Looking at a 2005 LGT 5EAT

Hi everyone, I'm eyeing up a 2005 Legacy GT Sedan 5 speed Electronic Automatic Transmission. This car was owned by a single person purchased from dealer and has only 83,000 miles. Car is in pristine condition and have all service records for all repairs done. (Every single repair was done at a Subaru dealership even oil changes.) This car is basically what everyone looks for when purchasing a car Old Lady owned who only used it to go grocery shopping, Garaged its entire life and went to the dealer for maintenance every 3,000 miles. This car wasn't exactly what I was looking for I was looking for a Stick Shift Manual Impreza Hatchback but can't find anything that cheap, with that little miles with everything serviced at a dealer and Old Lady owned. Since it was always dealer maintained none of the turbo preventative mods were done to it (Cat-less up-pipe) and the Head Gaskets were never changed. She is asking 5,000$ for it, but it needs a new timing belt and has a tiny bit of rust and I'd like to put the cat-less up-pipe (to prevent turbo from killing the engine) and a cat-back exhaust. I'm not able to bring it anywhere to get a pressure test done. Anyone have any insight on whether or not I should buy it/ Keep looking for what I really wanted? Purchasing as a replacement for my Volvo S60 2.5t AWD since it has over 200,000 miles. I'm in college so I'm not looking to spend a lot of money on repairs and need a solid car to drive to and from school without much issue but since its such low mileage I can imagine it won't cost that much to maintain, especially compared to my Volvo. Anyone know what I should look for when buying one of these cars (first Subaru but all my friends have Subarus). Edited August 13, 2020 by Kaidan
not a new car

I'm in college so I'm not looking to spend a lot of money on repairs and need a solid car to drive to and from school without much issue but since its such low mileage I can imagine it won't cost that much to maintain, especially compared to my Volvo.

 

A 4th Gen Legacy GT is not for the college student, looking for solid car and to not spend a lot of money on repairs.

 

The price is very reasonable for the low mileage and condition as you describe it. While 83k is low miles, if it has been only driven short distances by the little old lady, the turbo could be close to the end of its life. If it starts to fail and you miss it, it is YNANSB time. The cost of replace the engine short block and turbo could easily exceed your purchase price if you are not going to DIY.

 

IMO 4th Gen GT are for enthusiasts that are prepared for a project and the potential cost of replacing the motor.

So if I replace the turbo (since it's near the end of it's life) and get a catless up-pipe do you think that it would be a good car with the preventative maintenance? I know your saying just don't buy the car but I think that it's a really good deal and I will do the preventative maintenance... I know Subarus aren't for the faint of heart with head gasket issues and what not, but the car I have RN is not exactly reliable, and I need a new car before the school year ( I want AWD) and from what I read, if you do everything that the car requires (top off oil, check the head gaskets regularly for problems), it will be relatively reliable... I'm not quite sure how the turbo failure works and if replacing it will actually help the car become more reliable but more insight would definitely help me make my decision.

The price is good. The rust stinks and won't stop. Are you doing your own work or depending on a shop/others that you have to pay?

 

I would go for it. Change the timing belt, fluids, up pipe, remove banjo filters, buy a Cobb AP and rock the car for what it is. I bought mine a cple years back with 53k, did the preventative stuff and it's singing along fine at 73k now. My $.02

 

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Only way to get a relative feel for how the turbo is doing is to drop the downpipe and check shaft play. Also look for how much oil is in the intercooler.

 

I would say if you have the time and money to redo the intake, replace the turbo/gaskets, change oil every 3k-5k miles, do spark plugs and check compression, and become familiar with logging software the car should be fairly reliable.

 

Also note the turbo models don't commonly have head gasket issues like the NA models

 

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Edited August 13, 2020 by dwmccauley01

Yes, the GT's don't seem to have HG issues like 2.5i's do.

 

If you buy it, the above recommendations are what you need to do along with a new oil return hose from the turbo.

 

Don't worry about a exhaust. You need to spend money in the right places before school.

 

If your going to pull the DP to check the turbo, just replace it or send it off to JmP6889928 who rebuilds these turbos.

 

My Tuner, tuningalliance@gmail.com can also rebuild the turbo, sell you the Cobb AP and get your car running the way it should. He's in CT so he's close if needed.

 

As hinted, these cars don't seem to do well if driven for short distances.Saying that. My 09 only has 93,000 miles, it sits for weeks sometimes, but when it's driven its for at least 10 miles highway.

 

 

Also as said above, these things can turn into money pits quickly.

I'm 21, work full-time, and am a full-time student. I love my wagon, but if I could do it again, knowing that I would later find cleaner examples of my car also in blue, I would not have purchased my particular example with 202K. I had more money saved up for a better one, but jumped on mine once I discovered how rare the wagons are and how my odds of finding another manual turbo wagon in blue were fairly low. This car has needed a LOT of work. It's currently sitting, waiting for a new shortblock. Mine has 214K and now burns too much oil to feel safe driving it. I have replaced every single suspension bushing, done VERY little in the way of mods that weren't just replacing worn-out OEM parts, and, although the car has never left me stranded, it's had its fair share of issues. My car has lived in Portland its whole life and has no rust, so I haven't even had to think about that.

 

I would easily have quadruple the money in my bank account now if I didn't own this car. Granted, I love it, and wouldn't trade it for the world now, but I'd really recommend just owning a moderately fun car with a manual transmission to get you through college. Hondas are great for this - a Fit or Civic from the early to mid 00's is a blast with a 5-speed and will be much more reliable. I also have a 2000 Civic that I recently bought as a beater and, to be honest, driving it is much nicer most of the time as I don't have PTSD over when the engine will pop like it finally did in my car.

 

TL;DR, I wouldn't really recommend this as a college car. They don't take well to neglect, parts aren't tremendously cheap for them, they're not amazingly simple to fix, and they're not really that reliable, all things considered given the other cars you could find in their price point. People recommend Miatas to young guys like us because A. They're cheap enough to buy used, B. they're super reliable, C. they're super cheap to insure, and D. they're fun as hell without being so fast they'll get you into trouble.

TL;DR, I wouldn't really recommend this as a college car. They don't take well to neglect, parts aren't tremendously cheap for them, they're not amazingly simple to fix, and they're not really that reliable, all things considered given the other cars you could find in their price point. People recommend Miatas to young guys like us because A. They're cheap enough to buy used, B. they're super reliable, C. they're super cheap to insure, and D. they're fun as hell without being so fast they'll get you into trouble.

 

 

Thanks for your reply, I really thought it through and ended up purchasing the car, the price point was really good, only 5000$ and the owner took extremely good care of it and it came with a bunch of new things, ie: newer tires, new winter floor mats, just had new struts comes with a Thule roof rack and a kayak... quite honestly it was a heck of a deal even if I end up flipping it/trading it... I wanted to get an AWD car and this fit everything I was looking for except for the fact that it isn’t a hatchback. I’m gonna rebuild the turbo, put a cat-less up pipe and do the other mods recommended.... thanks everyone for their reply. Any other suggestion let me know!

 

 

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Congrats on the purchase. Even though we tried to steer you away, at least you know what you're getting yourself into. Best of luck.

 

I think the big mistake many new owners make is they are mesmerized by the turbo AWD and don't do any research. They think the boxer 4 will just be like their parents/neighbors/family friend old Legacy with 300k miles on it that only had to replace the headgasket on.

i would just drive her to learn how she runs...

 

dont fix or replace anything yet, unless they're broken.

 

stay stock and you will be happy.

 

a lot of do's and don't in owning and driving a forced inducted car.

 

Learn It.

 

welcome.

Congrats on your purchase! Welcome to the Legacy/Outback community. Stoked to hear the car is in good hands.