2015 Subaru Legacy: Reliability?

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My wife is looking at a 2015 Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium. Car has just under 36k miles and has spent its 3 years in Tennessee and Virginia, so rust/corrosion should not be an issue. Any issues with that year model Legacy, engine, or drivetrain I should be aware of?
 
possible oil burning from the low tension rings.

CVT- one of the better cvt out there but no long term reliability yet.
its the chain "puller" type vs the band "pusher" type used in others.
 
I hate to break it to ya but Being from Tennessee and VA doesn't mean it won't be a rust bucket! I just moved from VA and I can assure you they heavily use the brine solutions on the roads in winter which destroys vehicles twice as fast as standard road salt!

Subaru's seem very prone to rust anyway but I doubt a 2015 is too bad yet...

Anyway, we have any 08 Legacy GT and love it, awesome little car with plenty of pep, but be warned, maintenance on them costs a good bit more than your average Honda or Toyota. I put Subaru in with VW/Audi on maintenance costs but much more reliable!
 
I believe that 2015 was a complete redesign of the Legacy. And they're always a Consumer Reports recommended model. Sure, first year glitches are always present.
 
Originally Posted By: racin4ds


Anyway, we have any 08 Legacy GT and love it, awesome little car with plenty of pep, but be warned, maintenance on them costs a good bit more than your average Honda or Toyota. I put Subaru in with VW/Audi on maintenance costs but much more less reliable!



Fixed it for ya!
laugh.gif


Seriously not surprised you are happy with your 08, but Subaru quality seems to have gone down the toilet. We have 5 or maybe 6 at work (well did have) all 16's and 17's, and they have been so problematic we already traded two off at 30k miles when we originally planned to keep them for 100k.
 
2015 is the last year of subaru extending the CVT warranty out to 100k miles or 10 years. I believe they were having trouble with the torque converter lockup with the 2.5 cvt's, but they will fix any issue with the CVT in the new warranty period.
Might actually be a good thing if you don't use up the miles in 10 years, but I'd also use it as bargaining chip if you still want the car.
 
Good cars. Subaru seems to have figured out the CVT before Nissan. The engine may burn oil, but that's more common on the manuals that tend to scream at 3000+ on the highway. That should have the newer FB engine if it's a 4 cylinder - no timing belt / water pump at 100K miles. Also not prone to head gasket issues.

Originally Posted By: racin4ds
I hate to break it to ya but Being from Tennessee and VA doesn't mean it won't be a rust bucket! I just moved from VA and I can assure you they heavily use the brine solutions on the roads in winter which destroys vehicles twice as fast as standard road salt!

Subaru's seem very prone to rust anyway but I doubt a 2015 is too bad yet...

Anyway, we have any 08 Legacy GT and love it, awesome little car with plenty of pep, but be warned, maintenance on them costs a good bit more than your average Honda or Toyota. I put Subaru in with VW/Audi on maintenance costs but much more reliable!



That's true. I did a marathon trip to Asheville NC and back and was surprised at the amount of salt on the roads in NC, TN, VA, WV. Quite disappointed actually.
 
It’s beyond me to understand how Subaru keeps getting top pick recommendations with all the problems they have engine / transmission wise. Subarus’ today make my old 330ci look like a paragon of maintenance free ownership.
 
We purchased our '15 Legacy 2.5I Premium (the one in my sig) last Fall, with around 33k miles (IIRC).
$15750
It came from North Carolina last year, after winter, so it hadn't ever seen any New England winter roads.
I was very surprised and please to see that there wasn't ANY rust anywhere.
By comparison, every other Subaru I've had will at least have a good amount of rust on the
rear diff (the most outwardly conspicuous part) of the car after the first winter.

This is my fifth Subie.

I've had no issues with my '15 and it's a pleasure to drive, EXCEPT it's on-center steering is a little twitchy.
No oil burning.
No CVT issues :knocks on wood: (and I'm thankful for the 10yr/100k extended warranty)

Mileage: 30.8 MPG
-----I only recently started tracking mileage on Fuelly (1939 miles logged so far)
-----Winter mileage drops considerably, though I don't have any logs of it (~27-28 MPG, as indicated on the display)
-----Mileage display is around 2 MPG optimistic (e.g., display indicated 36.X MPG for my last all-highway trip, but hand calc resulted in 34.7 MPG)

Impressions: Overall, a great cruiser
-----Noise: Not as quiet as I would have expected, but it is as quiet as our '14 FXT (I guess I was expecting luxury-car quietness...)
-----Handling: Steering is a bit rubbery/twitchy on-center, which has been talked about on legacygt.com, and is definitely not wide-spread.
Many people say their Leggy is just fine, while others, like me, aren't impressed.
With that said, the vehicle handles well, especially after replacing the stock rear sway-bar with one from the Crosstrek (20mm).
It still plows into corners (understeers), but now as badly as some other mid-size cars I've driven.
Give it a little gas while cornering to transfer some weight and things even out...a little bit
Brake heavily into a corner and you're going to plow even harder, however. This is expected.
-----Feel: While the on-center steering is slightly twitchy, as described above, the road feel is actually pretty good.
It's not going to feed you every single bump and road imperfection, but it's definitely not numb, either.
-----Brakes: average for the segment, though they don't initially bite as hard as some brands (which I don't like)
Braking is somewhat linear - the harder you press, the more braking you get.
If you're the type to want 50% bite at 10% pedal, then look elsewhere
-----Seats: The cloth seats are comfortable and the driving position is good (I'm 6', 180#)
The seats are MUCH better than our FXT, which I consider uncomfortable, even after 60k miles...

I've got to run, but this was my quick 2 cents. If you have any specific questions, please ask and I'll try to respond.
 
Aunt's 2015 Subaru 2.5 burns about a quart or two between oil changes. Otherwise she loves the car. No input on the CVT since hers is a manual but from what I've read on here and elsewhere their CVT seems solid.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: dogememe
Aunt's 2015 Subaru 2.5 burns about a quart or two between oil changes. Otherwise she loves the car. No input on the CVT since hers is a manual but from what I've read on here and elsewhere their CVT seems solid.


The manuals are know to burn more than automatics. This wasn't always true, but starting with the 2012 Impreza, it has been.
 
I work with two individuals that had their engines recalled and replaced by Subaru in the last few years. If nothing else Subaru did the right thing when it identified the problem engines. They were both Forester's. around the 2015 model year. Their complaint was the 2 months they had to use a loaner. Seems excessive.
 
My neighbor has a new Forester, (leased). The other day I was walking the dog behind her when she started it. A nice little puff of white smoke came out of the exhaust. I don't think it has 3,000 miles on it.
 
My parents have the closely related much more popular 2015 Outback. They love it. They used to replace their 2000 Forester that was relatively trouble free over its 190k.

Not a single issue in 40k miles and the CVT works perfectly IMHO and no oil burning.

I would only consider experience of Subaru in last 8 years not before that. A really different engine/transmission and really company in terms of volume etc.
 
All I would add is some shops don't like Subaru so I would check for local shops that specialize on them, preferably an independent so you have a choice other than the dealer alone. People who have access to a good independent seem to be the most happy with quality / reliability.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
My neighbor has a new Forester, (leased). The other day I was walking the dog behind her when she started it. A nice little puff of white smoke came out of the exhaust. I don't think it has 3,000 miles on it.


White smoke is not oil. Can be water from condensation in the cat, or coolant but if coolant it won't just stop. Happens on all makes of vehicles on startup. Normal.
 
bunches of subaru haters on bitog so take any advice with "lots of" salt.

I've had 5 subarus the only one that had major work is the 2013 outback which got new rings.. then a new short block for oil burning.. and a couple other goof items such as a passenger seat occupancy sensor, an oil level sender(they broke it putting in short block)

Its now consumes about 1qt first 3500 miles then 1qt next 2500 miles in its 6000mile oci.

its also a manual transmission that spends lots of time high in the rpm range.. which is the worst case scenario (causes most oil consumption)
its more annoying than harmful IMO.

The cvt issues were very hit or miss.. mostly no one had issues.. but of course out of 10000 people who buy a car the 10 who had issues make more noise(internet echo chamber) than the other 9990 people.
 
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