I bought this Legacy Wagon used with 62,000 miles on it. Now I have about 80,000 miles on it and am quite satisfied.

I bought this car because I needed a car for carpooling with 2 other people. I was previously driving a Nissan Pickup and there was no way for 3 adults to ride 110 miles one-way. I wanted something that would go in any kind of weather and the Subaru sounded perfect. I found this car with minor body damage for an excellent price. After fixing the damaged fender and bumper cover and painting the whole car (so the paint would match), I ended up with about $4,500 in it. A new set of tires and spark plugs plus an oil change, and I was ready to go. And go I have.

This little car will go anywhere in any weather. It is not designed for off-roading, but could be used on minor trails. It is fairly comfortable for long trips, but adults in the back seat may feel a bit cramped. It gets decent mileage (27-29) for an AWD car and handles like a sports car. It does not have much power and you can really tell it when using cruise control on the interstate. It constantly kicks down to 3rd gear when climbing a hill. I've found that by not using the cruise control, I get better mileage. I must add that I carry a lot of stuff in the car (tools, turnout gear) and the three of us that ride in the car are all over 220 lbs each. Maybe without all the weight in the car, it would seem to have more power. The seats are comfortable, the stereo is adequate, and the a/c blows cold. There is quite a bit of road noise and the roof rack whistles at higher speeds. If you turn the radio up, you never hear this. The ride is firm, but not uncomfortable. The car has been very reliable to this point. I recently changed the brake pads on it. It was the easiest brake job I've ever done (I've done lots of them). The engineers of the brake system did well. Maintenance on the car is very easy. The oil filter is conveniently placed. Belts are easy to get to, even the timing belt. If you do your own repairs, this car is a dream (that is if you ever need to work on it). This car is very reliable.

Update:
I now have 88,000 miles on the car and had to fix a couple of things lately. The engine started to leak oil from the front. I expected the front crankshaft seal to be the problem. When I got in to it, the leak was coming from the o-ring on the oil pump. I replaced the o-ring, oil pump seal, front crankshaft seal, and timing belt (since I already had the old one off). About $35 in parts and 2 hours later, I was on the road. I started smelling oil burning again and thought I was leaking oil again, but this time it was the passenger-side inner CV boot that was causing the smell. It had split and was throwing grease on the exhaust. $12 for the boot and 45 minutes to fix it and I was back on the road. Like I said before, this is the easiest car to work on that I have ever seen. The Subaru engineers did a wonderful job designing this car. The only complaint I could have while working on the CV boot was that the axle nut could have been designed a little differently. It requires unstaking with a punch and restaking when it is put back on. This means it could only be removed and re-installed a couple of times before it would be too chewed up and need replaced. Just a minor point, though. I am very happy with this car and intend to run it into the ground rather that sell it.

Amount Paid (US$): 4500
Condition: Used
Model Year: 1996
Model and Options: L, auto trans, AC, PS, PW, PDL, PM, AM-FM Cass.