Hello All,
As my title says, I'm thinking about getting another Subaru. I had an '07 2.5i for about 2 years that I didn't get along very well with. Biggest issues were small back seat (couldn't fit 3 kids (2 in car seats)), horrible mpg (about 24 on its best day, usual commuting tank (50/50 freeway/city) was around 20, in the mid teens with the bike rack loaded), and seeping head gaskets at 65k miles (went through a lot of coolant at a young age!). So I bailed and went back to a pick up truck (2011 F150 Ecoboost, now 2015 F150 Ecoboost 2.7).
Thinking about shaving about $300 off the monthly payment, plus some off the fuel bills. I don't use the truck much for truck stuff, and we have a full size SUV to tow a utility trailer or whatever with if we need that. My brother has an '11 Outback that he likes a lot, which seems to have fixed at least 2 of the issues I complained about. I'm hoping that the new engine in 2013 has dealt with the other problem (head gaskets and timing belts).
My primary use of the car will be commuting and getting to the trails/ski areas. I mountain bike or ski a couple times a week, depending on the season. I live in Utah, so some snow driving, mostly when headed up to the mountain. I also seem to drive a lot lately -- I've put 38k miles on my truck in a little over 2 years. My truck gets very good mpg for a truck (averaging about 21 mpg, so a bit better than my '07 Outback!), but I hopefully could do quite a bit better in an Outback.
So I'm wondering: has the new engine cured the head gasket issues? Are the newer models getting reliably good mpg? Any real reason to go 2015 or newer over '13-14? Can the '13-14 play music via bluetooth from my phone, or does it have to be plugged in with a cable?
Edit: probably looking for a 2.5, unless the 3.6 mpg is very close.
As my title says, I'm thinking about getting another Subaru. I had an '07 2.5i for about 2 years that I didn't get along very well with. Biggest issues were small back seat (couldn't fit 3 kids (2 in car seats)), horrible mpg (about 24 on its best day, usual commuting tank (50/50 freeway/city) was around 20, in the mid teens with the bike rack loaded), and seeping head gaskets at 65k miles (went through a lot of coolant at a young age!). So I bailed and went back to a pick up truck (2011 F150 Ecoboost, now 2015 F150 Ecoboost 2.7).
Thinking about shaving about $300 off the monthly payment, plus some off the fuel bills. I don't use the truck much for truck stuff, and we have a full size SUV to tow a utility trailer or whatever with if we need that. My brother has an '11 Outback that he likes a lot, which seems to have fixed at least 2 of the issues I complained about. I'm hoping that the new engine in 2013 has dealt with the other problem (head gaskets and timing belts).
My primary use of the car will be commuting and getting to the trails/ski areas. I mountain bike or ski a couple times a week, depending on the season. I live in Utah, so some snow driving, mostly when headed up to the mountain. I also seem to drive a lot lately -- I've put 38k miles on my truck in a little over 2 years. My truck gets very good mpg for a truck (averaging about 21 mpg, so a bit better than my '07 Outback!), but I hopefully could do quite a bit better in an Outback.
So I'm wondering: has the new engine cured the head gasket issues? Are the newer models getting reliably good mpg? Any real reason to go 2015 or newer over '13-14? Can the '13-14 play music via bluetooth from my phone, or does it have to be plugged in with a cable?
Edit: probably looking for a 2.5, unless the 3.6 mpg is very close.