Good thing half of you drive subaru's

[Night_Hawk]

I've got a few questions for anybody who knows a lot about subaru's

little background first, I'm selling the buick for 2,000, and my father is selling his old truck for the same price.

were taking 4 grand and I can look for a car with it.

I was looking around today and spotted a 1996 Subaru legacy outback for $1950

it's not inspected but I drove it around the lot and the only things that felt off were the slightly vibrating brakes(even when rolling in D)
and I think a shock or two might need replacing.

other than that it impressed me very much. I thought for sure it had a flat 6 when I pressed the gas pedal. but I'm guessing its just a really sensitive pedal just because I did a bit of research and apparently the engines were both I4's ( 2.2 and 2.5) I noticed it sounded unlike a flat six, but at parking lot speeds it felt way more powerful than the Buick. (similar weight + V6)

the big problem is gas mileage, I was really wondering if this would be worse on gas than my Buick. I thinking they wouldn't be too far off. I mean they weigh about the same, and a 4cyl should make it better (especially one with good low end torque) but then again its AWD all the time so I'm not sure.

I was wondering what you guys thought about this possible deal.

I could use the 2 grand left over to fix whatever needs to be fixed but until then I was just seeing what you guys might know. thanks in advance

[Cobol74]

Vibrating breakes - discs usually need either skimming or replacing afaik.

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

Vibrating breakes - discs usually need either skimming or replacing afaik.

Thats no major problem, Like I said there will be at least $1500 set aside for fixing whatever needs to be fixed ( ironically the Buick has the same problem, just not so bad)


it has 206,000 kms I forgot to say, thats a lot but it felt perfectly smooth, I'm thinking it was a highway car since the headlights are slightly yellowed as well.

[Cobol74]

Scoobys are good cars but I am no expert on condition - you need Jay.

[prizrak]

Just a nitpicky note, but I belive it's a flat4 not an I4. The brakes you can inspect pretty easily. The mileage won't be all that great mostly due to the AWD system but I think it shouldn't be far of the Buick. I would suggest taking it to get inspected but from my experience and knowledge a 96 subby should be pretty reliable.

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by prizrak

Just a nitpicky note, but I belive it's a flat4 not an I4. The brakes you can inspect pretty easily. The mileage won't be all that great mostly due to the AWD system but I think it shouldn't be far of the Buick. I would suggest taking it to get inspected but from my experience and knowledge a 96 subby should be pretty reliable.

yeah, I was reading from a sketchy website, they're flat 4's

and after more looking around I found these figures

my buick mpg ... 19-29

this subaru ... 20-28

works out pretty good because I drive in town 95% of the time.
I'm probably gonna get it inspected within the next few days

[Final Daihatsu]

As far as I know, Subarus have a reputation of breaking down once in half a century (Japanese and all that). The Legacy should have good engine - and it sorts out by what you said about the test drive. Also, I'm dead sure a 12 years old Subaru has better gas mileage than a 14 years old V6 Buick. It's better looking either.

[deltableh]

I've been averaging 26mpg combined in my '08, but I also have a 5-speed so I can milk my mileage. I've been nothing but happy with my Scooby. When will you be swapping the engine :p?

[Blind_Io]

Must. Repress. Urge. to Grammar Nazi this thread.

Yes, I just verbed "Grammar Nazi."
Yes, I just verbed "verb."


If it feels like the brakes are warped even when you aren't on them it could be some VERY warped rotors, but more likely it's indicative of a more serious problem. I don't know all that much about Subaru design, such as if they use U-joints and such. I had a similar pulsing problem in my Jeep and it was because one of the U-Joints was starting to seize up, that was a costly repair.

It sounds like it might be more trouble than it's worth.

[British_Rover]

Subarus use CV-Joints and at that mileage you could very well have a joint that is failing. Fairly easy to detect just roll the window down and then make some sharp low speed turns. If you hear a clicking noise then most likely it needs CV Joints.

[jayhawk]

For that price, buy it. I am sure it has the 2.2 litre. Yes, with all those miles parts are bound to fail or be worn, that goes for any vehicle. But they are not expensive, and Subaru's, especially of that vintage, are tough to kill. Axles for it are cheap and really easy to change out. The whole car itself is stone axe simple.
With proper maintainence, you should be able to get another 100,000 kilometers out of it, if not more. A co-worker has a 1997 Impreza Outback 2.2 litre with 200,000 miles on it; when he first bought it, he changed the spark plugs; they were the original ones with 140,000 miles on them. The previous owner NEVER took car of the car, and it got that many miles.

I will be surprised if you spend 2,000 CDN for the life of the vehicle to keep it running. At that mileage, the converters will more than likely have already been changed out, the head gaskets changed, and the wheel bearings. As for the yellow headlights, that is common. Sometimes Mequiars plastic cleaner works well.

And you will love this car in the snow. My 2007, with Bridgestone RE92A 45 profile tires that are rated to be all season (HA!) performs wonderfully in the snow. Come wintertime, you will be laughing like you're insane as you pass car after car struggling in 2 cm of snow while you toodle by going like the ground is dry.

I myself am getting about 28 mpg city and highway; about 30 on the highway,much better than what it is rated, which is 20/27.

[BigDaveDogg]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

I myself am getting about 28 mpg city and highway; about 30 on the highway,much better than what it is rated, which is 20/27.

I want that out of my daily.

[Night_Hawk]

That all sounds good, I really should have looked under the hood though.

I'm most likely bringing it to a garage to get it inspected some time in the next week or so and I'll find out exactly what it needs then.

one more thing, I have no subaru dealer in my town, the nearest one is about 3.5 hours away so that could prove to be somewhat of an issue.

[JCE]

Older Subaru for cheap? Buy it. Scooby's are brilliant, sexy, and bulletprof if not ran into the ground. No hesitation needed here, buy it.

[Ottobon]

In my experience the older Japanese car will always have better mileage, in particular if some of the emissions devices aren't running as should (02 sensor etc.) I generally lay this on the fact that U.S. manufacturers were still laying down extremely rich baseline mixtures as a safety measure, the Japanese, and the rest of the industrialized world for that matter, all pay much more for gas, so they don't have the oldschool hotrodding tendency to richen the hell out of the fule mixture as a safety measure against detonation. My point is that no-matter what, the Subaru should return better milage, because as a general rule of thumb the baseline fuel settings that the ECU is programmed for is usually closer to 14.7:1.

As a real-life example, my MR2 had a leaky exhaust and a bad 02 sensor, but it never returned worse then about 80% factory mileage (even when driven fairly hard.) whereas my Ford Tempo has similarly broken exhaust and it literally returns about 1/3 factory mileage, it runs so rich that given a nice hole in the exhaust and enough heat the gasses will ignite and flames will shoot out from under the car, or so friends have told me.

[prizrak]

it runs so rich that given a nice hole in the exhaust and enough heat the gasses will ignite and flames will shoot out from under the car, or so friends have told me.

DO NOT FIX IT!!!!

[prizrak]

WTF double post...

[Night_Hawk]

My dad has always been slightly against imports in general, ( he's smart but he's the kind of guy that likes to be able to do his own work)

parts are more expensive and things like that as well. other than that im pretty excited about it. whenever I get it inspected ill see how it feels on a cross-town drive as opposed to a parking lot roll-around.

I'm still looking around but im pretty sure this would be the most fun car otu of a few of my choices ( 2000 accent gsi/2000 corolla/misc sinfire/cavaliers etc etc

thanks to everyone who helped so far though.

[LeVeL]

Go take a look at it with someone who knows subarus because they will be able to tell you a lot about the car. You can try and find someone local through NASIOC or something. Subys are prone to have headgasket problems (pita and $) so check that out as well. Have fun rallying!

[P5138]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

For that price, buy it. I am sure it has the 2.2 litre. Yes, with all those miles parts are bound to fail or be worn, that goes for any vehicle. But they are not expensive, and Subaru's, especially of that vintage, are tough to kill. Axles for it are cheap and really easy to change out. The whole car itself is stone axe simple.
With proper maintainence, you should be able to get another 100,000 kilometers out of it, if not more. A co-worker has a 1997 Impreza Outback 2.2 litre with 200,000 miles on it; when he first bought it, he changed the spark plugs; they were the original ones with 140,000 miles on them. The previous owner NEVER took car of the car, and it got that many miles.

I will be surprised if you spend 2,000 CDN for the life of the vehicle to keep it running. At that mileage, the converters will more than likely have already been changed out, the head gaskets changed, and the wheel bearings. As for the yellow headlights, that is common. Sometimes Mequiars plastic cleaner works well.

And you will love this car in the snow. My 2007, with Bridgestone RE92A 45 profile tires that are rated to be all season (HA!) performs wonderfully in the snow. Come wintertime, you will be laughing like you're insane as you pass car after car struggling in 2 cm of snow while you toodle by going like the ground is dry.

I myself am getting about 28 mpg city and highway; about 30 on the highway,much better than what it is rated, which is 20/27.

You're still using the RE92's!? tsk tsk tsk.

But back on topic, the car sounds like any other high mileage car with the exception that it's a Subaru and therefore will run until Armageddon. (I love my Scooby) The mileage figures you found for it, however, are probably a bit optimistic since the car has so many miles on the components.

Originally Posted by Night_Hawk

My dad has always been slightly against imports in general, ( he's smart but he's the kind of guy that likes to be able to do his own work)

parts are more expensive and things like that as well. other than that im pretty excited about it. whenever I get it inspected ill see how it feels on a cross-town drive as opposed to a parking lot roll-around.

I'm still looking around but im pretty sure this would be the most fun car otu of a few of my choices ( 2000 accent gsi/2000 corolla/misc sinfire/cavaliers etc etc

Subaru's are pretty damned easy to work on as long as you are very careful with any power tools or breaker bars you use (I've gone through so many sheared bolts that I keep a spare set of wheel studs around for the inevitable break after a tire place cross threads them, but I think that's just my bad luck). But really, they are a dream to work on compared to Hondas and Toyotas (from my experience).

Whatever you do, do NOT get the Accent or the Corolla. They are so depressing you will want to shoot yourself. I own an Accent and James May's review of them is very true: get anything else but an Accent. I also have driven the Corolla for a long time and it's not much of an improvement over the Accent. (In the years you are looking at)