[dan gleesac]

i bought a 2001 outback about 2 years ago and have had nothing but trouble with it since...ive put 42,xxx miles on it and already did the HG once and i think i need to do them again....are the 2005 outbacks more reliable then the older ones? I love my suby no other car fits my life style! any information would be appreciated!

 

[johneracer]

I bought a 2005 new. For 7 years never a problem. Just started a timing belt and noticed a head gasket oil leak. It was a let down but I still love the car and I'm convinced once I change head gaskets car will run like a champ. When you go look at one very carefully inspect the head gasket area for oil stains. If its dry and the car has some miles you'll be ok. I hear its common on that year so be aware of it.

 

[TwoFortyJeff]

I have a 2005 2.5 NA Limited 5 speed and it has been nothing but trouble. The most disturbing part about owning this car is that everyone says the issues are normal!

If you want a 4 cyl AWD wagon, Subaru is NOT the only player in the game. Look at Audi and Volvo. Yeah, the maintenance is expensive, but it's just as bad on a Subaru!

 

[idosubaru]

Both are equivalent. Regardless of the facelift they are still very similar platforms and similarities between engine and trans. 2005's have headgasket issues too, they are more annoying in some ways as there is no way to mitigate them like the 00-04 models, but that's not well known expect by the experienced Subaru people anyway. The 2000 - 2004 platforms are actually very good, I like them and they are easy to maintain.

Any Subaru (except early 90's Justy's) are easily capable of 200,000 miles if properly maintained. Of course, as with any manufacturer, there are bad experiences. No manufacturer is exempt from that. The only compelling issue Subaru's have is the EJ25 headgasket issue. Outside of that they are great platforms for inexpensive high mileages.

But that is completely dependent on the owner, maintenance, prior history, and mechanic.
Much is dependent on choosing a used vehicle wisely, prior maintenance, and proper diagnosis/repair of a given issue.

Using a forum like this will help you. The headgasket should be replaced with the Subaru Turbo EJ25 headgasket.

 

[johneracer]

I have a 2005 2.5 NA Limited 5 speed and it has been nothing but trouble. The most disturbing part about owning this car is that everyone says the issues are normal!

If you want a 4 cyl AWD wagon, Subaru is NOT the only player in the game. Look at Audi and Volvo. Yeah, the maintenance is expensive, but it's just as bad on a Subaru!

Be aware that audi and volvo will have multitude of problem and will be very expensive to maintain. My friend just traded a Quattro a4 for a forester due to mechanical issues. Turbo went bad, followed by the rack and pinion steering. 2 cylinders quit firing at mammoth and he limped back to the shop with no turbo and on two cylinders. Final straw was the front diff needig replacement. Sad thing was he had 3 payments left and the car was his. His forester has been very reliable and he bought it new. We take it on all ski trips now. In my case my outback was purchased ned and for 7 years never been in the shop. I was truly impressed. I noticed oil seepage during timing belt replacement and most people would ignore it. It was small and not noticeable by monitoring the oil level. I attribute this to hard driving when fully loaded going to mammoth or Yosemite. 2.5 is not known for power delivery so I used a lot of throttle to maintain speed. Couple of times temp was climbing but never overheated. I still consider the outback to be very dependable and recommend it to people. I am convinced oil seepage could have been ignored and the car would be fine. I would clean it every once in a while to keep it from rutting the engine mounts and that's it. Since I am a bit of a perfectionist I replaced the gaskets. I plan on keeping the car for a long time and based on previous rock solid performance I will be surprised if the car does not last another 10 years/200k miles.