ttt Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 (edited) Hello, I am considering buying a 1994 Legacy Wagon. Has 160,000 miles. I'm about to enter graduate school and really just need a car for local and regional driving, something inexpensive that can be driven into the ground. I would appreciate your impressions of some of the damage I observed when I looked at it (if I decide to purchase a subaru, I would love to become a member of this community. So this isn't necessarily just a one off visit!) The engine sounded "normal" on the test drive. The car accelerated nicely. Upon breaking there was a very slight pulsation. The owner (who I don't know personally, but is very well known to be a good guy in our town, fwiw) says it doesn't burn oil and that it has never had major mechanical work. The cruise control does not work, and I would assume it needs to be replaced. The interior was worn but not in terrible condition. The main concern with the car was the rust around the wheel wells and along the bottom of the doors. The car was also involved in a low speed collision and there is significant "cosmetic" damage on the front left fender area (cosmetic according to the shop that hammered back the fender). The owner was asking $2100, but since we're friends of friends, already said he'd give us a deal. I'm guessing he would have no problem in the $1800 range. So, my two main questions are: how much does the rust and crash damage scare you? And, could the slight shaking upon breaking have been caused by the crash? I would like to get the car looked at by a mechanic, although the owner already switched out his plates to his new car and lives a little ways out of town, so I'm not sure how I would get it to a mechanic. But in any case, I thought a larger number of eyes from you all could give valuable feedback Thank you so much for any insight! Sorry for the image size. I kept trying but it wouldn't post the photos then. Edited December 17, 2011 by ttt forgot to mention milage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolskaterkid Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 (edited) Damage doesnt look to bad, a hood and fender from the junk yard, or just drive as is, when i look at these cars, i just dont want rear body damage as the front parts hood fenders bumpers and so on are easy to find, to replace, most of them have the rust around the fender wells, Imo the price is a little high, in my area you can find them with good bodys, but higher milage, for bit less then that. The pulsing when braking is just warped rotors, can be replaced or resurfaced. Edited December 17, 2011 by coolskaterkid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 (edited) is this a FWD only wagon? if fwd only, then price needs to come down, lots. If he gets 1800 for that, then i should be able get 4200 for my 94 LGT with 48k miles on it. Edited December 17, 2011 by bheinen74 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Definitely not a $2100 car. If it runs well I would price it more around $1000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttt Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 (edited) Thanks! Sorry, I forgot to mention mileage. I edited the post to reflect that it has 160,000. From my limited knowledge about cars, warped rotors is what I first thought about the pulsing. Then I did some searching and read about bent axles and things like that also causing that too. Just wanted to know if that was even plausible (seems like a bent axle is something the mechanic that looked at the car after the wreck would have noticed. Since the wreck was several years ago I don't think it would have gone that long without the old driver picking up on it). And, yeah, the price too seemed a little high. I'll keep looking around and see if I can figure out a market price for a car at this mileage with similar cosmetic damage. Edited December 17, 2011 by ttt clarity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttt Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 is this a FWD only wagon? if fwd only, then price needs to come down, lots. If he gets 1800 for that, then i should be able get 4200 for my 94 LGT with 48k miles on it. It is AWD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 thenpriced about right for ~1700 or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttt Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 thenpriced about right for ~1800 or less. Great, thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 2100 I could see for a clean car (no wreck, no rust) In Perfect shape with all maintenance recently done. Being wrecked and rusty that thing better have 50k original miles for $1800 bucks. I'm gonna guess it's up around 200k. A look underneath would probably reveal control arms and a cross member about to rust out. Anything suspension related that goes bad will be a Royal PITA to replace, typical in the rust belt states. Cruise doesn't work, that can be a can of worms, or just a vacuum hose. The shaking probably means the brake rotors are warped, those are usually simple to replace, but its one more thing on the list. Either way, it probably needs some tune-up parts, timing belt changed, Exhuast system soon. I personally wouldn't go over $1000 on it. If you can't get it for that just keep looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john40iowa Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Unless you really want this car, I would consider looking at your options otherwise. A little road trip may offer you some better choices for less money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttt Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 Thanks FT4M. Appreciate it. I am seeing the trend in opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 rust is better than what to epect, mileage is reasonably low, and the crash damage is cnsderably less than what i am driving. Price, this car is about 12-1500 bucks if its a front whel drive. my ar would have a book value of 2200 with 100,000 mies, if it hadnt been crashed or has no rust (94 legacy gt 4wd). I gave 600 for mine. you would get better than average fuel economy with this car being FWD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 I agree that it is worth about a $1,000. It is just not in good enough condition to be worth more. The slight body damage doesn't look like much to worry about. I doubt that there was any mechanical damage done with that minor fender bender. Looks like it ran into a mail box, or something about the same size to cause the damage. As others have said, it is the rust to the underside of the car that causes problems to contend with from time to time. If you live near a city with Craig's List, I would look there for a good used car from private owner. Good Luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 That car is pretty much rust free for NW Missouri. Really doubt there are much better out there. the ones that are listed for 1000-1200 are the ones with holes in the fenders, doors, and quarter panels. I have watched craigs for 4 years within 7 states of Iowa, so Missouri, NE, IL, KS, SD, MN, WI, etc. and they are just not rust free. I can show you tons of much worse than this pics, but only a few that are better, and the ones better, are priced higher than 1800. The junk ones are 600. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red92 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 That car is pretty much rust free for NW Missouri. Really doubt there are much better out there. the ones that are listed for 1000-1200 are the ones with holes in the fenders, doors, and quarter panels. I have watched craigs for 4 years within 7 states of Iowa, so Missouri, NE, IL, KS, SD, MN, WI, etc. and they are just not rust free. I can show you tons of much worse than this pics, but only a few that are better, and the ones better, are priced higher than 1800. The junk ones are 600. ^ That's pretty much what I found too. In my area, any Legacy that moves under its own power seems to go for $1400+ regardless of condition - and like you say, most are in substantially worse shape than that one. $1000 or under will only buy you something that needs major work ASAP. It's easy to say "Spend more and get something better", but those can be hard to find.... particularly this time of year. I looked for about a month and a half, and didn't find anything... so I bought a "manageable project" instead. zzz "Worth it" or not, I bet that would get $1800 here. The only thing I would caution about is this statement: The owner (who I don't know personally, but is very well known to be a good guy in our town, fwiw) says it doesn't burn oil and that it has never had major mechanical work. In my experience, 100% of the cars I have looked at where the sellers have said "never needed major work" are in fact cars which have been neglected due to ignorance, and need semi-major work to be performed right off the bat. I'm not saying that this is the case here- but make sure you check everything out yourself instead of relying on the seller's word. The truth is that some people just don't understand cars, and "never needed major work" is their way of saying "I've driven it for years with the left rear clunking and the engine rattling in its mounts and the transmission grinding in second while the radiator spews out steam and the exhaust drags on the ground, but the wheels still roll when you step on the gas so we're good to go!!! Never even changed the oil, these Subarus are awesomely reliable!!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uniberp Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 If it can get up to 90mph without any alarming behavior (vibration, smoke, veering), then it will probably drive at 65 ok. Those small amounts of external body rust are irrelevant to safety and reliability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbennett2u Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 If thats a $1000 dollar car I want to know where you guys get your deals! AWD and 160k put that thing close to 1800. Especially in an area that does not have rust free 20 year old cars. Finding a decent subie in Denver for around 2000 is not always easy and they are abundant, I wouldnt want to try to find one in MO. $1000 cars are typically heavily abused and neglected. Hell people try to sell ones with bad transmissions that cant even drive for around that sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redcap Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I got a similar car (less rust, more damage on the hood/driver's fender) for free...in my area, the car in OP's pictures is worth $1000 on the high side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propane Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 If it were me, I'd walk away. Looked at this car on Cl owner says regular maint. thats nice, then why pulsing throbbing somethings trying crawl out from underneath the car and bite somebody in the what did say your major was? Do your homework, same year wagon,(195K) went for 1200 a last month in Jeff city.said it got 19/26 MPG which makes it an auto as was this Orca, If you can drive a stick get a 5spd 2.2 pre95. Or, get a 2.5 and you can spend all your time posting here what that bubbling sound is in the raditor overflow bottle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 wellll - not rust free (not even close), but definitely moved under it's own power - my 1990 AWD Legacy LS was purchased for $200 in Madison WI just about 4 yrs ago (yes, two hundred, not thousand) - had 152,000 on the clock at that time. the biggest price reducer was the blown air shocks. swapped in standard coilovers (complete sets with springs & tophats - $85-90), fixed the exhaust and been driving it ever since. might take a little hunting & vigilance on places like craigslist - but it CAN be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttt Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 If it were me, I'd walk away. Looked at this car on Cl owner says regular maint. thats nice, then why pulsing throbbing somethings trying crawl out from underneath the car and bite somebody in the what did say your major was? Do your homework, same year wagon,(195K) went for 1200 a last month in Jeff city.said it got 19/26 MPG which makes it an auto as was this Orca, If you can drive a stick get a 5spd 2.2 pre95. Or, get a 2.5 and you can spend all your time posting here what that bubbling sound is in the raditor overflow bottle What are you talking about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttt Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 In my experience, 100% of the cars I have looked at where the sellers have said "never needed major work" are in fact cars which have been neglected due to ignorance, and need semi-major work to be performed right off the bat. Good point. That's probably the major driving force in the breaking down of cars, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdemaris Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Hello, I am considering buying a 1994 Legacy Wagon. Has 160,000 miles. That Subaru would be lucky to bring $800 here in New York. Are they that much more valuable in your area? I find that when I buy Subarus that look like that, it'll be maybe 2 more years before everything falls apart from rust. Brake lines, exhaust system, wheel bearings and eventually the rear struts break right off and the car is junk. But we've got a lot of salt on the roads here. The most I ever paid for a Subaru was this Spring. 2002 Impreza Outback with 2.5 and five speed trans. No rust and 108K miles. Paid $2500 for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbennett2u Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 The most I ever paid for a Subaru was this Spring. 2002 Impreza Outback with 2.5 and five speed trans. No rust and 108K miles. Paid $2500 for it. How the heck do you guys get these deals? $2500 in Denver will buy you a ok-ish condition mid 90's model with 150k+ miles, and subies are pretty common in Denver. Is the demand that low that people will sell them for that cheap in some areas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 found another one nice for around here http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/wsh/ctd/2760077210.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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