We purchased the 2014 Subaru
We purchased the 2014 Subaru in March of 2013. It was during the first month of sales for the 14 model year. My wife is the one that loved it. I preferred the Honda CRV. My wife got caught up in the outdoors hype that they advertise. The first problem we noticed was that it is not meant for tall people. While there is plenty of head room, the seat bottom is too short and does not give any leg support. We noticed this on our first out of town trip. Shortly thereafter, it became our in-town car. The fit and finish is basic. I am used to Hondas where the fit and finish is excellent. The second issue is oil consumption. I followed all schedules described by Subaru. All Oil changes were done at a Subaru dealership. The oil was changed at 3750, 7500, and 15000 with no problems. At 21,500, the oil light came on. This was 1000 miles before the scheduled oil change. I went to Subaru and paid for an oil change, 1000 miles early. (I asked why it was burning oil (does not leak). They said it was within industry standards for oil consumption. In fact, they said that it was OK to use 1 quart every 1000 miles. If my car did use a quart every 1000 miles, I would be adding 7 quarts before the next oil change. This is considered acceptable by Subaru. My last car was a Honda accord. It was totaled at 176,000 miles and it never used any oil between oil changes. ) On the new window decal, they recommended bringing it back in at 27,500 miles. This was 6000 miles later instead of the original 7500 miles between oil changes. At 26,500 miles, the oil light came on again. This was only 5000 miles since the last oil change. I again paid early for an oil change. They started an oil consumption test. When I got home, I let the car sit for an hour and then checked the oil level. They had overfilled it, probably by about 1/4 of a quart. I could not believe that they would perform a scientific test where the starting point for oil level was not correct. I called Subaru customer support. They agreed to transfer this to a different dealership. The other dealership changed to oil for free and started the test. Once again the oil level was too high. At that point I gave up. Every Oil change I am getting about 1000 fewer miles before the oil light comes on. This is disturbing trend. When I purchase vehicles, I keep them for 10-15 years. I dumped this one at 2 years for a substantial loss. I was just glad to be done with it.
The third issue is the AWD design. We had a flat tire which was not repairable. When I went into a local tire shop, they said I needed to replace both tires on the axle where the flat occurred. this was due to the AWD. During one of my dealership visits for the many the Oil consumption issue listed above, the dealership noticed that two of the tires were new. They said I had to replace the older ones with new ones otherwise it would void the warranty and cause damage to the AWD. I cannot believe that Subaru has such poor engineering in their AWD where they require all 4 tires to be replaced at the same time. Word of caution. If you have a flat tire that is not repairable, Subaru thinks it is acceptable to replace all 4 even if the others have good tread. Good luck.
I went and bought a CRV. I suggest others do this too.