First off, my Outback is a 2019 2.5i. It is the lowest level base model. It was the last year before the mandated engine cutoff at idle. I promised 3 years ago to report if I'd had any trouble with it.
As of yesterday I have 152,540 miles on it with not a mechanical wrench touching it for any drive train or mechanical repair. At 100K miles I had the transmission serviced and fluids replaced. Last Friday I had the original pads and rotors changed out. I went with all 4 wheels, but could have likely driven with the original rear brakes for another 6 months or year.
2 months or so ago, I did notice that my drivers side DRL was flickering.When I had it in for an oil change I asked them to look at it and replace it. The service rep came back a few minutes later and explained that the DRL was an LED that required the entire headlamp assembly to be replaced. I told him OK, replace it.
He then explained that the LED was new to the line from model year 2018, and that they had never seen one fail. And for that reason didn't have one in stock. He went on to say that the headlamp assembly cost $494. My eyebrows went up a notch.
Long story short, I left that day having had a word with the service manager, and telling him that I'd drive it forever without paying $500+ for the DRL. Let the thing fail.
Fast forward 2 weeks and the service manager called me at home to set up an appointment to replace the headlamp assembly. He had prevailed with Subaru and they picked up the total cost. Which came to $777 and change.
My driving experience with it has been phenomenal. It is simply the best driving thing on the road in [bleep] winter weather. And I hear and see a lot about the offroad capability of the Outback. I wanna say that my true offroad experience is minimal with it, but I have put many miles on it on unimproved north woods fire lanes. I only had it for 8 weeks when I took off cross country on 75 miles of Oklahoma oil patch 2 tracks, fording streams and driving around obstructions.
I routinely get 30 mpg with 87 octane regular. I drive the thing like I stole it, but I do keep up with it's maintenance. I wanna say it's more reliable than most things out there.
And i wanna say that it's done more off road type of stuff than 80% of 4WD trucks and more than 95% of jeep wranglers
John,
Glad your Outback is treating you well. Bought the wife a 2020 Ascent after doing a good bit of research. My biggest concern was/is the CVT "transmission". So far it's been flawless but I'm still nervous about it. Does your '19 Outback have the CVT?
