I don't believe it's a problem with the 2.5L engines on 2015+ models. My wife and I have a 2014 Forester and a 2015 Outback, both with the 2.5L engine. We have no oil consumption issues. My son has a 2014 Forester also and has no issues either. Maybe this will help you:

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...orums/61-general-discussions/319842-subaru-settles-oil-consumption-lawsuit.html

 

My wife has a '14 Forester and I have a '15 OB, both with the 2.5.

Her car uses a quart between changes. Mine uses a negligible amount. A quart between changes is not excessive.

 

My wife has a '14 Forester and I have a '15 OB, both with the 2.5.



Here car uses a quart between changes. Mine uses a negligible amount. A quart between changes is not excessive.

A quart every oil change is excessive. None of my previous cars (Honda, Toyota, and Mercedes) ever used any appreciable amount of oil.


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Wife has 2014 Forester, I have a 2015 Legacy 3.6 no oil problems but I would recommend that you follow the break-in recommendations for the first 1000 miles.

 

^^^ +1

 

thanks guys i just paid for one, im getting my unit tomorrow

cheers

 

My 2015 Forester, and so far my 2016 Outback use 1/4th quart of oil at the most between changes. One quart and I'd be very concerned. Just my opinion!

 

I had this same question back in Dec 2015....Now own a 2016 OB and Forester,lol It seems there are a few 2015 that have had some issues, but Subaru has stood by their product and fixed them and recall 1 getting a $500 gift card. I think you will find in most cases Subaru of America (SOA) stands by their product....Not all manufacturers do that. 2016 Hyundai Tucson owners with the DCT transmission are having some serious issues and in many of those cases, Hyundai has not been stepping up to the plate. I check the oil regularly on both of our Subaraus and no issues. Many on this forum state 1 should break in ur Subaru as per the manuals instructions, which we did! Up until Dec 2015, I had never even sat in a Subaru, and now happily own 2!!

 

We have a 2015 Outback 2.5L Limited and have had oil usage that I would consider unreasonable for a new vehicle. I have owned several Hondas (1997 Accord 4 cyl, 2000 Odyssey, 2002 S2000, 2012 Civic) and none used any oil between Honda recommended intervals which tend to be long (7500 mi). When our Outback was new it used over a quart before the first abbreviated change interval. Now at 24k miles it has used a quart before the regular interval. Unacceptable in a modern engine in my opinion. Please educate me on why this happens...is it unique to the boxer engine design?

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Why do you believe a modern engine is somehow special when it comes to oil consumption? The basic short block has not changed. Some oil consumption is expected as a part of the internal combustion process.

Boxer engines seem to be more susceptible than non-boxer engines by their design.

 

http://www.hondaproblems.com/trends/excessive-oil-consumption/

 

Excessive Oil Consumption in Honda Engines | HondaProblems.com

Haven't experienced any oil issues yet but regarding the discussion about whether or not excessive consumption is normal, this article states that the excessive oil consumption was a result of systematic design flaw.

The Subaru manual is rather vague as "frequent acceleration and deceleration" is listed as a potential cause for increased oil consumption. That said, there is a section devoted to oil consumption and the suggestion is to check the oil levels every other time you fuel up your car and add as needed.

 

As you can see other manufacturers also having problems including Honda.


http://www.autonews.com/article/201...ican-honda-settles-class-action-suit-over-oil-burning-claim?X-IgnoreUserAgent=1

I personally do not feel especially using very thin oil 0w20 that a quart between changes is excessive. We do not know your driving routes, city driving, acceleration procedures, speed etc.

 

My point is that a lot of manufacturers are experiencing oil consumption issues and around 1 quart between changes is not considered excessive. I might not agree with the accepted rate of 1quart every 1200 miles by Subaru but complaining
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/06/excessive-oil-consumption/index.htm

 

My point is that a lot of manufacturers are experiencing oil consumption issues and around 1 quart between changes is not considered excessive.
Excessive Oil Consumption Isn't Normal - Consumer Reports

And that article is saying that this is not normal (though some manufacturers obviously disagree):

Not all engines suffer from this problem. In fact, our data shows that owners of 98 percent of 2010 to 2014 cars did not have to add oil between changes. But the cars that do burn oil do so furiously.

Honda owners won their class action suit because the extra oil use was a result of a design flaw. Subaru owners won their case and it was discovered that defective piston rings caused extra oil to burn. I believe the gen5 OBs are excluded from that particular suit but still, 2% of a 500k sample size is the exact definition of "abnormal".

EDIT: I'd honestly like to know how much oil consumption is normal every 3k miles across the same sample of cars. One quart every change sounds unusual to me but this is my first boxer engine and first time using synthetic oil.

 

Thank you to those who have contributed some useful information to the conversation. My wife drives the Outback like a grandma (primary driver), me not so much, but I guess we're just going to have to accept that this car uses oil. Can't wait to see what the plugs look like...

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Can't wait to see what the plugs look like...

They'll look completely fine. My GM truck uses more than 2 quarts in 3,000 miles and the plugs didn't look unusual when I changed them last year. The oil/fuel ratio is very very low if you burn a quart in 5,000 miles.




Have you guys considered that maybe the Subaru just leaks less fuel into the oil? Certainly used oil contains contaminates. Maybe your old car burned a quart of oil but replaced it with a quart of gas?

 

Agreeing that it is a good thing is not the same as acceptance of something I can't change without selling the car! LOL.

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ive read online there are excessive oil consumption on OUTBACK 2014, does the newer and current model have same engine ? does the problem really happen

Back to the OP's question...

Subaru made design changes to the 2.5L after 2014 to resolve oil consumption issues from rings not seating properly. My 2016 used a little over a half quart in the first 6k miles. I am nearly 5,200 miles since the oil change and the oil level on the dip stick has barely dropped (less than a fourth of a quart). After driving Fords and Chevy's the past 30 years that all used at least a quart of oil every 3k miles, I am quite pleased.

As far as the thin oil resulting in increased consumption, my wife's V6 2012 Highlander has 0w-20 and uses less than half a quart between oil changes done at the recommended OCI of every 10k miles.

 

From my standpoint this is an interesting conversation. I have not owned many cars by some standards but I have owned BMW 535, 325, Toyota Prius and Oddsey, Volvo S80 and in years back, a 65 Mustang and Pontiac GTO. NONE used oil. To even talk about a car, these days, that uses oil is crazy (in my opinion). I would assume the bumper above the exhaust is getting discolored by oil? As a new 2017 Outback owner, I sure hope there is NO oil consumption, but I'm checking close with 300 miles on the OB. I'm watching breakin closely.

 

Every car you have owned, used oil. Might have been a negligible amount, depending on oil change frequency and engine condition, but they all used oil none the less. Oil consumption is part of the internal combustion process. A certain amount of oil clings to the cylinder walls and makes it into the combustion chamber on every compression stroke of the engine and gets burned off on the power stroke.

We are in an age where engineers are being forced by ridiculous government mandates to keep trying to improve on the internal combustion engine. By and large they are being successful. In some cases not so much and the result might be a bit of oil consumption above what would be considered normal.

To me it's not a big deal, check the oil level based on the frequency as stated in the owner's manual, add if needed and head on down the highway.

 

Maybe it's only going to get worse?

 

It is unrealistic that the populous has a notion that vehicles never burns oil. I go back to the day a quart+ between changes was not even thought of and it was a normal to check the oil at every fill up and yes by the attendant. Then we move on to check it once a week, the every other week and so on. I just have a hard time when someone say "I do not even know how to open the hood".