Review of the 2004 Subaru Outback: A Personal Account

In 2007 my husband and I decided it was time to buy a new car. We came across a slightly used Subaru Outback and were impressed with it, and drove it off the lot to its new home.

We were happy to hear that the Outback was built symmetrically so that each part of the car weighed exactly the same. The salesman said that if you were to take a saw and run it straight down the middle of the car, each side would be a twin of the other. This symmetry helps the driver to retain control of the vehicle in turns and such. We loved that it is was an all wheel drive (equal power all of the time to all the wheels). Where most cars would be stuck if one or two cars settled in mud, the Outback would retain the power to get out of the situation. We estimated the gas mileage to be about 32 miles to the gallon on the highway. This was great considering it was an all wheel drive.

The interior was comfortable and roomy. Everything worked properly, and we liked the hatchback trunk. The back seats folded down easily, and due to the hatchback, we were able to haul things in the vehicle that we would be unable to do in most other cars.

About six months after owning our new vehicle, however, we started having problems. The air conditioning stopped working. We figured this was probably a freon problem, but since it was almost winter, we figured we would wait until spring to have that checked. The heater still worked fine.

Then, about the eighth month, the radio started acting strangely. Whenever it would rain the radio would no longer emit sound. It looked to work fine, but there was no noise coming from the speakers. On bright, pretty days with no moisture, however, the radio worked just as it should. This kept on for about 4 months. Then, it began to take longer after a rain before the radio would work properly. When spring came around, the radio had stopped working at all.

I got online to see what could be causing the problem and was started to discover than many, many people complained of very similar issues with the same vehicle. Several previous owners said that their radios stopped working, the air conditioner stopped, and others said that the heater would not turn on either. Some of those people had taken their cars to mechanics only to discover that it was faulty craftsmanship on the part of the engineers who designed the car. After reading this, I carried my own car to a mechanic to discover that it would cost around $1,000 to have the air conditioner and radio repaired. He contributed the radio to having no ground, or poor ground.

We decided we could live without a radio and an air conditioner for a while, but were really disgusted at having the car for just around a year and having these problems while still making payments.

Another six or so months went by and as my husband was stopping at a stop sign, the car shut off. It would not crank. We had our mechanic look at it. The timing belt had broken. This was not a big deal. It happens sometimes. He explained that Subarus are made so that if the timing belt does break, then it won't damage the engine. This was good news. But, upon closer inspection, he discovered that the reason the timing belt broke was because it had caught on the head that no longer turned. We were going to have to replace the head, which is most certainly a costly problem. This happened, again, roughly a year and half after purchasing the Subaru, and our warranty had expired just before the air conditioner had quit working.

Again, we got online and discovered that this is another frequent problem with this type of car, the head warping. But, since it is after the expiration of the warranty, we are left to deal with the problem ourselves.

I think it suffices to say that I am not happy with our vehicle. These problems are not just age specific problems, they are problems that have come up often for people who have bought 2004 Subaru Outbacks. I would love this vehicle if it weren't for these malfunctions.

We think the next car we get will be a Toyota. We've rather had it with Subaru at this point.