The issues with the Subarus are limited to only certain years. I believe the late 1990s through about 2002. We have a 2003 Forester that has run flawlessly for 130K miles so far. Only basic maintainence.

We used to have a 1990 Subaru that last almost into the 300K miles before we sold it off.

Subarus are in the same class as Toyota and Honda as far as longevity, but every vehicle has its quirks and issues. It's matter of how much and how bad.

With a GM product, for example, you can expect numerous electrical issues, and later mechanical failures of all sorts, so it's not worth it.

With the Toyota, Hondas and Subarus, the few problems they have are very specific and well known so they can be addressed.

I know nothing about Volvos, and I'm sure they are great vehicles and probably even better than the Subarus on a number of different levels, but I personally would choose the subaru, since they are available, parts are more available and they are probably cheaper all around to maintain and probably better aftermarket support as well, if you want to do any mods or accessorize. Just look for a 2003 and newer model.

If you really care about style, interior quality, etc, Lexus does make great vehicles. But you're going to pay extra for it and the name.

If you want the ultimate combination of bullet proof/ safety and comfort, consider a used Land Cruiser 100 series. The only drawbag is gas mileage. It's beyond horrible, but you will feel like you're driving a $70,000 vehicle at fraction of the cost, because you are.

Another good choice would be an AWD Acura MDX.

Frank

My FIL swears by Volvo wagons and has done for 20+ years (240's, 740's, 850's). I'd buy one <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I ever tell you guys about the subaru wagon I fix for some friends of my grandparents?

Chris, we've had two wagons: a 1954 Buick Special and a 1997 Ford Taurus. The Buick needed a frame off restoration and came with a dead, mummified cat. The Taurus was much more liveable.

The RAV4 is an AWD wagon, too. Your wife may not need the zoom. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I offered $5,000 for the Volvo if he had all the service records and the carfax. If the car is as good as he says it is my offer is a major slap in the face. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> But hey....The market is full of used cars and how many folks want boxy station wagons?

Lets see what happens. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

We have an '05 subie outback H6 3.0 waggie, with about 80k and no problems, except it feels like I'm jammed in a tuna can to drive it (6'2", 150lb). You can adjust the seats so there's enough leg room and wheel reach, but you gotta keep your elbows in your pockets. Your shirt pockets. It drives nice, and it will really scoot (250hp and 300ftlbs), and has every subie bell and whistle except the electronic stability control, which my wife will never need and I found out in the demo that it made it a little hard to get it sideways in the corners, even with a little ebrake application. It eats brake pads, too. I'd be looking at a forester, which is very carlike to enter and drive, and almost has enough room to take a deep inhale. And for some reason the subie stealer couldn't get the headlights aligned right (the beams crossed 30' in front of the car - I got them right in 5 minutes with no tool but a swiss army penknife, in the dealer parking lot, which annoyed them no end, until I mentioned the lemon law). May just be our local stealer. You can download the fsm (25meg) for around $25 from the subie web site.

The awd is nice, but NO offroad capability, even though the ground clearance is fair for a car. Underhood access is non-existant. Did ok in the one snow/slush storm it ran into. It has an annoying hesitation just off idle, which I attribute to the fly by wire throttle. It seems the speed of light is slower than my right foot. It may also be the little 'lectron gizmo that comes off the throttle for up/down shifts in the 5spd a/t, another annoying feature.

G-parents friends NEW suby is smoking... RIGHT after an oil change. Right around 2002 We're talking 15 miles on this car, the owner decided to change the oil.

SO... I check the dipstick.... oil WAY WAY up it...

Ask the old guy how much oil he put in it... Says 5 quarts. I ask if he drained the old oil? Yep.. here it is.. Shows me a drain pan of NICE clean brand new looking oil.

I said OK... lets put this oil from the drain pan into the NEW bottles, and then drain what you've got in there because it looks a bit frothed up, and thats not good..

He says OK... I'll go get the jugs. What does he come back with???


























FIVE ONE GALLON JUGS OF OIL. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Yes!!! FIVE GALLONS.

SO..after I laugh my ass off, I drained the oil out, put it back into the jugs, poured the orig oil BACK in, and took it out for a test drive. It took about 2 miles before this thing stopped smoking. I thought for sure it was hosed, but it's still going strong today. Good cars IMHO.

Get an Audi S4 Avanti. The twin turbo v6 model <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

It'll eat the subi and volvo for a light snack. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

Chip it, upgrade the turbo's, do a cat back exhaust, and upgrade the brakes and suspension and go hunting. If you're a bad shot you can use it to run down the game <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Umm... I think reliability is a consideration here.

What have you done with your S4? Does it still need enough work done that you could buy a GenII with the cash instead? Oh, wait... That's exactly what you did! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />