06 legacy gt soec b questions

Hello,

This is my first post here but ive been looking around for awhile.

Ive been looking for a legacy for awhile now and they're basically impossible to find in Orlando where i live. I did find one in texas and im willing to drive to pick it up but i had a few questions first. This will be my first subaru and first turbo car, so im a little skeptical.

The car is an 06 legact gt spec b silver with red interior. It has 101k miles and the owner wants $9500. He is a suabru mechanic and has done a tune up recently. He also replaced the turbo about 3k miles ago from a car that had 20k miles. So the turbo is still fairly new but he did mention that sometimes the bottom end has to be done when the turbo fails. He has driving for over 3 k miles and hasn't noticed any issues with it, but the thought of that still scares me since i know its a pricey fix. The clutch disc, pressure plate, pilot bearing, and throw out bearing were all replaced when the car had about 23k miles. He said he'll replace the timing belt and water pump for free if i pay for the parts.

So i want to know if this would be a good buy. The car seems fairly new and is fully loaded with nav. Is there anything that i should watch out for and ask him to check for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated, sorry for the life story! lol i just really want to know what im getting into before spending that much money.

Thank

It's a 7 year old car.
They're fairly reliable, but I wouldn't buy it unless you have the money to fix it.

From the sound of it, if you don't have $5-7k in the bank AFTER you buy the car, you can't afford this one. That's the going rate if you have to pay for an all new shortblock / turbo and everything that goes with it.

Agreed wtih BMB - It's a good price but factor in what may need to be done in your purchase price (and if purchasing make sure you have some $ set aside to repair failures since this is probably $3-4k under market - there's probably a reason for that). Timing belt and H2O pump labor is like 3.5 to 4 hours so that's worth something.

Questions I'd ask this "mechanic" would include...

What are results of compression/leakdown tests? What oil change intervals was he running since doing the work? What kind of oil was used? When was the last drivetrain fluid swap done? Did you flush the oil system after turbo replacement, and replace all oil feed lines and union fittings (banjo bolts)? Inspect oil pan for debris? When were the plugs changed last? Is there a salvaged title? Do you have receipts for the previous maintenance (clutch etc.).

Originally Posted by .:Catalyst:.

Agreed wtih BMB - It's a good price but factor in what may need to be done in your purchase price (and if purchasing make sure you have some $ set aside to repair failures since this is probably $3-4k under market - there's probably a reason for that). Timing belt and H2O pump labor is like 3.5 to 4 hours so that's worth something.

Questions I'd ask this "mechanic" would include...

What are results of compression/leakdown tests? What oil change intervals was he running since doing the work? What kind of oil was used? When was the last drivetrain fluid swap done? Did you flush the oil system after turbo replacement, and replace all oil feed lines and union fittings (banjo bolts)? Inspect oil pan for debris? When were the plugs changed last? Is there a salvaged title? Do you have receipts for the previous maintenance (clutch etc.).

The car has a clean title and all the fluids,filters, spark plugs were changed in the last 500 miles. He's a subaru technician in Texas and did the work himself. When replacing the turbo he didnt change the oil feed line and just took off the banjo bolts, is this safe? The only thing im scared about is the bottom end going out since i know thats an expensive fix. Is there any way to check on that? He is sending me the compression test tomorrow.

You can listen to us or not, but the fact is that it sounds like he did the work "on the cheap". He half-assed it and he knows it, so now he likely wants to get out of it before he loses the whole motor due to contamination.

Could everything be just fine and run for 100k miles with no issues? Absolutely. What are the odds that happens? Let's just go with 50/50. If you can deal with a 50/50 shot that you'll have to drop 7 grand into the car within 6 months then it may be a good car for you. It's really all about the level of risk you are willing to assume.

No matter what happens it's likely that it can be fixed, and probably fixed better than how it was in the first place--it just costs time/money.