THINK TWICE

The FB flat-four's defining defect is excessive oil consumption, and it runs across the line, not just the Forester: the Outback and Legacy carry the 2.5L FB25 and the Impreza and Crosstrek its 2.0L FB20 sibling, all with the same piston-ring flaw. Roughly 140 federal engine complaints across these four models name the engine burning or losing oil -- led by the Outback (66), then Impreza (39), Legacy (18), and Crosstrek (17) -- concentrated in the early years (2013-2014 for the FB25 cars, 2012-2013 for the FB20 cars). It drove the same class action and Subaru warranty extension for oil consumption that covered the 2014 Forester; that coverage is long expired. By high mileage a given car has already declared itself -- it either burns oil or it does not.

Check — Check the oil level and its condition on the dipstick; ask the seller how much oil the car adds between changes and look for a Subaru oil-consumption test in the service records. A quart low every 1,000-1,500 miles is a renegotiate-or-walk finding, because running low starves and can damage the engine.

Separate from oil consumption, the FB20 2.0L cars carry a real federal engine recall: 18V772000 covers 2012-2014 Impreza and the 2013 XV Crosstrek (along with the BRZ/Scion FR-S, which are outside these models). Per the recall, the engine valve springs may fracture, causing an engine malfunction or a stall, which raises crash risk. The corpus backs it up -- 60 engine complaints on these exact model-years describe a valve-spring failure or a stall. The dealer remedy replaces the valve springs free of charge.

Check — On any 2012-2014 Impreza or 2013 Crosstrek, run the VIN through Subaru's recall lookup and confirm 18V772000 (valve springs) shows completed -- it is a free fix. Listen for rough running or a misfire and ask about any stalling history.