Cars - For Car Enthusiasts

I guess I should ask what country you're in but the US has a huge shortage of small cars. ~~The Honda Civic hatch is probably the only other car I'd consider in this segment.~~ The Civic hatch only comes with a CVT 👎

Older Subarus with the EJ25 are flawed in this way. However, unequal header length does not mean unreliability in any way, as many cars from long ago and even now have unequal header lengths. It just means the engine lumpishly goes brap brap brap at idle instead of clattering rhythmically.

The EJ25 had a few years in the mid-late 2000s where the head gasket was an inferior design, and it would need replacement at 100,000 mi (sooner if you romp on it a lot) as well as the timing belt and water pump, spark plugs and coils. An expensive maintenance.

Any Subaru past 2015 is fine. The new F-series engines use a timing chain and are very reliable. I'm currently running a 5th-gen Impreza with a manual.

Unlike the automatic Subarus, the manual ones have a limited slip center differential, which, while arguably worse for Jeep trails (Subarus are not meant for Jeep trails), it delivers torque more consistently front and rear (50/50, with limited slip bias to the wheels with grip) and handles more consistently than the clutch system the automatics have, turning your car into a rally car.

Also, Mazda uses a clutch system for 4WD.

How does this work? Your car is front wheel drive. When the front wheels start to slip, the computer engages a clutch to temporarily lock the rear wheels into the drive, so you get 4wd.

Subaru's system in the autos keeps that clutch engaged until you are turning, at which it mostly disengages, becoming mostly front wheel drive, until the front wheels slip, then it re-engages becoming fully 4wd again.

As for reliability, mine gets pounded with lots of miles, stop and go driving, and bad roads. I've only needed to replace my front lower control arms at 150,000 mi, which is better than my other cars, which needed tie rods more tie rods and all the tie rods as well as struts and sway bar links.

A lot of people don't like Subaru because of either dissent of popularity, impression they rust to hell (every car in the salt belt does this), or someone skimped on maintenance. What kills a Subaru engine is not checking and keeping your oil topped regularly. If it's 1/2 qt low, you top it off. 1qt low is danger level.

Mazda is a good car tho, but I trust the Subaru 4WD (auto or manual) to do the job much better. A lot of FWD based 4WD cars have issues when there's hills, as their 4WD systems are meant to get the car going on mostly level terrain and otherwise not do anything past that.

As for maintenance on CVT, ignore the manual saying lifetime fluid. This is nonsense. If it has a torque converter or a CVT belt it needs regular maintenance. Change it at 30,000-50,000 just like any automatic, and you won't have a problem.

The Subaru engines have a very wide torque band - anywhere over 3000 and you've got the power, which makes them easy to drive. That and they've managed to squeeze some impressive fuel economy despite being fully (as in all the time) 4wd cars.