I can’t believe I am writing another post about my shitty Subaru. In 2002 when I bought my Subaru Baja, I loved my SUV/truck and still to this day it was my favorite vehicle I have ever owned. I mean that was before a mentally challenged ex-boyfriend drove it basically into a river and destroyed the engine. Before that, I had put well over 100,00 miles on my Black Baja and never had any issues whatsoever. My 2014 Subaru Crosstrek I own now is my third and, God help me, last Subaru I will ever purchase.
When I purchased my 2011 Subaru Outback it had very few issues aside from the fact that anytime I drove it with the air conditioning on it felt like It would stall. This was the last manual transmission automobile I will probably ever buy in my life because I live in southern California. The traffic is just unbearable basically driving any time of day on the 210, 91 or 405 freeways in a stick shift vehicle. I traded that pearl white SUV in four years ago for my coal-black 2014 Subaru Crosstrek. I purchased it from an automobile hell hole called Carmax. Take my advice. Don’t ever buy a vehicle from CarMax. And whatever you do, don’t purchase their extended warranty. (I mean unless you truly enjoy flushing money down the toilet)
I had not purchased a used vehicle since I was in my early twenties. Purchasing a used vehicle from the liars and cheats at CarMax of Riverside was a lesson on how car dealerships are very dishonest. Basically used car mega houses like CarMax will lie, cheat and steal to get you in a vehicle.
It’s just a little dog piss
I mean, I didn’t start out pissed off about my CarMax experience. As you can see in this photo, circa 2016 I look thrilled about my CarMax purchase. They even put a ribbon on my shiny 2014 Subaru Crosstrek and don’t I look fashionable and happy in my sundress? I may have been distracted by the fact that the heated seats didn’t work. (And when you are purchasing a vehicle in 96-degree heat in September, trying out the heated seats may be the last thing on your mind)
Not only would the heated seats turn out to be defective but the seats began to stink as I drove my new to me 2014 Subaru Crosstrek back to my home in the San Bernardino Mountains at 7,000 feet. By the time I arrived home almost two hours later, I was thinking, why is this car so smelly? On closer inspection, my driver’s seat was a cesspool of someone else’s sweat stains. It was just gross and unhygienic. Then when I was going over the vehicle with a fine-toothed comb in my driveway I pulled out the floor mat in the back that covers the spare (Still trying to find where that wretched smell was coming from) and discovered petrified dog piss. This was all years before a global pandemic (But I was still majorly grossed out) and my brand new to me vehicle was an absolute cesspool of yuck.
A year after all this bullshit, after the winter when I realized my heated seats did not work at all (I didn’t notice in an Indian summer September day when I bought the vehicle) I found out that this vehicle had been used as a rental vehicle. It was not owned by a single family who purchased it brand new as the dealership told me when I purchased it. Well, that could possibly explain all the issues I ended up having and why I had to constantly bring it into CarMax, who my warranty was through, an hour and a half drive from my home. But at least I complained enough that they always gave me a rental car.
Oh it gets worse
I have put an embarrassing 70,000 miles on my 2014 Subaru Crosstrek in the last four years. (That is life commuting to Los Angeles in southern California) About sixteen months ago I started having issues with my air conditioning. I literally have spent the last sixteen months trying to get it fixed. Yes, that means when I do drive into the hot and muggy city of Los Angeles and the weather is between 90 and 110 degrees, half the time I have no air conditioning. And CarMax keeps telling me they have fixed the issue.
CarMax’s maintenance center has now had my vehicle in their shops at both their Duarte and Riverside locations six times in the last sixteen months and still, whenever I get stuck in traffic my air conditioning just blows warm air.
The CarMax extended warranty; The ultimate Subaru owner screw-over
So when I bought this vehicle I did spend extra cash to purchase the extended warranty for my 2014 Subaru Crosstrek, which does cover my air conditioning system. At this point, here we are in the spring of 2021. Most of us have survived a global pandemic, and I have gone over 85,000 miles finally on my warranty so my vehicle is no longer covered under the extended warranty. (Which apparently means I can not Lemon Law it in California) Saying that, I have been attempting to get this issue resolved since my Subaru had 83,000 miles on it. I mean, seriously, if the dealership did not fix it correctly the first three times I brought it in before I drove outside of the warranty, I really think they should keep attempting to attempt to fix this issue until they get it right.
So at this point, the dealership has replaced the compressor twice (The first time they did not use a genuine Subaru product so apparently it only lasted a thousand miles) They have replaced the condenser. The last time when I took it in they gave my car a blow job (They told me they blew out the entire AC system and that would for sure fix the issue.) This was after they had my car for 10 days just two weeks earlier and had told me it was fixed for sure after they replaced the blower (Which I had to pay for even though they say now that the broken blower was the cause of all of my AC issues from the very beginning) True story; The Riverside CarMax service manager told me the only way he could comp me for the blower was if he took it out of his employee paycheck. And yes, what a dick move. Aren’t you glad this guy is not your boss?)
The CarMax guarantee, to piss you off!
After CarMax returned my car to me a week ago they assured me left right and center that the air conditioning was working. But here is the catch; I dropped off my car with them on a Wednesday morning, I had an appointment. It was a hot day, 85 degrees or so. They could have worked on my car that day and driven it in traffic to see if it was fixed or not. At this point, this was the sixth time I had brought my car in for this issue! One would think they might have made this car a priority. Instead, they did not even work on it until the following Tuesday when the temperature dropped. We had a cold spell for days and highs in Riverside, California were around 66 degrees. So when they gave it back to me, they said yes the air conditioning was fixed as they were driving it on a day when you don’t even need air conditioning.
I was leaving the very next day after I picked it up for the hot desert of Las Vegas Nevada. The service manager told me he had driven the vehicle (in the fog and rain) and it was fixed for sure this time he guaranteed me. For most of my drive out to Los Vegas as we zoomed north on Highway 395 at 70 miles an hour the air conditioning worked fine.
Then coming back from Las Vegas a big rig caught on fire in front of us. We had to sit on the freeway in traffic in 90-degree weather for an hour as the big rig eventually exploded then it was safe to open the interstate again. As I sat in my boiling hot car sweating even though my air conditioning was on full blast, I called CarMax in Riverside. I asked to speak to the service manager again and it was like talking to a brick wall. He just told me, “Well we fixed your car. I drove it and it works.” I argued back with him “I’m literally sitting here in traffic, so sweaty and it’s blowing nothing but hot air” He told me well we sent it out to an air conditioning shop and they said it’s fixed so therefore it’s fixed. Then I got mad and lost my cool and let’s just say I can never go back to CarMax after telling him they have no idea what they are doing and he can fuck off. Yeah, I know, I lost my cool and I totally do regret that now but when my sports bra is soaking wet and we ran out of water hours ago and are stranded in a hot desert with no air, I might get a bit bitchy and yes, truthful.
So here’s to the next car in my life, either a Ford or a Jeep SUV. I seriously do not have time for this bullshit car shopping right now but when your slightly used Subaru is a real shitstorm, what choice do you have?