Well yesterday I traded in my almost 3 year old Forester for a new Crosstrek. I had a mostly love and a little hate for my Forester. I always said it might be the favorite car I ever owned. I have had Toyota's, Ford's, Chrysler, Honda, and of course Jeep (Grand Cherokee jeep).

The Forester was and is a mountain goat in the snow. In MD we don't get Michigan snow but when it comes the Forester was always ready to go. Cars stranded, slid off road and the Subaru never felt off balance or even iffy. It just stuck to the road and I felt very safe. I also drive for the conditions and don't push it but the car was great in the snow. I liked driving it, plenty of room, reasonable oomph, mileage not bad, high driving height. Good car.

Here is the bad. I feel like my Forester was the Monday morning made one. It had a laundry list of nitanoid little issues. Subaru dutifully worked through them all except the last one. They might have eventually fixed that one too but honestly I started to feel snake bit and with warranty about to run out I did what I never do. I traded in a 3 year old car, I usually run them into the dirt. Last car went 14 years.

In order this is what went wrong.
1) Radio/bluetooth went bad. Replaced.
2) A/C went bad. 2 trips to shop, second one replaced the compressor.
3) Passenger seat replaced due to faulty airbag sensor that also made seat warmer malfunction.
4) Vibration from instrument cluster.
5) Last problem, unknown fix. Rear tailgate (electric) didn't always open using rear switch. They changed out switch and have new hydraulic struts on order.

That might have fixed it but I will never know.
Ever have a car that you loved but just couldn't get past some issues? Maybe I pulled the trigger too fast on this one but I feel pretty good about ditching it. The dealer made a pretty reasonable trade in/sales price so I am happy about that. I made it clear that I wanted to continue using Subaru but that the last car let me down and I would only buy a new one if the numbers were reasonable. They were and I did.

This new Crosstrek, basically an Impreza with 3 inches of lift and some cladding around the edges all around. The Impreza is the sleeper deal but I got used to the almost 9 inches of ground clearance with the Forester so Crosstrek it is! Being a Subaru of course I got it in a garish color. Hyper Blue. Wife hates it. Son loves it. Must be a guy thing. It has 20ish less horses but it is lighter so it feels comparable as a driver. It drives smaller and takes up noticeably less space in garage. I got the Eyesight system and the dealer took me on freeway to demonstrate it. I wasn't going to pay for this system because I never had one before didn't figure I needed to start now. Wow, I was wrong. He got me behind slow movers and demonstrated what it is designed to do. I was uncomfortable, I wanted to step on the brakes but let the car do it. It worked really well and it might end up saving my life or my families life. I ended up compromising and getting cloth seats instead of leather and the Eyesight system and price wise that turns out about even. Seemed like a fair trade to me.

Anyway, two days into new car and I like it so far.

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He got me behind slow movers and demonstrated what it is designed to do. I was uncomfortable, I wanted to step on the brakes but let the car do it.

I bought a new Outback with Eyesight a couple of months ago. That feature came in handy during traffic on a 5 hour round trip drive yesterday. I like it.

The lane assist can seem a bit off occasionally. I was in the right lane on a three lane highway coming to an exit when the system was keyed in on the RIGHT lane line but not the left lane line. The car actually started to push right over to the exit and I had to correct it.

I do like my new Outback.

I had two Subarus, a 2004 Forester XT and a 05 Outback XT. They both had the same issues: 1) cheap paint and 2) headgasket problems. They were otherwise rock solid.

The Forester was a total oss because of some really bad hail damage and the Outback was hit by a Denali. I broke my arm and was hospitalized for a week due to that accident, but I'm convinced that the Outback did a good job in keeping me safe.

I thought about getting another Subie but wanted something bigger so I got a Acura MDX.

-Tom
(I heard Subaru is finally coming out with a three row SUV now though)

I don't have the lane assist. Don't think it is available on the Crosstrek yet. I suspect I will never even think about Eyesight until the day it saves my bacon. Does the lane assist actually turn your car or just give you feedback that you are drifting? My dealer described it even though I don't have it and I was under the impression it made warning sounds and perhaps vibrated the steering wheel. I admit I didn't pay much attention to his description since I wasn't getting it.

One other funny, 2017, style experiences. They now have an customer experience director who you meet with 2-6 weeks after purchase. The carrot is a 50 dollar gas card if you come back and talk with him. They even give you a little faux leather Subaru embossed notebook and Subaru pen to keep your notes and "experiences" jotted down.

We are so sensitive nowadays that my back teeth hurt sometimes. But, for fifty bucks, I will play the game.

The Legacy didn't have Eyesight yet when I bought mine and I wasn't waiting a few months or upgrading to the Outback (I was originally going to buy a BRZ). I had an Outback loaner with Eyesight and now I'm regretting not getting it.

My '15 is only at 47k miles now and still running strong. Only had to change tires so far. (not counting oil or filters in that)

I don't know about the cars, but the Subaru=Love ads are BAD!

My Jeep is the love/hate car of my life. It's a 2012 Hemi Grand Cherokee and I love how it drives, that it goes anywhere and how comfortable it is. I also love the styling and power on the latest version.

I would happily and without hesitation buy another one to replace this (125,000 on the clock now and starting to look a little worse for wear)

BUT I WILL NOT... It's the most unreliable vehicle I have ever owned by far and I've owned every domestic and several asian makes. It's constantly breaking down, leaving me stranded and when it does you can't get the parts from FCA to fix it. I have a lifetime warranty on it so I pay $100 even time it goes in for something but it sat for a month last time because FCA can't make enough water pumps to replace all the garbage ones that are going. I just do not trust the truck at all anymore. It's even shut off on me on the highway on multiple occasions.

FCA builds the coolest cars, designed for American tastes and packs them full of awesome features for a great price. What I've found is that they get to that price point by sourcing such poorly made parts and components that you end up with a pretty pile of insanely unreliable junk as a result.

As for Subaru, I am close to the brand and we have had several in the family over the years. The problems you described were recognized by the company and they took steps to up the quality, the supply of replacement parts and the availability of the techs to fix things. They were not happy about the small reliability things that you and others experienced. I think you will find that your new Crosstrek gives you many many miles of trouble free fun. Congrats and enjoy it!

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It worked really well and it might end up saving my life or my families life.

It may also end up saving the back wall of your garage. don't ask how I know.

I came close to a Crosstrek when I got my Mazda 3 hatchback a few months ago. I like the ground clearance.

I'm looking at a Crosstrek as my next vehicle (though I'll probably keep my truck as well). The grey is my favorite color. A very good friend has the Khaki which looks pretty cool too. Would look better with a 50 on a pintle mount, though.

I may do the same thing with the Jeep, keep it for a beater go anywhere (LOCAL, lol) truck and look for something a bit more fun for the nice days. It's nice to have some options to think about.

Wait for the 2018 Crosstrek. It will incorporate all the new goodies and tech found on the 2017 Impreza. Should be available this summer for ordering and will be in showrooms around October.

My wife had a Crosstrek for a couple years. She liked everything about it, except that it was noticeably underpowered. I especially appreciated the added ground clearance and head room, compared to the Impreza.

She wanted to trade it in towards a more powerful Subaru last summer. I tried to talk her into a Turbo Forester, to keep the ground clearance and extra headroom while adding some power. But she ended up swapping it for a WRX. She's a lot happier with the WRX, but the WRX is pretty cramped for me, and the seat has to be positioned just right to keep me from scraping my head on the roof when climbing in and out of it, or hitting my head on the roof when she hits a bump in the road.

If they offered a Crosstrek WRX, we could both be happy.

We drove a Crosstrek last year when looking for a new car. I really liked it, even in that garrish orange color. My wife really liked the Mazda CX-5, so that's what we now drive

My sister just bought my niece a 2017 grey Forester premium as a reward for getting into med school at UofL. Now my wife wants one and it wouldn't bother me if she went that direction although I really like her Acura TSX wagon.

They are very well built for reliability but interior quality is horrendous.

My wife just bought a 2017 white forrester xt, I love it except for the front seats. They offer the same support as a park bench, the xt should have somthing similar to the wrx.

Mileage is not great....but hey its a turbo charged awd wagon in sport + mode the transmission almost acts like a good automatic with the paddle shifters and it can move....

I just wish we actually got snow so I could truly enjoy it.

Great sleeper

Subaru's have simply never "spoken" to me. Same for Buicks, Oldsmobiles and a few other makes. They simply seem to me like cookie cutter cars, sold by Wal-Mart. They are probably good value for the price, but simply do NOTHING for me.

I have done long trips twice in Subaru's, and both times the front seats were terrible. Within a few hrs my ass hurt.

To me they are the Rambler of our time. Short of the WRX.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Replacement Tommel:
I had two Subarus, a 2004 Forester XT and a 05 Outback XT. They both had the same issues: 1) cheap paint and 2) headgasket problems. They were otherwise rock solid.

Replacement Tommel- say, what was the Subaru "fix" for the headgasket problems? In the family we had several people who drove Subarus and they all had the head gasket leak problems. Supposedly all the dealer did was put in a little bottle of sealer... (And jacked the people around for months). Was the fix more than this?

Thanks-