I'm beginning to hate my new XT LTD

[Pote]

My 06 XT LTD has 2000 miles as of today. Been in the shop on 3 seperate occasions to correct a pull to the right. It's still not perfect but at this point I haver serious doubts that the dealer can make it any better. And I'm over having to deal with taking it there, getting their loaner 03 buick century (pos!!!), taking it back and hanging out while they hunt the svc mgr down. After I got it back the last time, I noticed what I thought was a strong smell of heavy grease coming from the left side.

Saturday I took a roadtrip up to Richmond and was enjoying the cruise back down Rt. 5 along the James, past all the plantations toward lunch at Indian Fields Tavern (who deliver on God's gift to crabcakes!!) and then on to Williamsburg. But the cruise was marred by a faint 'whup, whup whup, whup' sound coming from the front drive train at about 70mph. I slowed down a bit and the noise subsided. But today, I was coasting up to a light at >20 mph and there it was. Sounded like a brake pad was rubbing or something. Tap the gas and it went away. Tapped the brake and it went away, but I could definately recreate it. ****. Another trip to the friggin shop to chase this ghost. I couldnt get it to the shop tonight, but it'll be in there by end of the week. I looked underneath and the boots are intact, the wheels are'nt any darker with brake dust on the left side. Aside from that, there's too much plastic under and over the engine to tell what's going on. Steering fluid is at the bottom of the cool range is the only thing out of the ordinary that I can see.

The wife and I talked it over and we pretty much decided that since we paid cash for this POS we'll just ride out the warranty and trade it in for something like an RX300 or whatever the model is by then. Was reading the thread about the chronic allignment issues of the 05s and that doesnt help my buyers remorse.

Any suggestions on things to look at with this noise will be appreciated, but basically, it's the dealers problem now. grrrrr

[Mudge]

I wish I could offer something enlightening, but I can't. It sounds to me like you just got one of those that was last off the assembly line on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend.

Also, sounds like your dealer isn't all that worthy. Frankly, I take my cars to a local mechanic.

[JazzyMT]

I would start working your way up the chain at SOA or start talking about lemon laws. Honestly, the XT is an awesome car and I'm not sure what the deal is with this alignment issue, but it seems mostly unsolvable...I would look into getting your car replaced so you can enjoy how awesome your car should be.

[Boxxerace]

Who you need to talk to, if you can, is the manufacturers rep to the dealers. This person usually covers a state or territory and often is way more helpful than anyone at a dealer. Someone here, or perhaps over at Nasioc (only because it is larger and may be easier to find with the search function).

Anyhow, did your suspension alignment issues get worked out finally?

-----------------

Like you, but less spoken, I have a slight distain for the several issues that I have had. Kind of ruins the glow of spending 30K (approx) on a vehicle, only to have an issue every 30 days. Like Mudgeman said, perhaps your car is one that is not up to the average. I know many Subaru owners (outside of here) that have had no problems, so perhaps Subaru just has some mechanical gremins working at the plant. After all, lets remember where they are made at

Keep us up to date, and sorry to hear about your trouble!

[CPToversteer]

uhhh, where YOUR car is made, anyway. the OBS is a proud product of Hamamatsu.....

[Boxxerace]

Ohhhhh.... whoopers.

You mean this place: http://www.hamamatsu.tokai-ic.or.jp/hamamatsu-e.html

?

[Pote]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Mudge, I agree with your philosophy and will always send my business to an honest local mechanic over a faceless corporation, but in this case, the car is 2000 miles old and under warranty. The dealer and Subaru were happy to take my money, now they need to make me happy.

They (the dealer) will get a fair chance to fix this new problem, but ****, it gets old taking my car to the shop every month. I will ask about what options are available from SOA and stand firm on making the car right.

But Subaru had their chance to make it a pleasurable ownership experience and they didnt deliver.

I'll report back on how it goes.

[imdakine1]

Good Luck! I'm at about 1800 miles on my new XT LTD. So far no major problems except my dealership not knowing that the blinking alarm in the dash was normal...

I ended up getting great advice on this board on how to get it out of the valet mode..

I'm not sure if I have the alignment issue or not since I drive on a mountainous curvy road everyday... I have a feeling the car does steer to the right more... Been trying to gauge it on a few straight aways... (To much commute traffic to truly gauge this issue!)

I have an automatic so the only complaint I have is every once in a while it feels like a strange slight shift when braking to fully stopping...

I'm glad I got the 2006 since at least it's not the first year of a new model..

I did this with a 97 prelude... The first year they had sport shift in an automatic and with the 2002 Audi A4 CVT engine... The smoothness of the CVT is awesome!! It was a first year for CVT and Audi and my car had the CVT transmission replaced at 35,000 miles under warranty!! They replaced it with a a brand new one from Germany. The cost would have been about $8,000... CRAZY!!!

Good luck.. Let us know what happens!!!

I definitely would go beyond the dealer and begin speaking to Subaru of America.

[FastSly]

Chronic alignment issue? I never heard about that before.

For your pull problem, I recommend taking your car to a tire shop with a Hunter GSP9700 machine and have them do a road-force balance. They can usually take out any pull caused by uneven tires.

If that doesn't do it, then go to a REAL alignment shop and have them do a performance alignment on your car. Pull or not, this will improve handling on these cars.

[Mudge]

I certainly understand the warranty issues, and maybe the problem is one that will require using the warranty. Still, I'd rather pay "Mike" the $50 to find that out and then take it to the dealer if I have to. Or, as Sly suggests, to the specialist. It may be worth it in the long run.

Still, while you have started with SoA, I'd agree that your situation with the alignment requires a move up the ladder. As for the "whup...whup...whup" I'm not sure.