2005 Subaru Legacy 3.0R - Practical family car?
Discussion
Hi chaps, long time lurker in the Readers Cars thread, but never posted before. I've finally got something which I think is vaguely PH-worthy so thought I would share.
At age 28 with a toddler and another child soon arriving, I decided it was time to chop my rattly Alfa 147 in and go for something more practical - I had toyed with the idea of leasing a new c-class estate, but I just can't get past the thought of driving something "box fresh", and getting a scratch on it. My daily commute (25miles each way) goes through some fairly narrow back roads and just didn't feel it was worth the risk.
So I took to the classifieds and eBay with one goal - buy something outright with the following criteria;
- Decent sized engine
- 4WD if possible
- Estate (want lots of room for family stuff and my BMX's)
- Some creature comforts
I was looking at Audi A6 Estates for quite a while, as well as advice from friends about various Volvo's - nothing really took my fancy until I came across the following;
An eBay ad for a Subaru Legacy estate - keen price - private sale - 250 miles away.
I gave the seller a call and talked through the usual things and a day later booked a train ticket down - drove it back up that evening for the princely sum of £2100.
As for the car, I love it. The colour combination of dark blue exterior and ivory leather inside works really well in my opinion, I do enjoy a more spacious and airey look to the standard black and grey all my past cars have been. The engine is fantastic, the 3 litre flat 6 makes a nice smooth sound and at around 245bhp is more than fast enough for the commute. The auto-box is not bad, I did want an automatic as I felt it would make the general driving around I do every just a bit easier, and it does. But I do miss a manual after having it for a few months. I actually purchased this car just after Christmas - and have done a few bits since, which i'll update with when I get chance.
There were a few issues as to be expected, the following I knew about straight away;
- A few bumps and scratches on the paintwork, particularly the front and rear bumpers.
I'm not too concerned about bodywork in general, I did a good inspection when I looked at the car and the structure is all sound and straight, so I can rule out any proper knocks - I have a friend with a reputable body shop who has offered to sort it all out for me, which I will get to eventually, perhaps this summer.
- Slight oil leak from the front-end
I was able to diagnose this straight away, the front drain plug was leaking and can be attributed to the copper sump washer being re-used too many times. I will purchase a new one when I change the oil in a few weeks
- Brakes a bit juddery when pressing quite firmly
The front discs are a bit warped - i'm going to be replacing these in the next few weeks as it's getting on my nerves a bit and I suspect the pads are getting a bit low too.
- Rear number plate lamps held in with black and yellow hazard tape
Crazy - took the tape off and cleaned the area, discovered that there were no screws holding them in! Sourced 4 screws and re-attached. Good as new.
And I discovered the following after driving the car home;
- Slight exhaust leak towards the rear of the car
Seemingly a common issue with the twin-exit legacy setup, the rear Y-pipe corrodes and blows out the centre. In February I had a full cat-back stainless system made (to almost factory spec - removed front silencer) at Tony Banks in Leeds. Really good chaps and a bargain at £450.
- Droning sound from the front when travelling above 50mph
A front wheel bearing started whining while at speed on the motorway back home. Not what you want to hear by any means, but I know it's not a serious issue. A quick Google in the services determined that a replacement hub assembly was about £85 so not the end of the world. A few days after getting back home with the car I took it to a local Subaru specialist (who looks after my friends Impreza) and it was replaced. He also took a look over the car and was satisfied that it was in good overall condition, no concerns there which was a relief!
- Rear parking sensors don't work
Popped a couple of them out and they are corroded. For now I have turned them off and will probably remove altogether when the paintwork is sorted - they are after-market ones anyway and with plenty of visibility all round it's easy to park.
That's it for now - I have a few other updates which I will get to in the next few days, but that should be enough to be getting on with!
At age 28 with a toddler and another child soon arriving, I decided it was time to chop my rattly Alfa 147 in and go for something more practical - I had toyed with the idea of leasing a new c-class estate, but I just can't get past the thought of driving something "box fresh", and getting a scratch on it. My daily commute (25miles each way) goes through some fairly narrow back roads and just didn't feel it was worth the risk.
So I took to the classifieds and eBay with one goal - buy something outright with the following criteria;
- Decent sized engine
- 4WD if possible
- Estate (want lots of room for family stuff and my BMX's)
- Some creature comforts
I was looking at Audi A6 Estates for quite a while, as well as advice from friends about various Volvo's - nothing really took my fancy until I came across the following;
An eBay ad for a Subaru Legacy estate - keen price - private sale - 250 miles away.
I gave the seller a call and talked through the usual things and a day later booked a train ticket down - drove it back up that evening for the princely sum of £2100.
As for the car, I love it. The colour combination of dark blue exterior and ivory leather inside works really well in my opinion, I do enjoy a more spacious and airey look to the standard black and grey all my past cars have been. The engine is fantastic, the 3 litre flat 6 makes a nice smooth sound and at around 245bhp is more than fast enough for the commute. The auto-box is not bad, I did want an automatic as I felt it would make the general driving around I do every just a bit easier, and it does. But I do miss a manual after having it for a few months. I actually purchased this car just after Christmas - and have done a few bits since, which i'll update with when I get chance.
There were a few issues as to be expected, the following I knew about straight away;
- A few bumps and scratches on the paintwork, particularly the front and rear bumpers.
I'm not too concerned about bodywork in general, I did a good inspection when I looked at the car and the structure is all sound and straight, so I can rule out any proper knocks - I have a friend with a reputable body shop who has offered to sort it all out for me, which I will get to eventually, perhaps this summer.
- Slight oil leak from the front-end
I was able to diagnose this straight away, the front drain plug was leaking and can be attributed to the copper sump washer being re-used too many times. I will purchase a new one when I change the oil in a few weeks
- Brakes a bit juddery when pressing quite firmly
The front discs are a bit warped - i'm going to be replacing these in the next few weeks as it's getting on my nerves a bit and I suspect the pads are getting a bit low too.
- Rear number plate lamps held in with black and yellow hazard tape
Crazy - took the tape off and cleaned the area, discovered that there were no screws holding them in! Sourced 4 screws and re-attached. Good as new.
And I discovered the following after driving the car home;
- Slight exhaust leak towards the rear of the car
Seemingly a common issue with the twin-exit legacy setup, the rear Y-pipe corrodes and blows out the centre. In February I had a full cat-back stainless system made (to almost factory spec - removed front silencer) at Tony Banks in Leeds. Really good chaps and a bargain at £450.
- Droning sound from the front when travelling above 50mph
A front wheel bearing started whining while at speed on the motorway back home. Not what you want to hear by any means, but I know it's not a serious issue. A quick Google in the services determined that a replacement hub assembly was about £85 so not the end of the world. A few days after getting back home with the car I took it to a local Subaru specialist (who looks after my friends Impreza) and it was replaced. He also took a look over the car and was satisfied that it was in good overall condition, no concerns there which was a relief!
- Rear parking sensors don't work
Popped a couple of them out and they are corroded. For now I have turned them off and will probably remove altogether when the paintwork is sorted - they are after-market ones anyway and with plenty of visibility all round it's easy to park.
That's it for now - I have a few other updates which I will get to in the next few days, but that should be enough to be getting on with!
Edited by Jalexp on Monday 18th April 13:36
rb5er said:
Looks nice and a bargain at that sort of money. Has it done many miles?
Bought it with 95k on the clock and lots of history - i've put almost another 5k on it already and everything feels really tight. Takes a bit of a thrashing without any argument!Can't really get over how much car you can get for the money these days.
TwistingMyMelon said:
Every one of those I looked at had a leaking exhaust, or had it marked on a previous MOT!!
Nice car
Yep - and replacements are impossible to find due to the low quantity of these on the road I guess, my local garage recommended going direct to Subaru. No thanks!Nice car
Stainless exhaust works a treat, though, and the cost was very reasonable. Even got them to match the tailpipes pretty much exactly!
You can get replacement exhausts on ebay for these now for a shade over £100. They're made by Gerlach and reports on them have been positive. The front calipers can stick but can be refurbished cheaply. The 4 pot setup on 294mm disks as fitted to the Impreza WRX are a direct swap though. I've had both calipers on my 3.0 litre Outback and haven't been that happy with either. Also, check the bearings on the pulleys for the auxiliary belt. These will be almost guaranteed to fail at around 100K miles, leaving you with no power steering or battery charging. You can buy the bearings cheaply as they are a generic item and it's easy to remove them from the pulley. Check out uklegacy.com for more info.
74merc said:
You can get replacement exhausts on ebay for these now for a shade over £100. They're made by Gerlach and reports on them have been positive. The front calipers can stick but can be refurbished cheaply. The 4 pot setup on 294mm disks as fitted to the Impreza WRX are a direct swap though. I've had both calipers on my 3.0 litre Outback and haven't been that happy with either. Also, check the bearings on the pulleys for the auxiliary belt. These will be almost guaranteed to fail at around 100K miles, leaving you with no power steering or battery charging. You can buy the bearings cheaply as they are a generic item and it's easy to remove them from the pulley. Check out uklegacy.com for more info.
Yeah I did see those - although I have bought and fitted cheap ebay exhausts in the past and not been happy with the fitment. I figured going down the stainless / guaranteed route would be worth the investment as frankly I am bored of laying down on my back looking for leaks in exhausts!Butter Face said:
Nice car, my boss had one and it had a stainless exhaust and sounded ace.
Only did about 18mpg though!
Ouch! I can thankfully say I am doing better than that - and I live in a hilly area where it's pretty much up-hill and down-dale everywhere I travel to regularly. Currently sitting at 23.7mpg, averaged 32 on the motorway back up from Winchester when I collected the car which was a roughly 250 mile drive. Only did about 18mpg though!
S10GTA said:
Like this. Considering one myself. What are the 2.0 like rather than the 3.0?
For me the 3.0 was the obvious choice. Personally I'm not really a fan of the burbly 4 cylinder boxer engines. The 6 cylinder is much smoother and somewhat more refined sounding. I also like the added benefit of the timing chain as opposed to belt, and in general from what I've read online from owners the later H6 with 5 speed auto like mine is a very strong engine. Plus, there's quite a big jump in power from the 2.0 to the 3.0.
jonesof63 said:
Excellent, I had one of these from new, superb machines, the engine is wonderful. The only downside is obviously the fuel economy, something you can overlook when something so practical puts a smile on your face, mine is still running about in Settle North Yorks and looks like new.
I wonder if i've seen it! My business is based in Skipton, so just down the road.peterattheboro said:
Been looking for one of these myself to replaced the Civic. Wanting the 2.0T though which is proving difficult. More power and cheaper tax 
Good luck with the search. When I began looking for a replacement for my old Alfa I was really taken with a 159 Estate, the 276hp 3.2 V6 4WD one, but they are rare as rocking horse sh&t. Especially in red with cream leather which I wanted. 
Edited by Jalexp on Monday 18th April 18:27
One of the first changes I made after getting the car was equipping a set of winter tyres - ended up going for some cheap Achilles ones from Germany off eBay, and have to say that they were absolutely excellent given the conditions took a turn for the worse a week later! Really can't argue for the price at around 45 quid per corner (including a tenner a corner to have them fitted!)
Great photos, A Subaru with winter tyres will get you through unbelievable amounts of snow and up the slippiest of hills, the only thing that has ever defeated me in one is ground clearance. I have Continental TS850P SUV winters on our Forester and XV and it's rare to get any wheel spin, let alone struggle for traction, I can't imagine what you would have to do to get stuck.
Back to the 2 versus 3 litre issue, if your doing 10k miles a year a 2 litre makes much more sense, from experience, you will be putting circa £25-£30 a week more fuel in a 3 litre doing 10k.
Back to the 2 versus 3 litre issue, if your doing 10k miles a year a 2 litre makes much more sense, from experience, you will be putting circa £25-£30 a week more fuel in a 3 litre doing 10k.
Edited by jonesof63 on Monday 18th April 19:41
S10GTA said:
Ah cheers for that, good to know. Rule the 2.0 out then.
Whats the ride like? I've read reviews saying you need to dodge every drain cover...
From my experience the ride is pretty decent, it's certainly not uncomfortable - although my car has the 17 inch wheels, I believe later ones had 18s which would presumably affect the ride a little. It's also worth noting that the manual version of my car (the Spec B) has Bilsten shocks from the factory which one would assume makes the ride a bit harsher. Whats the ride like? I've read reviews saying you need to dodge every drain cover...
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