Rep Power: 289

Just wondering your take on the 2011 2012 Subaru WRX. My car, 2001Honda Civic is coming to the endo of its life. Im now in the market for a new car. I always wanted a wrx but dont know much about it. I hear mix reviews about its reliabilty... The 11 and 12 wrx are so beautiful with the wide body etc plus its awd. I wish i could afford the sti...


Any great subaru forums you know of?

Would love your input. Thanks in advance.

 
Rep Power: 197

Your 2001 is already dying? That's a very very very short life for a Civic

 
Rep Power: 352

my 01 is still running strong w/o any problems *knock on wood*

the 2011 and 2012 are freaking great. they have the wider body like the STIs...sweet

 
Rep Power: 289

Its dying bc i do 30K a year mileage. NY roads to NJ roads everyday takes a huge beating on the car. It pretty much gets abused and i dont intentionally do so. The amount of work and maintenance to do on the car just for it to pass inspection cost more than the car itself... Its also good money to put down on a new car. The civic did me good. I'm trying to prevent going down in the middle of BQE/Belt/SIE/LIE... One more year and my job will be local.

 
Rep Power: 289

Im just scared bc its no honda. Reliability is obviously important.

 
Rep Power: 352

well its obviously not going to be as reliable as ur civic because:

1. it has more technological stuff in there (more tech, more things to break/malfunction)
2. its boosted... any time anything is boosted, the wear n tear is at a higher rate than a NA engine)

 
Rep Power: 289

Thanks... I understand that part. I guess what im trying to find out is... For example: the 01 civic (auto trans) had major issues w the tranny. Then the 06 or 07 civics had issues w crack blocks.. Thanksfully that was never an issue for me.. But i would like to be aware of known issues wrx's have. I hope that makes sense.

Its difficult to change to something im not sure about. Ive always had honda and ive loved the hondas ive owned. Im comfortable w honda. Unfortunately i cant get my self to like the new civic si and i pretty much want something new. I also dont want to modify the car anymore and i feel the new civic u have to atleast drop it. With the WRX i can leave it as is.

 
Rep Power: 352

google subrau forum. they will be able to help you better than us civic people. not many people here actually own a subaru or know it in detail.

 
Rep Power: 204

I looked to older Subaru's before I bought my civic last year and personally I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole. If you bought one brand new and sold it once the warranty was up I'm sure you'd probably be very happy with it. The biggest hit you'll notice from the civic will be your mpg.

I agree with sl33pyriceboi about more to go wrong and boost costing you alot of money beyond it's warranty period.

I don't know as much about the newer one's but the older ones were boxer engines and not very interchangeable from year to year and AWD can get really pricy to fix if you have problems of that nature.

 
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Plenty of Subaru forums out there.. Frankly unless you get the sti… there is not much point in a WRX. In your environment (The roads you described and such) I would get a Outback if I was seriously looking at Subaru. They are known for their reliability in harsh conditions far more then the WRX, and base models are under $24,000.00. If you want a car that is a bit hardier then a civic, has Honda reliability, and is a similar price to a WRX… Why not look at the Accord forums..? LOL Just saying…

Good luck whatever you choose.

 
Rep Power: 365

the 11/12 wrx's are the better way to go. for less money than you'd spend on an sti, a wrx with mods will be more powerful than an sti as i've read. i was interested in them until i decided to be a cheap *** and keep my paid civic.

 
Rep Power: 243

well, I think the very first thing to do is to browse the community forum for WRX and see what kind of problems the engine might has and you decide whether you wait for the next gen or not.

I will explain here. One of a person I knew bought the '11 Forester which Subaru decides to use the newer engine but same displacement 2.5L (FB25) the previous engine was EJ25. There are lots of problem about Check engine light and the VDC light are both on when driving. In conclusion, this engine has an ECU's software problem which they believed it is a false positive of misfiring. However, the bad part is that the stability control is off which considered dangerous. They are fixing it. That's all I heard by browsing the forester forum.

Since, the new smaller displacement is used in new impreza so you should study it a bit. WRX might use different engine so it might not affect but who knows.

 
Rep Power: 256

i have known subaru to be very reliable cars as far as the engines go they will outlast the rest of the car.

 
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all i know is Moog hates subaru but martine bought him an 09 forester, in the end he liked it. so get a forester.

as well suburu backwards spells " U. R. a Bus", lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...=t9O-uOKN8RE#!

 
Rep Power: 0

I have actually have been in a similar spot... I have been saving up for a new car for a while, been doing some research in that range.

There are a ton of WRX forums out there. The biggest is NASIOC, tons of info there but I only lurk the forums, its a tough crowd, a lot of people criticizing every opinion just to prove something. But the other subie forums seem to mostly have nicer folk, I have browsed ClubWRX, IWSTI, plenty of good info there too.

Here are some of what has been going thru my mind:

WRX positives:
-Best car in its class in terms of performance & quality within the 20-30k price range
-Power, torque numbers leaves cars like the Civic Si, Volkswagen GTI in the dust
-AWD is what separates this from the FWD Mazdaspeed3
-Great car in winter weather, built for rough roads
-Sweet looks in my opinion, both the hatch and the sedan

WRX negatives
- Not the cheapest in the performance small sedan/hatch category - you do have to pay for the Subaru reliability, the turbo horsepower, and the AWD
- Compared to a Civic, horrible MPGs... AND on premium fuel. Subaru has some catching up to do with Hyundai and other direct-injected turbo technology
- AWD doesn't help the MPG one bit
- Outdated 5-speed gearbox, and it isn't built for abuse. WRX gears & clutch will last but only if you are gentle. The STI 6-speed can take abuse on the track but it's an extra 10-12k.
- Other complaints I see seem to be a weak paint job, mediocre interior, rattles, mediocre sound system, most of these aren't dealbreakers for me

I think Subaru overall has a pretty good reputation for reliability. I've seen it more than once in the top 3 behind Toyota & Honda.. so that's pretty good. Should last fine in New Jersey, I live in the Northeast too and I see a ton of Subies especially the farther North you go. I think it's only if you are trying to drag race the WRX like a maniac you are going to blow the tranny, or if you try modding it to pump out 400+ hp the engine may not last, but its not a muscle car what do you expect.

I have a couple more months (hopefully only that) of saving up to do, right now my only real concern about the WRX is the fuel economy. I figure Subaru will probably get in on some of that new direct injection tech for the next redesign but it may not happen till 2014, and I'm not waiting that long for a new car.

 
Rep Power: 367

well... 2011 2012 are pretty new to be able to talk about reliability...
also, modding subies are muuuuch more expensive. first order seems to be rear sway, since they have built-in understeer, different than evos...
the generation prior to the hatch are not desired, BTW.
I myself was eyeing a 97 for 4k, but while i wondered what to do, got beatten by another autoXsser.