Posted November 09, 2024
That said, I wouldn't trade the driving of a 4WD on the roads I normally drive (not urban).
However... the thing is: This Subaru model is pretty vulnerable because the injectors in many cases tend to become clogged at some point and the repairs of cleaning those injectors is very expensive (need to take out the engine, no easy task) and another weak spot is the catalyst because it got a pretty strong particle filter. In many cases it can malfunction, if it happens the cost are not minor. Still.. you could be lucky and almost never face those issues. Most likely you may not experience it a lot if you drive very far distances... Diesel is always best if someone drives a huge amount of km in a row... so the engine will heat up properly, along with the catalyst... and this Subaru might live a long time. However... the biggest weak spot is the inadequate crankshaft bearing which may fail at some point... this damage would be beyond repair on a car of this price... not worth it at all... so it woud be a total loss if it happens.
In short: Subaru got many great cars but not this one... this one is in general problematic.
Both cars surely got some nice characteristics. The Subaru got a lot of torque which can be fun to drive... however... the Yaris is as well more fun than it looks "on the paper". You may have noticed it... the Yaris is a pretty sturdy car which tends to act more agile than many people would imagine by looking at it or looking at the specs. Still... this car is already very old so it may need in general increased maintenance and many new parts... preferably in a preventive case, before it is going to break down. Yet, as long as the mechanics involved know their job and know how to maintain it properly... it can last many more years with high reliability.
Both cars are very fuel efficient but you definitely will have more expensive repairs on the Subaru over time... yet... it got 4 wheel drive which can come in handy.
If you HAVE to choose... yes... the Yaris will cost lesser and perhaps 2 wheel drive is OK for your needs.
I did some research before buying that car, and the problems with the crankshaft was solved in Euro 5 (mid 2010 and onwards). I had zero mechanical issues with it for 60k kilometers, until I let a friend borrow it.. Then I got it back with less than half a transmission and a constant Cessna sound while driving. After finally paying a mechanic for changing out the gearbox this week, it is whole again. Gained some valuable experience about renting out my stuff from that whole ordeal ;) But I'm glad it was not the engine that exploded at least.
The injectors is still something I am unsure about though. Some of these engines can indeed have problems with that. I am not that worried about the particle filter, as I always drive at least 100+ km whenever I start it up. Generally though, the Subaru diesel is experimental. They eventually figured it out, but the early ones have its quirks. I've owned a Forester S-Turbo before, and those engines really are incredible for the reliability. It was automatic too, even! But the fuel efficiency was miserable. I could never have something like this again with the kilometers I'm driving now.
I did notice how fun the Yaris is! I was surprised, but it has much better driving properties than you'd think from looking at it. And it is genuinely well built. I haven't tested it in winter yet (still "warm" here), but it can probably do okay with studded tires. Definitely no match for four wheel drive though. Both cars use between 5,2-5,5 liters of fuel per 100km, which is very good.
I don't need to sell one right now, but I think I'll wait for a while and consider it. Always good to have one in reserve too. I'm already being asked by people if they can borrow a car now that I have two, but bad experience tells me to say no..
