Hi all

I'm considering getting a second car for times when I don't want to use my new STI, and I've noticed that there are quite a few old ('94) Legacys around at not much more than beer money.

I know they've got plenty of room for load lugging, and TPFT insurance is cheap as chips too, but most have done at least 100k miles and I guess will be getting a bit tired by now.

As an example, on Auto Trader right now there's a metallic grey '94M 2.2 GX auto estate with 70k miles on it, at a dealer for £2195.

So, bargain or banger? Would I have a laugh on the way to the tip/DIY store/dodgy pub or would I find it such a hateful experience that I'd take my chances with the STI instead?

Cheers
Andy

 

I've driven a couple of the newer Legacys & they are fine to drive, if a little "floaty" & underpowered.. If the old un's have the trick pump-up suspension, watch out for this as it can be expensive to fix when it fails.

 

Legacy Turbos are proper fast I used to have one but I did a fair bit to it. The bodywork went on mine (just bubbling arches), handling was a little wallowy but a proper Q-car. It used to scran all sorts of cars. I really miss sold it for £1000!!! Boo Hoo!!!

 

Not really interested in another turbo, thanks - I have a new STI on order anyway. This car just needs to be reliable, tolerable and inexpensive.

Right now while I wait for my scooby, I'm trundling around in an F-reg Escort van (reasonably priced at £150!), but it's dribbling oil all over my nice clean garage and it loses all grip on the road at the slightest hint of moisture. That said, it does obviously manage to carry a huge amount of stuff, and it's nice not having to worry about where I leave it or whether I've locked the doors. I just fancy a cheap load-lugger that doesn't leak oil or threaten to kill me every time it rains

 

I have got a leggy turbo estate paid£1000 for it best grand ever
has mega miles on hammer the ---t out of it if it goes bang who cares just buy another and use this one for spares


It runs on lpg too so it is cheap to run!

 

Most modern cars, by that I mean those manufactured during the past two decades, will clock enormous mileages provided they are well maintained, unabused and reasonable care is taken of them. So provided all the signs are there to demonstrate that it is well cared for, don't let it's age or mileage put you off.

Some of the cars - including Legacys - I've seen driven into local breakers' yards by owners who want newer stuff is reaching criminal levels of consumer wastage. There was a Nissan 200SX turbo coupe with an MoT failure cert in the glove box on my most recent visit - it failed on two items: slighty over high emissions and sill corrosion - a very tidy looking car otherwise. Examples like this are numerous....... Subarus now turning up regularly - two years ago none ever seen. Most of these breaker cars being around 8-12 years old and look quite tidy ..... I'd thought they would last longer than that ...

So, to answer your "Bargain or banger" query is quite simple...

There a plenty of "Bargain Bangers" to be had ....

 

hi , i am new to the Subaru scene . and am in the process of negotiating a sale / part exchange between my car and a Subaru Legacy B4 . can anyone please help me with any bad points that i am to be aware of on this type of Scooby ? and also is there a club for the Legacy B4 ?
i did put these questions on somewhere else on this site but no response . any help will be appreciated .

 

Pretty expensive for an M reg car!!

Don't worry too much about miles on Japanese origin cars - they'll take it usually AS LONG AS THEY ARE LOOKED AFTER!!!!

I run as a second car an M Reg Nissan Primera 2.0 Diesel. It has just passed its MOT, no problems, gives me nearly 300 miles for £20 worth of diesel every time, and is sitting at, as of tonight,

194, 479 miles - no hassles.

Fires up faster than my 2003 Impreza and seems bomb proof, with a great chassis and steering although performance is poor until you get her going.

Look at Nissan, Toyota etc to get cars even more reliable than Subaru for less money too, with cheap parts. insurance etc.

Best thing I ever did was buy the Primera at the same time as the Impreza - I have done 10,000 miles in her in the last 11 months - all saved from going on my WRX (which still has 17,000 miles on the clock in spite of this - Private car, not company etc).

Brian

 

Thanks for the tip. My Dad had a J-reg Primera for years and it hardly needed a thing doing to it. In fact I'm not quite sure why he sold it - he only went and bought another!

What bugs me is that I have trouble thinking of when I might actually choose to drive it when I have a nice new scooby sitting there in the garage too. I like the idea of keeping the miles off the new car, but life's too short to regularly pass up a drive in an STI with a brilliant stereo in favour of a car that's... well... the epitome of dullness. On the plus side, my daily commute is 12 miles of dual carriageway - hardly rewarding scooby material - so maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I guess I just need to do the sums and try to work out whether I'd end up saving money in the long run, or whether the extra running costs would cancel it out.

I also have 9 years' insurance NCB on a second car that I need to keep active, but that lasts a couple of years unused - right?

 

Andy,

With most insurance companies Generally your NCB's will last for 2 years before they start to disappear. After the 2 years they disappear 1 years NCB for every year you have not held insurance.

I had a 2 year break after I sold my last car and just started it about about 6 months ago as I did not want to lose them. At least I now have another 2 years to decide what to do.

Darren

 

STI with a decent stereo - WHAT?!?

I take it the standard one has been replaced or will be??

Brian

 

It's a JDM car and doesn't come with one fitted at all. I got a bit carried away and I'm having an Alpine/Genesis/Dynaudio setup installed from new