paulbu

I rang to Subaru for a one year extended warranty quote on my 340R saloon.
Their letter had said that the quote depended on the car mileage. I told them '19900', they told me '£860', I told them 'you're having a laugh'.
End of conversation.

thenewgalaxy

It's almost like they know the pistons are going to melt on a good number of these cars!

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

In which case, £860 isn't too bad.

kev1

iTrader: (2)

I agree I think they know there is going to be problems at some point in the future with the engine. I wonder what the cost would be on a low mileage car? Or would it be more as they were expecting a failure early and your cars made it through that mileage?

thenewgalaxy

Think about it, that figure is going to be calculated against a number of cars and an assumed failure rate of various components. And a bit of profit too, I would imagine.

It would take into account that on average each car is going to cost a high figure to sort out under warranty, or one in a low number of cars is going to drop a large bill.

A warranty claim will obviously cost the company less than it would a customer financing it themselves. They'll clearly get parts for cost price and I would assume pay a lower rate of labour.

So as much as £860-odd isn't a particularly high figure in relation to the customer cost of a new engine or repair it is still a significant chunk toward a warranty cost.

It seems like a high figure to me, in fact it's probably equal to what some of us pay combined for insurance and tax! I know other parts can fail and the extended warranty cover figure calculated accordingly but I suspect the majority of £500+ claims involve the engine, given the anecdotally high number of 2.5 engine failures reported on here.

So fork that out and if something does go bang, you've won but you are still left with the same old chocolate piston engine. But imagine if you fork out £860 and only end up claiming for a repair to a rattling rear parcel shelf

If I were the OP I'd stick £860 into an account labelled "forged engine build fund" if you plan to keep it. We know that pistons, head gaskets and bearings fix or prevent the problem...

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

That's not bad Have a look at this from 8 years ago

Yep,

Heres a copy I recieved 2 days ago

thenewgalaxy

Well that seems to largely **** all over my assumption there.

You would have thought the 2002 car was more unreliable given the historical cost of the 12 month extended warranty!

thenewgalaxy

Well that seems to largely **** all over my assumption there.

You would have thought the 2002 car was more unreliable given the historical cost of the 12 month extended warranty!

LuckyWelshchap

(VERY much tongue in cheek) I´d suggest paying it, then thrash the guts out of the car. If it doesn´t pop you know you´ve got a good one.
If it does, you´ll end up with a better one

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

I paid £500 in 2003 for a 2 year extended warrenty on my beloved classic
And had a new battery under warrenty after 56 months

I paid £500 to extened my now gone 09 wrxd after 36 months for a one year extra cover so I think 860 is reasonable due to well documented on going issues with 2.5 engines

Plenty good advice on here whether to toke it or not or keep the £860 and add a few thousand and put it in a special build up bank account and do not withdraw it for any other reason then your subaru

Just in case

Marcella13

Have you thought about going else where for your warranty? Reason I ask is the subaru dealer up by me doesn't use subaru for warranty as they had issues with them, some being for not paying out for ringland failures. They use a company called MB&G and say they are really good and that they cover ringland failure (provided the car is not modded etc).

He said for MB&G warranty extension for 12 months is £399 and 24 months £599. Sounds like a bargain to me, this dealer is well trusted too and I'm hoping to buy an sti from him start of next year pretty much just for the peace of mind with the warranty from my dealer.

salsa-king

I paid just short of £1k for a one year extended Subaru warranty on the 330s.. it runs out at the end of Jan 2014. Bought mine through Showells @ Stowbridge

mickp

iTrader: (1)

Assuming of course they cover the issue. Just because you have a warranty doesn't mean to say a ringland fault would lead to a straight forward claim. They will definitely look hard for a way to body swerve it

paulbu

Subaru owners appear to be paranoid about engine failure on the 2.5L without looking at the circumstances involved. I cover less than 6k miles per year, the mileage is currently exactly 20k, I always use 98 RON fuel, I change the engine oil every 3k, I don't thrash the car and I don't tinker with the engine. In addition I read that Subaru UK have not had one case of a warranty repair on a 2011 saloon or hatch for engine failure. When weighing up the chances of a failure during the next twelve months against the premium involved, my decision not to take up the extended warranty really is a no brainer.

thenewgalaxy

Well many of us have been bitten, that's why. I owned a well cared for PPP Hawkeye and the pistons suddenly decided one day

That won't be one for their statistics as it was weeks out of warranty, would not be honoured and therefore had to be done by someone else.

I have been told many things by dealers, they've never had a warranty claim on a 2.5 etc etc etc. It's the reason I didn't go for one with a stock engine and sought the advice of many specialists first. I won't repeat what was said by some of them about 2.5s as it was said for my ears only, phone a few up if you want to know what they think.

As far as I'm aware the 2011 2.5 is almost entirely the same engine if not the same as the 2008 one just with a different map (I would be happy for someone to correct me on this if I am wrong please).

I hope you never get a problem with your car and I hope the problem has been fixed but I am not convinced. But I would keep that £860 to one side as a potential deposit on a new set of forged pistons, bearings and head gaskets.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Indeed.

i.e. OK you pay to have it stripped, and if there is a manufacturing fault, then we'll fix it and cover costs.
Eventually, sorry sir, you've been mistreating that car, and driving it inappropriately - your claim is rejected.
Its happened on here before with good old I.M

mickp

iTrader: (1)

Regrettably that lot means nothing Paul. No disrespect but you are talking like a newby who hasn't done his homework. There is many an owner who treated there car like a baby but have fallen foul of the 2.5 issues.

I really hope you don't become another enthusiast who is confident in what you say but ends up on the unhappy Subaru owners list.....I can assure you it's quite a long list. You will possibly also then find that Subaru aren't really bothered.

Fingers crossed for you.

mickp

iTrader: (1)

And how many have they sold ?

As others have said there are no indications that the engine internals are modified from early versions.

Tick tick .........and at some point.......(it begins with b)

paulbu

MickP, you miss the point entirely. I'm not saying that my car will definitely not have any issues. All I'm saying is that the chances of it going pop before January 1st 2015, which is when a new extended warranty would expire, are not big enough to persuade me to part with £860, bearing in mind the way the car is treated and the mileage it covers. I'd rather spend the money on a custom remap.

mickp

iTrader: (1)

Not sure I missed the point Paul. Just responding to your specific points.

We can agree that your money will be better spent on a custom re-map. Hope the car stays trouble free for you.

selhurstscooby

Dear All,
I have been trying to get a quote for extending my warranty on my 2010 Hatch following crank failure earlier this year. The warranty is now due for renewal and I was expecting a quotation price in the region of £1,200 (as per previous aftermarket quotes I had received)
I have just been quoted £608 for a Subaru proven warranty including wear and tear and breakdown cover, provided by API (Auto Protect Administration)
To be honest, with the problems I have had to endure this seems like a great figure and I will probably avail myself of this offer, although I have asked the question regarding my new short block which came with a 3 year /36k guarantee as it would seem I wouldn’t need cover for this.
If I get an improvement on this offer I will report back!

urban

iTrader: (1)

Its a real sad state of affairs with regards to Subaru in general.
The good old 2.0 was pretty much regarded at bullet proof.

Here's an example.
A friend owns a pretty big rally school here, and they have two STI's (OK spec C's) amongst others.
However, neither have been remapped, both are stripped and and fully prep'd to Gp N spec.
And they get thrashed stupid pretty much four days in every seven, for around six or seven hours on each of those days.
Neither car has 'broke'.

terzoscooby

Check the small print as some of the Subaru warrantees being offered only cover failures that make the car undriveable so if the engine is still running just noisy it may not be covered.

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

Save your money and put it towards a repair. We deal with many, many warranty companies here for our customers and almost without fail they duck and dive and never accept a claim. Cover is for " Sudden Mechanical Failure ". then they go to great lengths to prove that it is not a " Sudden etc ", and will not accept the claim.

They are all a huge rip off and we have a success rate of about 1 in 5 for our customers, but never without a fight.

Good Luck, David APi

thenewgalaxy

To be fair those Spec Cs have forged engines. But I know you can flex the twin scroll and single scroll 2.0 without abusing and enjoy their performance without waiting for the bang.

The Cosworth P-02 second press car was utterly thrashed by the press (including events also) and was still running well at 28,000. This is the standard to which the 2.5 engines should have been built in my opinion. They're brilliant too.

It's alright for Subaru UK denying warranty claims for improper driving but it's a bit hypocritical when they sell a car that they market as a high performance car (with a 0-60 time under 5 seconds and a claimed top speed of 155mph) if they claim that it should be driven slowly and not in excess of any public speed limits.

Good on David for putting his opinion in by the way

urban

iTrader: (1)

Or talk about doing track days during their STI demonstrations

Imy877

iTrader: (1)

Hi David, as a percentage of the cost of a full rebuild after failure, what does it cost to proactively forge the engine while it's running well? And is there any disadvantage to forging proactively?

My hatch sti doesn't use any oil and runs perfectly but I'm tempted to forge if it will prolong the life. It's already been safely mapped so I do have some confidence that it won't go bang!

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

We do the APi upgrade at £2300.00 + VAT [ £2760.00 inc ] That includes all labour, Forged Mahle pistons, ACL Big end bearings, 11 mm Head studs, gaskets and seals, oil and filters etc. We also replace the troublesome oil pick up pipe in the sump for a new one.

Optional extras are the Cosworth sump baffle {£200.00 + VAT [ £240.00 inc ]} and a remap with Ecutek to take full advantage of the extra capability - safely .....{£600.00 + VAT [ £720.00 inc ] } If you have a licenced Ecutek already then £450.00 + VAT [ £540.00 inc ] And air valve delete plates to lose the wheezing on start up which can be mapped out. About £75.00 + VAT [ £90.00 inc ] for the plates and fitting no extra mapping cost at the time of fitting.

David 01926 614333

urban

iTrader: (1)

Surely a remap after a rebuilt is a must David?

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

We recommend it - but it shouldn't be necessary as the Subaru original map is OK [ as a catch all one size fits no-one map ]. But by taking advantage of the extra boost that the pistons can accept, we can make good gains. Not everyone wants a bank robbers car, they are happy with standard performance.

David