Drooling a bit over this car. Is it a good one to buy.

[keelhaul]

hey guys.

this link is in norwegian, but it is to show you the car. http://www.finn.no/finn/car/used/object ... e=21078046

it has so much equipment, and strong motor, and its a legacy sedan. all services followed and documented. i think i can push the price down a bit too, since its been on the net for a long time.

only thing stopping me from going there and and test it, is that it has automatic gear
i dont have anything against autos, but everyone i know says auto aint fun if you want to play with the car. i dont know anything about that. i have only driven automatic gear in a Vito 2009 model.

is this a good car, can you play with it, and is it the 2.5 engine with poor HG's? i would be happy if anyone who've owned a similiar car could tell a bit about it.

keelhaul

[fishbone79]

That pesky automatic problem can be rectified fairly easily

[93Leg-c]

Yes, there is a 2.5L engine in there, the one with the HG issues. The latest 4-layer metal OEM HGs from Subaru solves the problem. In the USA, the HG part # is 11044AA610. If the original gaskets have not been replaced with the latest gaskets from Subaru, and if you buy the car, you should plan on replacing them sooner than later. The original gaskets have blown from 40K miles on without warning although some have lasted to 125K to 150K miles.

It seems like you've driven a standard shift car most of your life. If you really enjoy the shifting, then probably you won't like the auto trans. I've got an auto Legacy right now but if I had my choice, I would drive a stick shift. Just a couple of days ago I had to move my friend's car. It was a stick shift but just driving it out of the driveway onto the street made me smile!

The 1998 Legacy is a good car but I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "play with it". If you're speaking of modifying it for engine performance, then, no, you won't have much fun with it. If it was a turbo engine, then, yes, you can have fun with it. If you are referring to performance driving, most find a manual trans much more enjoyable than an automatic.

Hope that helped some.

And, welcome to Legacy Central!

[keelhaul]

thank you for the inputs. man, i love this forum.

ill be keeping my old signature-car until november, until its time for the every-2-year periodic control. that will be my cars doomsday.

im looking for new subies every day tho, cuz i like to get known in the subiemarket in norway.
that 98 model seems like a coup if i can press the price down 10-15%, but ill get a new first-gen if i cant keep my current after november

[keelhaul]

what i ment with "playing", was driving hard on snow and ice, "drifting" and sliding around like i really enjoy with my current subie

[mike-tracy]

What do you mean by "every-2-year periodic control?" You're forced to stop driving it for 2 years, or permanently?

[keelhaul]

yes, sorry for my bad language.

in norway and a lot of countries, perhaps in US too, we have this car-check every 2. year which must be taken at a workshop. they find out if your car is safe enough to drive, and dont have too high emissions. if they find enough, and/or serious errors, you must fix it or its illegal to drive.

since i dont know my car that well, ive only had it for 7 months, and its my first car, im a bit afraid when november comes i really want to keep my subie. seems like im one of the few in town who owns one. so its cool. ive just seen a 90 station wagon, other than that, no old subies here.

rust is what i fear most when that control is coming in november.

[evolutionmovement]

We have that in the US, too, generally every year, but it varies by state. California is the most strict and my state isn't far behind. I went to school in Detroit, Michigan, which has no inspection, and after seeing the junk yard cars people drove around in, I came to appreciated my state's fairly strict inspection requirements. That said, I don't know how our inspection compares to Norway. The emphasis is on emissions, which have traditionally been more strict than European standards (though Tier 4 is about the same), but I'm pretty sure Germany and UK have more strict safety inspection. Japan, I believe, is the most ridiculously strict by a long shot.