Hi, looking at buying an '09 Diesel Impreza RC. A colleague advised that were issues with the cranks snapping in half on the diesel boxer, a quick search shows legacy engines '06-'08, is this model year prone to it too?

 

Yes, all first generation Subaru diesels up to 2010 can suffer main bearing failure. They stopped making them after the next generation. I had one and it was poor compared to the VAG TDI in economy and performance.

 

.... and there seem to be a fair number of 2011 and 2012 Subaru diesel models being sold as spares or repairs. While the VAG engines regularly live past 250,000m if properly serviced, I haven't seen that many Boxer diesels beyond 150/160k.(the odd one over 200k).