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My wife is on her second Forester. She traded the first one with 160,000 miles and no major issues. The current one has 130k miles and no issues as well. Not the most exciting vehicle but certainly reliable.
I was disappointed in the reliability of the 2001 Subaru Forester we owned. A lot of repairs over the years. I've had much better experience with Honda, Toyota, and Nissan over the years... VW's are not very reliable as seen by the Consumer Reports ratings...
Spent 4 hours in a 2014 Subaru Forester, had cloth heated seats and the big sunroof. What a boring and cheap looking car. But I guess for $24K MSRP, you can't expect much more. Cool it had a backup camera. Definitely would get the XT, but reliability will take a dive.
When the sample size is one, nothing is definite. There's enough variation from car to car that you could end up with a flawless VW or a troublesome Subaru. VWs have been getting better. With any German car, though, any problems are more likely to be difficult and expensive to fix.
Subarus are reliable up to about 100k miles, after which they can become expensive. Too soon to say if this will be the case with the current generation.
If reliability is your absolute top priority, no model is more consistently reliable than a Honda CR-V.
When the sample size is one, nothing is definite. There's enough variation from car to car that you could end up with a flawless VW or a troublesome Subaru. VWs have been getting better. With any German car, though, any problems are more likely to be difficult and expensive to fix.
Subarus are reliable up to about 100k miles, after which they can become expensive. Too soon to say if this will be the case with the current generation.
If reliability is your absolute top priority, no model is more consistently reliable than a Honda CR-V.
My Subaru is well over 100K and no issues. I think the ones that had issues were the older models 2003 and earlier with the 2.5 liter engines that had the leaking head gasket problem.
Ive only known 5 people who were naive enough to buy VW's, but all 5 have suffered weird electrical issues.
I had a Subaru that I drove until the body rusted away, my parents have had 8 since the 70's. Boringly reliable
I would never buy a Euro car. My parents have one (A volvo) and it's a nightmare to maintain. One time it flat out shut off driving down the freeway due to electrical issues. My other friend bought a VW and hates the price he has to pay for maintenance and parts.
Subaru is better for durability and reliability. Volkswagen makes magnificent cars for reasonable prices, but they still are having problems with engineering them.
It's amazing how consistent the responses above have been. I agree with nearly all of them.
If you want a cool, unusual, attractive, funn, sophisticated car with creature comfort but are willing to chance reliability and serviceability buy the VW.
If you can settle for less panache, but want to improve chances of reliability and simple service, while planning to keep the car for many years and miles, buy the Sube.
This is based on the odds and history. No one can predict what will happen with any single car. European cars are fun, but they often cost more to own...especially over time and miles. This doesn't stop a lot of people from owning them...including me. (And we also own a Sube).
As an afterthought...have you considered the Outback?
When the sample size is one, nothing is definite. There's enough variation from car to car that you could end up with a flawless VW or a troublesome Subaru. VWs have been getting better. With any German car, though, any problems are more likely to be difficult and expensive to fix.
Subarus are reliable up to about 100k miles, after which they can become expensive. Too soon to say if this will be the case with the current generation.
If reliability is your absolute top priority, no model is more consistently reliable than a Honda CR-V.
Too bad the new CR-Vs look like cancerous jelly beans.
I vote Subaru.
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