4RNR,
This is in no way answering your question, but if you post some pictures of the rust on your current 4R, I or others can tell you if it's actually repairable or not. I am an auto mechanic, and before that I was an industrial welder/fabricator. I have had many new customers come in my shop with stories of "my old mechanic said this can't be fixed" when in reality, their old mechanic did not have the skills, tools, or desire to get the job done. Several of these jobs have involved welding the SafeTCap or custom repair panels on Toyotas...they're all still going strong.
Unfortunatly I dont know anyone. Its a bit of a shot in the dark between finding someone knowledgeable and honest. Theres a restoration shop a few miles away, I may try them, at least to see what they sayOriginally Posted by JRB
I have no idea. Im sure there is, just gotta look. Ive seen some of his stuff, pretty cool!! Crazy places people get stuck in. Ive seen a car stuck in the mountains that looked like its been there for many many decades. Always wondered how it got there.Are there any off road shops around? I'll bet they could fix it. I've probably been watching to much Matt's Off Road Recovery.
We wish we had done that with the 2002 Highlander.
Thanks. Exactly what I was looking forSubaru CVT's are more reliable than most I would expect, with prize for the worst going to Nissan unless there's somebody with an even worse CVT out there. A lot of people here really like Subarus, and I own a '15 Forester myself with 211k on it as of this weekend. The 2.5L in it started burning oil around 150k, and thankfully there's an oil level light because I'm adding half a quart (the amount that it'll go below 'full' on the stick before the light comes on) pretty regularly by now. The engine also has a lot of piston slap on cold startup, and an oil leak from somewhere is burning off on the exhaust manifolds (although not making it all the way to the ground). The CVT is jerking hard on slow accel due to early torque converter lockup which may or may not mean I need to replace either just the solenoid (available aftermarket) or the entire valve body. I'm A-S-S-U-ME-ing that the rest of the trans is still good. It's also eaten 5 wheel bearings since new, but those are barely worth talking about compared to the engine and trans.
I also run my vehicles to about 300K (my wife's '13 Prius is at 455,000 right now although I replaced the engine and the main battery in the period between 390k and 420k), and I'm honestly let down by the Forester's issues. Heaven knows we'd have been happy to get 200k plus out of a vehicle 30 years ago without major work, but this isn't 30 years ago and the entire powertrain appears to be wearing out at 211K. I won't be buying another Subaru.
If you're considering a Subaru, be aware that the oil burning that mine's doing isn't an isolated incident, and especially in those made in the early teens. I think there was a problem with the oil control rings on them, but my memory may be foggy on that one.
Finally, if you're looking at trucks, skip the Colorados, at least of the 355 generation (the first ones). I've been nursing one along since 130K miles that now has 180K on it, and I've NEVER had a vehicle that was so obviously built to fail at around 150K miles. That appears to be the designed service life for many components. Fuel gauge doesn't work, both window regulators (manual!) broke, A/C doesn't work, burns and leaks oil (3.7L 5 cylinder), trans had to be rebuilt, is now down again with only 2-3-R available, and manual shift only, headlights are loose and falling out, fuel vent valve failed, TPS failed, both u-joints in the driveshaft failed twice, leaks gear oil from the rear pinion seal, fan resistor went out and fan only works on High, every ball joint, tie rod end, and swaybar link went out, rear springs sagged out and had to be replaced, front torsion bars are sagged out and NLA, parking brake pedal fails and won't lock in down position (there's a trick to make it pass state inspection) even after replacement, front rotors are the dumbest design I've ever seen requiring complete hub disassembly to change, steering wheel is made of mush and is disintegrating....I could go on but perhaps this is enough to make my point.
Will do! Ill have to climb under it this weekend. None stop rain for the next 2 days.
I'm a big subaru fanboi. Between my SO and I, I've owned a 2005 WRX STi, 2002 Outback H6, 2009 Outback H4, 2013 Outback H4, and a 2019 Outback H4. The legendary performance of their AWD is legit; I'll leave it up to @JRB to explain the mechanical differences, but in my experience they simply work better than other AWD systems which are kinda sorta AWD, but really just FWD. With that said, it definitely comes at a cost. Like @Welder, my Subies ate wheel bearings. They would usually get noisy at 80k miles, and start breaking at 120-150k miles. I also totally beat the shit out of that 2002 Outback H6, which is the car I had the most repairs with. I drove it around overloaded on numerous 2,500-3,000 mile road trips with lots of dirt road use. When I got rid of it for the 2013 Outback, it had somewhere well north of 200k miles with 5 wheel bearing replacements, 1 alternator and alternator mount replacement, and a broken wheel.
Unless you, 1) Simply just like their cars, 2) have an actual need for good AWD systems with mud or snow performance, then I would recommend skipping the Subaru when looking at a new vehicle simply due to the increased cost of ownership. It used to be that if you wanted a safe car, your options were Volvo and Subaru, so it made more sense 15-20+ years ago even if #1 and #2 didn't apply. But, that's no longer a good reason to buy a Subaru either, since almost everyone is making very safe cars these days.
My ex still has her 2019 Outback H4, I haven't kept up on it since we split. My current SO and I share a 2021 Toyota Venza, which is the Glock 19 of middle-class suburban white-peepo vehicles. It's simply fantastic for suburbanite use, but I would never dream of taking it through anything I did with the Subies.
Ideally, I'd like one of the old wagons from the 90s to just smash into shopping carts in vacant parking lots during snowstorms; that's a happy Subaru of their best generation in its natural environment. Otherwise I probably won't get another Subaru given the competition.
Note about CVTs: The Subaru CVT does not have any outstanding problems; the Subaru CVT is actually the most mature system around. They're not new, rather the American market is new to CVTs. Subaru has been building CVTs longer than the average age of this forum's members. The issue is that when the CVT goes bad, you typically have to replace the entire CVT which is a big expense if the vehicle isn't warrantied. They're not problematic, though. Lastly, if you're looking to use any of the offroad driving techniques such as brake-throttle modulation or pre-loading torque....then yeah, you'll absolutely trash a CVT. They'll be very unhappy and simply aren't built for it.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
I had a 06 Nissan xterra that was quite reliable. It was in the model years that had the "strawberry milkshake of death" potential in the transmission and radiator, but I did not have a problem (I traded it in at about 120k), and I believe they corrected the issue after 2008 or so. (edited to add -- maybe after 2010).
I would think a "post mikshake" Xterra or Frontier would be a good affordable option. They still make the Frontier, which I don't think is much different than the one they made since 05.
(I have a fifth gen 4runner now).
Probably a reason there isn't a lot of xterras left even though they sold well (at least in my area)
Lots to read about frontiers.....I have a friend who has had many cause they are cheap used and die before 150K YMMV
I see a fair number of second gen Xterras still around here in eastern WA.
But not nearly as many as there are forerunners, Pilots and CR-V’s and Ravs……
Unless your really lucky locally I don't think your likely to find anything that doesn't need a lot of work for $12 grand with Covid prices that would be safe and reliable for daily driver. I tend to buy and keep cars forever, like 15 to 20 years, don't consider myself full mechanic but have managed auto parts store when I was younger. And before health/pain issue did vast majority of my own car maintenance and repairs. Prior to my Covid purchased car most I spent on car for myself was like $4k or so but I shopped hard for deals, and we did spend $20k on gf's Honda Pilot.
My local mechanic buddy is used to buying cars that need work and fixing them up to flip, but with Covid he's pretty much given up looking for stuff like that unless it drops in his lap (like a customer's car that too expensive for them to want to fix) because when he found stuff and went to buy it with his car trailer it would be gone by time he got there.
We started shopping for my car year before Covid, wanted Lexus hybrid to compliment our Honda Pilot & because Toyota/Lexus hybrids can be used as generator with battery bank during power outages if needed w my health issues. Live in apartment so can't use generator. Covid hit and finally in 2021 I had to settle for a a Prius paid $17k for it, very good clean car certified used and right amount of miles for used hybrid (low but not to low) but pre coivid I could have gotten a decent Prius for under $10k.
Lot of "good" car lots now carry cars that have serious accidents on the titles, that never would have even had such a car on their lots before. And they price like a car with clean title. That Prius was 2nd cheapest car I found that I was willing to spend money on, other was hybrid Camry that was few grand less but it was older and had some stuff I was slightly suspicious of, and pretty sure Prius I bought could have been sold at dealership for another $3k, I could still sell it for what I paid for it.
Honestly wish you luck, but I had to really readjust my thinking about cars and prices. It's still hard to get my head around the change.
Last edited by Dov; 04-03-2024 at 04:23 AM.
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