Most of us desire a vehicle in order to get us to and from our destinations of choice whether it be work, vacation, school, grocery store, doctors, vets and so much more! So, my purpose…
My husband and I purchased a 2012 Subaru Impreza in December of 2011. It was the first one off the lot that year! Soooo excited to have a car and not a gas guzzler so I could commute to work worry free. No worries of having to fill up three times a week, a master of weather with an amazing AWD, so many safety reasons and so forth. Fun, sporty, cute car that could ultimately fit our budget and get us where we needed to be. This was the car and it still is the car.
We knew that the oil consumption was not ideal from the beginning and we were researching away. Synthetic oil lasts 7,500 to 11,000 miles between oil changes and when you are adding a QUART of oil every 2,000 miles, that’s a lot of oil that it is consuming beyond the recommended 5 quarts.
Just recently, a unknown lawyer sent us a letter saying “Hey you, you have a Subaru that fits these guidelines. Come join our lawsuit.” Ummm...wait, WHAT? Subaru said this oil consumption was”normal” from the get go. Okay, we are onto something. Enough people are concerned BUT who in the hell is this lawyer guy. Then, we get this official letter that states that Subaru has lawyers and there is three appointed lawyers for the people. US. Options: 1) Subaru will reimburse (one time only) for all of the excess oil purchased, assuming you saved all of your receipts,EVEN THOUGH this was said to be “normal” by Subaru standards 2) Subaru will reimburse you for any costs that you consumed to “fix” the problem, which is REPLACING THE PISTON RINGS. I can assure you, that is an expensive deal or 3) Subaru will check your vehicle for excessive oil consumption by - replacing your oil filter, oil and drain plug with Subaru specific parts only and resetting your oil light as well computer wise (seems a little fishy but whatever). This option also required that you came back to the same dealership by 1,200 miles after they did the change while you spent those 1,200 miles driving the way you “normally” do. Option 3 for us was the only option, so before our Subi hit 100,000 we took it in to get the process going.
Returned to the dealership at 1,204 miles. Note: we live 3 hours away from the nearest Subaru dealership so 1,204 miles was AMAZINGLY close to 1,200. We qualified so the oil consumption “test” was done.Sorry for the quotation marks. I seriously hope that you read this with some fiery passion in your tone because that is how I feel right now and if you have made it this far, you obviously have some interest in this blog. Thank you for reading by the way. Okay, so the results...you ready??? Oh, and if the test showed excessive oil consumption, the engine would be REPLACED free of charge...yes, yes, yes...this is what it needs. Also, with that new block, we have a NEW CAR. The thought of that was mind blowing but we were willing to be that honest consumer and jump through any hoop that needed to be jumped through even though we were miles away from our dealership.
Now for the results…
NO excessive oil consumption was detected. The oil stick did not show the “⅓ oil loss” therefore we did not qualify for the engine replacement. Let me remind you, up to 10 quarts total between oil changes, sometimes more. So Subaru dealership, you are telling me that 5-7 quarts of oil on top of the 5 quarts originally put into the vehicle with every oil change was not EXCESSIVE??? THAT’S NORMAL??? The dealership stated that “YES” you do not qualify. That answer didn’t sit well with us, not because we are greedy and wanted a new engine/new car basically, but we wanted a well built Subaru that would last us forever. This is frustrating to tell you our story but there it is. Laid out in plain, blog sight. Hence, the reason for this blog.
I want to be informational ONLY after this main post. I told you our story and now I want to SHOW you our concerns. The idea is to blog when the oil light goes on. In that blog I will tell you the date the oil light went on, mileage from last oil change, and how many quarts needed to fill oil level back to full. Hope this helps and I seriously hope we get the attention of those who have deemed the car as a Not Excessive Oil Consumer.
Thank you!
