Sounds like a bad dealer, rather than a fault of Subaru. Though that particular example was probably a bad one. Mass production will always have bad examples. My parents had an '88 Taurus wagon that just could compute fuel mixes right and the dealer had it back and forth for a while. I think they ended up replacing most of the fuel system and find got it to kinda of work right. (enough that it ran quite well).
Everyone Subaru owner I have known has always been happy, though I believe there are some quirks, like timing belts that basically require the dealer to install. May cousin had one of the old 4x4 Subes with the low range and literally drove it out of a snow back back in New York. I've driven several of the older Subes and found them quite nice. The newer ones have just never don it for me. I have never been comfortable in the back seat for whatever reason.