Two years with my Legacy

[Natpen79]

Here is my 2008 2.0 na Legacy that I have owned and been running as my daily motor for two years and nearly 30k!
I planned to start a readers ride thread after a few months with the car cause I normally end up doing more than I should when I get a new to me car.
However here I am two years on and only just writing one.
The main reason being, I haven t had to do anything to it really until the last couple of weeks. It s been an absolutely joy. So it might not be fast, overly exciting to look at or as economical as other cars I could have chosen but it s done everything I ve needed and more.
I ve always liked the look of the Legacy especially the estate and personally think it s ageing well.
I ran a van for a couple of years prior to this whilst doing an extension at home, so with the house nearly finished and the van sold it was time to look for a new car.
I ve nearly always had an estate for their practicality and most look better than their saloon equivalent in my opinion.
Having had an Alfa 159 sportwagon, Saab 9 3 estate, MGZTT and a couple of faulty Volvo V70 s I still wanted something that wasn t run of the mill Ford/ Vauxhall or German.
My attention was drawn back to the legacy, I even had a brochure from when I looked at one brand new in 2009 but never went any further back then and chose a VRS Octavia instead.
All my previous estates had been diesel s and all had their problems generally being 5 years old or older when I had them. So I decided petrol was the way forward and as much as I d have liked a more powerful b spec or something to run it as my daily car it needed to be reasonably economical and more so reliable. So a 2.0 normally aspirated engine was my pick.
We also have an mx5 and a mk1 Leon Cupra R in the household so I can get my fix from one of these when I need to.
On our way back from Japfest two years ago we had arranged to look at this one. A small dealer with good customer reviews and a few Subaru s on the front the guy obviously knew a decent car when he saw one.
Test drive and look at the service history with 15 main dealer or Subaru specialist stamps backed up with some invoices was enough for me to say yes there and then.
114,000 miles with 2 owners one being the dealer, it seemed a decent buy at just over three grand.
I returned a week later to collect it, decent MOT left on it and serviced a few thousand miles earlier it didn t need anything. Was given the once over with a tick sheet pdi by the workshop before I collected it but I was planning to get it serviced anyway so agreed a slight discount on price rather than the guy get it serviced. I d rather get it done myself anyway with a marque specialist.
Drive home was great, driving position lower than I remembered from the test drive but I had jumped from the MX5 in to that. Then a week driving the wife s Zafira so it felt low.
It was booked into a Subaru specialist for full service, gearbox oil, 4x4 service, the works.
Came back from that with a clean bill of health and the guy saying I d got a good un.
Slight surface rust on subframe and a couple of odd tyres but I was very happy.
Ran for 6 months to make sure I was happy with it then booked it in for full professional rust treatment.
Might seem a bit extreme for some people at shed money but I liked it a lot and wanted to protect it against our salty winter roads. A set of all weather tyres were fitted and I was praying for some snow.
The snow came for a few days and it was amazing. Drove to work like the cat who got the cream whilst others around me got stuck.
My car being the 2.0 R estate also has the standard low range selector but never needed it.
It s got me out of muddy fields after my kids football matches without any fuss too.


The only niggle I had after a year or so the radio packed in. A replacement was easily sourced for £100 but had to have it coded by another legacy owner who kindly offered to do it for me as no specialist could do it, or main dealer as it was old software.
A wheel bearing is all it s needed in two years and 30,000 miles. Had 3 services and two more front tyres in that time but that s it. Well I say that, that was until a few months back and the flywheel was starting to get a bit squeaky and starting to rattle a bit.
It was decision time, get something newer or get the clutch and flywheel done with the car on 143000 miles.
Mot time, it passed with an advisory for two rear tyres and two rear linkages.
As the photos show the car is in excellent condition with nothing more than a few stone chips and a couple of daily life fine scratches that you can t really see, so I decided it was staying.
Again, I can see some people thinking why bother, but if it does another couple of years it seems like money well spent to me.
So this is what made me finally get round to a readers ride thread.
Weekend gone it has had a new clutch and flywheel, rear linkages done and two tyres for just over a grand.
So I now have what feels like a brand new legacy like I nearly bought new in 2009, but now 17 years old
and 143000 miles of experience under its belt.
Two years ago before I bought this I looked at a couple of brand new car s but they didn t really float my boat and felt a bit lacklustre to drive. So for the same as the deposit and a couple of monthly payments I have bought and run this for two years even with the maintenance and thoroughly enjoyed it. It also means I ve been able to keep the Cupra R and the MX5.
So I will leave this Legacy here and update in another couple of years ( hopefully) as we motor on towards 200k or until someone gives me a new type R civic.

Edited by Natpen79 on Wednesday 4th June 16:55

Edited by Natpen79 on Wednesday 4th June 16:57

Edited by Natpen79 on Wednesday 4th June 16:59

Edited by Natpen79 on Wednesday 4th June 17:00

[STURBO]

Love the style of these. Had a few and they've all been great, other than rust. It sounds like you have that sorted so should be a winner.

Great all weather car, and nice on longer runs too.