Buying a legacy

[Guest]

Hey guys so joined the forum with the intention of gaining some info on buying a legacy wagon.

I am intending to do a season as a custodian at Mt Ruapehu next year and think a legacy is my best bet for a car to have up there.

I always seem to hear bad things about them though, I know to steer well clear of the EJ25, and the EJ30 uses more gas than I would like (just an unfounded opinion am willing to be proven wrong). I also hear the EJ20 still have blown HG problems.

Basically, I am after people in the know to shed some light on legacy's .. common faults, what I should look out for when buying one, maybe even some links to some good ones for sale etc. Budget is around $8k max for what it's worth.

Any information is much appreciated. I am also looking at 4wd caldinas, legnums (although probably not), and wingroads.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to some info. Cheers

[funkytown]

what year legacy are you looking at mate that with budget constraint will tell you what condition car you can get...

Id say at 8k you wont be getting the 3l ez30, maybe an older BH ez30d. and they are nice cruisers. The ej25 can have soft heads althogh the rebuilt ones never seem to do it again once fixed. so if you could find out of those perhaps the grand wagon (outback) would suit you going up the hill every day.

some of the twin turbo BH's are nice (98-01) but cold starting up and down the hill every day might be less than ideal, they go hard, and use about the same gas as the 3l to be honest. (newer 2.0t is more efficient)..

The BG's are getting on now and would steer clear if you want something half reliable.

my 2c.

and welcome to the forums, lots of clever people happy to help out.

[DRFVDR]

which side of Ruapehu you going to be based on it makes a difference as to the type of Subaru I would recommend

A Legacy will use more fuel than an Impreza/Forester of the same capacity because of the extra size.

If you want a mountain based car I would look at an Auto,Basic Model,skinny tires( wide mag wheels with low profile tires will not help in snow and ice).

the later 2.5's (not sure on the model code) but after 2000 seem to be better than the earlier ones.

If you can get into a 3 litre it would be my pick

[Guest]

I have been reading up about the 3L (2000 model onwards) and have yet to find someone with something bad to say about it. The fact that it's chain driven is a big plus for me. I will be living in the snow so Whakapapa obviously, but wouldn't matter if you had a tank when the road's shit going to Turoa there's no hope of getting up there haha.

Does anybody know how the H6 is on gas milage? Claimed usage is only 0.7L/100km more than the 2L which seems a bit incredulous. My old man has a 2006 GT with the single turbo EJ20T and that uses a fair bit. Is it also true you have to run the (around 2000) H6's on 95 octane?

Cheers

[DRFVDR]

AFAIK all subarus have to be run on 95+ octane

I get up to Turoa in all conditions in an AWD hiace but that is more experiance than vehicle

[Jord]

Open road the 3.0 use stuff all extra over the 2.0 models. Its the in town stop-start driving that makes the 3.0 pretty thirsty. Lovely smooth low down torque though

[Guest]

I'm going to start looking at various 3.0R's and taking them for drives ... anybody have any tests I should do to check things are all good (havn't spent in time around any of those vehicles). I'm guessing they're standard macpherson strut so just check for all the usual knocks and CV clicks etc etc?

[Kiwi_Fozze]

take for a long drive at 100, to get everything nice and hot, then do a few tight u turns to check for center dif binding

[Guest]

Cool cheers, and if it is binding what will it do?

[ADIKT]

Stay well clear of the legnums... Youll run in to ALOT more problems. Caldinas not so bad.. i would say get a subaru and stay with the wonderful family of CLUBSUB !

[Guest]

Haha no bias there eh

Sweet got my moneys in order so 1 step closer. Now to actually start driving some. Only real concerns are 1) Petrol consumption; 2) Reliability (although I think most 3.0R's will be rape-free, well looked after and they have a good rep anyway); and 3) IF something does decide to fuck out, will I have to sell my kidney to pay for it.

I could do some research and find this out myself, but cbf. Is the running gear the same? Strong gearboxes and same suspension as 2.0L wagons etc?

[boon]

3.0's tend to be reasonably looked after but as they're not always owned by people who know which bit of the engine does what they can have a patchy service history. If you look at an auto one, make sure there's no hesitation or loss of drive when it shifts.

[Kiwi_Fozze]

if its binding, it will feel like all 4 cv's need replacing... it wont like it at all.

[DRFVDR]

the 3.0's seem top be pretty much bullet proof, one member on here has one in his race car, and another member has raped the hell out of his in his wagon for years and it still going

[legacy666]

I have a BH9250t. And yeah its abit thirsty in town, but on the open road this weekend a 1000km round trip was done on one and a half tanks of gas( which I was both suprised and stoked about). When chosing my car I drove a few 2.0l wagons but they really didnt have the balls I was after. And having previously owned a turbo I decided to to chose a non turbo model as the price of fuel was sky rocketing. I couldnt really comment on how it drives on the mountains, but it cruised the centrel NI rather well. My advice is take more than a few for a test drive 1st. And get some kind of mechanical inspection aswell. buying a car then finding out the cambelt,water pump and idler need to be done wouldnt be alot of fun.

[Guest]

I'm trying to stay away from the 2.0 and 2.5L (especially) because of the chronic head gasket problems they have, and the general unreliability of those engines, including the twin turbo. Don't really have th emoney to be getting into 2006 onwards legacys.

While the 3.0L engine seems like it is too big for what I want/need, it seems to be a really sold engine and have only heard good things said about it. While you may think it would be overly thirsty, claimed usage is only 0.7L/100km more, so depends how you drive it. It will be used more for long distance driving than my day to day commuting as the public transport can suit the needs of my weekly routine

[GravelBen]

Chronic headgasket problems and general unreliability? Haha thats a crackup!

[Swindog]

Ive got a 99 BH5 Legacy for sale. Its a tidy wee number and no...your wrong. They are reliable.

[Guest]

Well I don't think there would be that stereotype out there if they were so reliable

[Kiwi_Fozze]

the steriotype is caused by muppets who don't get their car's serviced right, run it on 91 and thrash the pants off them cold (often with a manual boost bleed valve)

if they are treated right, with the respect they deserve, they keep going and going and going

[Guest]

 kwi_fozze said:

the steriotype is caused by muppets who don't get their car's serviced right, run it on 91 and thrash the pants off them cold (often with a manual boost bleed valve)

if they are treated right, with the respect they deserve, they keep going and going and going

QFT!!!! and thats not just with subi engine. if u do that to a 3.0L you gonna bust it.

[Swindog]

If they are unreliable, why in 4 years of owning it have we not done anything apart from putting intake back to stock and regular servicing, has it not blown up?

[GravelBen]

 Swindog said:

If they are unreliable, why in 4 years of owning it have we not done anything apart from putting intake back to stock and regular servicing, has it not blown up?

Put 42,000km on my '02 GTB over the last 3 years, the only thing thats gone wrong was a MAP sensor which I replaced 2nd hand for $40.

[Swindog]

 GravelBen']

[quote name='Swindog said:

If they are unreliable, why in 4 years of owning it have we not done anything apart from putting intake back to stock and regular servicing, has it not blown up?

/quote]

Put 42,000km on my '02 GTB over the last 3 years, the only thing thats gone wrong was a MAP sensor which I replaced 2nd hand for $40.

Point and case for reliable gtb's. Anythings reliable if you buy a good base to start with and look after it.

[Scoobydoo]

I also have my 98 BH GTB for sale if you're interested

http://www.clubsub.org.nz/forum/index.php/topic,26438.0.html