Stupid Subaru commercial

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Ashful

Minister of Fire
Mar 7, 2012
19,959
Philadelphia
I ignored this campaign at first, but after several years, Subaru is still making new variants of their same old commercial. The latest one states "92% still on the road after ten years". I thought that was a strange thing to brag about, as the number sounded low to me, so I looked it up.

According to https://fortune.com/2018/01/09/most-kept-cars/, these are the models having the highest fraction of cars still on the road after 15 years:
  1. Toyota Highlander
  2. Toyota Sienna
  3. Toyota Tundra
  4. Toyota Prius
  5. Toyota RAV4
  6. Honda Odyssey
  7. Toyota Sequoia
  8. Toyota Tacoma
  9. Honda CR-V
  10. Toyota Avalon
  11. Acura MDX
  12. Toyota Camry
  13. Subaru Forester
Literally, 8 of the top 10 are Toyota, with the remainder being Honda. Zero Subaru's in the top ten, I had to scroll down to #13 to find even one model from Subaru on the list... and the next two are Volkswagon and Nissan.

Why would they repeatedly go back to the well of highlighting the number of cars they have on the road after "xx years", year after year, when they are so badly beaten by other brands on this metric?
 
The Fortune article is about cars that people bought and are still driving them after 15 yrs. There is a difference between the most kept car and a car that is still on the road. Subaru states that a Polk poll found 94% of Subaru's made in the past 10 yrs are still on the road, but it doesn't say that the original owners kept them. I have no idea if this is so, but Subarus sure are popular out here.
 
Lots of Subarus with VT plates here in New England. Is it a state law or something that you must own at least one Subaru? :)

Aside from being totaled in an accident, a car should easily last 10 years these days.
 
Aside from being totaled in an accident, a car should easily last 10 years these days.

That was my point. I cannot think of a car I would buy today, and not expect it to be on the road in ten years, whether I own it or not. This statistic is more about the risk of the population owning these cars, than about any distinction in reliability.
 
And cars are so much easier to maintain. I still have my engine analyzer, timing light, spark plug cleaner, compression gauge, remote starter (not a fan of holding a screwdriver over terminals), and other things. :)
 
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Research the Boxer engine debacle ongoing with Subaru. The original body may still be on the road, but many of the engines were junked. They replaced the short block on our 2013 Forester at about 60K miles. They pimp the reliabiltiy factor without giving the whole truth, because it works. Because the public is either dumb or gullible.
 
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just think PT Barnum.
 
New Barnum biography recently released. Neighbor in NC reviewed it in the spring.

I grew up a couple of towns north of Bridgeport, CT and never went to the Barnum museum.

https://barnum-museum.org/
 
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Subaru's for years were pretty well exclusive to Northern New England (Maine and VT). Unlike the other Japanese car makers, Subaru did not direct market their cars in the US, they sold them to an independent distributor Subaru of New England and the distributor sold them to dealers. They were regarded as VWs with heat. The first models were sold as 60,000 miles cars, run em for 4 or 5 years and drive them to the dump. They lived up to the rep, they rotted out just about the time the engine and clutch was going bad. I got pretty good at yanking Subaru engines on 5 plus year old Subaru's that folks where trying to get few more years out of them. I still have the socket I ground down to get at the one tough to get at bellhousing bolt. They got on the 4WD market early, hard to beat a part time 4WD Subaru in snow and still get reasonable mileage. I really hated it when they went to full time AWD as they were getting sued by stupid American drivers that didn't understand that the handling characteristics change when in front wheel drive compared to 4WD. The gas mileage plummeted and I lost interest in them once they dumped sticks and sold only automatics. I will take a front wheel drive standard car with a set of Nokias over a Subaru. To most folks 4wd means they can go faster in marginal traction conditions but unfortunately they don't stop any quicker so I see plenty of Subaru's off road in the ditch when their speed exceeded their traction.

Subaru's do seem to be generally reliable but when they do need major work they don't seem to be service friendly and not many general repair places work on them so in many cases the owners have to go to the dealers or specialists that snap them up at dealer auctions and mix and match parts to resell them. There was a run of Subaru's that had leaky head gaskets which required pulling the motor. They also like many companies uses a lot of proprietary software that is not readily accessible except by the dealer. My brother got hit for a $300 diagnostic charge just to hook into the car plus the hours to do the fix by a dealer. I will probably go Honda again when my fiesta dies since GM and Ford decided they do not need to sell small cars.

Subaru was also actively marketing to the urban outdoor crowd. I dont see why anyone would want one in areas outside the snow belt as there are better offerings by Toyota, Honda and if you have a nearby dealer Mazda.
 
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So true. Neighbors across the street moved to Finland. I mentioned to our next-door neighbor that there was a Subaru with VT plates parked out front. Think they were looking at the house. Our neighbor said, "oh good. No kids." :)
 
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I have a friend that swears that 100% of the Subaru Baja owners he has met have been lesbian. Without fail.
You scared me for a second there - I had the Baja's predecessor, the Brat. I pulled the engine by hand once, no hoist or anything, small engine. Of course I was in much better shape then.
Interesting, the seats in the bed of the Brat were there for tax aversion purposes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_BRAT
 
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I for one like my Subbie have had zero problems and snow tires all around will go thru snow up to the bumper.
 
Random thoughts . . .

My wife had an issue with the infamous head gaskets in her 2003 Legacy Outback sedan. But she loved Subaru so much that she ended up buying a 2015 Legacy (although she tells me she still misses the size and handling of that 2003 car despite the fact that it got lousy gas mileage and rode like a tank.) Her 2015 Legacy is a nice all season cruiser -- rides quite smoothly, has enough zip for our needs and goes well in the snow (plus gets around 30 mph -- which is not as good as some comparable sedans, but then again . . . AWD in a sedan form.)

I have a 2015 WRX. It's pretty close to the ideal car for me. It's not the best at anything -- not the fastest, best looking, etc., but it's sporty enough and I can drive it year round in pretty much any weather once I throw the snow tires on it.

Time will tell if Subaru licked the head gasket issue with their latest engine reincarnations . . . until then I will say doing routine oil changes is so stupid easy that I still am shocked that folks continue to have the dealer do them. Previous vehicles required me to remove skid pans or contort myself into various positions from above, below or through the wheel well to get to the oil filter and oil pan . . . these cars have the filter sitting right on top.

I miss the ol' Subarus with their part time AWD as well . . . although the Subaru GL I had (I called it the Hershey bar since it looked like a half melted Hershey chocolate bar) was pretty much gutless. It required multiple shifting to get up any hill of significance.

A few Subarus continue to have stick shifts . . . although like most manufacturers these days it is getting harder and harder to find one. With the exception of the WRX and STI, the few remaining vehicles with manual transmissions like the Impreza, Forester and Crosstrek tend to be the base models.
 
My wife's 2012 Forester had the engine block replaced at 80K, due to the excessive oil consumption issue. Otherwise it's been fine. I went from FWD (2003 Dodge Neon) to an AWD Imprezza in 2015, and I like it very much. AWD is a vast improvement in snow where I live (some hills getting to/from the paved/treated roads). I got it with the CVT automatic, as the EPA city/hwy mileage numbers were 3 mpg better than for the 5-speed manual, and I believe that. Highway is 37 mpg, and I regularly get that in warm weather. Best has been 42 on a long highway trip. Cruising at constant 65 over level road, the tach shows only 1900 rpm; it's like having overdrive. I guess time will tell if the transmission holds up as the miles pile up.
 
Holy crap! "Other than that brain transplant, I'm in perfect health!"
I will not get alarmed on that. Very common to see engines going out early. Hemi, any of them, goes out cause of lifters and camshaft. Some damaged the lifters bore and need a long block. Cop cars are the worse. Normal consumer cars are less but still.
About oil consumption, many of these newer engines on small cars are having the issues. To the points, manufactures are calling normal a QT low every 2000 to 3000 miles.
 
I will not get alarmed on that. Very common to see engines going out early. Hemi, any of them, goes out cause of lifters and camshaft. Some damaged the lifters bore and need a long block. Cop cars are the worse. Normal consumer cars are less but still.
About oil consumption, many of these newer engines on small cars are having the issues. To the points, manufactures are calling normal a QT low every 2000 to 3000 miles.

Interesting, on occasion I am involved with big lean burn/high compression natural gas stationary engine/generators (3 MW range) and the clients are always surprised that they burn enough engine oil that there is an automated oil makeup system and tank that needs to be filled routinely.
 
With all the vvt and cam phasers and high compression ratios, that is the reasons for oil consumption. To many parts/mechanism to cool down and to operate = oil consumption. We are going forward on some areas but backwards on others.
 
With all the vvt and cam phasers and high compression ratios, that is the reasons for oil consumption. To many parts/mechanism to cool down and to operate = oil consumption. We are going forward on some areas but backwards on others.

Do you think the very thin new oils are contributing? I just put 0w20 in he wife’s Nissan! Sloshed around like a jug of water.

Thank goodness timing belts are much less common since mid 2000s. Cheaper to build but more to maintain.
 
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Like Highbeam, IMHO, for fuel economy the required viscosities are getting quite low and this could contribute to oil usage. I remember a friend with Mazda rotary went through a quart every 1000 miles, he was told that that was normal.
 
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Do you think the very thin new oils are contributing? I just put 0w20 in he wife’s Nissan! Sloshed around like a jug of water.

Thank goodness timing belts are much less common since mid 2000s. Cheaper to build but more to maintain.
Everything plays a big role and I am sure it is part of it but we have application with 5w40, 5w20, 0w20, 10w30 and they all have some kind of oil consumptions, ones more than others but still.
 
Everything plays a big role and I am sure it is part of it but we have application with 5w40, 5w20, 0w20, 10w30 and they all have some kind of oil consumptions, ones more than others but still.
Dynamic seals like piston rings, valve stem seals, and rotor wipers are prone to leakage. They also create friction which hurts efficiency. I'd guess the automakers are sacrificing lubricating oil to make overall efficiency gains by decreasing seal forces and oil viscosity.
The sticker on the windows of new cars lists estimated fuel mileage among other things - no mention of expected oil consumption. - buyer beware.
 
Dynamic seals like piston rings, valve stem seals, and rotor wipers are prone to leakage. They also create friction which hurts efficiency. I'd guess the automakers are sacrificing lubricating oil to make overall efficiency gains by decreasing seal forces and oil viscosity.
The sticker on the windows of new cars lists estimated fuel mileage among other things - no mention of expected oil consumption. - buyer beware.
Many variables causing oil consumption now a days. One that is overlooked is, driver habits. That is a big influence too. Climate etc. Most of modern cars have more than just traditional lubrications that we all know. Many system like multi air for an example, use oil to open intake valves. At same time is cooling and lubricating. It is normal to have some losses there
 
Reminds me of friend in high school. he had a big old chevy impala sized for a big block equipped with a small block. The radiator fan shroud must have been a foot long. There was enough room behind the headlights on the fenderwells to hold a case of oil on each side which was good thing as he went through a quart every fill up. He bought some brand of cheap motor oil that basically was used motor oil filtered to remove the big stuff with an additive package mixed back in. It ended up wrapped around a phone pole but he got a summer off it.