Power! Comfortable and Reliable. Kicked a porche's ass and its not even the turbo version... Heated seats, mirrors, and wipers awesome in the winter..

Not so much a weakness with the car but the dealer.. a few problems with wheel bearings and timing belt, more of a maintanence issue not a true problem. they didnt fix these things before i bought the car..

SEXY car! Got me through Rhode Islands 2010 Flood, pickup trucks got stuck and i drove on by laughing, also drove it home the day i bought it in a huge snowstorm going about 90mph with no slippage at all passing stuck vehicles everywhere.

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2001 subaru forester,94 jeep grand cherokee laredo,

Beautiful, quiet, great gas mileage for an AWD car, nice transmission (5-speed), AWD is amazing (I've taken this car through a foot of snow with no problems), 4 cylinder with the 5-speed moves the car easily and quickly, much quieter and smoother than earlier 2.5 liter motors from Subaru

Tan cloth seats stain easily, location of auxiliary jack is awkward, wish they'd put better tires on it

I have owned many Subarus over the years and this one is by far the nicest. Subaru really dropped the ball with this one - very little marketing means no one noticed it. I get constant compliments on what a beautiful car it is but no one knows it's a Subaru. It's quiet, smooth, and really gorgeous. I'm getting high 20s for mpg in town and up to 34 mpg on highway. I will keep this car forever as it is SO beautiful compared to the bloated, lunky 2010 Legacies.

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Several Subaru GLs (currently own an '83), Subaru BRAT, Subaru Impreza wagon, Subaru Outback

Power and handling has me driving away from Euro sedans, thoughtfully laid out interior with the creature comforts I need and none of the useless techno crap.

A little narrow bodied translates into narrow seating, can tell the door seal design hasn't improved much over the years -- wind noise is getting louder at highway speeds, and my previous (03) Subaru had grown noisy over the years due to the same design flaws. Thankfully, the sound system isn't bad and gets plenty loud enough, although the boxer engine's fun to listen to when the revs are up!

Stealthy - looks mild mannered, but the heart of a warrior! True driver's car; near perfect AWD for wet or dry, strong engine with addictive acceleration during turbo spoolup, great handling. Comfortable for long trips; a little cramped for my 6'4" frame, but too much fun to complain. This is my 3rd Subaru; all have been bombproof reliability and this one has been flawless.

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Volvo S60 AWD, BMW 325xi

none

Poor reliability, horrible get up and go, cramped back seat.

Bought the car new. Is a piece of junk. I reviewed this and was deciding between Toyota and Subaru. I wanted a car that would last a long time without costly repairs. What a joke. These vehicles have engine problems. 70000 miles and have to repair the cylinder headgasket, rocker cover gasket and leaked on the spark plugs and wires. Have done the routined maintenace as scheduled and still have these problems.
The worst part is Subaru has problems with the catalytic converters but unless you go to the dealership twice they won't fix it. What a joke. The subaru has a horrible get up a go as well. What a chugger.

AWD, manual transmission provides 50/50 power to front and rear wheels. Fun to drive. Very reliable, few repairs. Beats my Cadillac CTS hands down for shear driving excitement. Handles well in tight turns, nimble, solid.

Wind noise.

Best car ownwrship experience ever. After 7 years, 70,000 miles I still get a "new car" ride. Very low maintenance and high satisfaction.

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Toyota Cilica

Performance and Comfort

low mileage 19 city and 26(max) hwy. Paint is thin and easily gets scratched. Audio system is reasonable but not great

I have used this car for an year now. Couple of minor things have gone wrong. They went wrong mostly because Heritage (dealership) in pikesville has one of the worst mechanics who know nothing about fixing any cars leave alone subarus.

Problems first
1. Squeak from behind the dash. Heritage fixed the noise and messed up other controls. Then heritage connected other controls but not all. It took me 4 trips in all to get the all the controls back and the get the noise fixed. All this time Haritage destroyed my dash side access pannel.


2. Speakers were bad out of box. Heritage put new speakers and messed up the driver side window. Then heritage didn't know how to fix the window problem. By then i moved to fairfax and faifax farrish dealer fixed the window for me. Now farish is fixing all the mess that heritage mechanics created in my car. My suggestion if you in VA and planing to buy or fix a subaru go to farrish they know what they are doing. AVOID HERITAGE pikesville at all costs

What I like:
1. Its a driver car. Has negligible turbo lag. Has a firm suspension. The 45-55 power distribution AWD is a stunner. It gives a near rear wheel drive feel with AWD grip. The suspension is firm but not bone jarring stiff.

2 Its a car that can get you speeding tickets very fast. 80mph feels like 50 and 115 felt like 80 so watch out!!

3 Seats offer good support. Do a great job during hard cornering.

4 The dash layout is tactile. Every thing u need can be reached with your hand still resting on the shifter knob.

5 Decent Navigation (little geeky though). It takes time to get used to but once you get its pretty good. Better than tomtom since subaru navigation (made by kenwood) gives three maneuvers in advance while hand held give only one. I really wish subaru offered a more refined display its pretty grainy

6 From the driver seat there are only two blind spots. I have driven a charger which has a blind spot in almost every side and then chevy's which suffer from same problem

7 Dual climate control act a little weird when its sunny outside but they do a decent job

Over all I am very happy with this car

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Owned : Ford Tempo,Escort and Dodge Charger SXT.

Cars that I test drove and compared suby with
VW GTI (loved it), Rabit, Audi A4 quattro (awesome car very expensive),

Cars that i have driven and those that dont even come close
Chevy classic,impala,malebu and cobolt. Dodge neon

Picks up speed fast. Power windows and mirrors, Back defroster, Great stero systems, AWD and 5 sp.

None

I've had a total of 4 Subaru's and this has been the best. The most I've put into it has been 2 CV Joints and 1 alternator and 1 fan belt. When we bought the car it only had 35,000 mi's and now it's reading 133,364 mi's. My father lives 4 hours from me so I've taken on quite a few trips up the road with it. Handles extrememly well on trips as well as around home. Never bothered before the gas prices went up, but recently I've kept track on my gas milage. One trip was 35.5 and two trips were 36.0 mi . With prices today, you can't beat that for an older car and it's rated lower. I've owned it for about 6 1/2 years. Great AWD, especially in the snow. The region I live in, that's a must! I would highly recommend a Subaru to anyone!

* Handling - despite the tires.
* Gas mileage - non turbo models are economical.
* Looks. It's a head turner.

Sometimes it just 'feels' like there was not enough attention paid to detail. Noticable - but not a big detractor.

If you corner hard - get rid of the standard tires.

Nice looking, in and out. Ran better after 20,000 miles and got better gas mileage - going up to 28 on SoCal freeways and 31-32 at a steady 80mph on trips.

Handles very well. However - the standard tires are a problem. In a very heavy cornering - the tires just slid out - no notice - no scrubbing - no noise. They just gave away and I went into the other lane. Not the cars problem. It's the standard tires.

Then, speakers on the radio went out.

Then, way under the dash, this noise like a valve opening and closing. Annoying and the dealer can't find it.

Still like the car and for the money, 20k, I'd do it over again.

But it's not a 100% perfect car.

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Tested the Mazda 3, Imprezza and Ford Focus.

AWD is great in Pittsburgh winters

Very unreliable vehicle despite very light usage, excellent care and upkeep. Serious rust problems.

Bought this car used with 35,000 miles in 99... bought it because of Subaru's reputation for reliability. Sorry to say that in six years of light use this car has been one problem after another, with horrible dealer and company experiences. In addition to replacing a cruise control vac. pump (40k) rotors (42K) CV joints/boots(50k) and various other niddlign repairs approximately 1.5 after buying the car I began experiencing problems starting the car after running it with a check engine light coming on that stretched over two years. After six trips to the dealer and several hundred dollars out of pocket replacing various sensors I finally took the car to a private mechanic only have him discover a technical bulletin, from Subaru, concerning a recall on faulty camshaft position sensors that caused the problem and reported false error in other sensors. How does a dealer not find this bulletin and why wasn't I notified of the recall by Subaru. In fact I've since learned that this car has been subject to several recalls, including similar problem with faulty crankshaft position sensors, and Subaru failed to notify me of any with only one (tow hooks deploying airbags) having been caught by dealer while other work was done. Now with a mear 72k (that's only 34K put on in the last 5 years) the car has "a broken" water pump and I'm awaiting the word on other damage this may have caused and what the final bill might be if I even want to bother sinking more money into this piece of junk. I'd be very skeptical about Subaru's claim to being reliable and I definitely won't by from them again.

Looks, Comfort, Handling, Acceleration, quiet cabin, Smooth Shifting (car came with STi Short Throw Shifter), and FUN. Also an up and coming aftermarket.

Gas Mileage (22-23 on avg), Premium Fuel reccomended

Very Nimble but ride comfort is not sacrificed. Great looking inside and out with awesome cockpit that includes excellently bolstered sport seats. I drove a WRX Wagon first and this car feels much better in every department such as ride, power, etc. The 2.5 Turbo is amazing, useable torque everywhere in the band, very fast car if you want it to be. While $30,000 isn't cheap, it's a bargain compared to the BMW 325xi which has lethargic acceleration, cramped quarters, rough ride, and a sticker of nearly $40,000!

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Volvo V70 T5, S70 T5, Passat 1.8 T, Jetta GLX, Honda Civic Si