hi, 
I’m a new Subaru owner, picked up my 2010 outback just before Christmas. It had just passed its mot with only a couple of advisories. Today was my first opportunity to take a good luck around the car and I have been horrified to find very serious corrosion on both sides of the front subframe.

Is this a common issue.

any help appreciated 

Very common thing on them, replace is only real option, give a few breakers a call and see if they have a decent one

this is something that should of been a recall but unfortunately wasn't & Subaru avoided dealing with it at their cost .
Tends to be hard find a good Gen 4 Cradle Frame rust free used (unless imported used parts)
New can be had at half sensible costs possibly if hunt around specialists & google your Cradle Frame part number .

First thing want do is double check car once again and be sure no other corrosion/mechanical issues before sinking time/money into it.
Swapping cradle out is not super difficult but do nicely takes bit of extra time, your control arms would benefit with new bushes and both cradle and control arms benefit from likes of Dinitrol ML rust treatment internally and a decent black wax coating externally .(Good to do rear suspension/frame too)

Hi, thanks for the relies. I think the best solution as you’ve suggested is to replace the frame completely. As the car has covered 122000 I was expecting to refresh the suspension anyway so removing the subframe at the same time is no great shakes. Just need to check the rear one now!!!