What I meant was that in my experience, Subaru’s seem to vary significantly in car quality and or handling and how each can behave differently. For example, I post problems/questions to see if I might have a problem with my car and some people reply that there is no way I could be experiencing the problems I’m reporting because they can’t imagine a problem because their car is fantastic for ta , while others answer that they can relate exactly. Another example – a good friend of mine is on his 3rd climb – a 19, 21 and 22 liked the first 2 and really doesn’t like the 22. All fitted the same way but the last one drives totally different, just like my 21. I drove his 19 and 21 and they drove completely different than mine. He has asked me on several occasions “does your car do xxx? The last two never did”…Of course there will be a difference between two identical cars, but when he tells me he can’t believe it’s the same model like the last 2 he’s owned because of the quirks….I have a colleague who has one and swears it’s the best car he’s ever owned. It is clear that the forum testimony here shows that a vast majority have great experiences.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that some Subarus are great, some are okay, and some have real problems which is probably true of most manufacturers, but I haven’t experienced that. I have an ok. I accepted that at this point. I’ve just come to chalk my car’s erratic handling to being a “Subaru thing” I don’t understand how the car can drive wonderfully on Tuesday and be weird and cranky on Wednesday and beyond after being fine again on friday only to be a two-handed white-knuckle experience when the wind is over 15 mph—but only sometimes. It is unusual. My wife has actually left the car due to split personality – she has been saying for days that she just doesn’t feel in control…this shouldn’t happen by accident. She doesn’t even like to ride it because of these features.
The car is fine around town and on some days it’s a nimble beast going down the freeway, but then there are days when it takes extra effort to keep in lane. Sometimes it’s rock solid and sometimes I feel like I’m driving drunk. Sometimes the transmission is smooth as silk, other times, it’s “shooty” and bucks and crackles. Sometimes the vision system behaves as you would expect and sometimes it is so aggressive that you almost walk backwards when there is no danger ahead and sometimes it really doesn’t go in. Sometimes I sit driving and I get the car in front has moved”, but it’s 50/50…sometimes you don’t know that. Sometimes when I brake it is silky smooth and firm, other times, it makes a grinding noise–(only 21,000 miles of 80% highway driving) and sluggish. Again, it’s the strangest phenomena I’ve experienced in all my years of driving cars and trucks. There really isn’t anything that is consistently repeatable, which makes it difficult to send to a dealership.
So that’s what I mean by “it’s a Subaru thing”, at least to me. Heck maybe I should have said “it’s my Subaru thing”.
