Subaru WRX Maintenance Cost [Routine & Major Repairs]

Subaru vehicles are often thought of as one of the most reliable vehicles that you can buy. You will find that most people think that their Subaru is easy to maintain and never lets them down.

This might be true for models, but the overall maintenance cost is not the same for every Subaru.

On average, the annual maintenance cost for a Subaru WRX is $682. This number can be much higher with older vehicles that require additional larger repairs each year as parts wear out.

The WRX performs better than some other Subaru models that are more expensive to repair over the course of a year.

If you want to learn more about the costs associated with Subaru WRX for annual maintenance, read on!

What is the Actual Cost to Own a Subaru WRX?

The cost to own a vehicle is comprised of more than the purchase cost. The annual cost to own and operate the vehicle is also figured into the cost consideration when you look at Subaru WRX ownership.

This is an important cost analysis to look at when you buy a car so that you are sure that the car is really a good value for your money.

The purchase price on average for a Subaru WRX is $30,963. The true cost to own is $39,367. These figures include an average depreciation of $9,912 as well as average financing charges of $5,629.

If you do not finance your Subaru, these finance charges will of course not apply.

There are always going to be an average of $350 or so in fees for these kinds of purchases as well and increased costs for licensing and title fees can make this number much higher in some states like California where vehicle purchases are often much more expensive due to sales tax and high DMV fees.

Maintenance costs increase over time for any vehicle, and you can expect the following average costs for maintenance over time for your Subaru WRX:

You should also consider depreciation as part of the cost of owning your car. This can also escalate over time just like maintenance costs:

As you can see, the cost of caring for a car over time is more than just the cost of the parts and the actual annual maintenance things that need to be done.

Depreciation can make it very hard to get a good price for your Subaru WRX as a trade-in or even hard to sell it for yourself for a good price.

This is why many people are motivated to trade in or sell their WRX before their vehicle ages to where depreciation impacts the value. You might find that you are paying far more in maintenance and also hanging onto a car that will not bring you a good trade-in price or a good sales value overall.

This might not make any sense for you when compared to the cost of getting a new car that will need far less in the way of maintenance.

Most people also look into getting oil and basic service warranties when they buy their new WRX, and this can change the timeframe for when you start having to pay for these annual maintenance items out of pocket.

These warranties can add an average of $200-$500 a year to your overall care costs, so you will need to decide if this cost makes sense for you when compared to the very small cost of maintenance for a newer WRX over the course of the first few years that you own it.

What Are the Costs of Common Parts That Fail on Subaru WRX Vehicles?

Each make and model of car has common parts that will fail. You will find that the Subaru WRX is not as commonly associated with expensive parts as other cars, but there are always larger items that will cost you more than smaller ones.

What is the Cost of Labor for WRX Services?

Luxury cars often cost far more in labor than regular vehicles will. That being said, the WRX is one of the more expensive non-luxury cars to get work done on.

Other makes and models of Subaru well cost you about $40-$50 an hour for repair work and services.

The WRX will often cost you $50-$75 an hour for labor. This can add up if you need to have one of the larger services done on your WRX.

It is not that common for your WRX to need a major repair until it is more than eight years old, but you should be prepared for this kind of cost if you do have a large repair that needs to be done on your WRX.

This is where people often get tripped up about the cost of vehicle maintenance. They look at the cost of the actual parts and forget to add up the labor to include in the total cost for repairs.

Diagnosis services to find water leaks and track down electrical problems are often between $30 and $50 an hour.

This can be a spendy service, however, if you have a mysterious electrical issue or some other problems that are hard to track down, you might have to pay for a few hours of research to diagnose these issues as well as pay for the repairs themselves.

How Often Do You Need to Do Maintenance on Your WRX?

These services can be maintenance services that are expected, which are items like oil changes and tire rotations, or they can be unexpected services that might crop up when something is not working right or a part has failed sooner than expected.

You will need to have some idea of what both of these items are before you assume that the lowest cost is likely to be the one that you have to pay for.

Annual maintenance is very affordable until you get to year five or so. At Year eight, most vehicles will start to cost a lot more than you might want to pay. The five-year mark often shows that costs double when compared to the first year or two.

This is not that much money when compared with buying a whole new car, but you might want to start considering what your plan is going to be to replace your car before it starts to get very expensive to maintain.

Unexpected Services:

If you are thinking about the basic services that you will probably have to pay for during an average year of owning your WRX:

How Does WRX Compare to Other Subaru Vehicles?

If you have been trying to decide whether the WRX is the most affordable Subaru for your overall maintenance cost requirements each year, this is a reasonable question.

This is one of the main questions that people have about which Subaru is the right one to buy when considering maintenance costs each year.

This table shows that WRX is fairly competitive with other Subaru models for an overall annual cost. As with the WRX, as these vehicles age, you will find that repairs will be more expensive.

Especially cars that are eight years or older will be likely to have significantly larger annual maintenance costs that must be accounted for.

A Subaru WRX is Not Very Expensive to Maintain

If you want to get a vehicle that is not that expensive to maintain, you should consider a WRX. These are really affordable cars overall and you will enjoy a lot of nice performance perks as well as reasonably good mileage from them over the course of each year.

Being able to get a lot of good value out of your car each year with limited maintenance costs is a big benefit to getting a WRX.

There are some models of Subaru that are slightly less expensive on average to maintain each year, but the difference is quite small overall.

The cost of most Subaru models will be about the same as the WRX and this is a very reliable car option for most people’s needs.

The trade-in value of these cars is not as good as some other makes in their same relative class, but it is not terrible either. You can drive a Subaru for many years and still get a reasonable trade-in value out of it when you are ready to upgrade to a new vehicle.

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