Anyone here have experience with Subaru, Volvo or Mazda?

[CompleteCustoms]

My wife and I are going to buy a new car this year. It's going to be her car and the one we use for road trips/ family hauling (two adults, two labs, luggage and a kid within a couple years); therefore it will be a wagon. As much as I would like to get an E34 Touring, she wants it to be '05 or newer.

That being said, we are currently thinking about a Subaru (Legacy, Outback or Forrester), Volvo V or XC 70, or a Mazda 6 Wagon. A Subaru or Volvo would be nice since they are (or are available with) AWD and we live in Michigan, but she's gotten along fine with FWD since she started driving so it isn't crucial. A Forrester is probably the biggest, but Volvos seem like they have a lot of room in the back too; the Legacy and Outback seem the smallest out of all of them.

Anyway, does anyone know anything about any of these cars? Her main concern is reliability and I wonder how easy they are to work on and how much replacement parts are? I've heard Subarus are very reliable and easy to work on, but don't know what replacement parts cost. Also, older Volvos are super reliable, but are newer ones? I don't really know anything about Mazdas.

Have any of you ever owned one of these? What was your experience like?

Thanks.

[tittyslammin30]

i just bought a 2002 subaru forester and i love it! i needed a winter car since i live in new hampshire and winters with an e30 are a terrible idea. i like it a lot and love the room it has and how amazing it is in the snow. basically if your looking for a winter car definitely get a subaru.

[rcsoundn1]

I personally have owned a 1998 volvo v70. FWD only, and I loved that car. Lots of fun to drive surprisingly, and decent MPG, like 25 mixed driving. It was very reliable, but like all cars I did the regular maintenance. My father has owned a few Volvo 240's and has had the same experience. I have heard good things about subarus, but have limited expedience with them.

[deutschman]

Get a Volvo. Those things are tanks. Just dont get one of those smaller v40 type wagons. My mom has one and its nothing but trouble. My landlord has both a v70 and a R version of the same wagon which he has been adding some go fast parts to. They are comfortable, functional, decently fast in a strait line, come with lots of traction control settings for bad weather, and are very safe. I dont think the Subi will be comfortable with two dogs and a kid. When you have a kid you will also have a diaper bag, stroller, car seat, and all kinds of other baby crap that piles up in the car fast.

[kts]

I had an 05 and 08 STi. Loved them and miss both of them.

Subarus are extremely reliable, or at least that was my experience with mine and all the Subaru-owning folks I know.

I did the 30k/60k maintenance and oil changes every 5k and both cars never left me stranded. Parts aren't too bad, but then again I never had to replace anything big and I did all the work myself on the car. Getting to know your parts counter folks or ordering online from one of the dealer part counters that are online on NASIOC is the way to go since they will sell you parts for just a bit over wholesale. (Annapolis Subaru is who I used since they were local and Jackie is awesome.)

The AWD was great, I think I'm going to miss it this winter.

I found the Subaru easy to work on, tons easier than my E36. The spark plugs will be a bit of a PITA to replace since they are located on the sides of the engine vs on top like most other cars but you don't need to replace them all that often. :)

[future rs]

Subaru's are one of the best daily drivers/winter beaters ever. So much forum support. Easy to work on. (imo) And damn reliable.

I have owned 5 over the years and all where great cars.

[nrubenstein]

The only thing about Subarus is to stay away from the old 2.5L non-turbo cars. They went through head gaskets pretty badly.

Otherwise, they are very solid. The only issue with them is that they have a lot of suspension travel, which makes emergency lane changes a more interesting experience.

[Wschnitz]

Stay away from lower end subies. Trans are supposed to be shit.

Why you no e92 touring?

[Wergen7]

Volvo all day. My current daily is an 01 v70 t5 with 222xxx miles. Never had any huge issues with the car. Still runs and drives tight. Pretty solid in the winter also. My mom has a 06 v70 R 100xxx miles no big issues (yet). The amount of shit you can fit into a v70 is truly astounding let me tell you. It's like a pick up truck. But, pretty much 1 in 6 Volvos is a total lemon these days so if one you're looking at has had big issues its not worth it. You'll spend millions fixing things. So choose carefully

[Nsquared97]

I don't think you'll go wrong with any of the 3 listed. And at the rate this winter is going, you may not have to worry about how good it is in the snow lol.

Whereabouts in GR are you?

[bmw325_num99]

I am a huge Subaru fan. I DD my 5th Subaru after having owned a WRX wagon, 2 Impreza Outback Sports and a 2001 Outback. I would have zero problem recommending any Outback or Forester past 2005. In fact, my wife will be replacing her 2002 Civic with one soon. I like the longitudinal engine layout which makes working on the Roo's easier. Subarus also have the best AWD system of any crossover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooQRxlChvMw

That being said, the Volvo V70 is a little bigger. I added brackets for more legroom in all my Subarus (I am 6'5) which makes the small rear seating areas even smaller. Some years, the Volvo AWD system is questionable but I am not sure if they sorted it out by 2005. The Volvo's transverse engine makes getting to parts of the engine a little harder but its not too bad. A FWD, non-turbo (for serviceability and fuel cost) V70 would be my 3rd choice after the Outback then Forester non-turbos (again, just serviceability and fuel cost).

NASIOC is the place to research all things Subaru. Good luck

[bmw325_num99]

Volvo all day. My current daily is an 01 v70 t5 with 222xxx miles. Never had any huge issues with the car. Still runs and drives tight. Pretty solid in the winter also. My mom has a 06 v70 R 100xxx miles no big issues (yet). The amount of shit you can fit into a v70 is truly astounding let me tell you. It's like a pick up truck. But, pretty much 1 in 6 Volvos is a total lemon these days so if one you're looking at has had big issues its not worth it. You'll spend millions fixing things. So choose carefully

I love the V70 R: great looks, great performance and AWD/manual trans availability is rare in the USA but it has it. I also love that is offered with a 3rd row seat in the wagon. I just wish Volvo made Outback-equivalent for the USA (manual trans, AWD, NA engine).

[evandael]

my mom had a mazda 6 wagon for a about 5 years. it had the 6AT and sport package. the car was wonderful, not a single issue, fun to drive, decent gas mileage and plenty of power. they don't nearly have the rust issues that plagued mazda 3's and proteges. parts are cheap enough and the car was easy to work on. you have about point about the FWD, but some good winter tires might mitigate most of the issues you come across.

[kway]

'01 Forester here, it's my wife's DD and we both love the damn thing. Yes, I did headgaskets at 100k, shortly after we got it but I knew about that going in. It's actually a pretty easy job; in general, working on this thing is about as simple as working on a lawn tractor.

Parts availability is kinda lame; the Subaru isn't like a BMW where for instance, you can get a Lemforder, Behr, Bosch, etc. part from any of number of online vendors and know that it's the original supplier. With the subie I generally get stuff from the dealer so I know what I'm getting, and that can be pricey. That would be my only complaint really, but it hasn't needed much other than the headgasket job anyway (135k on it now).

It's not fast by any means, but it's just for getting around anyway. It actually handles pretty well for what it is; I had some jackass in a Silverado on my back bumper approaching an offramp a couple weekends ago, I went down it at full bitch and he almost wrote the thing off trying to hang with me.

We use it as our truck, and it's been awesome at that. It's made several big Ikea runs, hauled some good sized shrubs, been loaded up with bags of mulch, bags of crushed stone, dump runs, car parts, you name it. I've never once thought I needed a bigger vehicle than this to get what I needed done.

I put a set of Hakkas on it this year and got to put them to the test with the recent snowstorm(s); it was decent before, but it's a friggin tank now.

[CompleteCustoms]

Stay away from lower end subies. Trans are supposed to be shit.

Why you no e92 touring?

An e92 would be great, but they are expensive to buy and maintain. We're both super cheap and are currently being raped by student loans. If anything, I would love an e46 Touring someday; they are to me the pinnacle of BMW design.