2014 Crosstrek reliable for college kid?

[Delta]

They can be reliable, or really not reliable, depending on the service its had. The Carfax history on that one is definitely hit or miss. We don't know if it was seeing an independent shop, but it definitely is spotty.

The fact it has 151K without a CVT valve body replacement is kind of amazing.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

They can be reliable, or really not reliable, depending on the service its had. The Carfax history on that one is definitely hit or miss. We don't know if it was seeing an independent shop, but it definitely is spotty.

The fact it has 151K without a CVT valve body replacement is kind of amazing.

That's around the time they go bad, so it's coming soon

 

[Delta]

That's around the time they go bad, so it's coming soon

It's a shame too, I honestly like Subaru (I mean, I have one, albeit manual/turbocharged) but some of those older CVT's are a turn off.

 

[The Critic]

It's a shame too, I honestly like Subaru (I mean, I have one, albeit manual/turbocharged) but some of those older CVT's are a turn off.

The CVT issue is the easiest one to solve. That valve body takes an hr to replace. It's everything else that kills you on these cars; death by a thousand cuts.

 

[Dave Hess]

The CVT issue is the easiest one to solve. That valve body takes an hr to replace. It's everything else that kills you on these cars; death by a thousand cuts.

How much would a shop charge for valve body replacement ?

 

[IveBeenRued]

I have a 2012 Subaru Impreza with the FB20 and CVT. Here is everything that has gone wrong, roughly how much I paid for the parts and how much DIY time I spent on the repairs.

115K: Serpentine belt idler pulley started squeaking. $12 for a Gates pulley and about 5 minutes.

133K: Started consuming oil. Replaced factory PCV valve and it stopped the consumption. $23 for OEM valve and about 20 minutes. Dealer recommended I start changing it every 60K as preventative maintenance.

140K: Upstream O2 sensor went bad. I ended up replacing both upstream and downstream for $180 for Denso sensors and about half an hour.

151K: Right rear wheel bearing went. Cost to replace was about $80 for the whole hub assembly and about 1.5 hours. Mevotech hub.

155K. CVT valve body has a lockup duty solenoid failed. Total cost of repair was about $60 and about two hours. Dorman solenoid and OEM gaskets.


Overall, it has been a highly reliable vehicle that is super easy for a beginner DIYer to work on and is pretty cheap to keep going. The only actual, repair that would have been a road trip wrecker was the shift solenoid, everything else was just noises, emissions codes, or other similar inconvenience.

 

[IveBeenRued]

How much would a shop charge for valve body replacement ?

Dealers quoted me $1700-2300. The OEM, straight from Japan valve bodies can be had for about $700-800 new. Dorman also sells replacement solenoids for about $43 a piece. When I had one go in my Subaru, I went the Dorman route. 6K miles and still going. Time will tell if it fails sooner than OEM.

 

[RobbS]

Just getting past that the CVT has been serviced every 30k miles, good to go!

 

[slacktide_bitog]

How much would a shop charge for valve body replacement ?

The dealer quoted $2500 for the valve body and CVT fluid change

Dealers quoted me $1700-2300. The OEM, straight from Japan valve bodies can be had for about $700-800 new. Dorman also sells replacement solenoids for about $43 a piece. When I had one go in my Subaru, I went the Dorman route. 6K miles and still going. Time will tell if it fails sooner than OEM.

Good luck with the Dorman solenoid

Some people will move one of the other OE solenoids to the spot that failed and then put the Dorman solenoid in the other spot. The valve body has 3 solenoids that are identical and interchangeable.

 

[GaryMX5]

I had a 2005 Impreza 2.5 RS sedan w/ 5spd and a 2012 Impreza w/ cvt. Neither was fast but they could get out of their own way (barely for the 12). I let my son play with the 05 a little. He added a Perrin cat back and intake. It sounded and looked a lot meaner than it was but it turned out to be a very solid near bullet proof car. It did handle pretty nice. The 12 was a different story. I thought I could get used to the CVT but never did. Nothing was ever instantaneous with that car. Hit the accelerator, wait seemingly forever, and sometimes something would happen. The CVT was miserable in the mountains. Once momentum was lost you never got it back. The droning was painful to the ears when pulling grades. I can say that it was a comfortable little car both in town and on road trips. Got pretty good gas mileage as well. The 05 before we played with it got about 22-24 in town and rarely broke 30mpg on trips. The 12 about 26 in town and sometimes as high as 68 to 38 mpg on road trips. We started having the "magic disappearing oil trick" on the 12. We lost about a quart in 1500 - 1750 miles. Subaru initially said that was normal, but reluctantly fessed up and had to replace a lot of early motors when successfully sued. I traded it in on a Mazda CX5 before it got too bad and it's trade value plummeted.

 

[zzyzzx]

Doesn't this year Subaru have a CVT? Personally I'd avoid that.

 

[D60]

Doesn't this year Subaru have a CVT? Personally I'd avoid that.

Yeah the CVTs of that era are all over the map as far as reliability. They're "pretty good" but far from what I'd consider "very reliable." I definitely don't like the way they drive, but I guess you could adapt to the I'm-slipping-the-clutch engine revs.

Objectively, the problem is that if the CVT craters that's a HUGE financial hit for the average college kid.

 

[Dave Hess]

Yep, avoid CVT.