Levorg issues

[MrSTI]

Hi guys. New here. I’m 10 years in with my 2010 Liberty GT premium Black wagon and it’s time for an upgrade to the Levorg STI or GT.

At around the 5th year my Liberty transmission crapped itself. Was going to cost me upwards of 7.5k to fix the computer in the transmission. I wasn’t happy after buying a Subaru for its supposed long lasting quality. I kicked up a stink with Subaru head of service and they agreed to pay for all parts and I only forked out for labour. Very good outcome.

I spoke to a dealer a few years ago after a service who admitted to me that my model MY10 had a known issue with the gear box and heard of many Libs having the same problem. Imagine all the poor souls that just swiped their credit cards for 8k worth of damage on a car that was only a few years old and just out of warranty like mine!

Now that I’m looking at a Levorg, I was wondering if anyone has had any issues with their Levorg so far. My experience with my first Subaru has me nervous about my next.

Thanks for any info.

 

[MrSTI]

Busy forum. Hahaha

 

[leftfield lenny]

Busy forum. Hahaha

Or the Levorg isn't any trouble, at least the 1.6 version.

Personally, and I've had mine two years, the only thing that I can fault (apart from fuel thirst, which petrol Subaru doesn't like a drink?) is the original head unit. The USB music play function is erratic and frustrating, sat nav isn't the easiest to program a route to and occasionally, the Bluetooth music streaming freezes or misses out tracks. But that could also be my mobile phone that's responsible for that.
And why have 30 pre-sets for the FM and AM wavebands and only 6 for the DAB band if you've got the pre Apple CarPlay and Android Auto stereo? You'll be lucky to get 20 stations on FM, and AM is being wound down with radio stations ceasing to broadcast on it, especially the BBC ones. Where I live in the UK, I can easily get over 70 DAB radio stations!
A shame that the stereo is not a cheap or easy swap!

 

[Rustysalami]

Hi guys. New here. I’m 10 years in with my 2010 Liberty GT premium Black wagon and it’s time for an upgrade to the Levorg STI or GT.

At around the 5th year my Liberty transmission crapped itself. Was going to cost me upwards of 7.5k to fix the computer in the transmission. I wasn’t happy after buying a Subaru for its supposed long lasting quality. I kicked up a stink with Subaru head of service and they agreed to pay for all parts and I only forked out for labour. Very good outcome.

I spoke to a dealer a few years ago after a service who admitted to me that my model MY10 had a known issue with the gear box and heard of many Libs having the same problem. Imagine all the poor souls that just swiped their credit cards for 8k worth of damage on a car that was only a few years old and just out of warranty like mine!

Now that I’m looking at a Levorg, I was wondering if anyone has had any issues with their Levorg so far. My experience with my first Subaru has me nervous about my next.

Thanks for any info.

No issues from me, but I've got upgraded suspension and stereo. CVT issues seem to come from over-exuberant exhaust and ECU upgrades, and driving it hard. JDM vorgs have more torque and power, so I would assume the Oz GTs are pretty safe with CVTs.

 

[MrSTI]

No issues from me, but I've got upgraded suspension and stereo. CVT issues seem to come from over-exuberant exhaust and ECU upgrades, and driving it hard. JDM vorgs have more torque and power, so I would assume the Oz GTs are pretty safe with CVTs.

What stereo have you installed.

I just put a deposit down on a 2020 Black STI. Happy days. Now to get rid of the Liberty.

 

[Rustysalami]

What stereo have you installed.

I just put a deposit down on a 2020 Black STI. Happy days. Now to get rid of the Liberty.

Kept the head unit and have a Focal amplifier with Morel speakers. Sounds great.

 

[ToxyRocker]

Have had my Levorg for over 2 years now.
I have only had one thing happen and i dont know what it was. But something caused the check engine light to pop up.
I didnt have an obd2 scanner at the time, so i disconnected the battery and the light disapeard and have not returned since. That was last winter.
And as the other says, the headunit i did not like. So i found a site (seicane.com) that sold model spesific android headunits and bought one. So now i have spotify and waze directly in the car. And i can install any android app i want throuh Play Store.
The one i have is about 2 years old now and has its flaws but i still like it better then the original headunit. Looking to buy a newer one with more memory and newer version of android.

 

[Sabi]

Mine did the same. I didn't disconnect the battery and the check engine went away after 12 hours because it didn't replicate the issue. I've took it to the dealership where they said there is a software update for the issue. It was fault code: P000B=camshaft position response slow. After the software update the car feels much smoother when idle.

 

[jtony]

Any connecting rod issues on the 1.6? Also steering rack problems?

 

[leftfield lenny]

Any connecting rod issues on the 1.6? Also steering rack problems?

I doubt if the 1.6 engine generates enough power to stress its internal components unless you modify it. From what I've read on this forum, the weak link seems to be the CVT gearbox if you channel too much power into it by increasing the BHP and torque.

 

[jtony]

I doubt if the 1.6 engine generates enough power to stress its internal components unless you modify it. From what I've read on this forum, the weak link seems to be the CVT gearbox if you channel too much power into it by increasing the BHP and torque.

Reason I asked is because here in the Philippines, I've known 2 1.6s with connecting rod issues with one even having the engine blown. And there are multiple complaints on steering rack as well prompting dealers to replace under warranty. Although I have not experienced having trouble with those parts, still makes me worry. So I wanted to know what the situation is with other markets.

As for CVT, I am almost done with Stage 2 tuning (street tuned for now until we complete the catback exhaust) and can't wait to get into the dyno. My tuner knows a few WRX's getting their CVT toasted but those were tuned very aggressively by other tuners. I'm assuming CVT component of WRX is same with Levorg?

 

[leftfield lenny]

Reason I asked is because here in the Philippines, I've known 2 1.6s with connecting rod issues with one even having the engine blown. And there are multiple complaints on steering rack as well prompting dealers to replace under warranty. Although I have not experienced having trouble with those parts, still makes me worry. So I wanted to know what the situation is with other markets.

As for CVT, I am almost done with Stage 2 tuning (street tuned for now until we complete the catback exhaust) and can't wait to get into the dyno. My tuner knows a few WRX's getting their CVT toasted but those were tuned very aggressively by other tuners. I'm assuming CVT component of WRX is same with Levorg?

That's the first that I've ever heard of issues with the conrods on the Levorg 1.6 engine. I'd heard of those issues on the previous generation of 2.5 engines fitted in the Impreza WRX as well as crankshaft issues on the early diesel engines fitted to the Foresters and Impreza's. Then again, The Levorg came out circa 2014. The Asian continent had them for over a year before Subaru imported them to Europe, so one would think that any issues would have been sorted before reaching these shores.
Subaru have shifted no more than 500 Levorgs per year in the UK and I would think that many are dealer registered than private purchase (mine was a ex Subaru fleet car) It passed its MOT with no steering issues and on the MOT history of over Levorgs that I showed an interest in as to look up their MOT history, none have had any steering issues advised or led to a failure. Maybe it's something to crop up over time?

 

[leftfield lenny]

As for CVT, I am almost done with Stage 2 tuning (street tuned for now until we complete the catback exhaust) and can't wait to get into the dyno. My tuner knows a few WRX's getting their CVT toasted but those were tuned very aggressively by other tuners. I'm assuming CVT component of WRX is same with Levorg?
Currently there's three engines in the Levorg. a 296 BHP 2.0 litre, a 148 BHP 2.0 litre and a 168 BHP 1.6 in the UK at least. l do know that the 296 BHP and 168 BHP engines use different CVT gearboxes. The 1.6 gearbox casing is smaller than the 2.0 litre one and handles less power.
So I would say that you're right that the WRX and Levorg WRX uses similar mechanical running gear

 

[jtony]

That's the first that I've ever heard of issues with the conrods on the Levorg 1.6 engine. I'd heard of those issues on the previous generation of 2.5 engines fitted in the Impreza WRX as well as crankshaft issues on the early diesel engines fitted to the Foresters and Impreza's. Then again, The Levorg came out circa 2014. The Asian continent had them for over a year before Subaru imported them to Europe, so one would think that any issues would have been sorted before reaching these shores.
Subaru have shifted no more than 500 Levorgs per year in the UK and I would think that many are dealer registered than private purchase (mine was a ex Subaru fleet car) It passed its MOT with no steering issues and on the MOT history of over Levorgs that I showed an interest in as to look up their MOT history, none have had any steering issues advised or led to a failure. Maybe it's something to crop up over time?

During more discussions about the conrod issue with tuner and mechanics, the only plausible explanation they could think of would be conrod bearing failure maybe due to poor maintenance making the rod knock. This is so weird because the dealer repaired it under warranty making it a production/design defect. Anyway, seems this is a very isolated case as other markets are clear.

As for steering concerns, this may be caused and aggravated by external factors such as poor road condition which we have here in the Philippines compared to UK.

 

[jtony]

As for CVT, I am almost done with Stage 2 tuning (street tuned for now until we complete the catback exhaust) and can't wait to get into the dyno. My tuner knows a few WRX's getting their CVT toasted but those were tuned very aggressively by other tuners. I'm assuming CVT component of WRX is same with Levorg?
Currently there's three engines in the Levorg. a 296 BHP 2.0 litre, a 148 BHP 2.0 litre and a 168 BHP 1.6 in the UK at least. l do know that the 296 BHP and 168 BHP engines use different CVT gearboxes. The 1.6 gearbox casing is smaller than the 2.0 litre one and handles less power.
So I would say that you're right that the WRX and Levorg WRX uses similar mechanical running gear

Wow that 296BHP 2-banger must be so fun to drive!

 

[leftfield lenny]

Wow that 296BHP 2-banger must be so fun to drive!

We in the Northern Hemisphere can only imagine . The 296 BHP Levorg WRX is only available in Japan, Australia and I'm now presuming selected other Asian markets. I'm surprised that it's not available in the Philippines.

 

[jtony]

We in the Northern Hemisphere can only imagine . The 296 BHP Levorg WRX is only available in Japan, Australia and I'm now presuming selected other Asian markets. I'm surprised that it's not available in the Philippines.

I believe that's the STI version of Levorg. Sadly, it isn't available here in the Philippines. I assume they did not produce it in LHD, reason we got left out.

 

[nicodache]

STI ? no, that would "only" be the 2.0 turbo petrol version that isn't marketed as STI (AFAIK).

Got no idea if it isn't available in Scandinavia & Germany - they get nice cars over there sometimes, which we never get in BeNeLux

 

[mando345]

We in the Northern Hemisphere can only imagine . The 296 BHP Levorg WRX is only available in Japan, Australia and I'm now presuming selected other Asian markets. I'm surprised that it's not available in the Philippines.

The Australian version of the levorg is advertised at 268HP, only the JDM model is 296HP, i think its because of the different fuel grade in AU