Subaru impreza after 100,000km

Need some advice please, I am not sure if I should keep my 2015 Subaru Impreza. There will be 105000 km on my car when the lease comes up in January 2020. The buyout is 12,470 plus other costs to safety certify. I would have to finance that at bank interest rates. My problem is I really won’t be able to afford unexpected expenses with this car. So, the alternative is to turn it in now and lease a new car. How does the 2015 impreza hold up after 100,000km?

You have a 5 year lease ? How the vehicle will hold up , who knows ? If you can’t afford any repairs then if you lease it should be the cheapest one you can find.

A better move would to be actually buy the least expensive vehicle that meets your needs and drive it until it is just no longer worth keeping on the road.

Its a 4 year lease coming up in January 2020. Basically, I’m asking peoples’s experiences with a subaru impreza after 100,000km. I’d like to know what type of expenses may be typical of this vehicle.

You are caught in a Catch 22… the un-win-able situation. Leasing is the most expensive way to own a car. Leasing is the cheapest monthly payment. You can afford the lease payment but not an unexpected expense on an older car out of warranty so you you lease another car. That is a financial merry-go-round that will keep you in debt forever.

You can either 1) lease another car and be in the same situation when that lease expires or 2) buy a cheap beater for cash and save the lease payment you WOULD have made each month for that unexpected repair. Pay cash for cars, drive only what you can afford.

Edit:

Unexpected repairs are un-predictable, even for owners of your car. We don’t know how you drive or maintain the car. You didn’t tell us. We could say, no worries, it’ll go another 100km with no large expenses… we might be right, we might be wrong.

The advice @VOLVO_V70 and I gave minimize that risk for you no matter what car you own or how you treat it.

Here in central US your vehicle is not worth 12470.00 in USD now. Add in the finance charges and fees forget it especially since you seem to think just because someone had a problem that does not mean you will have the same one or even something else.

Secure Consumer Reports Used Car Guide and see what other owners say about this make/model/year’s reliability. That’s the first step. Cars these days are very well designed and manufactured and tend to last well over 100 km (60 k miles) before they start needing super expensive repairs. As long as the routine maintenance is kept up to date the and vehicle isn’t abused excellent chance you’ll be good to go until at least 100k miles. The sort of things that will start to need servicing – beyond routine maintenance – at 100K miles are the wheel bearings, radiator, water pump, timing belt (if equipped), automatic door and window functions, key fobs, ignition lock, fuel pump, alternator, starting motor, brake & clutch MC, stuff like that. If your vehicle is 4wd or AWD, budget for some extra repairs beyond what’s usual for a fwd vehicle. At around 150K-200K you may develop some transmission issues that need addressing, especially if an automatic. If a manual transmission, should be good to 200k except perhaps for needing a replacement clutch. To keep the engine purring, check the oil level once a week and avoid extending oil and filter changes beyond 5k miles.

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Kilometers tells me you are not in the US. If you are Canadian the lease buyout is in Canadian dollars, less expensive than the same figure here. Even though I could walk to Canada it a river was not in the way, I have no Idea what your used car prices of bank finance rates are.

As far as Imprezza reliability is concerned, Subarus seem to have more than their share of head gasket failures but I have no idea what the rate is because owners don’t post complaints when their head gaskets don’t fail.

I am astounded by how little news we get about Canada,even living on the border and the traffic tie ups and the need to bring a passport means that we don’t make all the impromptu trips we used to make.

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Not a car problem…

I’m not sure how you got into this situation, but I believe you’ve painted yourself into a corner. Not enough information is given for anybody to offer advice that would help completely solve this problem. You’ve either got to wait for the paint to dry or step in it.

I don’t feel this is actually a car question, but rather a personal budgeting one. Leasing a car is less expensive than buying a car because you are not gaining equity in the car and must give it back. Because it’s less expensive the advantage (if there is one) is that it allows a person to save money while leasing. Did you save the money? It doesn’t sound like it to me.

Do you absolutely have to have a car? Do you have alternate means of transportation available? I really don’t think you can afford to own/leases/operate a private vehicle at this time without more income or a realignment of your budget. Are there items in your budget that are absolutely not necessities that can be trimmed or eliminated? Are there ways to increase income?

Perhaps this is dilemma best solved by a financial advisor/budget planner, rather than a bunch of gearhead guys on a car advice website. All cars last, but all cars can have “unexpected” expenses. I think you’d feel a lot of weight lifted from your shoulders if you were on a more stable financial footing and would not have to get advice for getting out of a corner. You simply need to prioritize and budget more for transportation. It’s that simple, really.
CSA
:palm_tree::sunglasses::palm_tree:

Thank you for your input… this is what I was asking…