Finally came to buying my 1st car and good chances it will be Subaru.
Need your advice on what get. Looking to spend $10-15k for a car under 100k miles. Don't mind saving a little, a well as stretching for a nice car.
I'm new to US, now working in IL, but might relocate during summer. Not sure if this gonna be north regions or south, but I'm a snowboarder and nice AWD car is a must. I got some friends who own subarus, so I'm quite familiar with car and know what to expect.
I'm 25yo, single, no family here, don't really car about space on a backseat.
I see in that price range:
3rd gen 2.5i
3rd gen 2.5XT
3rd gen 3.0R
4th gen 2.5i
Obviosly 3rd get 2.5i will be cheaper or have better options and 4th gen will be quite base model. And XT will be more fun(and better handling?).
And some questions for outback owners:
0. What would you choose for that kind of money?
1. Can I expect to get a 4th gen for something under 15k? Or only rebuild cars?
2. XT - worth looking at? Or again, it will give me more problems then fun? When comes the problems with turbos? 100k, 150k?
3. 3.0R? Or get a 2.5i instead?
On the one hand I'd like to have an XT - something like adult-WRX On the other grab a newer 4th gen model. And on the other hand - my friends 2.5i are pretty good and sells for affordable prices.
A Gen3 XT or H6 will handle no better than any other Plain-Jane Gen3. They are all the same. OK, the H6 has different front springs. In fact, a whipped XT might even handle worse. I had to re-do my entire suspension for it to be to my liking.
Funny, the 1st question Paul @ Primative asked..."You don't expect it to handle like a wrx, right?"
But I'd like to have a better handling though. Some upgrades are possible, but i gotta find a car first.
WRX is a good candidate too, but I'm afraid it will be picey on isurance, maintence and so on. Not to mention that buying a ~100k/$15k WRX sounds like a lottery to me.
Personally I'd like to see a Levorg in states: smaller then outback, wagon, 2.0 turbo.
I have a 2010 Forester XT and don't have any insurance surcharges. (it's also red). Sadly, I'll be trading it in soon to buy my wife a new car and I'll be driving her 2006 Honda Pilot.
The Forester XT is a great car. I highly recommend one.
Have you ridden in a 2010-2012 Outback? You say that you are familiar with the cars and know what to expect but a pre-refresh gen 4 is rather un-sporty. A 19mm rsb helps but doesn't change what the car is.
Have you possibly considered a legacy sedan? They seem to be much lower priced than the outbacks, so you could potentially find one with lower mileage.
In my opinion the gen 3 H6 is a good trade-off between reliability and performance. It has just as much horsepower as the XT, but none of the headaches that come with maintaining a turbocharged engine. The 2.5's AWD system is significantly inferior to the 3.0R H6 or XT; it's only really AWD once the front wheels are slipping/stuck... 3.0R is AWD all the time.
If you are at all considering a WRX, you won't be happy with the handling of a 4th gen. 3rd gen is much more athletic. 3.0R gives you reliability you may be looking for while retaining that athletic/sporty handling.
The best car I ever owned was an '03 H6. Tons of power great handling, climate control and a nice interior with leather. No timing belt worries either. I don't think that it was much more expensive to run than my '08 LL Bean. Wish I still had it!
A bit late to bump old thread, but found some local deals:
2005 3.0R outback 100k miles, leather, climate control
2008 2.5i outback 120k, no leather, no climate
2007 2.5i impreza, 75k, no leatherm no climate.
Prices are about 8500-8000-7500. Wonder what do subaru fellow think about it? going up and down from 2008i base model I can get 3.0 engine with 20k less miles and leather for $500, or save $500 and go with low-mileage impreza. I guess I should take a condition of all cars as well, but assume they're in good condition, no big difference.
No rush at the moment, just wanna figure subjective opinions about them.
There's nothing inherently better about outbacks vs. imprezas. You'll have to answer that one for yourself- as in "do I want an outback or an Impreza?" They are very different cars that are coincidentally made out of many of the same parts.
Between the two outbacks, that's no contest. The 3.0 is a much better value at those prices. The worst thing about the 3.0 is the fuel consumption, but even that sting is diminishing as pump prices drop.
Yea, I don't wanna start another thread about outback vs impreza. I can go with either one but I'd prefer to pay one more grand for 3.0r engine, leather, climate control and extra 25k miles. For a daily driver I'd like to get some comfort.
One more question:
05-07 vs 08-09 outbacks. I see Si-drive, different front. According to this there's is HEXmod valve body upgrade for 05-07 and 08-09 says in progress, just in case I decide to mod it sometime.
Anything else? If there's anything to lean me towards MY08-09 model over 05-07, considering they're in about the same condition and mileage?
Talking about XT or 3.0R models mostly.