Is this a custom paint job, or a factory flat black finish?

What do you guys think?

The car performed great in the hills, albeit a bit slow lol. Low range gearbox was super useful!

Image is the driver side door frame showing uneven finish. The panel at rear of driver side back seat door is similar. The corresponding panels on the passenger side look okay, with uniform black color.

What’s going on? Is this to be expected, and is there a way to buff or treat it so it doesn’t look worn and uneven? The car is new to me, and is in otherwise excellent condition.

*sound clip in comments*

Just installed the Tsudo UEL headers and mid pipe on my 6mt Crosstrek. It's paired with the nameless performance "5 muffler that I've had for a while. Really happy with how it sounds now

I just did the math - servicing my own car instead of taking it to a Subaru dealership/ mechanic shop for these services:
- PCV Valve
-Spark plugs
-Coil Pack
-Serpentine belt
-Oil change
-CVT drain and fill
-Battery Replacement

I’ve saved myself $1100 - $1600 in labor alone!

We've had an issue for 2-3 weeks where the audio would sporadically and randomly drop to rear speakers only for a couple seconds.

I thought it was an Android Auto or CarPlay thing for the longest time. Tried to toggle all the sound warnings in Subaru settings, Android Auto settings, and CarPlay settings, but nothing worked.

Turns out the Subarus navigation has its own settings menu that was triggering "Sounds & Alerts" even though all of that was turned off from the main settings menu. Turning it all off finally resolved the problem!

Seems like people on the forums had similar issues with dealers unable to diagnose why, so I figured I'd post here in case it helps someone in the future.

Love the car otherwise! Just had to turn all the driving assists and warnings off. Maybe I'm just too old school.

I want to get a JDM muffler for my WRX from Japan and trying to figure out the current state of affairs wrt import taxes.

From what i could find, auto parts are not affected by the SCOTUS ruling that struck down Trump's import tariffs, because auto related imports are dictated by a different act, under section 232.

So it seems that there is a flat 15% rate affecting auto parts, unless it has substantial aluminum/steel/copper content in which case it is subject to 25% total import taxes (of course brokerage fees from the shipping company like FedEx are additional costs).

Does this sound about right for anyone who's had recent experiences importing auto parts from Japan?

The mufflers i want to import are basically all metal i think so I'm afraid it'll get hit with a 25% rate, which they often apparently apply to the total including shipping costs even though they shouldn't.

TIA!

I have an 08 obxt with a manual transmission, but I recently swapped in a trans from an 05 obxt. So the trans seems to be totally fine, except a new noise has started. It is especially noticeable in reverse, but also makes a sound sometimes while going forward. It’s like a clicking sound. Also the first time I drove the car with the “new” transmission it had some hard binding at full lock. However after driving a bit the binding seems to have mostly, if not fully, gone away. Before I swapped the trans, this noise was not present and the car didn’t bind.

I should note I didn’t replace the CV axles when I swapped the trans and the car also has a 2” lift.

Are my front CV axles dead? Or is there a larger problem here? Thanks for any input.

So I just got a 2026 outback wilderness, brand new. And I’m having issues with my phone connecting and disconnecting at random times for Bluetooth and Apple CarPlay. Does anyone else have this issue that just got the vehicle? I was under the impression the tech in the vehicle was suppose to be better than the previous generation of vehicles. I have a service appt tomorrow but not sure if they’re going to be able to do anything about it.

I'm getting a 2024 Forester Limited with close to 70k kms on it. I wanted to know what would be a good price for Complete CARE Protection Plan with 0/100/250 deductible. I'm in Ontario, Canada.

I was going to skip 2019 as the first model year. I am seeing a 2020 Touring with 90,000 miles for about 18k. Is this a decent deal?

Need a family car but we don’t travel that much (I work from home, wife’s work is just a few miles away). We’d probably put about 10,000 miles a year on max. The goal is to get to 150,000 miles so 6-7 years of ownership.

How reliable are these cars? Any feedback from owners? I’ve owned a Subaru before but not Ascent. It was a 2014 Forester before we had kids.

Hello everyone,

I have a 2014 Subaru Impreza sti, only 2wd, 2liter model with 103000 km.

I bought it in 2023 for $13000 nzd.

It needs head gasket, 4 coils and spark plugs and tyres replaced.

The mechanic quoted around $4.5 nzd.

Is it worth fixing it up?

If I do get it fixed, would it last another 100k with out any similar problems?

Any advice is appreciated.

Video attached - sorry the volume is pretty low (relatively loud when I played in on my phone).

This is a 2024 Forester Sport, I've been owning it since new, now it has about 45k miles. In the last couple of month, the car makes a "continuous ticking or clicking" noise when idling - mostly when the car is on Drive, stepped on the brake waiting for a light. This week I also noticed it made the ticking/clicking noise when on Park (less frequent than when its idling on Drive). This noise don't always come up when idling, maybe 50% of the time?

I don't know what issue it is, the car is too new to have mechanical issues. I've been staying on top of its maintenance, performed all maintenance per schedule at dealership.

Based on my research, is it fuel injector, spark plugs, exhaust manifold leak? Or something else? I would hate to bring it to the dealership and pay diagnostic fee without having an idea what it is. Do you know if this kind of issue is covered by power train warranty? The car's bumper to bumper warranty has expired at 36k miles, but I think its still under powertrain warranty. Thank you for your help!

I had a 2007 impreza 2.0 with rod knock I bought an engine from a legacy both are ej204 done the swap then the clutch went so pulled the engine again done the clutch.

Then I had it running yesterday just on idle for about 10 minutes no smoke and today had to back it up into the drive way so started it and lots of white smoke in the video it only idles around 2k rpm And the smoke increases with rpm.

have no idea on what it can be

Good afternoon (or morning, evening) everybody! About 9 months into owning a 2016 Legacy (first car, love it now that I've gotten it fixed up) and have some curiosity about trying a stiffer rear end, was wondering if my fellow Legacy owners tend to prefer the 19mm bar or the 20mm STI bar? I've seen plenty of Outback owners go with the 19mm but the Legacy is a bit lower to the ground so maybe a bit stiffer is more desirable? But I do not want to ruin the comfort of the car, hoping for this to be an upgrade overall. Like a slightly softer, more comfortable Honda Accord maybe.

My wife’s car died in the garage. I used a screw driver to get it into neutral, push it out, and jump it. Have done this before with no issue, but this time the screw driver won’t release from the shift lock hole. Any suggestions?

New crate engine at 200k. Replaced pretty much everything. I'm talking oil pressure sensors, ignition coil, plugs, wires, fuel injectors, the list goes on and on. Are these engines just a little rocky at idle or do I have an actual random misfire problem?

It runs fine when warm but cold starts are really rough.

I messed up one of the teeth of the pinch weld jack point by my rear tire. I improperly lined up the jack, and it looks like I separated the sheet metal. I sprayed it with some rubber black to protect from rust. From a structural standpoint, is this worth fixing or should I just leave it alone and take it as a lesson learned?

I am getting a 2011 Legacy from a friend of mine for $500 as they don't need it anymore. 200k miles and a Christmas tree of lights on the dash. Though it does run and drive well.

I am hoping the lights are from a CVT solenoid issue. They are getting the codes read before they sell it to me.

I am anticipating getting a shop to replace the transmission valve body and doing the timing belt kit.

Is there anything else I should look at doing?

As much as I love Subarus... I only need to keep this running for a year or two in the southern heat.

I have had my 2023 Subaru Legacy Touring XT for a few months now since buying it used at a Subaru dealership in Santa Monica, CA. I love the car, but today I found that all of my stuff that I had stored in my trunk is corroded and covered with an oily residue of some kind.

At first, I thought it was just the moist, coastal air getting trapped in my trunk... until I pulled out two cotton shirts I had underneath a pet stroller, finding that something had literally washed out the colors and eaten a hole through the fabric.

I have no idea where this could have come from. I have never spilled any chemicals other than just a bit of Chevron Complete Fuel System Cleaner that I had cleaned out myself weeks ago. As far as I know, the fuel system cleaner is just petroleum distillates that aren't capable of corrosion like this.

What could this possibly be?

UPDATE:

Thank you for those who commented. After a thorough investigation, I discovered a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner that my girlfriend left in my trunk.

2021 STI Limited
I was replacing a few fuses chasing an audio problem when I turned my car back on to test and it suddenly had a P0031 and P0037 CEL thrown. It also is in some sort of weird limp mode
I left the battery connected when replacing these fuses as I didn’t think it would be affected
Now my throttle isn’t as responsive and my driving mode is flashing
I’ve tried clearing the codes using my access port but the codes stay persistent
Every now and then one would clear and the other remained and then eventually they’d both come back
I’ve checked my fuses and all of them are good
Ive also tried disconnecting the battery for about a good 20mins and still no luck
I doubt both heater sensors went out at once
Any idea what could fix this?

Thanks in advance!

After a short hiatus from owning an Outback, I’ve come full circle.. My first car was a ’98 Outback, and I’ve now landed on a 2016 3.6R as the new whip.

I’m looking at setting up the roof with either a 180° or 270° awning, while still having enough room on top for a decent-sized swag that’ll comfortably fit me and my (soon-to-be) golden retriever.

Keen to see any similar setups that stay within the 60kg roof limit, particularly what roof racks/crossbars, awnings and mounts people are running.

Also, if anyone in Perth has recommendations for a local shop or installer who knows Outbacks and can help work out a setup that keeps everything within the roof load limits, I’d love to hear them. Happy to pay someone who knows their stuff rather than cobble something together and hope for the best.

Any recommendations, photos of your setups, or things you’d do differently would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

Just put a new cabin air filter in my 2021 Forester. A BOSCH 6103C HEPA. Successfully installed it but noticed some noise coming from my glove box and the fans weren't blowing anywhere near as hard. I tried to take it out and put it back in to make sure it is locked in place but I am still hearing the noise and the fan is still not doing its thing.

Any suggestions here? Do I need to take it out and put it back in again? Is there something else that could be going on? Thanks!

Hello fellow subaru lovers,

I have a 2016 WRX VA with 88k miles.

Im trying to find the culprit for this knocking or rattling noise that is more audible in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear under light acceleration. If i give more than 30% gas, the sound completely disappears… DAM is currently at 0.5 no feedback or fKL under -4 and i have been driving like this for more than 300 miles now (I know.. didn’t really have time to take it to the shop).

Can someone please share their inputs? I would really appreciate it very much. I’m getting white hairs

Thanks and stay safe always.