Mrs has finally found a new car she likes, its a new Subaru Impreza 1.6.

Its probably a bit late to ask and with a 5 year warranty I shouldn't worry, but are there any know Subaru weaknesses? the car seems very well put together, and was completely rattle and road noise free when she test drove it round Sheffield's tram tracked and pot holed roads.

Any Subaru experiences good or bad appreciated, just so we're in the know....

I did over 700,000 miles in WRXs (6 cars -2001 to 2013) they were fabulous cars,.. I still miss mine. Not certain on the new shape cars, but the old ones were awesome. Never missed a beat, and never broke.

[Edited on 15/5/15 by HowardB]

Loved my WRX, was a fabulous car. Only problem was it attracted the wrong type of attention and ended up being stolen.

her choice but a new 1.6 subaru impreza why? is it still 4wd and a petrol engine its going to be woeful on fuel and slow

unless you need the 4wd?

My 52 plate WRX Wagon was a great car and pretty scarce so always turned heads but it did have its flaws. The interior was pretty average being made of low grade plastics and the seatbelts in the front made an irritating whistling noise when they were extended. In standard form they aren't really that quick....They eat tyres. I Never got more than 21mpg out of mine which for a 'modern' 2.0 turbo engine is pathetic. Lastly, the car would occasionally (only 3 times in my 18 months of ownership) put itself into limp mode which would mean no boost and less performance than a Nissan Micra. main dealer and Subaru specialists (x2) weren't able to pin point the issue but each time the car needed the ECU resetting.
Despite these issues, if I didn't need to have car for my commute to work and could have one as a toy I 'd buy another.......

[Edited on 15/5/15 by ianm67]

Wow thanks for the replies chaps.

Speed and performance isn't really an issue, the main thing that bugged her about the Lexus was that it was useless on even small amounts of snow / ice, which knocked her confidence and ruled out RWD replacements, so I figured AWD would be ideal, as she's fine using the L200 in winter.

Fuel consumption, if it does better than the IS300 at about 18mpg we'll be happy the blurb says about 34 urban, plus insurance and Road tax are half.

Thanks again all.

I managed mid to high 20s in mine, but then that was nigh on 300bhp...

a fwd car on winter tyres is better in snow and ice than a 4wd car on normal tyres, for me i would be looking for something fwd or a non permanent 4wd system like the haldex as there far better on fuel

In my Prodrive WRX I get about 21-22mpg on my commutes, but it's 7 miles each way and takes an hour... on a motorway I can get 30mpg.

Had mine 10 years (is't a 2004) and still see no reason to change it - quick enough and reliable (touch wood!). Japanese so the usual plastics, but other than that it's all good. Only do about 7000 miles per year which probably helps. It also tows my MK to track days.

It's good in the snow, but I agree you want winter tyres ideally. I haven't used winter tyres, however I do enjoy when there's been a bit of snow taking the ungritted back roads

I do have the same seatbelt squeak though - think it rubs on the foam padding, but I've never been arsed to sort it out.

[Edited on 15/5/15 by gingerprince]

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a fwd car on winter tyres is better in snow and ice than a 4wd car on normal tyres, for me i would be looking for something fwd or a non permanent 4wd system like the haldex as there far better on fuel

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Originally posted by Matt21

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a fwd car on winter tyres is better in snow and ice than a 4wd car on normal tyres, for me i would be looking for something fwd or a non permanent 4wd system like the haldex as there far better on fuel

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but a 4wd car with winter tyres....

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I had 2 subaru outbacks.
The first was a 2000 with the VDC 4x4.
Completely idiot proof in the snow/ice
I think to 2 main things which help, was the VDC and mostly the tires, Non sporty old style ones.

The second is the 3.0 h6. with "sporty" tyres, next to rubbish in the snow. but with nearly 250bhp who cares