This 1997 Subaru Legacy Outback came into my midst over the last couple of weeks and it seemed like a dream come true. A seemingly lightly if not gently used Subaru driven by a little old lady in Cleveland, Ohio with a barely broken in one-hundred and one thousand miles on its clock. All-wheel-drive, a plucky "boxer" four-cylinder engine, automatic, leather seats and air-conditioning that blows cold and I could have it for $1,500. Well, you know what they say about something that appears too good to be true. It usually is.
This car could serve multiple purposes. It would be my commuter vehicle, it would also replace our beloved but deteriorating 2006 Chevrolet Tahoe as our "family-car\Lowe's and Home Depot hauler" and our younger, semi-bohemian son could use it as well. Or impress his equally bohemian friends with it. Apparently Subaru's have a similar following that Volvo's have. Or had. This sort of vehicle is not my cup of tea but beggar's can't be choosers and besides, it's a Subaru. They're indestructible, right?
She wasn't perfect, though. How could any twenty-four year old car with an asking price of $1,500 be? I noticed on the test-drive that the exhaust was a tad loud, the brake pedal travel was a longish, the date stamp on the tires read 2008 and when occasionally making turns, it seemed jumpy and skidded somewhat as though there was something up with the all-wheel-drive mechanism. Again, it's a Subaru. It couldn't be anything serious.
With a body in this kind of shape and any issues I could uncover seemingly easy fixes, I enthusiastically told the owner, who's a friend of a friend, that I'd take it but I did want to have a mechanic check it out to be sure. Somewhat amazingly the vehicle owner, who bought it from that little old lady about six or eight months ago, was more than obliging with my request to have it checked out.
I had told my wife that I would probably end up spending at least another $1,500 to get the it into tip-top shape but, unfortunately, the darn thing flunked it's physical. Big time. The biggest problem was that "skipping" issue that turned out to be a bad rear differential. That in and of itself not such a bad thing but the mechanic at the shop wished me luck finding either another differential specific to that version of the Legacy or even finding parts for it. And if I did find a differential or parts, figure about $1,800 all in. Gulp. The exhaust was shot behind the catalytic converter, wheel bearings were bad and they're not the bolt in type you'd find on a Chevrolet or Ford, they're pressed in. Great. That means expensive. Sorry, I'm not about to invest in a mechanical press let alone learn how to use one.
Tires were dry rotted but I knew that already; brakes needed to be done too. So, between the rear end, exhaust, wheel bearings, a recommended timing-belt swap and what I figured needed to be done already, my $1,500 Subaru was going to run me, all in I guesstimated, between $5,500 and $6,000.
The upside was the interior was gorgeous and very comfortable, the AC blew cold and thanks to tons of undercoating, the body was in remarkable shape for a twenty-four going on twenty-five year old car that's spent its entire life in salty Cleveland, Ohio.
In the end I just couldn't do the mental gymnastics to justify dropping three times what I spent on a car just to make it right. So, we're back to square one. And just to make things even sweeter, our fifteen year old Tahoe's ENGINE COOLANT HOT warning lot popped on yesterday. At this rate, I just might have to use our '77 Corvette as a way to get to work.
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