Are Subaru engines made of glass?

I've never personally owned a Subaru.
But mother in law does, and an employee of mine, neither hhad engine issues.
A few small things have gone wrong, but nothing catastrophic.
 
I remember working on these back in the day as an apprentice circa 1995. One in particular had an engine failure due to an overheating condition because it had been sabotaged. I don't remember all the exact details, but at the time, Mazda didn't offer a complete engine replacement, and I'm not sure if that's a dedicated Mazda thing, but the estimate was ludicrous.

@wheelman, I'm currently driving my first ever Subaru after the previous owner gave up on it when the CVT failed @ 260k Kms, details here . I've driven it with a used CVT for an over a year now (15 mos) with no surprises, just maintenance and currently at 270k Kms. It doesn't leak or burn coolant/oil and the A/C is the only thing that doesn't work, but I don't care.
Mazda has, until recently has always been weird. Toyota’s starting to be a bit more involved with Mazda(Dynamic Force is scaled-up SkyActivG with D4-S, but Mazda isn’t building off TNGA) but has been laissez-faire with Subaru, mostly.

But wasn’t small-displacement V6/12 more of an thing in F1/IndyCar racing?
 
I had a hand me down 2003 Outback with 66k on it I traded it in with 184k with the ej25 engine and I was less than impressed with the mechanical durability of the engine. External head gasket leaks dropped oil on hot exhaust which would create a nice puff of smoke at stoplights. Air conditioning quit a long time ago. The bottom of that car was permanently undercoated with lots of 5w30. Never had a car leak that much oil. Interior still looked brand new, car still drove tight with no rattles. Oddly enough traded that car on a 2021 Subaru ascent not for love of the brand, but price and packaging. Liking this car but not loving it…engine is plenty strong the CVT is weird and the brakes are strong but have been replaced 3x under warranty for vibrations. Not looking forward to replacing plugs at 60k…
 
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I had a hand me down 2003 Outback with 66k on it I traded it in with 184k with the ej25 engine and I was less than impressed with the mechanical durability of the engine. External head gasket leaks dropped oil on hot exhaust which would create a nice puff of smoke at stoplights. Air conditioning quit a long time ago. The bottom of that car was permanently undercoated with lots of 5w30. Never had a car leak that much oil. Interior still looked brand new, car still drove tight with no rattles. Oddly enough traded that car on a 2021 Subaru ascent not for love of the brand, but price and packaging. Liking this car but not loving it…engine is plenty strong the CVT is weird and the brakes are strong but have been replaced 3x under warranty for vibrations. Not looking forward to replacing plugs at 60k…
In my experience Subarus don't fare well when neglected and/or abused. Normal maintenance stuff needs to be done on a relatively regular basis or bad things can and will happen.

There are plenty of stories out there of Subarus reaching significant miles but they probably won't get there without proper care.
 
In my experience Subarus don't fare well when neglected and/or abused. Normal maintenance stuff needs to be done on a relatively regular basis or bad things can and will happen.

There are plenty of stories out there of Subarus reaching significant miles but they probably won't get there without proper care.
Oh mine was dealer maintained by my wife’s grandmother for 66k. I did all maintenance afterwards. I just don’t consider head gaskets a maintenance item or consumables. I kept that car running well for years. I just wasn’t going to put 1000s into a 20 year old vehicle, with other issues lurking.
 
If you exclude WRX and the 86 or whaterver its called now subaru has a lot less problems.
Most issues with 86 and WRX are caused by the insulation between the steering wheel and the drivers seat.
 
In my experience Subarus don't fare well when neglected and/or abused. Normal maintenance stuff needs to be done on a relatively regular basis or bad things can and will happen.

There are plenty of stories out there of Subarus reaching significant miles but they probably won't get there without proper care.
Just a question, how is this different than any other manufacturer?
 
And abuse by the owners is the marque’s fault?
No not at all. Its the owners fault. The reason we keep hearing headgasket failures is because we have WRXidiots cranking up HP and boost on their engines with no fore thought. Aluminum block bends and gets out of shape due to HP and blows a headgasket. Idiot owner replaces headgasket and 5000 miles later blows another one. Replaces the headgasket again removes the mods on the car and sells aftermarket parts and puts the car on the market until the next victim winds up with a blown headgasket. Rinse and repeat.
 
Subies biggest issue seems to be the boxer engine design
So basically every Subaru has a flawed engine design…

I wonder if the advantages of such engine design outweigh the downsides of it? Clearly it must because Subarus are popular. On the other hand, how many people that buy Subarus actually care about the engine design and would buy something else if it didn’t have the boxer engine. 0.1%?
 
So basically every Subaru has a flawed engine design…

I wonder if the advantages of such engine design outweigh the downsides of it? Clearly it must because Subarus are popular. On the other hand, how many people that buy Subarus actually care about the engine design and would buy something else if it didn’t have the boxer engine. 0.1%?
Subaru's pretty much have to be a boxxer design to keep the centre of gravity low(ish) while having the front diff in the centre of the car under the centre of the crankshaft. Also they need a boxer to keep the engine short as it overhangs in front of the front axle as well.
I don't know if its the "best design", but they keep working on it and refining it, and it seems "good enough" for us so far
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GM tried the front axle through the oil pan solution, to get AWD with an inline 6 engine that doesn't overhang the front axle and is low. GM didn't keep that design for too long I recall?
I like subaru because they have a single design philosophy for many years now (symmetrical AWD) and they have their engineering solution to implement it, and that's pretty much all they do for full size vehicles...
Not to pick on GM too much, but they seem to throw engineering designs on a wall and see what sticks! Or buy car designs or car manufacturers and see if they work out... If not, cancel production of yet another vehicle after a few years and try something else...
 
Subies biggest issue seems to be the boxer engine design
It is a more complicated engine.. But other than the allmost criminal ignoring the HG issue for decades. The design has been perfected for a good long time.
Its advantages have been mentioned. It is the absolute best design for AWD. Other companies don't do it bc. Its more expensive and they would be on a learning curve. I am on my 5th Subaru starting with a '78. There is nothing like them. Thats why they have the highest brand loyalty.

And yes-Subaru's require more maintenance and are prone to more failures bc they have more parts and parts fail.
 
So basically every Subaru has a flawed engine design…
I dont think flawed is the right word.. there are positives and negatives to any engine design.

HG failure hasnt been a thing for over 10 years.. and even then most turbos didnt have it.. the open deck N/A designs and neglect caused it to be much more frequent than it should have been.

Throw in wizzer wheel flat rate "beat the book" dealer repairs and you could have it happen again.

The turbos... well there was also the ricer/tuner crowd that would crank up the boost and beat on them then wonder why engines broke.

Any problems you can point out I could probably find a GM or Ford engine that was worse. Even honda has had flubs.. the early oil multiplying 1.5L comes to mind

Oh mine was dealer maintained by my wife’s grandmother for 66k. I did all maintenance afterwards. I just don’t consider head gaskets a maintenance item or consumables. I kept that car running well for years. I just wasn’t going to put 1000s into a 20 year old vehicle, with other issues lurking.
So wait a HG failure at 20 years old was that big a deal? it lasted 20 years...
Did you change the antifreeze every 4 years or 30000miles with the right antifreeze and put in the OEM tabs?
or did you do it less frequently and use prestone All makes all models.
 
So basically every Subaru has a flawed engine design…

I wonder if the advantages of such engine design outweigh the downsides of it? Clearly it must because Subarus are popular. On the other hand, how many people that buy Subarus actually care about the engine design and would buy something else if it didn’t have the boxer engine. 0.1%?
It says that you are from Cali, I am assuming you never lived in the rust belt or snowy rocky areas.
Subarus have full time AWD, all the power gets split between all 4 wheels all the time. Taking corners and going up any inclines or getting out of snow makes Subaru magic.
Sure lots of cars just like my Ford flex claim to be AWD but they are all FWD cars who have AWD kick in sometimes on time sometimes not. You really have to drive the Subaru in the snow to appreciate it. You really have to drive the subaru in the snow on an incline to not want to go back to any other AWD system out there.
For many Subarus AWD system is worth the price of admission. Subaru did so well in that department that most domestic manufaturers said "f-k it we will only make SUVS with awd instead of sedans"
 
It says that you are from Cali, I am assuming you never lived in the rust belt or snowy rocky areas.
Subarus have full time AWD, all the power gets split between all 4 wheels all the time. Taking corners and going up any inclines or getting out of snow makes Subaru magic.
Sure lots of cars just like my Ford flex claim to be AWD but they are all FWD cars who have AWD kick in sometimes on time sometimes not. You really have to drive the Subaru in the snow to appreciate it. You really have to drive the subaru in the snow on an incline to not want to go back to any other AWD system out there.
For many Subarus AWD system is worth the price of admission. Subaru did so well in that department that most domestic manufaturers said "f-k it we will only make SUVS with awd instead of sedans"
BMW has X-Drive and Audi has Quattro, both produce sedans with traditional engines (non-boxer) and AWD. Dodge/Chrysler had(have?) an AWD version of the Charger/300, which is a large RWD sedan platform, I believe there have been others.

It's not that Subaru is the only game in town, it's that they've made it their only game, and have subsequently become synonymous with AWD despite Audi being at it for longer (Quattro has been around since 1980, full-time SAWD didn't come from Subaru until 1986).

GM tried the front axle through the oil pan solution, to get AWD with an inline 6 engine that doesn't overhang the front axle and is low. GM didn't keep that design for too long I recall?
GM has done some weird crap. Who else, with a mid-sized SUV, has gone this route? The WK and WKII both managed to do AWD with a variety of engine options without this nonsense, as did Ford with the Explorer. The Trailblazer and Envoy with this setup really had me like
Mark Whalberg what.gif
 
BMW has X-Drive and Audi has Quattro, both produce sedans with traditional engines (non-boxer) and AWD. Dodge/Chrysler had(have?) an AWD version of the Charger/300, which is a large RWD sedan platform, I believe there have been others.

It's not that Subaru is the only game in town, it's that they've made it their only game, and have subsequently become synonymous with AWD despite Audi being at it for longer (Quattro has been around since 1980, full-time SAWD didn't come from Subaru until 1986).


GM has done some weird crap. Who else, with a mid-sized SUV, has gone this route? The WK and WKII both managed to do AWD with a variety of engine options without this nonsense, as did Ford with the Explorer. The Trailblazer and Envoy with this setup really had me like
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You are correct but we are comparing cars at a very different price point and market share price.
 
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