Should I trade in on a new Impreza?

[schspeedster]

Have a 93 Legacy L AWD sedan. Runs pretty decent for 196K miles and handles great with new GR-2's & springs. Needs some minor work like the usual fender well rust, rattling converter heat shield, mystery coolant odor, needs a steering rack boot. And the annoying automatic belt & oversized airbag steering wheel. Too busy working OT and fixing up house to spend any time on car.

Tempted to just go out & buy a new Impreza 2.5i wagon for about $17k invoice. Think of it as just buying all the parts at once, preassembled at the factory. A lot of money but consider what you get, could spend that much on a Focus or Civic. I'd assume a new Impreza provides better protection in a crash than the old Legacy or most any car in its class, if the improved body reinforcements & newer airbags prevent a hospital stay, the car would pay for itself but this is a big big if.

Downsides of new car: stress of 5 years payments, time spent in garage replaced with a lot more time spent working OT or a second job, and worrying about every scratch & dent and job loss. $300 payment * 12 = $3,600 per year not a good investment, even for a car that holds it resale value pretty good around here.

Anyone else run the numbers on this decision?

[evolutionmovement]

Not exactly, but close. I just got a 5-door Mazda3 for about the same price as taking a neglected 266k Legacy into Boston and around every day is just begging for lost work. I got the Mazda as I wanted something I liked, but don't love so much that I'd mod and that had a built-in dead end for mods to me - fwd and transverse engine. Of course now I find turbo kits and there's the AWD Volvo S40 to donate parts ... Good thing the Mazda's not so in-touch and raw as the Subaru and really not as well engineered. The Mazda's perfect for what I wanted - a fun reliable commuter with a nice interior that gets respectable mileage and cheap enough to allow me to restore the poor old Legacy. Car handles very well for what it is, though suspension tuning isn't as good as Subaru nor is it as well balanced. Chicks dig the Strato blue.

Steve