Hi All

The company car (14 plate Octavia 4×4) has to go soon 🙁

99% set on another 4×4/AWD estate but don’t want an SUV or crossover.

While looking at the obvious replacements like another Octavia, Scout, Alltrack, xc70 etc the Subaru Outback has popped up as another option seems that for £10k it’s possible to get a better spec and lower mileage Outback SE (around 60k miles) than the VAG options.

Any general experiences, like real world mpg from the 2.0 Boxer, obvious or common problems and are they really more expensive to run and maintain?

cheers 🙂

Well one of the immediate downsides that springs to mind is that it’s a ****ing Subaru.

I’ve got a 2011 Outback SE Navplus, 2.0d, I’ve had it from new. It’s now done over 60,000 miles.

It had far more back seat leg room than any of the competition – I also looked at BMW 5 Touring, Avensis, V70, and a few other similar full size estates.

The seat up boot capacity is smaller than some of the alternatives – because they’ve given you the legroom, with the rear seats down it’s just as good.

It’s been by far the most reliable car I’ve ever owned. In the time I’ve had it, in addition to service it’s had:

1 Glow plug under warranty in the 1st 6 months
Water in the drivers footwell – traced to a blocked drain and resolved (last year)
A broken wire causing DPF warning, repaired at minimal cost (last year)
1 set of tyres (still got around 6mm on the second set)
1 Set of front pads and discs at 40,000 miles
1 set of rear pads only at 60.000 miles.

I don’t do much driving around town and get 44-46 mpg, more on a long motorway run, against the claimed 44.1 for the extra urban cycle.

It’s got a couple of quirks:

eBrake is on the RHS and takes a little bit of getting used to
It’s not as refined as a lot as modern diesels, Subaru took a long time developing the boxer diesel and got a bit left behind – so it’s a bit noisier, especially when cold, and turbo lag is noticeable at times.

It’s got fewer electronic gadgets than you might expect, but the pay off is that the money has been spent on mechanical reliability. Still, it’s got the important things, good stereo, bluetooth for phone and audio, cruise control, heated seats, electric drivers seat, sat nav (update discs can be found for around the £25 mark)…

When I test drove the BMW 520d, they made a big fuss about it being the most powerful in class – 180bhp, but it weighs 1.8t, approx – the Subaru is 150 bhp, but 1.5t – so, in the real world, the same power to weight.

The torque is huge, though – 350nm, so it sits in 6th from 50 and still has plenty of acceleration.

I’ve been really pleased with it and have owned it for longer than any other car.

It’s big enough for 5 6 footers to sit in in comfort!

Any questions? 😉

2009 diesel one in the family, and I have a 2004 normal Legacy petrol which has nearly 150k on it.

diesel gets 45 average mixed usage and a little over 50 on a long run.

I’ve been wondering about replacing mine but genuinely can’t justify it…. and having had a look at all sorts of alternatives the only thing I’ve come across to replace mine with is another one. they are genuinely brilliant cars. My 2004 is nicer to sit in, much nicer build quality and nicer to drive than many modern cars.

I had an older (2004) legacy estate, 2.0 petrol, 29mpg in town, best I managed was 46.2mpg driving like an undertaker on a flat route.
Good points, nailed to the road on roundabouts, 4wd traction in the wet, comfortable, could get a 29er in the back with both wheels on, quiet, nice car to drive.
Bad points, 2.0 non turbo was a little gutless, driving in hilly terrain could have quite an effect on fuel consumption.
Re cost of running: expensive to buy, but last a long time, mine had over 100k on it when i changed it, and it still drove like a new car, having had routine maintenance/fair wear and tear only.
Would i buy another? Definitely, diesel outbacks are being eyed up as we speak.
Mate has a 2012 disel outback, goes well, i think the best he has managed is 54mpg on a run, 45mpg over the time he’s had it.

Not much help but I was looking at the same sort of thing recently and the answer I came up with having looked at all the options around 8 to 10k was Forrester or Outback.

Thanks CP and alaricvery all helpful stuff and I certainly think I’ll test drive a couple.

My Octavia generally only gives 46mpg average so it’s not that different and the spec is pretty spartan.

I’ve read about crankshafts breaking and also wearing through clutches quickly due to the torque and also the Boxer running dry of oil as it uses it at quite a rate but they might be one off’s.

If you do buy one then it’s worth making sure that the engine software is up to date. There was a problem with some cars lunching their engines (we replace a couple a year), but the software update addressed this.

There are pretty reliable, although like a lot of modern diesels they don’t like just doing short journeys.

They are nice to drive, but often have trim rattles which can be annoying.

Depending where you live, a lot of these cars have a fairly hard life, if own by the country set and often smell very doggy!

As above, mid 40’s and higher MPG is usually achievable.

Some parts are fairly expensive, but others are surprising inexpensive.

it’s worth making sure that the engine software is up to date

I understand this was an issue on the very early/first diesels from late 08/early 2009. The problem was the clutch unit was the same as in the petrol version and too much torque was produced in 1st gear at low speed – i.e. standing starts. The fix limits the torque in 1st gear from standstill… I guess dramatic clutch failure on a modern DMF clutch system has the ability to damage the engine.

Clutches got up-rated after that, and I’d guess the torque curve remained modified on new out of the factory cars. Apparently the mod had no noticeable effect on driving.

Thanks Hicksy it’s a new work wagon so distances will be 45 ish miles min in both directions a few days a week.

And thanks for the heads up on the software – the two I’ve seen are main dealer cars so hopefully they’d know whats been done to them.

I’m down on the Dorset/Wilts border so anything local will be a country car. I guess good tow cars too for carting the horses around as well as the dogs.

Mines still on the original clutch, and uses next to no oil between services – I think I’ve topped it up a few times shortly after service and that’s about it.

I was expecting oil useage, as I’d heard boxer engines tend to use a bit, but it’s not happened yet….

Mines still on the original clutch, and uses next to no oil between services – I think I’ve topped it up a few times shortly after service and that’s about it.

mine too, I’m on nearly 150k on the original clutch. Still seems fine, but I’m fully expecting it will need doing at some point!

Mine has oil and filter each year and genuinely not much else. There we go, I’ve done it now… something big will break 🙂

Thanks, I think there’s horror stories with all second hand cars I guess.

@cp i really hope not – but if it does in the next month can you let me know before I press the buy button 😉

Another thing to watch out for is leaky injectors, typified by smoking even after warmed up. Bad enough at the best of times but to replace them on a Boxer it’s an engine out job, I had to pass one by because of this issue but it was in otherwise great nick.

If another came along at the price point I can afford I would certainly consider it!

Following thread with interest.

I had a 2010 Legacy estate from new for two years. Did 70k miles and nothing went wrong with it. Absolutely brilliant car and the only thing I thought a negative was the ride which was a bit firm. I used to be able to just manage 600 miles on a tank of diesel.

Wish I could have found a petrol one when I was looking…

Check the VED, might be (very) high.

FWIW the 3.0i I looked at a couple of years ago was +£450 pa.

VED this year was £210 for the diesel.

We had a 58 plate (so, older shape) 2L diesel. It went back with a knackered engine at 4 years old & the dealer looked after us (apparently the problems were resolved on newer ones).

We now have a 13 plate & it is the perfect family car for us.

I think if I was looking for a used one, I would want a good warrenty, or a 3L petrol depending on how many miles you do.