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I have noticed many Subarus here in PNW. I had one for a rental car not long ago and really enjoyed driving it. Does anyone know if this is a good car to purchase preowned? My poor ole Buick is about on its last wheel.
Late model Subies have done yeoman service for many miles.
Every one I've bought had at least 100K miles on it before it dropped in price low enough for me to justify buying one. The two we have now have 240,000 and 325,000 miles on them, and are still going strong.
The higher mileage car did require a valve job and new front axles, along with routine consumables ... brakes, tires, clutch, battery. But for me, as a mechanic able to do all the work myself and buy the parts wholesale, the price was low enough to justify the purchase. I've got less than 1/2 the street value of the car in it. Even the suspension is still satisfactory, and stuff like the interior has held up, as well as the exhaust system.
The lower mileage car is close to needing a valve job, but it's still on the original clutch. Other than needed new strut inserts, it runs and handles very well. We've gotten over 100,000 miles on the brakes, which I replaced when we bought the car. Oh, and it needed a thermostat, new filters, and new trans/dif fluid, along with routine oil/filter changes.
The cars? a '95 Legacy Brighton and a '97 Legacy Outback wagon. I wouldn't advise anyone except a mechanic to buy a 4-cam 2.5 liter Subie, but the later 2-cam motors are OK. Or, if you're looking at older models, the 2.2 motor is bulletproof and easy to work on. I wouldn't buy any older than a '95.
We have a 00 Subaru Outback and it is an amazing car. We get anywhere we want to go. We are able to pull a trailer with two snowmobiles with no problems.
Many Subarus from the mid-late 90s through the early 00s had problems with blowing head gaskets. I'd research that issue before buying a Subaru of said vintage and make sure to avoid the affected models unless the seller can document that the head gaskets have already been replaced or unless you can negotiate an appropriate price break to assume the attendant risk. Other than that, Subarus are remarkably practical cars, and sometimes fun too, especially if you get one with a snail under the hood.
For the most part, all of the Subie's still on the road today with the '90's 2.5liter 4cam4valve head motors have had the head gaskets replaced (with whatever peripheral parts, sometimes heads, sometimes blocks) by now with the later (many generations later) improved head gaskets which appear to do the job correctly for many miles.
The reason for this is that just about every car that was going to fail (which was a very high percentage of the fleet) in the head gasket department has failed by now. Many were repaired at the dealers under warranty, and many have since been repaired at independent shops. Some have been repaired a couple of times, because the earlier series of replacement head gaskets simply weren't up to the task. The last series of multi-layer head gaskets seem to be fine ... I've got my own car and several client's cars with well over 100,000 miles on these and there's no signs of any problems with them.
The first 2 cam 2.5 liter motors had issues with external seeps from the head gaskets, but again, the later design head gaskets have solved these problems.
It's easy to tell if the car you're looking at has current issues with the head gaskets ... the 4 cam motor will pressurize the cooling system and blow the coolant out and/or not be able to keep the motor at it's correct (about mid gauge) temperature at highway speed driving. The 2 cam motor will seep coolant externally onto the ex manifold and you'll be able to smell the coolant as well as note the loss of coolant from the sealed system over time.
IMO, the problem has been well publicized and known with these cars for a long time. When first showing up in the marketplace, the fix wasn't well sorted out and there were recurring failures. But now there's a durable fix, and it shouldn't be a problem. However, as I pointed out in my first post, I wouldn't advise anyone except a tech to buy a 4 cam 2.5 liter Subie ... because of the difficulty in servicing this motor with the solid cam followers, difficult access to replace spark plugs, PIA timing belt and tensioner set replacement, oil pump and front main seal concerns, and the risk that the head gasket problem still lingers in a car with an earlier head gasket replacement which may not necessarily be very durable. If you catch the head gasket problem in a timely manner before it overheats and warps a head, it's not too big a deal to remove the motor and replace them ... but if it warps a head and/or cracks a block, it's very expensive to fix.
If you're looking for the utility and transportation virtues of these cars, the turbo'ed versions are not the way to go, nor is the 3.0 6-cylinder motor. Both suffer from much poorer fuel economy than the basic 165 hp 4 cylinder motors, and both have a far in excess amount of hp needed for the adverse weather driving conditions for which these cars are designed for daily use.
IMO, if you've got adverse weather driving conditons for your needs, then the Subie's a good car. But if you've got sporting conditions to drive your car in, then there's much more fuel efficient, better handling/braking, and better price point cars for your transportation needs that are a lot more fun instead of utilitarian. Gotta' pick your priorities ....
First one: 1991 Legacy wagon bought in 1994 with 88k on it. Bought it in MA from a dealer. Drove it for 100k more miles with no major problems. Moved to WY with it. Fixed things like struts, timing belt, cam seals, cv axels. Drove it all over the US on a 2 month 10,000 mile trip with no problem. 30 mpg. The car did have some rust issues being a New England car.
Second one: another 1991 Legacy wagon bought in 1999 with 113k on it from a private sale in WY. Drove it for 8 years up to 165k miles. Had no major problems. Fixed struts, timing belt, cam seals, valve cover gaskets, cv axels, exhaust. No rust at all, being a WY car.
I knew I wanted an Outback wagon eventually so I did my homework and decided I wanted a 2000 or newer to avoid the catastrophic headgasket failure issues of the first generation of Outbacks (95-99).
So I wanted a 2000 or newer, around 100k on it and from a private sale. Being frugal, I didn't want to pay more than $5000. These cars usually sell for closer to $10k so I figured I'd just have to wait.
I scanned the classifieds until one day I saw a 2001 Outback for $4600. I checked it out! It was a private sale. They were selling it cheap because it had cracking of the factory paint job under the clear coat. (Looks fine from a few feet away). It had 109K on it, and they had a stack of maintenence records. I bought it right away!
Over a year later and now at 118k it still runs great. I haven't had to take it the shop for anything yet. I plan to drive this for another 5-10 years.
I test drove a Forester couple of weeks ago and loved it. I wouldn't go for the turbo model, just the standard seems to be ok. It comes with AWD already standard, and plenty of room inside. Towing looked decent for a small trailer. It drove nicely, and didn't notice any blind spots (which is cool). The turn radius was impressive... I noticed that when making a U turn and pulling into a parking spot. Oh, and the ground clearance seems nice. In the recent snow storm last month, our current car was too low and kept scraping the snow on the road. A friend who has a Forester said the clearance on his car was better and also the AWD provided good handling.
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