. I really thought this would be it for a while, but it was not to be. I’m not quite sure what to replace it with, the new Outbacks with a 6-cylinder are so rare I would have to order one which would take several months (which I may still do, I took a look at one and they are quite a big improvement, especially inside) or there are several other ideas I have been playing around with…Stay tuned!
Some of Jim’s past posts, including the one about the car he bought to replace the Subaru, are down.
If they were originally presented after this Subaru, they should be down. All of his installments after this one, such as the replacement car, is scheduled for next Sunday and, as such, is unavailable until then.
Are his previous cars, the ones covered during the last eight to ten weeks for instance, all available?
I think it’s working as it should be now. I de-linked to the list of COALS in this post after reading George’s comment. The prior vehicles that are still linked to in this post seem to function correctly. The next post in the series (the QOTD) is now up and working. The next vehicle is, as Jason said, scheduled for next Sunday and from the backend at least seems to be posted correct but likely not visible to anyone else yet (until next week). But thank you very much for pointing it out!
Owner stereotypes notwithstanding, it’s easy to see why Subaru has a loyal and dedicated following, particularly in those snowbelt states where AWD would come in very handy in the extended winter months.
With that said, the much more common 2.5L engine took a real reliability hit on head gasket longevity. I’ve read that those built prior to 2011 won’t make it past 100k miles before the head gasket begins leaking and needs to be replaced to the tune of $2000 (and every 100k miles thereafter, as well). Is it still an issue with even newer vehicles? If true, it’s a real shame.
My 70year old mother has a 2008 Outback (purchased new, also here in CO, same dealer in fact) with about 120k miles on it and zero head gasket issues so that seems to not be universally true but yes there are more head gasket issues with Subarus than other engines for some reason.
I’m also fairly certain my mother isn’t a lesbian but even if she were there wouldn’t be anything wrong with that as far as I’m concerned. A better stereotype for the women Subaru drivers around here at least that is likely to actually be true is of them usually possessing a higher than average education level, a practical and pragmatic mindset, usually a higher level of physical fitness as well as a good sense of fiscal responsibility.
I can’t speak to the cost of head gasket replacement but while there are obviously two head gaskets I’ll bet with a little shopping one could easily beat that quote by quite a bit.
Yeah, the lesbian/Subaru thing is similar to that of the gay/3-series BMW, I suppose. I doubt either stereotype keeps any non-LGBT types from buying one of those vehicles.
Like I said, in many parts of the US, a Subaru is simply a very solid choice for inclement weather driving and lower-center-of-gravity stability than the higher, small CUVs that are all the rage these days.
As to the head gasket thing, it seems to involve something to do with the coolant having some kind of deterioration effect on the head gasket material. How something like that could occur is beyond me. Maybe it was an ill-advised effort to shave a few pennies on head gaskets. Weren’t there certain years of the Dodge Neon that had head gasket issues, too?
I believe they were aluminum gaskets, probably to deal with heat, and tbey failed through galvanic corrosion with iron or steel block. Subaru has an additive for the coolant that reduced the problem a lot. But it is also very important to keep all the ground wire connections to the body clean; if they corrode and get higher resistance then the elctrons go through the block and head instead and speed up the corrosion a lot. IIRC that’s why it is usually the driver’s side gasket that fails first.
Still seems like a problem they should have been able to eliminate after the first year.
Apparently, the head gasket issue didn’t arise until after the engine was enlarged to 2.5L. Prior 2.0L and 2.2L versions of the same engine didn’t have the problem. While the boxer engine has some advantages, it appears they don’t outweigh the disadvantages, one of which is uneven cooling. The boxer engine configuration is mostly a dead-end for development (as GM found out with the Corvair and, ultimately, VW, as well) but Subaru has been successfully using it for a very long time and doesn’t have the resources to switch to another, more traditional engine design. It’s worth noting that it took some time in getting the brand-new (for VW) inline engine in the Golf right after relying on the Beetle’s flat-four for so long. The boxer’s issues can be resolved, but it’s pricey to accomplish, which is a reason the Porsche 911 is so expensive.
And it’s not like Subaru really needs to change, anyway. As PolarBear points out below, Subaru is selling everything they can build so, evidently, the head gasket issue doesn’t seem to be keeping very many people from buying a Subaru, even the ones with the 2.5L engine.
But the Subaru’s 3.6 doesn’t seem to have an issue. Cylinder size is about the same as the 2.5l four and you’d think there’d be more stress across the longer head if it were merely an engineering resource issue as opposed to the (also) 3.6l boxer-6 in my 911.
I think most manufacturers just don’t do flat-4’s as they are more expensive than inlines to build. And there is usually enough room to package an I-4 underwood as opposed to V6 vs I6 or V8 vs I8.
It’s certainly odd how it’s only the 2.5L that has the issue. I can only surmise that a flat-four over a certain engine size is the culprit. One of the major complaints of Subarus has been that they’re underpowered so they surely must have felt it was worth the effort to make the engine larger, despite any pitfalls. Has anyone ever made an automotive flat-four over 2.5L?
It’s worth noting that there hasn’t exactly been a stampede to the V4 configuration, either. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the old Saab Sonnet.
I think 2.5l is the max for automotive, even Porsche’s 718 flat-four Boxster/Cayman tops out at 2.5l. Probably due to that being near the crossover point where a six makes more sense. Same with inline fours, while you see 2.7’s and even 3.0’s they aren’t particularly common/widespread with many/most manufacturers just going to a smaller V6 at that point. But apparently Lycoming makes flat fours up to 5.9l (!) for use in light aircraft. To me, reliability in aircraft would be of much greater importance than in any car 🙂
Other V4’s would include Ford and Lancia (not currently of course). But again, there likely isn’t much need, why have two of everything when it all fits with one in an I-4 configuration.
And of course Honda is the V-4 champion in many modern motorcycle applications. (along with a flat-four in the original Goldwing)
I suspected as much. I vaguely knew that the boxer-type engine actually works well in aircraft applications (for whatever reasons) so figured there would be some flat-fours in there. I just didn’t know how large they got. I wonder if there are any aircraft radial fours. Seems like it would be a logical choice since radial engines of any sort were always popular for airplanes.
Likewise, the V- and flat-four usage in some motorcycles. BMW has used boxers in motorcycles for ages, as well. Maybe in those applications where there is a much better airflow makes flat- and V-type fours more viable. In a car where the engine is completely enclosed, heat is retained and the cooling problem rears it’s ugly head when a four reaches a certain displacement size.
I’m sure matters are significantly helped by those applications that do not have anywhere near the same sort of emissions regulations as four-wheel, street vehicles.
3.3 Liter inline fours once roamed the earth in great numbers. 🙂 Albeit with much shake and vibration.
I have always wondered if a boxer configuration would work with a big four as a way of cancelling out the vertical shake inherent in the inline version. It would seem that two cylinders shaking left while the other two shake right would make for a smooth runner. Unless the left and right shakes come at different times so that the car feels like it is in a perpetual shimmy.
Well, there is always John Z. Delorean’s 1961-63 Tempest senior compact that used the half-a-389-V8, 195 CID (3.2L) Trophy 4, colloquially known as the “hay baler” for the amount of shaking it did.
JPC: boxer engines are inherently balanced, as their pistons cancel out each other. It’s the only engine configuration that is inherently balanced regardless of the number of cylinders. Karl Benz built the first one in 1896.
Even a boxer twin is remarkably smooth, which explains why they were used so successfully on BMW bikes for so any decades, as well as a lot of other bikes and European cars. Of course their exhaust sound is not even, an inherent aspect of the design.
A boxer four is even smoother, mostly because the uneven exhaust sound is now spread over four cylinders, but it’s still uneven sound-wise, and explains the distinctive growl of Subarus with sport exhausts as well as VWs of yore.
Lycoming still builds a number of aviation boxer fours, and their O390 has 390 cubic inches. Smoothness in an airplane is very important, which explains why practically all new IC general aviation engines since WW2 are horizontally opposed boxers, in 2, 4,6 and 8 cylinder configurations, using the building block system.
Lycoming’s O720 boxer eight has a mighty 720 cubic inches.
Thanks for the input on this. You confirm what I had kind of suspected.
One of the “Cars in the Park” coming up is a 1928 Bentley “4 1/2 Liter”, actually a 4.4 L (270 cu in) inline 4. I wasn’t present when it was fired up and driven away but it must have been quite a shaker.
Inline fours have multiple imbalances, but it’s not just the size that makes them worse, but also the rpm it’s operated at. The giant inline fours of yore shook some, but the harmonics that we feel in more modern fours without balance shafts are due to the increasing engine speed.
The 1911 Fiat racer had a 28.5 liter inline four, but operated at very low rpm.
The 4.4 L Bentley “engine speed was limited to 4,000 rpm” says the Wikipedia. That’s a pretty modern speed, though its normal operation range must have been slower than our modern engines.
Its article on inline-4 engines has a detailed explanation of where the vertical shaking comes from. “…piston acceleration and deceleration is greater in the top half of the crankshaft rotation than in the bottom half, because the connecting rods are not infinitely long, resulting in a non-sinusoidal motion.”
Fascinating topic I wasn’t aware of before.
A very significant (perhaps the only) issue is not enough head gaskets on the EJ25 engine when it came out in 1998 or so. Previous Subarus had no issues with head gaskets. And the Subaru boxer four has no issues with head gaskets, as it has more head studs (it’s almost a completely different engine). And I suspect the six cylinder is the same way too. Why Subaru didn’t just go with the turbo design for their NA engines after some years is a mystery, but obviously they had invested a lot in the tooling for the NA boxer four, and kept trying to improve the gasket, and kept thinking they had solved the issue.
FWIW, our 2000 Forester didn’t start leaking from the head gasket until it was 15 years old and had 170k miles on it. But I did put in the Subaru gasket leak additive fairly early on, as per their recommendation.
Subaru’s closing in on 800,000 sales this year, and the only thing constraining them is production capacity. Whatever people think is or is not the issue with head gaskets, it’s pretty obvious the general public doesn’t care. I’ve always approached Subaru thinking the 100,000 mile head gasket is no different than the 90,000 timing chain on some other brands. Just do it and call it a day.
I’m impressed with how the car held up after being smacked by the pickup. That’s awesome!
I can’t say I’ve ever much liked the timing belt versus chain trade-off. I’d much rather have a noisier timing chain that lasted significantly longer than a quieter (but short-lived) timing belt that needed much more frequent replacement.
But I agree that, at least in the Subaru 2.5L case, if you’re going to have to change the timing belt at a certain point, anyway, might as well do the head gaskets at the same time.
What a horrible thing to happen! So glad both you and your wife were not seriously hurt. That Sube did an outstanding job protecting you both. I would be so angry with the driver of that truck that’s for sure!
Thank you and yeah, here we are 3.5yrs later and all is good. We were pretty pissed at the time but it all worked out. But I’m sure his girlfriend and her family were even more annoyed seeing as how it all went on their insurance and none of them were even in the truck!
“The driver of the truck admitted fault to the police (said he felt light-headed and passed out)”
That dang phone radiation, it’s a danger to public health! Drivers feeling light headed left and right nowadays!
The front of the truck reminds me quite a bit of what passenger cars used to look like after a straight-forward crash. It’s inexplicable…almost as if…I don’t know, pickup trucks are somehow…kinda…built the way cars used to be, before we knew or cared much about safety, or something. Huh.
This, together with the pics and the rest of the story, remind me of an, um, experience my mother had with her Y2K Outback. As she tells it, she “tapped” the back of a stopped garbage truck. Which resulted in a traffic ticket and $9K+ damage to the car. It was new enough to be worth repairing, but once the bodywork was all done and the car had a new A/C condenser and radiator (“tapped”?!)…oops, now they’re under the hood trying to figure out how come the engine won’t start, there’s more damage apparent: the engine’s sitting cockeyed and one of the mounts no longer lines up.
Car got towed to Subaru dealer. Mother called me all upset because Subaru dealer told her there’d be a delay for needed parts. I called service manager, expressed sympathy for his having to deal with this particular customer, and offered to try to help explain to her (get her off his back) if he’d tell me what’s up. What’s up is she managed to break the front cam sprocket (“tapped”?!), and since nobody ever breaks front cam sprockets they don’t tend to be kept in stock. That and the bent undercar parts (“tapped”?!) kept the car off the road for awhile, but it was eventually repaired and she kept it til 2016.