How reliable are the 2013 Subaru’s Impreza? The car had 77,000 miles and it had the 5 speed manual transmission. This would be my first car and I am curious how long it would last and if it would be any good. is there any common issue with these cars (beside the head gasket) also when would it be expected to have todo the head gasket?
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Head gaskets on affected models usually go out around 100K miles, give or take a bit. Usually starts out as an external drip and if not repaired will ultimately leak inside the engine. The problem has been reported to affect Imprezas from 1999-2011. A 2013 model should be OK but you should still have a mechanic check it carefully.
Another thing to look out for is deterioration of front inner CV boots and joints because of their proximity to the exhaust.
So you would say that is a decent car ?
I'd say they are OK particularly with the manual transmission. Probably won't last as long as most Toyotas or Hondas but still much better than a lot of others. If that car really has only 77K miles it has a lot of life in it but have a mechanic like Scotty check it carefully. Condition of the specific vehicle you are looking at is the overriding consideration.
Average at best. I would say past 100k miles you are rolling the dice.
They are decent with the manual transmission. The most common issue I found was excessive oil consumption, a trend for Subarus in the early 2010s.
Other than that they are pretty good cars not at the level of a Corolla but still relatively dependable. Someone asked Scotty about an 08 Outback with a manual transmission yesterday you might want to check out his response to that.
Imprezas have the same advantages as corollas - they are sensible cars for sensible people who aren’t likely to drive them fast or abuse them. They also have very few fleet sales (for a base compact car) which maintains resale value.
I was talking about reliability.