Hello, I have owned the same Subaru for the last four years and it was a great car, but it was older, and it was the worst to work on. Every time I went to go fix it there were bolts seized or stripped and it led to simple fixes to last days. Recently, that Subaru went down and now I am looking into getting another car. If I looked into getting another Subaru, are they all pains to work on like that and between what years would be best to look into?
If you had problems with stripped out threads someone may have worked on the thing in the past and messed them up by overtightening or crossthreading. Other than that if you live in an area with salted winter roads you're going to always be dealing with corroded fasteners on an older vehicle.
The boxer engine can be a pain to work on. Something simple, like changing spark plugs, which is a quick easy job on most inline engines is an ordeal, and heaven help you if you need to replace something like a valve cover gasket or even head gasket. If you're looking at used cars, older model Subaru engines that have timing belts are very prone to blowing head gaskets. (The problem was finally fixed on the newer engines that use timing chains.) Subaru also had oil burning problems around 2014 due to defective piston rings. Of course the CVT is another problem with a used Subaru. The best thing on those cars is the AWD system but unless you really need that I'd be looking at something else especially if you're going to be looking at older vehicles.
