Does your late model Subaru burn oil? Did your dealer tell you, you're wrong?

In reply to iceracer: I remember where I heard that one. It was on the Honda boards. If I had a newer engine that burnt oil I would try it. This thread reminded me to check my Mustang V6 level. Almost a year and still only 1/2 a quart down.

I never had issues with my 2009 WRX burning oil, but then again, I ran Rotella 5w40 diesel synthetic pretty much after break-in until I traded it in. That probably helped.

wbjones wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote: How'd I know irish was going to pipe in with information unrelated to the FB2x? :) Kenny - the Forester sees about 600 miles a month. So less than 500 miles and it's burning 2.5 quarts give or take a few tenths. We have had quite a few issues with the Foz. The main issues being the oil consumption and CVT going into limp mode on longer trips. SWMBO loves the car I can't wait for the lease to be up. The dealers have been a nightmare and it's the second time I've owned a Subaru where SOA refuses to fix the issue until now; where, it took a class action law suit to get things fixed.

I didn't read your link ... did they actually fix your particular car ? or is this just something you can wave in their face and maybe they'll get around to helping you this isn't a sarcastic post ... I A) didn't read the link and B) am actually curious as to whether you've been taken care of

At the moment we're trying to get them to cover the oil I've had to purchase. From there we are going to ask that they replace the engine. The lease is up soon though and we owe less than it's worth on trade so we might just trade it in on something new and let someone else deal with it. Prior to the conclusion of the class action suit we simply just got the standard SoA and dealer run around that "it's normal" we even got that BS reply with the CVT going into limp mode on long trips (fill up tank, drive until it's got about two gallons left, turn off to fill up, start up, can't go over 15mph and car bucks like a teenager learning to drive stick). We even told the dealer to pay a tech to perform this and we'd pay for the labor rate to run the car that long to properly diag and they refused, they simply turned the car on, let it idle for 20 minutes, and drove it 2 miles and said they couldn't replicate the problem.

I've tried to like Subaru, I've purchased 4 new in the past 6 years. Ridiculous issues with two of them and I think I'm done. We've pretty much parked the Foz and only driving the WRX because we don't want to be stranded.

We've got a short list of replacements for the Foz, going to drive the WRX until it's no longer upside down (which won't be long).

And TBH the Forester has been a great family car. It gets decent gas mileage for a mall crawler, it has never been stuck in beach sand or mud on our camping/fishing trips, and even had palmetto bugs as tenants when we lived in Key West. It's got just the right amount of space for a small growing family without being hard on the bank. I just hate SoA and the way they handle their warranty repairs. The default answer is "No, it's normal" from everyone in service. Which is a shock to me because when I worked at GM and Honda dealers, the default answer was "we've ordered your parts and will fix the issue as soon as they get here"

This is why despite the fact that I thought an Outback would have been a great fit for me I decided against it. Yes, it's not unheard of for a car to burn a little bit of oil and I've dealt with that before (my 3rd Gen Honda Prelude went through a quart every 400 miles!) but that is definitely NOT my expectation for a brand new car. The only reason in my mind to buy "brand new" is to enjoy a trouble free reliable car for at least the first 60,000 miles while under bumper to bumper and power train warranty. I don't expect a brand new car to need the same kind of maintenance and constant monitoring as a 10 year old beater would.

Besides the oil burning, the fact that some of these had terrible lane wandering issues due to the AWD system and the head gasket history with previous engine generations made me decide it wasn't worth it. I ended up in a Mazda6 instead.