Subaru’s 5-10 Year Cost Of Ownership Is Higher Than All But One Other Mainstream Brand

Of course the 5 year cost is low...it's covered under warranty (except for normal wear items). Of course it's very high after that because everything that has been an issue for the past 20 years hasn't been addressed such as wheel bearings, throw out bearings, CV joint boots, leaking head gaskets and other electronics including bad solder joints. Truthfully, if you are handy, it's actually quite cheap. A dealer gets you for close to $500 for a wheel bearing and you can get one for $50 and do the complete job in less than an hour, which is probably less time than it takes you to drive to a dealer and drive home.

MY 2007 Outback is a money pit and the problems are never quite resolved. my 2002 camry on the other hand has had no problems.

Mine is been very low. In years 5 to 10, I've spent 2 to 300 dollars a year, including frequent oil changes and all manual specified maintenance, including transmission and drive system oil changes. Only one minor repair in 10 years, a gas tank vapor filter.

This tells us nothing about what the maintenance cost of a new Subaru will be in 10 years. It is a reflection of the Subarus that were made 10 years ago. There are stories of problems with head gaskets on older Subarus, which would have a big impact on ownership costs.

I bet tires play a role here... 1 bad pothole or sidewall and youll need $700 of replacements and install for all 4 wheels.

Agree to disagree. I purchased a 12 Impreza brand new and it's approaching the 100k mile mark soon. After owning Ford, Chrysler and GM products it has been the least expensive car to maintain. Besides routine maintenance with tires, brakes and oil changes it's only gone through a wheel bearing and a muffler. That's really nothing in 8 1/2 years. Plus, it has a timing chain so no expensive timing belt replacement soon.

Wait...Subaru's are expensive to own? So much for that psuedo resale value

There's no way a Chrysler has a lower 5-10 year cost. They don't even last 5 years typically without major repair. If this study is just looking at maintenance costs sure, any vehicle brand that's not bottom-barrel is going to cost a bit more to get maintenance done. I'd pay a little more in maintenance to not have to have major engine or transmission repairs in that 5-10 year mark.

2012 non-turbo Forester basic with 91.5k miles and automatic, only repair item to date is right rear wheel bearing at 89k miles for $300. Everything else were maintenance items or normal wear. Head gasket problems fixed with the new FB engines.

This is one of the best kept secrets; that no one pays attention to..... resale value is only important if you intend to sell.

If your approach is to turn your car back in for a brand new car every 5 years, you're going to wind up paying the highest price for driving a vehicle.

Of course costs do go up for older cars, but, I've discovered that driving my car for 15 plus years really does lower the overall cost per mile. Cars today are very expensive, but, they have the capability of going 200,000 miles with care and proper maintenance. My 2 cents.

I think this could also somewhat be related to how much Subie owners love and care for their cars. I'm in year 7 and I would say aside from oil I've needed tires twice but only because the Goodyears were defective. 85k miles, 2014 XV. (TBI, timing CHAIN! yay!) One set of brakes. One half-shaft under warranty, the other side is clicking now. One battery. I've put off flushing out every fluid. I will do myself soon.

0-5 and 5-10, what's the 0-10 year costs? What are the additional costs in 5-10?

As an owner and lover of 4 Subi's since 1999, I applaud the author for bringing this fact to life. For me, its the dreaded head gasket issue that is the driver for the longterm high costs. Both my 1999 Forester and my 2010 Forester experienced this problem at around 10 years of age (but at very, very low mileage). The repair is upwards of $2,000. While I have heard rumors that this problem has been corrected over the years, I see no evidence that my current cars (18 Crosstrek and 20 Forester) will escape the same fate. My plan is to keep these cars no more than 5-10 years each for this precise reason. While I love and will continue to buy Subaru, this article is the first I have seen that educates buyers on what I believe are the facts.