9.3

really awful
Typical Repair Cost:
No data
Average Mileage:
126,000 miles
Total Complaints:
3 complaints

Most common solutions:

  1. not sure (2 reports)
  2. replace transmission (1 reports)
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problem #3

Jul 032019

Outback Limited 2.5L

  • CVT transmission
  • 107,000 miles

Bought this vehicle in a private sale. The problems started. I took it to the local shop. They couldn't find anything wrong. My local shop did the research and found out it is a CVT problem - a KNOWN issue to Subaru. Yet they did not make it known... hoping it would go away. Now I find out the coverage was only to 100,000 miles. I am now OVER but wasn't when the issues started. NOW they don't want to help me at all. It is DANGEROUS!!

- Desta G., Saskatoon, SK, Canada

problem #2

Nov 152018

Outback Limited 2.5i

  • CVT transmission
  • 126,861 miles

My CVT goes into neutral then the chain slips as the torque converter comes locks up again 2 seconds later. It may have started earlier but I dismissed it. It gets worse and better somewhat randomly. Bumps on the road seem to aggravate it. Basically self totaled the car. If this happens on an on-ramp... it could lead to a major accident.

- rfoss, Alexandria, US

problem #1

Jul 012016

Outback Premium 2.5i

  • CVT transmission
  • 144,000 miles

When driving at 20mph and 39-42mph the engine lugs along with the transmission showing to high a gear constantly. 1st gear doesn't seem to work most times. dealer says that it's the design of the cvt transmission and torque convertor on all the 2010 outbacks. This doesn't explain to loss of rpms when at idle dropping to 400 or less and engine attempting to stall. But dealer says that's the way it's designed. Before this happened I had to replace the torque convertor. Everything ran great for a few weeks then these issues. If I'm on a steep hill, (example a driveway pulling in the engines acts as though it wants to stall like the transmission is in a high gear. Today the dealer adds to this that it doesn't seem as though your getting enough fuel to he engine to keep it running. But again Subaru knows about this issue and there's no fix, but in 2011 and on they redesigned the CVT and torque convertor to eliminate the issue apparently. driving highway speeds the car starts to shake and vibrate bad at random times and doesn't stop until the car is shut off or you come to a stop. Again dealer says nothing is wrong with the car. So many of the complaints with the engine and CVT on here are identical to my concerns. I'm hoping the transmission doesn't die or the engine blow. Many of the others found that it was the computer module was bad or pistons snapping and blowing the engine. At 156,500 miles it keeps getting worse. Doesn't seem normal to me.

- Doug H., Lancaster, PA, US