Subaru Outback 2015 reliability question

nj_canada

Hope someone can help answer this for me please ..... looking at a 2015 Outback 3.6R but read online about issues relating to the head gasket failure on the 2.5L flat four and the leaking head gasket issue on the 3.6R flat four engines.
Wonder if anyone has recent experience with these ? Also, would greatly appreciate feedback on the average maintenance costs for Subaru's - are they on par with other similar vehicles or higher ?
As this would be our first purchase of a Subaru, wondering about the reliability of these cars vs. the likes of Honda's and Toyota's. Thank you.

jeffm5

Hi nj,
I have a 2010 OB 4 cylinder. It was the 1st yr. of the previous makeover, in other words, the most current edition until the 2015's came out. It has been wonderfully reliable. I have 62K miles on it. I've had 3 Toyotas and the OB is just as reliable. Routine maintenance costs seem slightly higher than the Toyotas, but certainly within reason. Bottom line, I would buy the car again - no regrets.

dcm61

First, the 2.5L (FB series) in the 2015 (also 2013/14) Outback is different than the "problematic" 2.5L (EJ series). Subaru has changed the cooling system so that there are no cooling passages between the block and heads. Only time will tell if this resolves the head gasket issue.

Second, the 3.6L is a six cylinder motor. I don't recall hearing that the 3.6L has head gasket issues.

nj_canada

Thank you Jeff, greatly appreciate your reply. nj

dogdad1

I have a 2010 4 cylinder pzev with 187,000 km on it. No oil consumption at all. It has less wind noise than the 2015 I test drove recently. 

turbo64

And also earlier years the piston rings were bad, they have such been replaced with better ones. New design.

bigrig2

I traded my 2011 Outback (2.5 PZEV) for a 2015 Premium with absolutely no problems whatsoever! New one is nice, though I dislike the mindless touchscreen radio. Wish I had bought the Limited for the memory seats!

Bigrig2