Sister had a NA Forester wagon. Needed a head gasket. I owned a hawk eye STi for a short while, mostly because the car was built like absolute garbage. More rattles at 4000 miles than my German cars at 140k miles. The most uncomfortable seats ever. Really poor interior and paint quality. Shock dampening that didn't match the spring rates. Really disappointing, was one of the few cars I bought brand new too.
I think the anecdotal evidence is a bit skewed when it comes to Subaru reliability, or lack thereof. The cars are desirable, even the non turbo cars, so when they break, they still have some value. You see more broken Subarus for sale because more people actually buy broken Subarus. No one is buying broken 15-20 year old Altimas or Malibus, they just go to the scrap yard. They are also easy to work on.
That said, they definitely have their issues. I have a love hate relationship with Subaru. I love 90% of what they do, but can't stand that they can't seem to be bothered to fix the other 10%. I can forgive something stupid like spec'ing too small a ring gap for a turbo car. I can't forgive leaving it like that for years and years after they know it's a problem.
I bought a 2005 Legacy GT wagon new. It was incredibly reliable up to 100k. Changed a noisy throw out bearing, and the clutch while I was at it. Around 130k, it started using oil, then more oil cracked ring lands.) At 145k, it burned a valve. The car overall was very solid. I went with the LGT instead of the WRX because it was slightly bigger and the interior quality appeared to be much higher.
In reply to Boost_Crazy :
I can't fault your logic on the reliability thing.
My dad owned 2 Subaru. One after the other. A blob eye and then a hawk eye. 4 enginesbetween those 2 cars in about 220k miles.
My buddy bought a 1 owner forester at 30k miles. 2 engines later, he sold it at about 120k miles.
In my mind, they are E36 M3. Some people get lucky.
I literally could not kill my Subaru. I tried.
I also know what an EA82 sounds like when it parks at valve float at 7800.
Everybody's got different experiences...
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