subaru outback diesel manual

I'm in the Subaru Club and there are some Outback diesels there. I haven't heard of any issues but will check at the meeting tonight. I had one follow me down through Flea Creek to Mcintyres Hut in the Brindabellas last year which was a good effort.

Like most small diesels these days they run a dpf which makes them a bit of a non event if your daughter drives around the city all the time and doesn't hit the highway a lot.

I have a customer who is a Suby man through and through. He bought a diesel not too long after they came out and had the dealer do the first 2 services. I did the 3rd service and found oil leaking from the engine rear main seal area. It went back 3 times, at around a week each time, but was never repaired so he traded it back in recently on a petrol Forester auto. As others have said, a terrible feeling clutch, accelerator and gear change. The new Forester is a far nicer driving car. Maybe the newer auto diesels may drive better. Regards, Bob.

I've just sold my diesel forester at 105000km's after owning it from new. It was a leased vehicle and my only hesitation at first was because the vehicle had a diesel particulate filter. I was driving 200km's a day to and from work on the highway and I still had dpf issues. At 9000km's it went into "limp home" mode on me on the Bruce highway, which resulted in me heading straight for the dealer instead of work. They found it had oil dilution issues and reset it all, played with the ecu and it was good after that. My secondary sump had an oil leak, which was picked up at a service, and this involved an engine-out stay at the dealership to fix. Apparently it was a common occurrence with the Subaru diesels. The gearbox is very vague in the shift pattern and takes a bit to get used to. The clutch has no forgiveness and I still used to stall it on the odd minor hill after driving the thing for three years! You cannot lug this engine. The fuel economy was outstanding, but the gearing was too tall for stupid Australian low speed limits. 6th gear was redundant, if you didn't want to lug the engine. I love the devolopments made with common rail injection, but in my mind that has become the Achilles heel of the modern diesel. The new breed of diesels are no longer the reliable bulletproof tractor-like engines they used to be. One bad batch of diesel and your up for thousand's in costs with injectors and injector pump repairs. They are now fragile things that need to be maintained well and driven accordingly. They do not suit city drivers if they have a DPF. The DPF is obviously inevitable with modern diesels so we need to get used to them, but I'm staying away from them for the foreseeable future. At the moment I would never buy a common-rail, DPF-equipped diesel that is out of factory warranty. My 35 year old Toyota diesel might be slow but it will never die!

I have an Outback diesel. Done about 85000 km. I think it is great. No oil leaks or other mechanical problems.
The one issue is the gearing. To me, there is no problem with the clutch, gearbox, just the gearing. The problem isn't really a problem, you just need to know how to drive it. 5th and 6th gears are very high geared and the thing is really set up for very economical distance cruising. It also hangs on suprisingly well up hills for a diesel with tall ratios, even when towing.
Around town you just need to be very precise with your gear selection and revs. Generally we only use the bottom 4 gears around town. The wife and I are both very used to manual cog swapping, both petrol and diesel. It is high revving for a diesel and has quite a narrow torque range. You need to pick the gear correctly for slower speed corners. We both stalled a couple of times in the first few days with the car but we got used to it quickly and now neither finds it an issue, actually, we find it rather fun to drive. You do have to drive it. It sure is different however to our turbo diesel LC which just lugs around corners at any speeds.

The big question is what does she want to do with it and why does she want a diesel.

ALL diesels resent being driven arround the city doing short runs and at low speed.
If ya don't work em hard, run em long and get em hot they will all suffer...always did always will.

If she is drinving around the city particularly less than 2 hours a day good highway work.....a petrol engine is a far better proposition.....and that is regardless of brand.

Then there is the issue of subaru.....they are a one trick wonder.....they realy only make one car.....slight variations.....but it is more or less the same mecahical package.

I don't like subaru ( you may have gathered)...but they more or less make one engine a modern variant of the VW motor..and they have it pretty well sorted.

They do not have a long history of putting diesel engines in the one car they make and that is compounded with this new...still problematic common rail diesel technology.

If she wants a diesel......I'd look elsewhere...the new Isuzu SUV may be worth a look...if shee wants a subaru...stay with petrol.


cheers

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. It is much appreciated and I have passed the information on to our daughter.

regards,
Heather