Is this a good first car?

Hey guys I am currently 15 and getting ready to buy my first car. I have my eyes on a 4th gen legacy 2.5gt and i was just wondering if this would be a good first car. I was also wondering how much money it takes to make the car sound good and get that "Subaru Rumble" as many people call it. Thank you all in advance for your responses!

 

Jack Bush

Where do you live, Jack? Do you get a lot of snow and bad weather there? Or drive on dirt and gravel roads?

 

Are you mechanically inclined? Do you like working on things?

 

You would need to be able to deal with pretty poor fuel economy and some potentially expensive repairs.

Edited September 13, 2017 by MilesA

Absolutely NOT. This is not a car for the faint of wallet.

I definitely understand your desire to get something fast but LGT is not a great car for a young person.

 

Too unreliable and too finicky. When it breaks it will cost you a lot (engine replacement/overhaul) even if you do work yourself.

 

Bit too fast. I sympathize with a desire to go fast, but a fast car in hands of a young male is just too dangerous. Nothing personal. E.g. miracle I lived through my driving teen age. Perhaps I am because had a slow car.

 

If you want Legacy get a normally aspirated one with a manual transmission. You can make it "rumble", too, if you insist.

Awful first car especially now that the 4th gens are all pretty well aged. They can be a lot of fun, but demand a ton of maintenance. Also if anything should go wrong with the engine/turbo the repair bills will far outweigh the cars' value.

 

That being said I made a lot of poor decisions against better advice at that age. Do what you must.

Thank you all for your opinions. I will take into consideration!

I definitely understand your desire to get something fast but LGT is not a great car for a young person.

 

Too unreliable and too finicky. When it breaks it will cost you a lot (engine replacement/overhaul) even if you do work yourself.

 

Bit too fast. I sympathize with a desire to go fast, but a fast car in hands of a young male is just too dangerous. Nothing personal. E.g. miracle I lived through my driving teen age. Perhaps I am because I had a slow car.

 

If you want Legacy get a normally aspirated one with a manual transmission. You can make it "rumble", too, if you insist.

 

My thoughts exactly. Everything you mentioned here, I could not have said any of it better myself. ESPECIALLY the part in bold.

to add to this with some anecdotal evidence.....

 

When i sold my 05LGT back in 2013, it was to a young guy. withing 6 months, the dude totaled it via front end collision, which means it was most likely his fault.

 

the best firsts cars for beginner drivers are slow FWD/AWD cars or newer cars with electronic driving aids. the 4th gen LGT, especially 05-06 is neither of these things.

 

Buy a N/A impreza. drive it till it breaks, and then upgrade from there.

Came in here to echo that you'll probably kill yourself on it, that's assuming you can afford to fill it with gas and drive it after insurance premiums.

 

These cars can be very reliable if they are maintained, problem most people don't maintain them. Thus you have to expect to shell out a few thousand just to get it fixed up after buying one.

Buy an Impreza for a first car if you want a Subaru. Hatch back if you are into those. Any year, they are all good. Slow, reliable, AWD.

 

 

Or a Honda. Really, any Honda. I had a bunch between age 16 - 25. Best decision ever.

Plus, they were slow so that's probably why I'm still alive at 40.

I was hoping we could find out more about what the OP needed and suggest something for him, but I think you all scared him off.

 

I like the suggestion of an Impreza or a Honda as a good first car.

A LGT was my first car, and now my second. If I wasn't 18 at the time I would still have my first legacy.

 

Yes these cars are fast, but they aren't performance cars. Drive it like a performance car and you'll end up like me. If you can actually afford one and want to learn how to work on it yourself, get one. I'm sure that's terrible advice, but it was the best decision I ever made.

 

Get one without any modifcations. No coilovers, no intakes, no stage 87384 clutch, no ebay turbos. Maybe an accessport, maybe a quiet exhaust. Look for extensive maintenance records, spend at least $5500.

Absolutely NOT. This is not a car for the faint of wallet.

 

You beat me to it. I have to agree, when I saw his age...I doubt he has pockets deep enough to hold the kind of money required to play this game.

 

OP, I bought mine new, I'm well into paying for it the third time.

Honestly, even if you're buying a pre-2010 non-turbo Subaru, pay to get it checked out first and then either haggle based on the inspection results (they will give you an estimate for all the work needed on the car) or find a different car. Head gaskets and steering racks are not cheap and the rest of the things add up fast if you don't do them yourself (rusty exhaust systems, O2 sensors, wheel bearings $$$, etc.).

Buy an Impreza for a first car if you want a Subaru. Hatch back if you are into those. Any year, they are all good. Slow, reliable, AWD.

 

 

Or a Honda. Really, any Honda. I had a bunch between age 16 - 25. Best decision ever.

Plus, they were slow so that's probably why I'm still alive at 40.

 

This but get a manual transmission one. They are reliable and fun at times.

I'm jumping on the honda boat! They are cheap, easy to maintain, easy to fix. And when you get bored with it or want more power, it's easy to upgrade as well. Hondas near me aren't slow that's for sure, these kids jump on ebay spend like 2k on injectors and turbos and are easily pushing high horsepower.

 

Honestly if money isn't an issue, ie mommy and daddy are footing the bills, then why not! Cost wise your looking at around 5-10k depending on the condition of the car just to start, from their I would always have around 5-7k in a rainy day fund! This is why people say its not worth, 10-15k for a 10+ year old car that is prone to issues is a bad choice unless you are committed. If your a subaru fanboy it might make sense, but if you don't care about that kind of stuff you have much better options for reliability and horsepower.

 

YOLO!

Edited November 20, 2020 by Tehnation

I bought my car at 19, currently 21. Full-time student with a full-time job. Maintaining this car is tricky. I can do some stuff myself as I work at a dealership and can hop into service in a pinch if I need to wrench on it, but most of the time, as it's my only car, I'd rather have a professional work on it so I can get to work tomorrow. I had a cheapo 2000 Civic while my engine was being rebuilt recently and it was nice to get back to basics, putting regular gas in it, doing oil changes with conventional and generally not giving a shit about the car. I would really recommend a car like that to a young car guy. I love my wagon to death, and it's a very rare car so, should I sell it, it would be hard to find a good one again, but I would probably not buy it again if I were to do it all over. I've spent about 20K all in on this car now, and I've had it just under two years now. That's not feasible for most people in high school/college.

 

I dunno who decided to bump this post from the nether, but alas, I think this sort of advice is timeless.

 

Also, this car is relatively quick and not as safe as many modern cars that are equally as quick. I'd advise going down the manual Honda Accord/Civic route and having a blast with those.

get a honda first

Yeah, get that Civic. I did that...6 figures later it was a 9 second car that won its class at an NHRA Sport Compact National Event. Be careful... LOL

2.5 is kind of too much for a 15 year guy.

 

This guy bumped the thread from like 2017!

 

waste of time lol

Maybe its time for a sandwich... remember that, or is that before your time ?

lol. sammich

2.5 is kind of too much for a 15 year guy.

 

OP is 18 or 19 now. Already wrecked his first car, got a job, etc. Definitely ready for a money pit now