Looking for a no-frills reliable, cheap-ish winter car. I had been thinking escort, camry, civic, etc. … Subies tend to be costly, or if cheap, not worth buying.
I’m looking at one that a local student is selling; his cousin graduated, returned to his home country, left the car.
175k miles
Auto Transmission
All Wheel Drive
Sony Xplod Mp3 Player
Power windows, mirrors and locks
Heated Seats
Good tires
New battery
New Timing Belt and water pump changed on 168k
Anything in particular to look for on these cars?
Is 175k too many? with a $1500 Escort or similar, I could see buying it for one season … but if I’m spending almost twice that, I’d hope to get a couple years out of it with minimal hassle.
I bought my subaru legacy with 180,000 and it has just over 191000 now, Before I bought it there was an exhaust put on it. then I put and oil pan and alternator. it has been a good car so far I have had it about a year. I get about 20 city and 28 highway with the 5 speed 2.2
you have to be careful of the headgaskets on the 2.5L but I think a 1996 outback has the 2.2 so you should be good. I have heard bad things about the auto trans but I am not sure if they are true or not.
They run forever. My sister has a '99 Legacy wagon (2.2) with probably 230K+ on it. It’s beat, but it runs. Check for underbody rust, and check for fuel leaks around the tank. I’ve heard dropping the tank is a huge bitch, especially if everything is rusty. Headgaskets can be an issue even on 2.2s. There are plenty in the junkyard for parts, and they are pretty hard to kill.
It sounds fine. Other than the auto trans, I don’t know how those things hold up. I bought my 97 Legacy a year ago, I’ve put 15,000 miles of abuse on it, and only had to replace the two front axles. Everything else has been ok!
I should be looking at this car today … going to hit a parking lot, try some tight, low-speed turns, looking for tranny binding … going to be looking for leaky seals (t-belt was done <10k miles ago, hopefully that front crank seal got done too …) Underbody rust … condition of antifreeze/oil in regard to head gasket …
Anything else in particular I should be looking for? Typical suspension/steering sloppiness of course …
Hold up pretty good, took a “all cars can tow” trailer from U-Haul, the double wheeled one, over filled it, overfilled the car, from here to Colorado:
Click to make bigger:
Not sure the year but I know it was a the 4 cylinder base model. We had to get off the highway once we hit the heavy grades, 1st and 2nd was all I could use in the mountains until the trailer was off.
