
When I signed up to write about my “Cars Of A Lifetime” I outlined twelve posts describing twenty cars. This is my eleventh post, which means there’s only one more on its way. (Did I just hear a loud sigh of relief? I think someone forgot to mute their microphone.)
Writing about a half-century of car ownership has me reflect on all the changes I’ve seen over time. I believe the biggest change is that cars are more reliable now. I mean, most cars are more reliable, on average. There are exceptions, as we shall see.
In the beginning, I learned to drive in a 1960s Volvo which had a 6-digit odometer, unusual for its time, as no sensible person expected their car to go over 99,999 miles. The Volvo had a manual choke for its carburetor, and it started reliably only when I guessed correctly how far to pull out the choke knob. The arrival of the automatic choke in the ‘70s certainly was an improvement; however each car I drove liked different dance steps on the gas pedal when I wanted it to start on a cold winter morning. Carburetors also had idle mixture screws that you needed to adjust by ear if you didn’t have a tach/dwell meter and a vacuum gauge handy. What a relief when car makers adopted electronic fuel injection!
I remember that my 1970 VW had contact points in its distributor that needed adjustment too, and timing that was never quite right. Computerized electronic ignition was another leap forward. Better tires, suspensions that don’t need to be greased, more effective rust-proofing, 100,000-mile spark plugs, synthetic oil… I’m sure you can think of other advances that have led us to expect a longer, more enjoyable ownership experience.

An example of a particularly reliable car was the Honda CR-V we bought for my wife in 2006. Her friend had one she was happy with, and we were impressed by its spacious interior. In fact I’m convinced that our CR-V was bigger on the inside than the outside, defying all known laws of physics. My wife liked sitting up high with large windows all around.

Our CR-V was silver with a black interior. A very black interior; we kept losing things. Eventually I replaced all the interior lights with extra-bright LED lamps.
We had our CR-V for fifteen years and 180,000 miles, which was record longevity for our household. Where was this exceedingly reliable car built? In England, of all places. Honda had a factory in Swindon, west of London, and only thirty miles east of the city where my wife and I met in the ‘70s. Any CR-V sold in the U.S. in 2006 was built either in Swindon or in Japan.
Our CR-V EX was not a base model. My wife wanted a sunroof, and as she’d been driving for ten years a minivan that did not have power windows, I was not about to repeat my mistake by being overly thrifty this time around. The minivan had been our first new car equipped with an automatic; the Honda which replaced it was our first car with a really good automatic, a 5-speed that always anticipated correctly the gear in which it needed to be.
Our CR-V was all-wheel-drive, with the front wheels doing most of the work and the rear wheels waking up only when necessary. A 16-valve 2.4L VTEC engine provided motivation that was sufficient.
Beneath the floor of the rear compartment was a picnic table with folding legs. We had exactly one picnic on this table, with our daughter and her then-boyfriend as our guests. We’d chosen a cemetery for our picnic spot; he married her anyway. Later I used our Honda to move another daughter 500 miles, with a mattress strapped to its roof.

A minor but irritating problem with our CR-V was its headlamp bulbs with filaments that burned out regularly – I must have replaced a dozen or more. There were separate bulbs for high and low beams, and to replace one required me to release a metal clip that I could not see, inevitably with some loss of blood as I fumbled around blindly. I began to keep track of which bulbs I replaced, looking for a pattern, and my notes included whether the new bulb was made in Germany or China. No conclusions were reached.
Honda recalled our CR-V to replace its airbags, which had been made by Takata. A year later our car was recalled again, to replace the replacements I suppose. The only other significant problem I remember was that a door hinge broke. The car’s rear door opened sideways from the left, as it was designed for curbside use in Japan. Honda hung the spare tire on this door, which meant that two massive hinges were required, and one of these broke in half. (It was easy to replace.) Incidentally the rear window could be opened with a push of the key fob if we didn’t want to swing open the heavy door.
Subaru Outback
Speaking of heavy… with a heavy heart I shall now tell you about our other car, one which was not super reliable. In fairness to Subaru, I don’t think that my experience was typical. No, I believe that my 2009 Outback was uniquely in need of an exorcist.
At the time I bought the Outback, my job required me to drive from Bangor to Buffalo in all seasons, so I wanted the best all-wheel-drive implementation available, which at the time was Subaru’s. The year 2009 was the last for Legacies and Outbacks that were not too painful to look at, and because I purchased my car towards the end of the model year I had difficulty finding one in a color I liked.

My local dealer eventually found for me an all-black Outback. (Yes, I know that black is not a color.) The car had a PZEV label, which meant it met California emissions standards, although I don’t live in California. “PZEV” means “Partial Zero Emission Vehicle” and I’ve no idea what “partial zero” means. I mention my car’s PZEV-itivity only because I had a lot of trouble with its O2 sensors and catalytic converters over the years and I wonder if that was a cause.

I liked my Outback when it wasn’t in the repair shop. It handled well and was fun to drive with its five-speed manual transmission. Sadly, I’d had it for less than two years when it got crunched in a low-speed accident on a snowy day. My wife was driving slowly uphill, about to turn onto our road, when our neighbor slid into the wrong lane through a stop sign into our Outback. Fortunately no one was hurt. The Subaru did what it was supposed to do, which was crumple to save its driver. The airbags did not need to deploy.
Did this accident contribute to the problems I had with this car later? I don’t know. I do know that my insurance company nearly declared my car totaled, but in the end a collision shop restored it to “good as new.”
I still have my repair records, and it seems the car was fairly reliable for the first six or seven years, other than trouble with the catalytic converter, which Subaru replaced under warranty. Then I see notations about frequent brake problems, another catalytic converter, the aforementioned O2 sensors, a new starter, wheel bearings, water pump, stabilizer bar links, a new clutch, coil packs, etc. etc.

In the last week of 2020 we decided that our 15-year-old Honda CR-V was due for replacement, so I bought a RAV4 hybrid, the car my wife drives today. Why didn’t I trade in the unlucky Outback instead? It was only 11 years old, I’d just had some expensive repairs made, and I hoped to get a few more years use from it, as I didn’t want two new cars at once. Alas, a few months later the Outback’s timing belt snapped and the engine self-destructed. (I’d had the timing belt replaced on schedule 20,000 miles earlier.)
My mechanic quoted me a price for a remanufactured engine, and I did consider that option for a while, as the Outback was in good shape, except for the engine not working. Then I thought, what will I do if I spend thousands on a rebuilt engine, and the Check Engine Light comes on again, as it always does? I decided that enough was enough. I sold the Outback to my mechanic, who put in a new engine before he sold the car to his daughter’s boyfriend. Some months later I took another car to my mechanic and asked him about the Outback. He said, “The Check Engine Light comes on from time to time. My daughter’s kind of chippy about it.”
By the spring of 2021 my wife and I were both retired, so we didn’t desperately need two cars. Now without a car for the first time in fifty years, I shared my wife’s RAV4 while I thought about what to do. I’ll save the answer for the next and last installment of my “Cars Of A Lifetime” series, which will have the words “Ford Maverick” somewhere in the title.
You actually had pretty good luck with your Subaru, as nowhere did you mention the words head gasket, wheel bearing, half-shaft, cam carrier, idler pulley, or ill-fitting factory replacement parts. I used to run a shop that essentially specialized in Subarus, and I don’t miss it.
I used to look at blown bulbs in Swindon CR-Vs as actions of the ghost of Lucas. The Japanese ones didn’t have electrical issues.
I was going to say that repair record didn’t sound so bad….. for a Subaru anyway, as he dodged those other common issues you mentioned.
My general experience with Subaru was that they are much more European-like in repairs than your average Japanese car. I live in New England and have had a couple of Subarus, both of which were nice to drive but annoying to own once they got over 7-8 years old. CV joints also tend to wear prematurely in my experience along with the wheel bearings. My 2001 Outback was ok with electrical and sensor issues but my 91 Legacy was awful with electrical and sensor issues. Both had lots of little issues with brake caliper pins liked to freeze alot and alot of the brake hardware had to be replaced more often than I have experienced in other cars (things like clips and bolts seemed to strip and wear somehow).
I have many relatives with Subarus in general, they seem to have gotten much better in the last 10-12 years but they still end up with more issues than they should. I think alot of the respect they get here in New England (other than the AWD, which I admit works better than most) is that many owners previously owned worse cars. When your coming from a VW or Saab or Volvo or 90’s GM a Subaru repair bill seems reasonable to a lot of people. That and while the Subaru is annoying with repairs overall they do tend to last a fairly long time, much like those old Saabs and Volvos. Someone in a Volvo group I belonged to once said they had durability, not necessarily reliability.
I got out of the business late in 2018. At the time, many of our long-time customers were asking us to help them get Subaru to fix the oil consumption and VVT issues on their brand-new cars. Subaru found a brilliant niche with a cult-like customer base that won’t admit that their cars are hot garbage, because doing so would be viewed as an attack on their own identities.
In the dystopian college town where I ran the shop, older Outbacks were a counter-culture status symbol. Many of our customers were spending money on maintenance and repairs every month that could have covered leases on new German luxury cars, but they had no interest in saving money, reliability, comfort, luxury, performance, or anything other than showing the world that they were long-time Subaru drivers. The ones who could keep it up had lots of money. Otherwise, their cars ended up abandoned on our lot until someone who wanted to be seen driving a nine-year-old Outback showed up to pay for a several thousand-dollar repair to put it back on the road, which always happened. The only Subarus we scrapped had crash damage, even though they were easily the neediest popular cars we ever touched. Some of the Outbacks bankrupted three owners who were desperate to blend into the college administration parking lot.
Although most cars I see with PZEV badging here in California are Subarus (my own 2004 Forester was not PZEV) our modestly unbadged Golf is in fact PZEV. That means it has zero evaporative emissions and Super Ultra Low (I’m not making that up) tailpipe emissions. I’m not sure if this only applies in California, but the PZEV emissions warranty is longer at 15 years/150K miles. Though that doesn’t help much with timing belts. I suppose that after the belt(s) break it’s a Fully Zero Emissions Vehicle.
Many states have adopted California emissions, my own state of Massachusetts being one of them.
Another good post. Couldn’t help but think maybe the daughter’s boyfriend thought that a proposition he couldn’t refuse was implied by the family picnic in the cemetery, hence the subsequent marriage, but I’m digressing.
Subarus still have a good name in this part of the world, but I forget that US conditions are a lot harsher for extremes and thus tougher on cars. But your car sounds a bit like a car from older times: that’s a lot of biggish fails for a car bought new, though surely the belt failure sounds like an installation issue by a mechanic.
Fancy the English motor prevailing over a Japanese one, and by a huge margin at that. Must’ve been the old WW2 Spitfire runway they were all tested on gave it a stiff upper, and all that, what. (Ironically enough, with most sales to Europe, the impending Brexit was reputedly a big factor in the closure of the operation).
(Quote)…surely the belt failure sounds like an installation issue by a mechanic…(/quote) If the belt is tensioned by a fixed adjustable bearing, or if the belt was renewed and the old tensioner was retained, this would be highly possible. The belts on these will outlast their tensioner’s bearings. Here in Germany, one could hire a “Begutachter” (appraiser) who would examine such damage and then certify for a court if the garage was at fault or not. If the garage was determined to have been responsible, the garage would get ruled to pay all damages, including court costs and the appraiser.
It seems, the belt’s expiration milage has more to do with the tensioner bearing’s service life limit than with the belt itself. I bought my 1998 Daihatsu with its original belt and tensioner, before replacing both at about 115.000 kilometers. The belt was still in surprisingly good shape. But the bearing was getting sloppy and was showing signs of metalurgic overheating. Attempting to avoid unknown-origined internet parts, I decided to pay the price of what a local parts store demanded, ending up with an SKF set including both belt and tensioner,being confident of SKF’s traditional reputation. A couple years thereafter, the engine was in need of a tear-down, because it was sold with an oil aditive which conceals varnished piston rings. This exposed me to the replacement bearing of which had rusted. It’s now 2025 and this same bearing hasn’t yet been taken off the shelf. Also pictured is the original. I’m guessing, if the new bearing had been in service long enough, my belt would also have snapped
The other remaining images failed to upload. Perhaps, they’re to get uploaded one at a time?:
…continued:
………….and finally:
I replace headlight bulbs in pairs or they will keep blowing, Subarus do use more spare parts than other Japanese brands, thats quite well known but the frameless glass on the 15 year old 360,000km Legacy shut tight the whole time I had it, very well made car actually, gas guzzling and gutless sure but it was screwed together well.
That’s an interesting ownership juxtaposition between what I observe to be the two most common vehicles on New England roads…or (outside of the time everyone was driving Odyssey minivans) at least among those folks who haven’t moved on to 4WD 4 door pickup trucks or full-on SUVs.
It’s good to hear about the quality of the CR-V. I’m sure that explains in part why I continue to see all years of them driving around in untold numbers. I wonder if how your Honda experience will compare to your current Toyota experience. It does seem that people that I know fall into the Honda vs. Toyota camp. My experience is that Toyotas generally hold up longer, but now you will actually have two relatively equivalent vehicles to compare. The Toyota’s hybrid system is pretty tried and true and bulletproof…so that shouldn’t I think throw off the comparison.
Then there’s the Subaru. I know people (non WRX fan boys) who are fanatical about their ownership of those, despite having similar experiences to you. And worse. It seems that the current obsession with Foresters and Crosstreks may even be exceeding that associated with the Outback from not too long ago. I don’t get it, as mostly when I hear about Subaru love it’s expressed as part of some otherwise horrible tale (IMO) related to the wheels nearly falling off, or the rear coil springs literally falling out of their mounts, or something like that. I do though understand that dogs love to ride in them, although that does set a rather low bar.
Maverick, eh? Well, I look forward to that chapter; and I hope that you continue to contribute after #12. Not all article titles have to have car names in the title.
This generation CRV was a gem. My sister had one and kept it for ages because she liked a manual and it was the last generation to have one.
Yes, Subarus seem to have a pretty inconsistent reliability record. Our 2000 Forester went 15 years and 170k miles with only needing two new rear wheel bearings, although the head gaskets were starting weep to the outside. But I’ve heard many stories of woe.
Agreed. I’ve sung the praises of my 2006 here before—manuals forever!
Meanwhile, my sister went through two Subarus and about six pairs of rear bearings, while my Mom had to swap engines at 60K in her Outback. Sister now owns an electric RAV4, but Mom is still driving a 2016 Forester, which seems to be holding up.
Those CRVs had a knack for staying reliable even when driven by less than fastidious owners. I like the second gens as they were the last ones that were clearly a box on wheels. After that, the styling kept getting swoopier and there weren’t useful touches like the picnic table.
Great write up! Oddly enough, my 2024 Maverick replaced my 2013 Outback as my daily driver. I have to agree my Outback loves it some sensors, especially related to the catalytic converter. But others have gone out too, leading me to think Subaru has a junk supplier. The car is now at 225k miles and is semi-retired to our vacation spot. I will say I love that car and how it handled our frequent rain deluges. Knock wood never any engines issues, but I believe Subaru redesigned the 2.5 between your 2009 and my 2013. If Subaru had a hybrid Outback 2 years ago, I would have strongly considered it.
The most common way to earn the PZEV is through stronger evap systems. Ford earned it for a number of vehicle by using a “lifetime” air filter that includes an activated charcoal component to capture any intake vapors. I think it was TBMFan who posted his solution to the lifetime filter on his Focus.
Interesting differences between the two cars .
I wonder if the replacement cam drive belt was some off brand .
My son had a serious Subaru wagon love affair, he cautioned me to only use factory Japanese made Subaru cam belts or expect catastrophic engine failure .
I never heard any complaints about the rest of the car and he typically hammers any and every vehicle to junk in a few short years .
My ex wife had a Honda CR-V and loved it, she sold it on at 11 years old, she’s no vehicle enthusiast and thought it would become unreliable .
Looking forward to your next COAL .
-Nate
That Honda 5 speed automatic was a sweet unit that worked really well with the engine’s torque curve.
We had an 02 that we got after it was totalled, a new rear hatch and a little work with a bottle jack and it was good to go!
Got it with low 200’s on it (like 210 or something) and sold it for a profit several years later with almost 290k.
The AWD worked a treat, it was reliable as all get out, only ever let us down when the starter died right before it was sold. My failed repair of a fuel line doesn’t count towards a failure. It did eat rear brake calipers from rust seizing them.
A great little vehicle, not cool, but it was the perfect thing for us at the time.