2018 Subaru Legacy: What to check before buying

The touchscreen delaminates. Bubbling under the glass sets off ghost touches that change stations, open menus, and dial calls with no input, and some screens freeze or ignore touch entirely. Owners call the screen a driving distraction and describe replacements as costly, with some head units swapped more than once. Fuel gauges also misread, and cars run dry while still showing 30 to 40 miles of range. Other reports cover battery drain while parked, a keyless system that left the car unable to start, and one fire at the driver-side mirror.

Windshields crack with no visible impact. The crack usually starts at a lower edge, often on the passenger side near the wipers or defrost vents, and then spreads across the glass. It happens while the car sits parked overnight, on the highway, after a car wash, or while warming up on a cold morning. Replacement windshields often crack again in the same spot, and owners report paying for repeat replacements themselves. Reports start under 20,000 miles, and some describe a crack between the EyeSight cameras.

Windshields crack without impact, usually at a lower corner, and the crack then spreads upward. The car is often parked or cruising at highway speed when it happens. Failures cluster around 30,000 to 38,153 miles, with one at 65,000, and at least one replacement windshield cracked again. Dealers tend to send owners to a glass shop. A sunroof shattering with a loud pop at 72,000 miles and a display that went blank while driving round out the group.

Sudden, unintended acceleration accounts for both crash reports here. The car lurches forward while stopped with the brake lightly pressed, or while being moved from a parked spot, and in each case it struck another vehicle. One crash totaled the car. Separately, an engine burns excess oil and lights the oil warning lamp at 18,000 miles, and dealers could not fix it. Another report describes the front catalytic converter failing twice, at 130k and 180k miles, with exhaust fumes entering the cabin.

Above about 50 mph, the car pulls or suddenly veers left or right as if hit by a gust of wind, with no wind or passing truck. Drivers describe losing steering control for several seconds, and one report says the car drifted off the road. The problem shows up as early as 3,000 miles and repeats at random. Another owner lists two steering rack replacements, followed by sway bar link, strut mount, and torn bushing repairs needed to finish an alignment.

The car speeds up or brakes on its own, and two of the 3 complaints involve crashes. In one, it stopped suddenly on a freeway with no brake input and was hit from behind. In another, it would not slow with the brakes held down after pulling away from an intersection, and it struck a utility pole and a parked car. Neither driver could reproduce the problem or point to a clear warning. The third complaint is about cruise control setting speed in 1 or 5 mph steps, not a failure.

Clear coat fails in under 2 years, even on cars detailed regularly. Both front doors can rust through from the inside at the door pillars, and that report describes perforation rather than surface rust. A separate complaint describes a loud metallic rattle between 25 and 45 mph that the dealer could not locate or repair after more than 4 attempts. With only 3 complaints on file, no clear pattern emerges yet.

The fuel gauge reads wrong. It stays frozen over long drives, then jumps between levels after a restart, and owners cannot trust the low-fuel reading. One car spent 11 weeks at the dealer before getting a new instrument cluster, and a manufacturer letter told another owner it did not know when or if a fix would come. Separately, a 3.6R hesitates or stutters under gentle acceleration from a stop, a problem present since purchase.

The car keeps moving even with the brake pressed. In the crash report, it suddenly sped up in reverse while backing out of a parking space, ignored the brake pedal, and ran down a row of parked cars until it clipped one. In the other, the car crept forward at an intersection with the brake applied and kept moving even in Park, stopping only after the emergency brake was pulled. These are 2 complaints, 1 of them crash-related.