BIL Bought a Bloody Big Bargain

[Peter C]

My BIL has failed to find the E39 estate of his dreams and last week a work colleague offered him his 83 year old dad's Subaru Outback 2.5 auto. The old boy was getting lost on route home from the supermarket and his family decided that it was time to hang up his driving gloves.

It's a 2005 car, in silver, with a decent spec that includes sat nav and working a/c. The car came has 131k and FSH, including two stamped up service books and came with 3 months MoT. In recent years, the car has done approx 1k miles between MoTs.

The Good. Drives well, 'box changes smoothly, engine pulls well, nothing leaks. It's been properly serviced and mechanically, the Outback is in rude health. A couple of months ago it had a new alternator and last week a new £100 battery was fitted. The cam belt and auxiliary belts were done at 121k miles. It has a matching set of 6.5k mile old Michelin tyres and a decent spare. The interior is very tidy and all the toys work.

The bad. The bodywork. Giffer related damage to most panels - see photos. The worst is the rear nearside arch and rear passenger door.

How much did this piece of automotive art cost? £320, which I think is reasonable. 

Aside from sub 30 MPG fuel consumption, is there anything that we should know about the Outback? I am guessing that these Subarus are generally low tech and reliable old things?

[Mally]

I know nothing about these, except that it's worth £320 of anybodies money.

[Pete-M]

Subaru are reliable provided the oil is changed regularly. 6000* mile regularly. 

Do that and they'll keep on going. 

 

*3000 when used hard, but that's turbo ones. 

[bangernomics]

I know naught of these but that’s seems a right bargain.

[paulplom]

I think he actually stole that.

[Macscrooge]

Bargain!

[garethj]

That’s an amazing price!

There seems to be two schools of thought with these: firstly that they’re incredibly reliable.  They kept coming top of JD Power surveys and they seem very tough.

Secondly, there’s a lot with failed head gaskets.

With purchase price that low, you can certainly live with low fuel economy as long as he doesn’t do 20,000 miles a year

[Asimo]

I had a Saloon Legacy (same car but for the ground-clearance) for 7 or 8 years , must be the best all-rounder of a car I have ever owned. 

Troubles? Front calipers, but they are easy to change, rear wheel bearings likewise. Rear subframe rust is a real issue, as the subframe is quite complex with that five-link suspension. The immobiliser died on mine, but it only inhibits the starter motor, so I fitted a starter button.

[Supernaut]

The parents had a 2.5 Outback manual, '05 model, until very recently.

It was on somewhere in the 130ks in miles when they got rid.

 

 

Overall, it was a very reliable car, and really nice to drive. However, the exhaust loved rusting away on it, and parts were seemingly difficult to get hold of. I think some of the exhaust ended up being fabricated by the local exhaust place in stainless steel as it was cheaper than sourcing an OEM part from Subaru. I also remember the price of a front brake caliper carrier being eye-watering!

Otherwise it was a really nice car. I really enjoyed driving it. Even the outback has very direct steering and a nice small steering wheel. It felt very confidence inspiring when pushing on.

 

The problems above may not happen with your BiL's one though. My parents used their one on their Aberdeenshire farm as a bit of a workhorse, and it also towed somewhat large trailers fairly regularly.

[Lanciaman]

Big bargain. As Asimo says...rear subframe. Get underneath and wire brush and cover in gloop. Same with radiator mounting bar.  Wise to make sure diff oils are good.  Heasgaskets if the old boy was redlining it a lot but sensibly driven not an issue.  Very little really goes wrong with them in my view. I've had 6 of them, all various 3.0 legacy/ outback and 1 Wheel bearing the only thing other than routine maintenance between the lot of them.

[Schaefft]

Should be great for the zombie apocalypse, until the headgasket blows! Looks like a bargain though!

[Lanciaman]

Interesting spec as well.  Few 2.5s had the sat nav as that was fortunes option but have that and not the leather or sunroof. Possibly unique!  Cracking buy though.

[Wack]

Where did they get £320 from

£20 more than WBAC offered 

[C1am]

The water pump can leak from the  block mounting;  this should have been replaced as part of the cambelt change. Check the rear diff oil seals. Apart from that nothing to worry about. I've had my Impreza for 6 years and done over 60,000 miles. I've spent the value of the car in the last year on wear and tear items - clutch, oil seals, suspension bushes, brakes - but keep up the maintenance and they will reward you with being completely reliable. 

Edit - forget to mention wheel bearings - had to replace all four in the last year.

[andy18s]

They do like a bit of oil so be sure to check the levels regularly 

[Peter C]

Thank you all for your feedback.

BIL and I spent the afternoon in isolation on my driveway tarting up the Outback. It certainly looks like it’s worth more than the cost of a night out.

[busmansholiday]

2 hours ago, Peter C said:

It certainly looks like it’s worth more than the cost of a night out

Jesus, £320 for a "night out"!!, what are you doing, panic buying at Tesco?

[TrabbieRonnie]

Well bought (bit of an understatement!)...

We have the same car, same year, and I have been impressed on the whole.  As others have said rust is the enemy... I took the sill covers and wheelarch liners off ours when we bought it (about 4 years ago now actually, should probably have another look!), and greased everything I could.  Rear subframe needs protection too. 

We were quoted over a grand from Subaru for the exhaust, and that was just the cat back.  Local guy did us a stainless one for £600 (and more since to do the cat section), so watch out for any blowing!  Weirdly, the sump had rusted through also, and I had to lift the engine a wee bit to get the rearmost bolts.  Wish I'd noticed it was going when I had it out all the way to change the clutch six months before!  On the plus side, the engine is very easy to pull out, I'd never done it before and it only took 4hrs out, 4hrs clutch on and back in.  

I have just done (yesterday) the nearside rear wheel bearing (£73, eBay), easy enough if you soak/heat the four bolts that hold it in.  Ours is 20k further down the road than yours, but I did the other side two years ago.

Apart from all that boring stuff, as I'm sure you're aware, there aren't many family estates that take the bends as well as an old Subie.  The engine loves to rev, and the noise gets addictive.  I think they've aged well, and are a nice compact car on the road without being small inside.  Rustproof, check the oil regularly (I've gone to 10/40 now, seemed to use a bit of the spec'd 5/30, I think as they get up in miles they need a heavier oil), and enjoy!  Someone said to me that it's only really the turbos that eat their headgaskets… my wife drives the car mainly, but by god does it get a thrashing when I get hold of it!  

[Cord Fourteener]

I drool all over these, and to think you paid £320?

Madness. I hope you love it, if not let me know ?

[Cord Fourteener]

Having said all that, I forgot to mention that I've never had one, not yet.

[83C]

G Zuss tittyfucking Christ. That is very definitely the bargain of the pandemic so far.

Much envy.

[Eyersey1234]

That looks a chodtastic bargain. £320 for that? What a time to be alive. 

[somewhatfoolish]

The parentals had one, also purchased from a giffer hanging up the stringbacks due to onset of dementia, but not before he'd added a few giffer dents in odd places. Boringly reliable, I don't remember it giving them any problems at all, they only got rid as it started to rust, replacing it with a Forester. The badermatic is supposed to be a weak point but theirs gave no problems.

[Snipes]

22 hours ago, Peter C said:

I am guessing that these Subarus are generally low tech and reliable old things?

LOL! Is anything like that anymore?

Nice cars though. Always managed to avoid the hooligan image of the Impreza.

 

[Peter C]

44 minutes ago, Sir Snipes said:

LOL! Is anything like that anymore?

 

Not now perhaps but we are talking about a 15 year old car based on even older underpinnings.

[Cheggers]

And it had a fuck service in 2016

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[loserone]

Great work.

 

Watch out for crusty rear subframes.  As noted wheel bearings and brake parts can be expensive.

 

2.5 seems the least likely to blow the HG, except the H6.  

[Peter C]

3 hours ago, Cheggers said:

And it had a fuck service in 2016

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It’s had services since then, including one towards the end of last year, all confirmed by stamps presented in the second service book.

[Agila]

3 hours ago, Cheggers said:

And it had a fuck service in 2016

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Yeah that's the expensive one. I hear they charge by the hour. For the full girlfriend experience they kerb the alloys and bring it back with the fuel warning light on.