Subaru Impreza, thoughts?

Specs
2019
14k miles.
Looks and drives nice
Price is decent for this crazy market

I have an Outback and we like it. This has as much left room which is a big deal.

Anyone had one? Not specific year but in general. Thoughts? Anything to watch for?

Test drive it today and wife is crunching some numbers.

What year did Subaru stop having issues with the head gasket? They pretty much all use a variation of their flat four "boxer" engine, but until a certain point they had a known issue.

2019, 14k, if it checks out by a trusted mechanic z it's probably good to go.

Hatchback … Hell Yeah go for it! Sedan … good family car for commutes but not as great as the hatchback.

We had a Subaru thread not too long ago and it turned into a mini “Subaru love fest”.

I had an 08 base Impreza and 13 WRX, and both were great. My best friend has a 15(?) outback w a ton of miles and it too has been great.

Subaru doesn’t make what I want these days but if they did, I’d definitely get another.

noway2 said:

What year did Subaru stop having issues with the head gasket? They pretty much all use a variation of their flat four "boxer" engine, but until a certain point they had a known issue.

2019, 14k, if it checks out by a trusted mechanic z it's probably good to go.

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2005 was when the worst of it was over but the same platform with an improved gasket was used until the 2010 time frame. Since then they've switched to a different platform that doesn't have the same issues. Most of that applies to the 2.5s though.

chiefjason said:

Specs
2019
14k miles.
Looks and drives nice
Price is decent for this crazy market

I have an Outback and we like it. This has as much left room which is a big deal.

Anyone had one? Not specific year but in general. Thoughts? Anything to watch for?

Test drive it today and wife is crunching some numbers.

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Whats the rest of the spec? Engine, body style, trans...

Take what I say with a grain of salt as I'm a big fan of Subaru (currently driving a '14 Forester) but if the numbers work for you then I'd definitely go for it.

np307 said:

Whats the rest of the spec? Engine, body style, trans...

Take what I say with a grain of salt as I'm a big fan of Subaru (currently driving a '14 Forester) but if the numbers work for you then I'd definitely go for it.

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2.0 4 cyl
Listed as a Premium package
5 door hatchback. Isn’t that the only way? Lol
CV automatic. Yeah I know the issues there.

Listing at $24,990
He’s already given us a better offer since this would be our third car from there. So might be more room to haggle. He said the car hasn’t gotten much interest on the lot.

chiefjason said:

2.0 4 cyl
5 door hatchback. Isn’t that the only way? Lol
CV automatic. Yeah I know the issues there.

Listing at $24,990
He’s already given us a better offer since this would be our third car from there. So might be more room to haggle. He said the car hasn’t gotten much interest on the lot.

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I'd be hard pressed to pass it up. The CVT isn't as bad as the reputation is. Internally they're actually pretty strong compared to other CVTs on the market (cough, cough, Nissan). Usually its the valve body that fails on them. Not sure how accessible it is in the Impreza, in the forester and outback its not a crazy tough repair (still not cheap though).

I don't know as much about the 2.0 compared to the 2.5 so can't give you much help there. I dont think they (2.0) have the same oil consumption problem as the 2.5.

np307 said:

I don't know as much about the 2.0 compared to the 2.5 so can't give you much help there. I dont think they (2.0) have the same oil consumption problem as the 2.5.

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I had 2 of the 2.5’s but I did a lot of reading up on the 2.0’s after they were released and they do seem to be a nice improvement regarding ring land failures and power/liter. I didn’t have oil consumption issues with my 2.5’s but I also only kept each one for about 3yr.

Daughter has a 2018 Impreza with 30,000 miles on it. Only issue she has had was the cheap hub caps loosened and broke off the other day and it has has 2 recalls that we had to have it in for. Good car though and my Daughter loves it.

Jerzsubbie said:

I had 2 of the 2.5’s but I did a lot of reading up on the 2.0’s after they were released and they do seem to be a nice improvement regarding ring land failures and power/liter. I didn’t have oil consumption issues with my 2.5’s but I also only kept each one for about 3yr.

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The 2014 I have has 117k on it and no oil consumption issues thankfully. I've read quite a few people who have switched to 5w-30 and solved it, supposedly thats what they run in Japan and they only run 0w-20 here for emissions reasons.

I think $25k is high BUT in today’s crazy stupid used car market it might not be. If your wife is okay with the car’s color, opinions, etc unless you really need a new car set your “Out The Door” price and stick it to it especially if the seller says “the car hasn’t gotten much interest on the lot”.

NCFubar said:

I think $25k is high BUT in today’s crazy stupid used car market it might not be. If your wife is okay with the car’s color, opinions, etc unless you really need a new car set your “Out The Door” price and stick it to it especially if the seller says “the car hasn’t gotten much interest on the lot”.

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Yeah we have been looking for a bit. And this market is stupid. Anything with good mileage and good price is a salvage title. It’s higher than I wanted but the mileage is right. Fwiw I’ve seen used cars getting new car prices in this range.

I just bought a 07 Outback LL Bean. I’m a fan of it after 3 days.

A friend of mine had a 17 WRX and he loved it, super fun to drive.

I recently bought my youngest daughter a 2015 Crosstrek which is very similar. It has 120k miles and Subaru replaced the CVT transmission under extended warranty around 100k. Fun little vehicle. My wife has been driving it a good bit over the last several months until my daughter gets her license and now she wants something similar. She never liked the Sequoia even though it was pretty much a necessity to have a vehicle that size when we bought it almost 10 years ago. We have had multiple Subaru's over the years and are definitely fans of them. I'll probably be looking for an Outback or maybe a Forester pretty soon.

Subaru is giving a $500 rebate to lesbians trapped in a white man’s body.

BlackGun said:

Subaru is giving a $500 rebate to lesbians trapped in a white man’s body.

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Or I could ask Mike if they will sponsor me, being a straight white male in a subaru I might qualify for some sort of minority financing.

Well it’s ours now. Did some research last night. The couple Imprezas I could find that were comparable all had more mileage or were older. Forget about new ones. Talking to Mike they are not even taking orders for some of the cars anymore.

Apparently the price was off a bit but we haggled down the price on the gold extended warranty. He also got it accepted as certified pre owned which helps with warranty to. So we have 7 year 100k on it and out the door for about the same as the original list plus fees. Stuff happens. Finances a bit more than we wanted to get a better rate. We are not paying minimum payments anyway.

Put the door with the car in about and hour with lots odd sarcasm and joking around.

Carolinatlc said:

I recently bought my youngest daughter a 2015 Crosstrek which is very similar. It has 120k miles and Subaru replaced the CVT transmission under extended warranty around 100k. Fun little vehicle. My wife has been driving it a good bit over the last several months until my daughter gets her license and now she wants something similar. She never liked the Sequoia even though it was pretty much a necessity to have a vehicle that size when we bought it almost 10 years ago. We have had multiple Subaru's over the years and are definitely fans of them. I'll probably be looking for an Outback or maybe a Forester pretty soon.

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You looking new or used? We used Jim Armstrong in hickory. Bought 3 cars from them. Great to work with.

What if we took a 4 cylinder engine and made everything harder to work on by facing the heads towards the side of the car...

I still wouldn't ever touch anything with a cvt. I only ever get stuff with a manual or traditional automatic.

chiefjason said:

You looking new or used? We used Jim Armstrong in hickory. Bought 3 cars from them. Great to work with.

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I typically buy 1-2 year old vehicles to not take the huge depreciation hit. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore so I’ll take what I can get. I’ll give them a call and see what they have.

Welcome to the club..

recreationalhandgrenade said:

What if we took a 4 cylinder engine and made everything harder to work on by facing the heads towards the side of the car...

I still wouldn't ever touch anything with a cvt. I only ever get stuff with a manual or traditional automatic.

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You can still get manuals. The WRX they had was manual. But about the only thing with a traditional automatic anymore are trucks. All the small cars are going, or have already gone, to CVT.

And my mechaniching skills are limited anyway, no matter which way you turn the heads.

Carolinatlc said:

I typically buy 1-2 year old vehicles to not take the huge depreciation hit. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore so I’ll take what I can get. I’ll give them a call and see what they have.

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They had 2 used Foresters on the lot. Couple Oubacks. No Crosstreks right now. They just sold a nice one a few weeks back though.

You buy that from Mike Miller? He’s been there since we we graduated together.

chiefjason said:

You can still get manuals. The WRX they had was manual. But about the only thing with a traditional automatic anymore are trucks. All the small cars are going, or have already gone, to CVT.

And my mechaniching skills are limited anyway, no matter which way you turn the heads.



They had 2 used Foresters on the lot. Couple Oubacks. No Crosstreks right now. They just sold a nice one a few weeks back though.

Jim Armstrong Subaru | New & Used Car Dealer in Hickory, NC

Visit Jim Armstrong Subaru & find the new 2021-2022 Subaru or used car you've been looking for. We have a wide selection and low prices. Serving Newton, NC

www.jimarmstrongsubaru.com

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I would strongly urge you to get a manual over a cvt

Well 9 months and it’s all ours now. Just made the final payoff. A couple months later than we had hoped but that’s not a big deal. We could have done it sooner but didn’t want to dig too deep into the account at once.

I’m warming up to the idea of the new RS version. Hopefully I’ll get over it once prices come out.

2016 forester - bought new love it

If you're OK with the CVT, it's a great car.
Joe

recreationalhandgrenade said:

What if we took a 4 cylinder engine and made everything harder to work on by facing the heads towards the side of the car...

I still wouldn't ever touch anything with a cvt. I only ever get stuff with a manual or traditional automatic.

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belts are much easier to replace

I

chiefjason said:

Specs
2019
14k miles.
Looks and drives nice
Price is decent for this crazy market

I have an Outback and we like it. This has as much left room which is a big deal.

Anyone had one? Not specific year but in general. Thoughts? Anything to watch for?

Test drive it today and wife is crunching some numbers.

Click to expand...

To my understanding they’re great family cars and one of the better models from Subaru

Now we just need snow to have fun. Took my Crosstrek to Buffalo at Christ as time the day after they had that big blizzard. Was excited to get to hopefully drive in some white stuff. They are so good at removing snow from the roads the most I drove in was about 3”. 2.5 feet of snow at dads and 4’ at my buddies house but I couldn't even have snow fun.

jhios2003 said:

I

To my understanding they’re great family cars and one of the better models from Subaru

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It’s a lot of fun to drive too. Kind of small for a family car. But perfect now that the best is emptying. Ran it up Hwy 80 to Mt Mitchell back in the fall. That was a lot of fun! It will hang some curves.

chiefjason said:

Well 9 months and it’s all ours now. Just made the final payoff.

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Now that is awesome! Congrats.

Wife loves those foresters once her pilot gets over 200k I'll probably have to pick her one up. We tend to buy 15k cars and dump them whenever they start having issues.

How has the ride quality and gas mileage been compared to your outback?

Haven't tried my Outback in real snow yet. I have confidence though, judging by how well it does in terrible inclement weather and southern sky waterfalls.

Squanchy said:

Now that is awesome! Congrats.

Wife loves those foresters once her pilot gets over 200k I'll probably have to pick her one up. We tend to buy 15k cars and dump them whenever they start having issues.

How has the ride quality and gas mileage been compared to your outback?

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MPG is much better than the outback. Around 32-33 mpg if we are doing a lot of interstate. I fill it up about every 2 weeks and drive it to work instead of my truck lately. Rides great. Handles very well. Enough power to be nice and sporty feeling. We are very happy with it.

chiefjason said:

MPG is much better than the outback. Around 32-33 mpg if we are doing a lot of interstate. I fill it up about every 2 weeks and drive it to work instead of my truck lately. Rides great. Handles very well. Enough power to be nice and sporty feeling. We are very happy with it.

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Is your outback much older? 32 mpg is awesome for an AWD crossover/SUV thing.

Squanchy said:

Is your outback much older? 32 mpg is awesome for an AWD crossover/SUV thing.

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Outback 2010
Impreza 2019

The Impreza is smaller and lighter too. If you have not seen on in person they are much smaller and shorter wheelbase and shorter height. It's more hatchback car then crossover.

I have not seen the Impreza hatchback in person but the sedan I've sat in. I think the sales rep said it still had 8" of ground clearance or something ridiculous even for a car.

Wasn't sure if the newer imprezas were larger. Glad you're happy with it and it's running well. And congrats again on OWNING IT. That's awesome.

Is it possible to get 200k+ miles on factory Subaru head gaskets? I don't know anyone who's kept one much past 100-120k because that's when the heads started going bad.