legacycentral bbs

I've had my Legacy since January and I've loved it the whole time. It's comfortable and fun to drive, and has been very reliable. But I have to drive from Portland to Bend, OR once a month or so for work, and it is a difficult and potentially dangerous drive in the winter without AWD. I would love to convert this car to AWD but realistically I don't have the time, money, energy, or knowledge to do this myself anytime soon. I know this is probably a long shot but I would like to propose a trade, my LSi for a lower model Legacy with AWD.

What I am looking for:
- Must be AWD
- Must have power windows/locks (I'm not willing to give up ALL my comfort features)
- Must be reliable... I drive about 2500 miles a month for work
- Prefer a manual but auto is fine
- Prefer a sedan but I'm willing to look at a wagon

Other than that I'm really not too picky. Color doesn't matter much, mileage isn't a huge deal as long as it's reliable, and I'm not looking for a perfect exterior or anything. I'm willing to throw a little money into the deal also but I don't have a lot to spare and I'm not expecting a heavily-modified car either. I will be removing my stereo and stuff (and putting the original back in) so I'm basically imagining stock-for-stock.

One more important thing to note... I want to keep the wheels I have now so I would plan to swap wheels at the time of trade or put my stock wheels back on. Also, I don't mind traveling a bit for this but I'm not willing to make a deal without inspecting and test-driving the other car first.


My car:



1991 Legacy LSi
FWD, auto transmission
~122k miles

The good:
- power windows/locks/mirrors, moonroof, leather seats
- low miles
- VERY reliable (I've driven it 17k miles since January, combination city and long highway trips, without any problems)
- new driver's side axle and front brake pads, installed by Kelly @ Rallitek, and freshly resurfaced front rotors
- 5 years of service records, including timing belt and replaced tranny
- the car is fairly quick using just the EJ22, without the extra parasitic loss from the back wheels
- passed DEQ in January with flying colors, and has valid Oregon tags through 2008

The bad:
- tear in passenger's seat
- moonroof tilts but doesn't slide
- leaks a little oil (~ 1/2 quart every 3000 miles)
- passenger's side sun visor broken and I can't find a replacement
- AC has been retrofitted to R134 and holds a charge and turns on fine, but the compressor is defective. Once it's replaced AC will be strong and cold.
- passenger's side CV boot is torn, but hasn't affected CV joint yet (no noises or movement from that side)
- has the normal little dents and scratches that you expect from a 15 year old car, but paint is nice everywhere else


As it was when I bought it, with stock wheels:





Interior. The tear in the passenger's seat is exactly behind the seat belt on the side bolster, and is about three inches long:



The paint when it's freshly washed and waxed:



Any takers? She'll make a great second car or a great comfortable cruising car, with not a whole lot of work. If anyone takes me up on this I'll miss her, but at this point I need to be practical.

does not look like a bad car, but i think it will be a hard sell for someone to trade an awd vehicle for only fwd.

my advice: sell it outright than find an awd vehicle.

good luck.

quicklook wrote:does not look like a bad car, but i think it will be a hard sell for someone to trade an awd vehicle for only fwd.

my advice: sell it outright than find an awd vehicle.

good luck.

Wish I could, but I don't have the money to do that now and can't go without a car.

i think your fwd will do just fine in the type of driving you are describing.

get snow tires if you can afford them.

i drove large engined rwd cars in ohio for many years in a lot of snow and did just fine.

i have many friends that drive fwd cars in snow and have no problems.

I can't afford snow tires at this point, although I do have chains. And I am perfectly capable of driving a FWD car in the snow, but it would be much easier (and take a lot less time to get there) with AWD. As I said, I know it's a long shot, but it doesn't hurt to try.

like i said before, good luck.