What ownership is like, what breaks at what mileage, what the repairs cost, and what to check before you buy one.
← All Subaru Outback generations
NHTSA complaints per catalog listing run from 1.55 for 2004 (90 complaints across 58 listings) to 8.62 for 2000 (207 across 24), against a generation median of 5.07. The highest year, 2000, is 1.7 times that median. No year reaches the 2.0x our rule needs together with an above-median ad share and 30 or more listings, so nothing is flagged.
| Miles | Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| signs often around 150K (Vehicle Rides) | EJ25 head gasket seepage and failure | $1,500-$2,000 or more (Vehicle Rides); around $2,000 (Allied Motor Parts); $1,500-$2,500 (Au7o) | Sources describe head gasket work on the Outback generally. The only year-specific quote we found is a 2008 H6 at 150K miles quoted $3,700, and one owner post breaks a job into a $300 gasket, $300 head resurfacing and about 12 labor hours, so the bill is mostly labor. Check for oil or coolant seepage at the heads, coolant loss, and overheating on the test drive. |
| any | Recalls on file: rear suspension in salt-belt states (03V153000, 2000-2003), automatic transmission part (02V282000, 2001-2003), cruise control cable (04V128000, 2001-2004), Airtex fuel pump (13E065000, 2000-2004), air bag inflators (14V763000, 16V358000, 20V001000, 20V002000, 20V003000) | Free at a Subaru dealer when open | The suspension recall applies to cars sold or registered in a list of salt-belt states. Confirm each by VIN, and inspect the rear suspension and floor for rust. |
No year in this generation was flagged. A year is flagged by our rule only when all three hold: (1) its NHTSA complaints per catalog listing is at least 2.0x the median for its generation, (2) the share of ads that mention a problem is above the generation median, and (3) we track at least 30 listings for that year. The cutoff was fixed before we looked. Ad mentions are not failures, and a flag is a reason to inspect harder, not a verdict on any one car. We also re-ran the ad test with the 'rust' flaw left out, because the ad reader counts phrases like 'no rust' as mentions, and publish a flag only if it passes both ways.
| Year | Complaints | Top components | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 207 | Power Train, Engine And Engine Cooling, Tires | |
| 2001 | 170 | Fuel System, Gasoline, Service Brakes, Hydraulic, Power Train | |
| 2002 | 147 | Service Brakes, Hydraulic, Fuel System, Gasoline, Power Train | |
| 2003 | 95 | Air Bags, Engine And Engine Cooling, Vehicle Speed Control | |
| 2004 | 90 | Air Bags, Vehicle Speed Control, Engine And Engine Cooling |
source: NHTSA complaints database (api.nhtsa.gov). Complaints are owner reports, not confirmed failures.
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We don't tell you to skip a year; we flag by a fixed rule, and it flags only 2010 (360 complaints across 162 listings, 2.22 per listing against a 2010-2014 median of 1.03). Third-party lists commonly name 2013 (CoPilot, a Reddit thread) for 2.5L oil consumption and 2018 (MotorTrend). 2013 has 0.90 per listing in our data and 2018 has 2.75, both short of the 2.0x cutoff for their generations.
Older EJ25 cars do. Vehicle Rides says signs often show around 150,000 miles and puts the repair at $1,500 to $2,000 or more; Allied Motor Parts says around $2,000; a forum member was quoted $3,700 on a 2008 H6 at 150,000 miles. Check for oil seepage at the heads and coolant loss. This is a model-wide pattern from repair sources, and our complaint data does not isolate it.
The Lineartronic CVT debuted on the 2010 generation. Sources describe shudder, overheating and premature failure, and Subaru extended CVT coverage to 10 years or 100,000 miles on many 2010-2015 Legacy and Outback cars (Gearbox Insider). A replacement runs $4,500 to $7,000 new or reman, $3,500 to $5,000 for a rebuild and $2,000 to $3,500 used. Confirm coverage by VIN.
Gearbox Insider gives $4,500 to $7,000 for a new or remanufactured CVT, $3,500 to $5,000 for an independent rebuild, $2,000 to $3,500 for a used unit, and $300 to $1,000 for early fluid or valve body work. One Reddit owner reports about $9,000 quoted for a 2019; that is a single report.
We don't rank generations. Our own numbers: the 2010-2014 generation has a median of 1.03 NHTSA complaints per catalog listing and the 2015-2019 generation has 2.75. Those rates are not directly comparable across generations, because newer cars have had less time and different ways of filing complaints.
Yes. NHTSA files it under OUTBACK WILDERNESS from 2023. We counted both names and each complaint once. The 2024 model year is almost entirely under the Wilderness name.