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I've never owned and a Subaru and I've been looking for a commuter wagon for a while and I found this 1998 legacy with 115,000k on it. It has the 2.2L with a manuel. The body looks great. Power everything. New Timing Belt, New Water Pump, New Tensioner guides, New bearing. New Rear Brakes. Does not leak or burn any oil. New Michelin Sport All weather Tires. New Clutch in last 2 years. He's asking right under $6000 for it. What do you think? And what kind of fuel economy can I expect with this? Thanks

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great car, price is high. but you have to realize a bunch of enthusiasts that use this board all the time easily score great deals on cars. comments and what you see here might not be indicative of the real world all the time. so be ready for the "i bought one of those for $2,000" comments. here's mine -

 

i picked up a 80,000 mile 1997 Impreza last year for a friend for $3,200. EJ22, new timing belts, water pump, radiator hoses, PCV valve, brakes, fluids changes, spark plugs, etc. impreza does not equal a legacy but they aren't that far off either, not enough to justify a $3,000 price tag difference.

 

$6,000 is more along the lines of a Legacy GT sports sedan, much higher end cars that sell for a few grand more and have the EJ25 in it (worse motor but more horsepower, good sellers, and more desirable on the mass unintelligent market).

 

comparison shop - see what things are selling for on ebay, autotrader and local ads (magazines, newspapers). if it's comparable to other similar age/mileage vehicles then it's a good vehicle. edmunds...etc.

 

good that it's had the timing belts and water pump done - that's a $600 job right there and a clutch - that's a $500 - $1000 job as well. so those are great maintenance items to have completed on a manual trans EJ22. probably the two most expensive routine maintenance items to consider for this age/mileage vehicle.

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I've never owned and a Subaru and I've been looking for a commuter wagon for a while and I found this 1998 legacy with 115,000k on it. It has the 2.2L with a manuel. The body looks great. Power everything. New Timing Belt, New Water Pump, New Tensioner guides, New bearing. New Rear Brakes. Does not leak or burn any oil. New Michelin Sport All weather Tires. New Clutch in last 2 years. He's asking right under $6000 for it. What do you think? And what kind of fuel economy can I expect with this? Thanks

 

That's a tad high. But if it is as nice as everything you say it's close to what the average price around here is. I think $5000 would be better.

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I just sold mine for 3K, 97 OBW it had 180K and a rebuilt 2.2 in it. I would suggest craigslist and Ebay. Stay away from the 2.5 unless you have in writing some warrenty on the engine for a month of 2. There are several people on this forum that purchased the car and it over-heated on the way home.

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And what kind of fuel economy can I expect with this? Thanks

 

Over the past two years that I've owned my '96 2.2 5spd, I've seen an average of 29mpg. It should be noted that I live in the boonie suburbs of Wash. DC so if I'm driving stop-and-go it's punctuated with long stretches of highways going 45-60 between the lights, so this is basically a highway mpg figure. Road trips when I'm doing nothing but 75-80 I get between 31-33. If I spend the day running errands in the city I get around 27mpg. When the wife borrows the car to drive around the city "shopping", she averages, 25mpg.

 

Again, there are always factors, tire pressure, dirty air filters bla bla bla, and most importantly your driving style. I don't think I've been in a hurry to get anywhere since high school so I tend to get better economy then most people I know. so this may not be the case for you.

 

 

As for the price, Gary gave you an excellent response. The only thing I'd add, is that in my experience the life of a vehicle greatly depends on how it was treated "growing up" so if this car has a documented service history that reflects proper maintenance, then that's worth a bit more money in my book. I've seen similar questions on this board and they seem to get a lot of "the 2.2 liter is bombproof, a tank, bulletproof, will last forever" etc. etc. And it's not that I disagree, honestly I've only owned one for 2 years so I'm not qualified to answer that question, but what I do know is that if the oil only gets changed every 20,000 miles and the filter never gets replaced, I don't care how good the engine design the chance of an early demise is increased.

 

Good Luck!

 

Will-

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Condition Value Excellent

$5,855

Good

$5,330

Fair

$4,650

This if for Private Party in Portland, OR (no offense to Bigbusa). If the car is good to go for another 60K (except gas and oil changes), which it appears it is, then $6K is on the high end.....but what's it worth to you to have all the maintenance done?

 

One thing I continue to see is that West Coast cars are more than East Coast. Don't know if it's the lack of rust or just higher demand for Subies out here.

 

Is 115K on the original clutch low (I drive an AT)? If so, was it driven hard or just a lot of stop-n-go city driving?

 

Sounds like a good deal, if you can get it for $5500 or less.

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