2008 and 2009 Outback safety recall

2008 and 2009 Outback safety recall

Author
Discussion

oop north

Original Poster:

1,592 posts

127 months

Tuesday 1st July 2014
quotequote all
Just highlighting this in case anyone has just bought an Outback in the last few weeks - got a letter this morning advising safety recall over brake pipe corrosion. Had to check whether my old car (April 2008 diesel Outback) or new one (June 2009 3.0R Outback) - the letter was for the old car so Subaru working on slightly out of date info (I changed about 3-4 weeks ago). Phoned dealer and affects new car too, so being sorted tomorrow (nuisance the nearest dealer is 45 miles away tho)

nickofh

603 posts

117 months

Tuesday 1st July 2014
quotequote all
2008 onwards Impreza's not effected ? Two very nice cars you have their. I think the 3.0r outback is probably my ideal all round car.

Hope you get sorted quickly.

oop north

Original Poster:

1,592 posts

127 months

Tuesday 1st July 2014
quotequote all
Thanks. Getting done tomorrow. The 3.0 is much nicer to drive than the diesel was but 11mpg worse. Worth it!

nickofh

603 posts

117 months

Tuesday 1st July 2014
quotequote all
Thought you would have said 20 mpg worse. Definitely worth it! A well proven solid engine too with the right sound!

oop north

Original Poster:

1,592 posts

127 months

Tuesday 1st July 2014
quotequote all
The diesel started at about 48mpg in summer (4 yrs ago) but kept dropping about 2mpg per annum - down to about 38 this year and the 3.0 is giving 26 or 27 so far (best fill up was 28.5), though am enjoying the smoothness more than the speed. So in intelligent most of the time. Sport sharp really makes it fly - I remember when the ph member who works for subaru dealer in Scotland was posting about the forester XT (latest model) and said sport sharp was too aggressive - I thought he must be talking cobblers but now I know what he means! Sport is reasonably quick without being too eager. Tricky to get used to the lack of low down oomph though

Kind of wish I had bought a 3.0R instead of the diesel 4 yrs ago (there was one where I bought the d) but there you go - got one now! Needs the front suspension bushes and drop links sorting and a couple of niggly bits but feels good to go for several years - on the diesel everything felt good apart from the engine and gearbox (though that might have been down to my lazy gear changing technique as I get old)

nickofh

603 posts

117 months

Wednesday 2nd July 2014
quotequote all
26/27 mpg is impressive for a 3.0 awd! My impreza 1.5 hatch gets only 33. But sometimes we don't buy these cars for mpg. As I sometimes try to explain to some people who spend a fortune getting their highly economical diesels repaired. Its not all about mpg , surely reliability( cost of repairs ) and driving fun / pleasure comes into it.

I heard quite a few horror stories about the boxer diesel , did you have any or has it been usual Subaru ownership?


oop north

Original Poster:

1,592 posts

127 months

Wednesday 2nd July 2014
quotequote all
I think mine may have been starting to have problems: occasionally hesitated (as if about to conk out), once cut out completely and the mpg was getting gradually worse over the years. A friend had to replace his engine at cost of £4,500-£5,000, thus I developed paranoia and decided it was time to change! One major reported problem is the clutch / gearbox - mine did very well with no problems other than occasional gear change crunches recently - not sure if that just down to my crap driving and being a bit lazy on gearchanges. And that was with some major towing of cattle trailer and caravan (well, I say major, certainly over 3,000 miles altogether, including getting the clutch really smelly a couple of times (once in stop start traffic for 10 miles / an hour and the other leaving a service station on the A1 rather ineptly slipping the clutch too much

If I drove the 3.0 hard the mpg would be much lower - but am quite content to waft around smoothly with occasional bursts of acceleration to change lanes, get out of junctions, join motorway etc. It has helped me realise that I want a waft-mobile rather than a speed machine (I really enjoyed the disco 3 I had four years ago before it kept breaking down)

blueg33

35,590 posts

223 months

Wednesday 2nd July 2014
quotequote all
Applies also to 2007 cars, ours was sorted at the last service.

Apparently there are no known cases of brake pipe corrosion on UK cars, but some North American market cars have been affected.

Ours is a 3.0rn average MPG is 26.1 at the moment. Mainly rural driving and the odd motorway and town run

nickofh

603 posts

117 months

Wednesday 2nd July 2014
quotequote all
I had heard of engine replacements being talked about. The gearbox problems seem common on many modern diesels, but 4k/5k on a car repair would ruin us , heck it is more than my 2008 impreza cost us.

For such a powerful , quick and reliable awd 26 / 27 mpg is perfectly acceptable. Its just the crazy road tax! I would hate paying £500 a year for a car that I would probably cover around 4k/5k per year miles. Though it is my perfect tow car .............

How does it do mpg wise with your caravan then ?

oop north

Original Poster:

1,592 posts

127 months

Wednesday 2nd July 2014
quotequote all
Dread to think what towing mpg will be like - not used for towing yet! I think the diesel was around the high 20s to low 30s

It's funny how I know logically that despite the £500 tax and not great mpg the overall costs are better than getting a similar sized bmw etc (which would have meant borrowing from the bank and facing lower reliability and not getting 4wd) but paying the increased fuel and rfl are so much more visible such that I can really see why people get sucked into paying so much more for diesels than petrols. You cannot "see" depreciation so easily

nickofh

603 posts

117 months

Wednesday 2nd July 2014
quotequote all
Well when the time comes I would love to know what the towing figure is like. When our current towcar go's it would be one to consider.

blueg33

35,590 posts

223 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
quotequote all
I occasionally use ours to tow a trailer with the Alpine on it or the G33. With the Alp its cloe to the max train weight. MPG drops by 1 or 2 at the most.

oop north

Original Poster:

1,592 posts

127 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
quotequote all
Not sure what your trailer is like but I would expect caravan aerodynamics to reduce mpg by a lot more than 1 or 2 mpg. I will be pleased / relieved to get away with 20mpg when towing

blueg33

35,590 posts

223 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
quotequote all
oop north said:
Not sure what your trailer is like but I would expect caravan aerodynamics to reduce mpg by a lot more than 1 or 2 mpg. I will be pleased / relieved to get away with 20mpg when towing
Agreed, its an open trailer with a low car on it

74merc

594 posts

191 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
quotequote all
If anything, I think my MPG improves when I tow due to lower speeds and smoother driving style. That was with an 8X6 trailer though, so no significant aerodynamic factors to consider.

sawman

4,915 posts

229 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the heads up on the recall. I have had a 2007 outback 3.0r since January , it was at the main dealer a couple of months ago for drop links but they didn't say anything about recall and I haven't heard from Subaru. It could do with a service and the noisy front suspension is no better with drop links replaced. I was going to head to my local trusted garage but perhaps I will go back to the dealer if the recall applies to my car too.

I suppose might have been done before I bought it.

oop north

Original Poster:

1,592 posts

127 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
quotequote all
Worth checking - the recall was actually issued in January (see http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/e... so it seems Subaru are taking their time to get round everyone

NailedOn

3,114 posts

234 months

Saturday 5th July 2014
quotequote all
oop north said:
Worth checking - the recall was actually issued in January (see http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/e... so it seems Subaru are taking their time to get round everyone
The recall notice for my Outback 3.0Rn came through to me about 8 weeks after the dealer had checked it and billed Subaru UK. I posted the reply slip to the dealer who stamped and returned it to Subaru.

FYI: lifetime mpg is c28, mainly on super unleaded.
That Sports # button costs about £1 a press!

oop north

Original Poster:

1,592 posts

127 months

Saturday 5th July 2014
quotequote all
What difference does super unleaded make?

NailedOn

3,114 posts

234 months

Sunday 6th July 2014
quotequote all
oop north said:
What difference does super unleaded make?
The best I can tell is c.2 mpg, so maybe a few percent improvement. I think the cost per mile is the same but on a run it increases the range by 20 miles or so.
Supermarket super-unleaded carries a smaller price premium to the brands around here.
I have to admit that it is partly habit as we ran a 2.5 WRX for a while and the advice was always to fill those with super-unleaded to stop the engine blowing.

Edited by NailedOn on Monday 7th July 13:55