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Subaru gets blanked from 2015 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study

The 2015 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study is announced and the Subaru brand is nowhere to be found on the list. Is it because of Subaru’s oil consumption lawsuit?
2015 Subaru Outback, 2015 Subaru Forester, 2015 Subaru XV Crosstrek

The car reliability ratings are out and the Subaru brand does not have any cars in their lineup on the list. On the list of cars and SUVs, the award recipients do not include any of Subaru’s all-wheel-drive multi-purpose vehicles that have been so popular with consumers. The popular Subaru Outback wagon, Forester SUV, XV Crosstrek crossover, Legacy sedan and Impreza compact are all absent from the reliability list.

The brand seems to be doing everything right, but could the reason they are not included, be because of the Subaru oil consumption lawsuit? The 2015 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study examines problems experienced during the past 12 months by original owners of three-year-old (2012 model year) vehicles. Overall dependability is determined by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles, with a lower score reflecting higher quality.

CHECK OUT: Subaru scores hat trick in Consumer Reports Top Picks of 2015

Subaru named in a lawsuit

Last year, Subaru was named in a lawsuit claiming the automaker failed to let consumers know of the oil consumption problem in some of their vehicles. In an article in the New Jersey Law Journal, the lawsuit claims the 2011-14 Forester, 2013 Legacy and 2013 Outback, with 2.5-liter engines, and 2012-13 Impreza and 2013 Crosstrek, with 2-liter engines are the culprits. The suit claims the vehicles "prematurely burn off and/or consume abnormal and excessive amounts of engine oil."

In order to get a good rating on the J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study, they examine 177 specific problem symptoms, grouped into eight major vehicle categories, with Engine/Transmission issues being one of the eight categories. With Subaru having 2012 model year owners saying they are experiencing oil consumption issues with their vehicles, could this be the main reason there are no Subaru vehicles on this year’s top rated models?

What are the most dependable brands according to J.D. Power?

Among all vehicle nameplates, Lexus ranks highest in vehicle dependability for a fourth consecutive year, with a score of 89 PP100. Buick follows Lexus with 110 PP100, moving up three rank positions from 2014. Next are Toyota (111), Cadillac (114), and Honda and Porsche (tied at 116).

Brand loyalty tied to fewer problems

The study shows that the fewer problems owners experience with their vehicle, the greater the loyalty to the brand. Subaru has one of the most loyal fan bases in the industry, yet Subaru does not rate highest for the brand with the fewest problems. Overall, Subaru does rank just above the industry average in problems per 100 vehicles. Interestingly, in the area of powertrain dependability, Subaru ranks near the top with an industry average that is better than most brands.

MUST READ: Outback and Forester dominate Consumer Reports 2015 People’s Pick

Subaru has created a niche market with their all-wheel-drive multi-purpose vehicles like the 2015 Outback, Forester and XV Crosstrek that consumers are responding to in a big way. Could it be loyal Subaru owners overlook some of the problems because they like the vehicles safety, utility, all-weather capability and performance?

Image source: Subaru via Victor Hill

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Comments

don684 (not verified)    February 26, 2015 - 11:01AM

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I have a 9 year old Subaru outback. Basically good car but things do go . The thing I find with Subaru is the dealerships are very high priced for work done on your car . Plus the quality of the work done is questionable. Best thing for a Subaru owner is to be handy and do a lot of the work yourself.

Skeptic (not verified)    October 17, 2015 - 10:31AM

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No way that dealer is less expensive than private shop. If this was true, the private shops wouldn't exist. Who would take their cars to a private shop if genuine dealer were less expensive? Common sense is all one needs to know that your claim is incorrect.

michael (not verified)    June 16, 2016 - 1:55PM

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We recently had the 105K maintenance to replace the timing belt on our 2000 Outback, We had a dealer in Richmond VA do the work. The dealer was $70 less expensive than the two other quotes we got from privately owned shops. Other than breaks and cooling system maintenance we had no other issues with our Subaru. Oh, the CD changer when bad.

Setting skepti… (not verified)    January 6, 2017 - 5:09PM

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Why would someone take their subaru to a private shop and not a dealership if the dealership was cheaper...Hmmm lets see. How about the subaru isn't under warranty so it doesn't matter, or how about the dealership has about super long wait, or how about the private owned shop is about subaru specalisthenics abound knows more than the dealership.... I can go on for days. Don't be so quick to call someone out unless you know what ur talking about. Ive owned 6 Subarus and currently own 3. 2 STI and a Forrester. I've worked on then for over 15 years so...

Diana Conrad (not verified)    August 1, 2017 - 11:22PM

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No, it depends on the dealer. I had an all wheel balance at a dealer for $60, Not all dealers are high priced. Telling someone they are incorrect is really not cool. Perhaps you need to have more of an open mind, or go to several dealers before telling people they are incorrect. Your experience is not everyone's experience.

Jack Webb (not verified)    March 2, 2015 - 5:29PM

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When will this story finally break? Customers are trading these oil burning Subaru's in. Subaru's owner manual spells out what will happen to your oil level, if you drive your car. Who checks their oil every second fill up? Subaru owners need to if they drive their car in any of the conditions listed in the owners manual. *when the vehicle accelerates and decelerates frequently* when the vehicle is operated in stop and go and/or heavy traffic.*When engine braking is employed. After reading these warnings and others, it appears the only time it does not burn oil is when it is not running. These are all taken from the Subaru owners manual on page 11-10.

btao (not verified)    April 6, 2015 - 12:37PM

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After a conversation with Subaru of America, it's been a known issue. They have never denied it, and since it's under their threshold for a recall, they've been dealing with it case by case. They have a regimented test to determine if it is one of these problem vehicles, and will replace the engine if it is. If that's not commitment, I'm not sure what is. Compare that to any of the other issues from the other companies. It's one of the reasons I've owned 5 Subarus.

EKS (not verified)    May 28, 2015 - 10:06PM

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They HAVE denied it. I have been dealing with Subaru of America for the last 14 months after the oil problem first started 3 months after I purchased a brand new 2.5 Outback. I have been ran around and around and around and between the dealership and corporate, there are no straight stories. Dealership "oil consumption test done" Pistons/cylinders are faulty. Corporate "Dealership did 3 tests, right?" Me, "Nope, just did one." Corporate "There's not any record of any tests ever being done" This was after they told me that 3 tests were done.
I WAS a loyal Subaru customer (the current POS is my THIRD Subaru over a number of years. It truly makes me sad that after all of this, I have lost all faith in Subaru, and I really loved my Subies (especially my '08).

They know it's their engineering screw-up (cylinders were not bored correctly) and just like Ford and their exploding Pinto, it will cost too much to recall and replace, so they only will deal with replacing the small blocks in the cars whose owners threaten to file another CA lawsuit.

Next steps for me since SoA refuses to address this issue? I'll let my attorney inform them of the THIRD lawsuit they will be involved in.

Fred (not verified)    February 14, 2016 - 10:48PM

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If Subaru such a POS why you buy 3?..I seen a Subaru from the late 80s still running around town and a lot of 10+year old Subaru's here in S.E Alabama.People are buying them like hotcakes!. And it don't snow here!..I never seen one beside the road!..I saw a 90s Outback from Alaska today at McDonald's.If your such a loyal customer better stay one.Theirs a lot worse cars out there.I own a 1987 Ford Escort did not explode and I give my left nut to own even a used Subaru I'm so poor.Check the oil&maintenance on the car and quit crying.You may have got a lemon but If I can live with checking the oil every other fillup and have the car 10 years I take that..

Garry Holmberg (not verified)    September 8, 2015 - 6:20PM

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I had an oil change in our 2013 Crosstrek in May, by the beginning of Augusta the oil light came on. I have owned several Subarus and this has never happened. I used full synthetic before Subaru standardized on it and I never burned oil sufficiently that I had an oil light come on between oil changes. I was on a trip at the time, so I stopped immediately, verified the oil was low and added sufficient oil to bring it halfway between full and low marks. I didn't want to overfill.

I was just about to schedule an oil change about 10 days later and the oil light came on again, meaning it lost a half quart in 10 days.

When I reported the problem to my dealer, they looked at me with disbelief, saying that's weird. After having them check for some leak they said everything looked good and that burning a quart of oil per 1200 miles is within spec. I said, since when! I have had clunkers that blew oil smoke out the exhaust pipe that burned at that rate, no way for a 2013 Crosstrek that has been serviced by the dealer, every time!

They agreed to do an oil consumption test. I take the car home and something was just bothering about the problem. I thought they may have failed to actually change my oil in May, or didn't put in sufficient oil. I mean, why else would it be so low. So I went and checked the oil level and to my shock it was over full. It oil was beyond the full mark significantly, about the width of my index finger or about a 1/2 inch. I took it right back to the dealer and they confirmed it was overfull.

I then checked the oil before I left the second time. So how does a dealer overfill oil in any vehicle, even more troubling, even if accidents happen, you wouldn't think it could happen on a vehicle that is being staged for an oil consumption report. I mean that is beyond incompetence or worse, an attempt to defraud a Subaru customer.

So per my dealer, I now have to go through three 1200 mile oil consumption tests, before any request for work can be even submitted. I have no doubt that the 1/2 quart of oil burned in about 10 days means our Crosstrek will need what Subaru calls a short block replacement, but it looks like I will have to jump through bureaucratic hoops while they attempt to avoid/delay fixing what they know is broke.

And while we are on the Subject of poor engineering design, the air conditioning compressor they used in the 2013 Crosstrek is an obnoxious torque slamming device. I have never had a car where the compressor cycles every 30-40 seconds at 65 mph, and in each case their is a loud click, a momentary loss of speed, and a vibration in the gas pedal. I spoke to the dealer and they said that Subaru knows about the issue and has changed out the compressor mechanism. Lot of good that does me, unless there is a recall!

Yeah, I am not happy, and I love Subaru!

Garry Holmberg (not verified)    September 8, 2015 - 6:30PM

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I had an oil change in our 2013 Crosstrek in May, by the beginning of Augusta the oil light came on. I have owned several Subarus and this has never happened. I used full synthetic before Subaru standardized on it and I never burned oil sufficiently that I had an oil light come on between oil changes. I was on a trip at the time, so I stopped immediately, verified the oil was low and added sufficient oil to bring it halfway between full and low marks. I didn't want to overfill.

I was just about to schedule an oil change about 10 days later and the oil light came on again, meaning it lost a half quart in 10 days.

When I reported the problem to my dealer, they looked at me with disbelief, saying that's weird. After having them check for some leak they said everything looked good and that burning a quart of oil per 1200 miles is within spec. I said, since when! I have had clunkers that blew oil smoke out the exhaust pipe that burned at that rate, no way for a 2013 Crosstrek that has been serviced by the dealer, every time!

They agreed to do an oil consumption test. I take the car home and something was just bothering about the problem. I thought they may have failed to actually change my oil in May, or didn't put in sufficient oil. I mean, why else would it be so low. So I went and checked the oil level and to my shock it was over full. It oil was beyond the full mark significantly, about the width of my index finger or about a 1/2 inch. I took it right back to the dealer and they confirmed it was overfull.

I then checked the oil before I left the second time. So how does a dealer overfill oil in any vehicle, even more troubling, even if accidents happen, you wouldn't think it could happen on a vehicle that is being staged for an oil consumption report. I mean that is beyond incompetence or worse, an attempt to defraud a Subaru customer.

So per my dealer, I now have to go through three 1200 mile oil consumption tests, before any request for work can be even submitted. I have no doubt that the 1/2 quart of oil burned in about 10 days means our Crosstrek will need what Subaru calls a short block replacement, but it looks like I will have to jump through bureaucratic hoops while they attempt to avoid/delay fixing what they know is broke.

And while we are on the Subject of poor engineering design, the air conditioning compressor they used in the 2013 Crosstrek is an obnoxious torque slamming device. I have never had a car where the compressor cycles every 30-40 seconds at 65 mph, and in each case their is a loud click, a momentary loss of speed, and a vibration in the gas pedal. I spoke to the dealer and they said that Subaru knows about the issue and has changed out the compressor mechanism. Lot of good that does me, unless there is a recall!

Yeah, I am not happy, and I love Subaru!

KAYAKGIRL (not verified)    March 9, 2016 - 1:50PM

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Case by Case Basis is right. I have an 8 year old Outback wagon, 8 months ago it had a head gasket repair the dealer service told me to "watch." I put 2000 miles a month on my car. I am in repair every 6 weeks. In December I missed my 6 week check up and early January it blew the engine. Subaru refuses to even consider it was a defect becasue of the miles on the vehicle, not withstanding that thir service did all the work. A friend with 2013 Forester got an engine replacement (still under warranty) for oil consumption problem even tho she never had an oil change done. They want me to buy another one...I don't think so. As others have said here you cannot watch it every minute and use it. So it is worthless, after putting tons of money into it. I may have to try and trade it in with $6000 owed on the new engine and the repair work. After a new engine was put in, new belts, and 1000 mile oil change It is still making the same odd noise under the hood that it did leading up to the day it died.

Diana Conrad (not verified)    December 18, 2016 - 5:39PM

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I have a 2013 Subaru Forester that I bought as a salvage title because I had so much confidence in Subaru as I also own a 2010 Forester. BIG MISTAKE!!!! This summer while driving a cancer patient back and forth to the May clinic in Rochester, my oil light came on, I replaced this 3 times and got jerked around by the dealers who told me to "ignore my oil pressure light". Guess who's engine is burning oil? How much fun is it to have to keep checking the oil by opening up a bug covered hood and have a boiling hot engine that you have to get a hot pad to pull out the oil stick, then go get all the oil stuff and pour that in while it's hot and humid outside with a nauseous cancer patient sitting in the car? I have 45K on this care when it started this crap. My summer was sooooo fun dealing with this. And it's doubtful I'll get a new engine because of the salvage title. It cost me $119 for the oil consumption test. The car has hail damage, nothing to do with the engine, no accidents. Am I upset, Hell, yes. This company has known about this problem for 5 years. There are a lot of LOYAL Subaru owners that are walking away from this brand. I will be one of them after I take over $10K loss.

Jeremy Nightingale (not verified)    August 1, 2017 - 1:42PM

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I have a 2016 Subaru Forester XT. My wife's daily driver. At first oil change (6,000 miles)mentioned to dealership, engine was skipping every so often. Informed me of a recall on the spark plug sensor? Ok. Car drives good for 2,000 miles. Engine starts to skip again. Bring back to Subaru service. Inform me they have a computer update for spark plug knock. Drive car and skip has gone away, temporarily. Driving for a weekend getaway. I notice the car on acceleration is skipping. Most prevalent on highway. Bring car for third time into Subaru service. Notify the skip is back worse then ever. Airbag/hill assist/ warning lights come on car skips hard. Demand a loaner and that they look at engine/powertrain. Week goes by. No call from Subaru. I call get vm of service manager. Leave vm. No call back that day. Call next day and day after. No return call. Call and ask for service manager. Speak with service manager and he is not familiar with car. Begins reading file. Reads aloud what is listed above and then continues saying, "longblock on order." I ask, "so my vehicle with 18,000 miles needs a new engine and no one called me, no one returned calls, this seems very suspicious.." Tells me the engine ran hot and the inner ceramic of spark plug blew up, getting into engine. Need to replace entire engine. Shocked. Being caught off guard, my wife and I do not know best way to move forward. Great the engine is covered by warranty. Question is: does this engine have a defected piston design or burning oil or a manufactured defect? Meaning with new engine will I continue to have same problem. Also question the spark plug knock sensor and computer update validity. Is this a cover up to a larger problem? Feeling taken advantage of and very concerned. Any feed back on best course of action and input about what's really going on is much appreciated. Meet with Subaru general manager tomorrow (August 2,2017).

Jeremy Nightingale (not verified)    August 1, 2017 - 1:51PM

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I have a 2016 Subaru Forester XT. My wife's daily driver. At first oil change (6,000 miles)mentioned to dealership, engine was skipping every so often. Informed me of a recall on the spark plug sensor? Ok. Car drives good for 2,000 miles. Engine starts to skip again. Bring back to Subaru service. Inform me they have a computer update for spark plug knock. Drive car and skip has gone away, temporarily. Driving for a weekend getaway. I notice the car on acceleration is skipping. Most prevalent on highway. Bring car for third time into Subaru service. Notify the skip is back worse then ever. Airbag/hill assist/ warning lights come on car skips hard. Demand a loaner and that they look at engine/powertrain. Week goes by. No call from Subaru. I call get vm of service manager. Leave vm. No call back that day. Call next day and day after. No return call. Call and ask for service manager. Speak with service manager and he is not familiar with car. Begins reading file. Reads aloud what is listed above and then continues saying, "longblock on order." I ask, "so my vehicle with 18,000 miles needs a new engine and no one called me, no one returned calls, this seems very suspicious.." Tells me the engine ran hot and the inner ceramic of spark plug blew up, getting into engine. Need to replace entire engine. Shocked. Being caught off guard, my wife and I do not know best way to move forward. Great the engine is covered by warranty. Question is: does this engine have a defected piston design or burning oil or a manufactured defect? Meaning with new engine will I continue to have same problem. Also question the spark plug knock sensor and computer update validity. Is this a cover up to a larger problem? Feeling taken advantage of and very concerned. Any feed back on best course of action and input about what's really going on is much appreciated. Meet with Subaru general manager tomorrow (August 2,2017).

Diana Conrad (not verified)    August 1, 2017 - 11:18PM

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Invoke the lemon law and get rid of the car. Honestly, I have a 2013 Subaru Forester that needs a new engine. I have had enough smoke blown arounds, lies, dishonest dealers, nasty Subaru of America Customer Service reps. I honestly have never been so pissed off so many times at the BS. I've had 2 oil consumption tests that the dealers literally made sure I passed. So when I sell this car, I will tell them which dealerships said my car was ok. Since 2011, Subaru has decided to not do right by their customers. I even wrote to the President of Subaru in Japan. The response was to talk to Subaru of America. Do you see the Merry Go Round???? That is what you are in for. Years of BS. I'm sure the car is nice, but if you are already having problems, they are not going away. They will continue. You will hear every BS story the dealership can come up with and honestly, who knows if they really know. Subaru is one huge big fat liar. There has already been one class action lawsuit for bad oil control piston rings, which my car has, and the warranty is now 100K miles, 8 years. The catch. I have to flunk an oil consumption test. So far the dealers just fill the engine up, and say there's no problem. Yet, out on the open road, with a cancer patient in the car, my oil sensor light comes on and I'm burning a quart every 600 miles. This started at 45K miles. What I'm doing next is documenting everything and putting it on YouTube and complaining to anyone I can think of about Fraud. Subaru is NOT honoring their warranty. You are in for at least 5 years of BS until the car warranty expires, then you're stuck. They might offer your money to buy a new Subaru (with the same problem). I have a Honda Accord that is 14 years old with 103,330 on it. Never had a problem with it, and I still love it. Honda or Toyota would not do this to their customers. Remember VW when they were pretending the bumpers weren't falling off their cars? The American public quit buying. Eventually, it will happen to Subaru. Nobody likes getting lied to repeatedly. I've been dealing with it for 2 years. Don't believe a word they say. I'm sure the dealers are getting stuck with these faulty cars. Subaru is probably kicking them around too. At some point the government needs to get involved with this BS. All I can say is good luck, but remember, it won't be fun. Get someone to witness the BS, record the BS on your phone, email yourself pictures or documentation, but don't expect results. I also have a 2010 Subaru Forester and have 77K on that, and have had no problems. The new engine came in 2011, along with all the problems. It's hard to believe at first, and I think you will want to believe them, DON'T.... you want out of your car.... and it might be new enough to do it... Keep reading the posts on here... these people aren't lying... it's horrendous... Subaru needs to fix their engine but instead they just keep making new cars??!!! AND selling them to us... we aren't used to defective new cars...

Diana Conrad (not verified)    August 1, 2017 - 11:36PM

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The regimented test is being tampered with by the dealers. I have a 2010 Subaru and a 2013 Subaru with the bad oil control pistons. There's been a class action lawsuit. There's an extended warranty. There's a bunch of nasty Subaru of America Customer Service reps that don't wanna deal with it. The first oil test was overfilled by a half quart, then filled again at the end of the test. The same thing happened at another dealer. I've written the president of Subaru in Japan. I have spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of my time talking to every person I can think of. The lies, the nastiness, the uncaring, and the BS is beyond imagining. It's good all these loyal Subie people are still thinking Subaru is wonderful. Sure, I love my Subarus. I do not love anything about my situation, the way I have been treated, the checking of oil, the condescending attitude, the extra 8 quarts of oil I have to add to my engine between oil changes, the changing of my oil light sensor 2x because Subaru is still trying to pretend they have a great product. People have lost thousands of dollars, they have lost confidence, and I am in that category. Frankly, I'm not sure how Subaru is getting away with this. I intend to post every video of every time I have to open a hot, bug covered hood, and add oil to my Subaru. I can't tell you how much fun this is. Every 600 miles I need a quart, but the dealers can't find anything wrong. It's absolutely disgusting. I doubt you'd be as loyal if you had the wonderful oily time I'm having. Read on... Do you think all these people on here are lying? They aren't. My 2010... sure no problems, which is why I bought the 2013. I love the car, but the engine is defective, and Subaru won't fix it. Isn't that the most expensive part of the car? This started in 2011 with the new engine and it sounds as if it's continuing. I don't expect new cars to have bad engines in them, much less a bunch of lying dealers. I have been in several states, they are all involved. The consumer is not the only one getting shafted by Subaru...

lorraine Beaudoin (not verified)    July 23, 2015 - 12:57PM

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I don't like my 2005 subaru forrestor so much i have made the decision to speak about it as little as possible so that the news does not get around and you can't unload the damn thing. It eats oil, no one can tell you where it goes not even the dealer who I took it to once and will never go back (Marino). It has had expensive work trying to plug wherever it is leaking and causing it to burn off but nothing has really worked. Is it possible to join the US lawsuit??? Loss the radiator too, it clogged up and fried. Now even if I am driving 50 km my husband tops up the coolant and checks the oil before I go. Funny even when the oil has burned out and the tank is dry there is no check engine or check oil sign, it has NEVER lit up...with no oil in the car! Lemon, get rid.

Cats01 (not verified)    September 17, 2015 - 3:05PM

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I have a 2015 Crosstrek with just over 5000 miles on the odometer. Had the original oil changed at about 3750 miles per the manual. Before it was changed, I checked the oil regularly and there was no consumption. In fact, the oil looked almost brand new. I still check the oil regularly. There still appears to be no oil consumption and the oil on the dip stick still looks almost brand new; just beginning to turn dark. It may be that Subaru finally fixed the problem for the 2015 model year.

Doug (not verified)    September 26, 2015 - 12:41PM

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My Dad, an aviation mechanic in the Marine Corps during WW2 and later a Marine aviator retiring in 1966, taught me to check the engine oil at every fuel fill up. He was the type of guy who took good care of his stuff. Keep your shoes polished, check your oil when you fill the gas tank.

Those of you old enough will remember that this was standard procedure by the gas station attendant, who fueled your car, washed the windows, and checked the oil. While these days are long gone, and vehicle engines are much more durable than cars from the mid-20th century, it's still not a bad idea to be in the habit of checking the oil level when you fuel up. It also affords an opportunity to check your wiper fluid, and any incipient corrosion on battery terminals.

JimK (not verified)    May 24, 2015 - 7:18PM

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I knew my inclination was right. For a better price I got a 2015 V6 crosstour with a quality acura type build for less than an outback V6 which is over 35K. The crosstour was also named as one of JD powers most reliable and safe cars which is in contrast to consumer reports.

Gary Birtch (not verified)    June 7, 2015 - 8:44AM

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The FB25 engines, especially made before May 2013 (as indicated in Subaru TSB documents), are known to burn oil, with some of them burning several QTs between changes. TSB: 02-143-13R

Moreover, they have lowered the OCI and are actively swapping out the oil level sensors and reprogramming the ECU to trigger the low oil warning light so that it turns on with LESS oil in the engine. This is being done on cars that are burning lower amount of oil (anything under 1/3 QT per 1200 miles).

Then there is another issue at play for cars that are deamed to be burning oil and need to be diagnosed:

The biggest issue at the moment is that Subaru’s dealers dont get paid full rate for the engine work. They also dont get allocated enough hours that make sure doing the short block is really cost effective for them. In addition, the dealer has to repair any issues resulting with replacement of the short blocks, which seems to be frequent. As such, many dealers are resorting to adding too much oil to the engine during the oil consumption tests (which are performed as per the “FB Engine Oil Control Ring TSB Oil Consumption Test” document). They are appear to be doing this to prevent having to replace the engines on vehicles that only burn oil at a rate of two QTs every 7200 miles, which is the replacement threshold.

Chuckles (not verified)    July 13, 2015 - 7:52AM

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You just hit the nail on the head.
I can tell you know about this subject. I took my car in for a consumption test, they filled it with over six quarts of oil. Now my sensor doesnt' come on till its even lower than before, too...
Dirty, crooked subaru dealers!

John (not verified)    October 10, 2016 - 7:56PM

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I own a 2013 Outback with the FB25 engine that was built in the latter half of 2012. Have nearly 54K miles on it. Have changed the oil my self every 4K miles using the mid-level Amsoil 5W20. So far oil consumption has been about 0,5 pints per 3500 miles. was told by the dealer that the Subaru branded synthetic was garbage and that they were using Toyota branded synthetic that worked better. Go figure.

Gary Birtch (not verified)    June 7, 2015 - 8:52AM

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The CrossTour is a low production model, which is a pour purchasing decision with ANY car manufacturer.

The 1997-2001 Prelude by Honda has tons of issues, and Honda completely ignored them / down played them until someone was almost kill by a faulty transmission, resulting in a lawsuit and extended warranties.

Frankly, the fully loaded CrossTour (Leather w/ Navi) does not come with anything along the lines of comparable features to the Subaru Outback. The fully loaded 3.6R Outback costs $33,000 (MSRPish) and MSRP on the CrossTour comes with about $3000 in options less.

The only thing the CrossTour has going for it is that it doesn't burn oil... which I'll admit is a big deal.

(Currently, both the 3.6R and the 2.5FB Subarus are know to have oil burning issues.)

roger (not verified)    July 1, 2015 - 2:36PM

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I own a 2014 Subaru Forester (2..5 liter with a 6 speed manual transmission) which is undergoing its second oil consumption test. The dealership replaced the engine block (short block) after it failed the first one. In early June I had the "add oil" engine light come on after having the oil changed at 1300 miles. My Forester has consumed nearly a quart of oil in 900 miles on its second oil consumption test. I called the dealer about this they wanted me to finish the 1200 oil consumption test but I told them I wasn't going to drive the car with the add oil light on so I'm going to the dealership tomorrow. Wonder what Subaru will do now?