Should I buy a modded or stock LGT?

Hey there,

I'm not completely new to Subaru's I've been wanting to buy a 2.5gt for over 3 years. (in the mean time i convinced my parents to buy a '10 forester XT) Anyways I finally have the means to do so now that I'm graduating college so I've been getting pretty serious in my search.

Right now I'm trying to decide if I would be better off buying a completely stock Legacy GT (hard to find!) or going for a car that already has a few modifications.

I would be using this car to drive on the highway everyday to my new job and I'm going to need it to be reliable and long lasting. If I was to buy a stock legacy I would likely have the basic bolt on's installed myself (I understand its a good idea to tune these cars when installing intakes etc). Would it be worth my money or is it relatively safe to buy cars that have already been tuned?

What would you guys stay away from modification wise and what do you think might actually benefit me?

I bought a modded LGT and I was fine, but in no way do I recommend doing so. Buy as stock as you can so you know what was done and who did it and that they knew what they were doing when they did it. I'd say if all it has is a catback or something real simple, thats no big deal, but make sure that is all it has and all it has had.

On top of that, you'll love the car more if you did all the work to it, it makes it more of your own car.

Originally Posted by scoobyroo

I bought a modded LGT and I was fine, but in no way do I recommend doing so. Buy as stock as you can so you know what was done and who did it and that they knew what they were doing when they did it. I'd say if all it has is a catback or something real simple, thats no big deal, but make sure that is all it has and all it has had.

It's often difficult to tell if a car was always stock, or if it has just been un-modded. I sold my 05 stock, despite the fact that it had been Stage 3. I was forthcoming with all the details that the buyer asked about, but less honest people might not be.

Okay, I do understand the pride vested in a car built yourself, very good point.

thefultonhow, what would you say are some good signs that the car was modded at one point and reverted back to stock?

Buy one with better compression numbers.

fulton has a good point and I agree with him. Just press he previous owner (without being a jerk) and try to find out what the story is. Also I'd say if you are looking at a car say with 100k miles on it and an engine bay to match that age, and a TMIC or something that looks like it has 20k miles on it, boom, it was returned to stock. Might not be that easy but look for little things like that. Another example could be upgraded oil lines but everything else is stock... that could mean they returned everything else to stock and left the lines in because they didn't want to deal with it.
Again, easier to say than actually find but that is what I would look for.

Originally Posted by mcdougaldm

thefultonhow, what would you say are some good signs that the car was modded at one point and reverted back to stock?

It's hard to see this kind of thing without knowing the ins and outs of turbo Subarus... But, look around the engine bay and try to see if there is anything out of place. It could help to look under the car with the undertray removed, too, but that might be tough to do when going to check out a car.

I bought mine stock. Presently,still with no mods.

I have decent mechanical knowledge so I'll keep an eye out for odd things out of place or new looking gaskets / silicon etc.

I'm fairly new with car tuning and the electronics though. I see a lot of cars have cobb tunes on them. Are tuned cars (like say a cobb stage 2) known to run reliably for a long time?

Cobb Stage 2 is meh. Works on some cars, dangerous on others. I wouldn't rule out a car that has bad a Cobb OTS map on it, but ask for a compression test ahead of time, maybe.

I purchased a well modified stage 3 car, knowing the possible weaknesses (trans) and am not disappointed. With the healthy trans, I'll go for more power and enjoy it even more until it needs a rebuilt motor, then have even more fun. All of that was factored in when I made the decision to purchase it. I guess I don't mind a flaw as long as there's a fix.

Okay I'll definitely get a compression test done.

Originally Posted by dmanaenk

Buy one with better compression numbers.

IIRC i seen someone post 155-155-155-145 as good numbers, would 155's across the board be ideal? And what would be numbers that should scare me away? Sorry I don't really know too much about compression tests...

This one car im looking at has had a cobb stage2 AEM tune for, i think, around 50,000 miles. Would you say if anything big was going to go wrong, it would have already?

I believe the guideline is that compression numbers for a given cylinder should be no more than 10% off the other three. Depending on how the compression test is done, you may have numbers in the 120-130 range. When I blew a ringland, my numbers were 120-130 psi on cyls 1, 3, and 4, and 63 psi on cyl 2.

Good info, thanks!