Legacy Wagon - Which one and why?

Hi, I'm new(ish) here and I've been thinking of switching marques and heading into Subaruland. However, all I've owned is Volvos for like the past 20 years, so I'm REALLY out of touch with other makes. I'm pretty sure I'd like to pick up a Subaru Legacy Wagon of some kind, but which?

 

I'm not really all that fond of the Outback styling, although a base model with an Outback front would be fine. GT would be preferable, in particular with a manual. However, I guess what I'm really wanting to know is if there are any major things to look out for (besides the headgaskets, I've seen that enough just doing minor research lol) with regards to these cars. Mainly 2nd - 4th gen, or 94-99, 98-03 and 03-09. I think I'd prefer either a 2nd gen or 4th gen though, the 3rd has a few styling issues in my eyes and the new new stuff just does NOT do it for me. Oh yeah, and manual if at all possible.

 

To be clear, I'm a fairly competent mechanic with my own tools and can do swaps of any kind. Not afraid of getting my hands dirty, so if someone suggested a cheap 2nd gen base model with a newerish STi drivetrain...I could definitely make that happen.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

Bueller? Bueller?

 

I'm rethinking the 3rd gen, but all I'm really wanting to know is if there is anything major besides the 2.5 headgaskets to look out for. The research I've done suggests that there isn't much but minor niggles, so that's a plus.

 

My main reason for looking into subarus is due to the fact that they've done AWD since the beginning of time. Volvo AWD is...finicky at best, and I'm not interested in FWD biased AWD. To be fair I'm not entirely sure what the subie bias may be, but since the engine is longitudinal instead of transverse I'm going with the assumption that it's better than the Volvo setup.

I'm starting to this this forum is lame. The in-stream advertisements are extremely annoying. I will go away if they don't disappear, as will others I'm sure.

If you don't want a turbo, get a nice 00-04 Limited Legacy Gt wagon or outback. Built well, look great, reliable, don't have the head gasket issues of the 90's Subarus.

 

If you want a turbo, get an 05-06. Fast, look even better than the 00-04s, and are generally reliable. Just make sure to have the turbo inspected and a compression test before purchase. And make sure you have lots of oil change receipts to look over.

 

Manuals are very rare. Prepare to fly to go and pick one up if you find one you like.

I'd love a 05-06, but I'm not sure that's in the budget at the moment, especially at the trim levels I want (plus ticket to go get one and gas to drive it back).

 

What I'll probably end up doing is picking up a clean manual base model of some kind to use as a DD for a while, then after I do everything I want to do to the current DD, start modding the everloving shit out of it. Actually I'll probably start doing the modding way before I'm done with the current DD.

 

If things change before I get around to actually doing any buying I might just stay my hand until I can pick up an '05 LGT and not mod for a while (but who am I kidding?).

Test drove both a '00 LGT and a '95 L today, and I preferred the power delivery of the 2.2 in the '95 over the 2.5 in the '00, but both transmissions were really kindof sloppy. I suspected shifter bushings at the time, and after looking at some threads that also seems to be a common issue. I loved the dual moon roofs in the GT, but there seemed to be a problem as the front on had duct tape over the switch at some point. Hopefully that's not a common issue, but I'll keep an eye on them as I refine my search.