I was debating on a second VW tdi (my wife has a 2001) vs. a Camaro SS...after driving a few cars, the golf just wasn't big enough, and the SS, however fun, just didn't have enough to offer (since I have a 3 month old daughter). So I went with a WRX wagon for fun, speed, dadability, and a little stealth with the state trooper. My question fo you multpiple subaru owners is...How is the long term reliability??

My other car is a 93 explorer with 150K miles and no mechanical complaints..I just wanted something different and fun. I would hope to get 170-200K out of the Subaru. I guess it may be worth mentioning that I am quite anal about preventive maintenance on my vehicles, and once the engine is well broke in (10-15K) I will start using Mobil 1 synthetic 10-30. Any other suggestions appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

Hope you remembered to take off those Firestones off the Explorer :lol: Compared to your other two choices, this car will probably be a lot more reliable. Of course I don't know now that GM has a 20% stake in the company. Generally, Subaru's are known as very reliable cars. Hell, if you can get your explorer to go 150k, you should get your subaru to double that! ;)
-JOE

Speaking of domestic manufacturers buying Japanese ones, I remember a post on clubsi a while back. It was titled something like "top 10 signs Ford bought Honda." My favourite two were, all panels aligned +/- 1", and quality is job 1., eating dougnuts is job 2., and watching the red wings is job 3.

Anyhow, the best place to look for long term reliability is Consumer Reports.
www.consumerreports.com
The most recent Imprezas score "exceptional" for reliability, but of course the 2002's are too new for there to be any meaningful data.

Subaru's also score well on the JD Power initial quality survey (or something like that. IIRC they topped the list several years running in England) but this isn't as relevant or unbiased a report as CR's