car advice

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i'm considering a vehicle with better fuel economy for my trip to alaska. i will be at the bottom end of the buying $cale, probably between $1500 and $2300. so that pretty much restricts me to japanese, which i'm fine with(all my vehicles have been so).

been looking around, and am wondering what peoples experiences have been with high milage subarus? i've found a few within my range. one is an old impreza hatchback with 143,000 miles. if it were a honda or toyota i wouldn't bat an eye, and i bought my trooper when it had 147,000 on it and it's been great. but i have no experience with subarus, and you don't hear about them the way you hear about the legendary reliability of honda and toyota.

i know several of you are subaru fans here, so let's hear it. good and bad.
 
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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I bought a Subaru maybe 5 years ago, less than 150k miles, and the transmission went in about 2 weeks. Probably a bit of bad luck there.

A friend of mine bought the same sort of car and he was a big time DIYer. He spent most of his weekends working on the car and was happy to be done with it.
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
did you get the trans replaced/fixed? if so, how did it run after that?

assuming your friend got rid of the car?
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Nah, we donated it and took the $2000 tax deduction. Our mechanic told us it was a bad idea to bother and sort of scolded us about having bought it in the first place. We got a '96 VW Jetta after that for $4400 and it's going on 5 years this spring.

Yeah, my buddy dumped the Subaru a few years ago.
 

cem

Member
on my third

I bought my first impreza at 65k ran it til about 120k. My parents bought it from me and my younger ran til about 220k or so. Then totaled it in a accident. I did have an issue with transfer case when i first got it, from then on it was it was normal maintenance hoses, belts, tires and what not. If it wasn't totaled it was be still going.

Non-high milage:
brand new 99 impreza ran it til 97k. No issues, clutch even lasted til about 95K, traded it in for an 03 WRX. Which is at 130k and still running strong. Had a engine block warrantied at 60k due to a small persistent oil leak, that i kept on complaining about. Again normal maintenance, would with out doubt get another roo.

As long as it seems like the owner took some care of it and hasn't rallied it to much, you can't go wrong with an impreza.

On the plus side, most imreza are still shade tree mechanic friendly depending on your skill level. I still try to do most of my own maintenance.
My girlfriend's VW is next to impossible to work on, even a head light change is a trip to the dealer.

good luck
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
My girlfriend's VW is next to impossible to work on, even a head light change is a trip to the dealer.

Yeah, I second this. I can change the headlight in the newer (of the 2) VWs we own, but it usually leaves one of my hands scraped and bleeding.
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
the main problem i've read about is the clutch. would you say that's a common part to go on an impreza, or subaru in general?

the way it's looking now, it's down to either the impreza or an old toyota van... the van seems better suited to adventures(+ for moving to alaska) and obviously has more storage room(+ for moving), the impreza seems like it would get better mpg(+ for driving all the way to alaska) and not make me look like a pedo(+ for driving anywhere)...
 
N

Neen

Guest
Um, I guess I missed the post where you tell us that you decided to sell most of your belongings and pack up and move the rest to Alaska? :confused:
I was only out of town a few days!!!
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i do like the van... would need some work right off the bat though, but the price is right.......
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
Um, I guess I missed the post where you tell us that you decided to sell most of your belongings and pack up and move the rest to Alaska? :confused:
I was only out of town a few days!!!


yeah, there's that. i made the official announcement in jake's blog. i figured everyone and their dog reads that..... so yeah, i'm going to alaska. i'll be selling or giving away most of my belongings before then, once i get my lazy ass in gear and do it.
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
Will the money you will have to dump into it throw you off your budget?

getting a new vehicle will probably throw off my budget, depending on what i can get for the trooper. i might have to replace the oil pump, but it might be something simpler, and the owner says something is not right when starting. could be starter, could be alternator. would have to see. total cost, with repairs should be well under $2000 for the van though.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I'd vote for the Toyota as well based on the company reputation.
 
N

Neen

Guest
Well then, no wonder I missed it (not that I don't read Jake's blog, but I was out of town). I would have expected a declaration of that magnitude to warrant it's very own thread!
Best of luck!
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i'll have donnie take a look at it later today or tomorrow. he's a mechanic.
 
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743power

Shop: Bicycle Pro
Shop Keep
look for an 88-91 civic wagon. If it still has good compression and fresh spark plugs, you should be hitting high 30s or better on the highway and you can fit alot of crap inside of it.
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i used to have one of those, and was about to buy one the other day. mine was a 2wd version and this was a 4wd, which would have been nice. downside was it had some serious body issues and it was previously owned by an apparently really irresponsible teenager....

i'll keep my eyes peeled as the moving date get's closer.
 
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