2015 2.0D SE Outback

[wc98]

Just after some advice. My fishing/work car died recently and i need to replace it reasonably quickly. Having seen a few horror stories regarding diesel boxer cranks does anyone know if a car this age would be affected ?
I tend to be quite hard on my cars, brakes and discs in 18 months and a pair of tyres on a front wheel drive car would be done by 15k max.

They do a lot of miles on farm tracks, occasional beaches and some overgrown tracks at times so tend to get beat up a bit and can get covered in salt spray from the sea as well as well gritted Scottish roads. Would one of these be suitable for the above, the 4wd sounds appealing (we are overdue a bad winter as well) for what i would use it for and as i'm getting older so do the heated seats. Car would be serviced regularly and if more frequent oil changes required/advised that wouldn't be a problem.

[Janluke]

My wife had one from new and 40k and it was fine the only issue was the glow plugs needed replaced under warranty(I think they are used in the regen) The ride and 4wd was great and ideally suited to the use you talk about. She is now on her 4th albeit now petrol as they stopped making the diesel

[wc98]

Thanks, much appreciated. The one i am looking at has done 103k but looks to be in great condition with comprehensive service history. I can't justify spending more than about 8k on a car that i am basically trashing from the get go so if i can get 4 or 5 years out of something like my last car i will be happy.

[STURBO]

Petrol everytime for me on a Subaru, even if older or higher mileage Just look at the number of broken diesels for sale on ebay.

[wc98]

STURBO said:

Petrol everytime for me on a Subaru, even if older or higher mileage Just look at the number of broken diesels for sale on ebay.

Thanks for the heads up. The petrol isn't viable given the miles i do fishing and my propensity for a heavy right foot.
TBF i had a quick look and there are a fair few with over 150k for sale. I had been looking at Octavia Scouts and Leon x-perience 4wd but am struggling to find something half decent in my price range within a reasonable distance. Did email one dealer down south regarding delivery through here yesterday, maybe hear back from them tomorrow.

Edited by wc98 on Sunday 29th September 19:20

[Smint]

Whatever you decide to go for might be worth getting the train or plane and buying a southern car that hasn't been subject to Scottish roadsalt baths to quite the same degree.
I know from posters in my Landcruiser forum that vehicles that lived long term in Scotland suffer much worse rusting issues than those in the south.

[wc98]

Smint said:

Whatever you decide to go for might be worth getting the train or plane and buying a southern car that hasn't been subject to Scottish roadsalt baths to quite the same degree.
I know from posters in my Landcruiser forum that vehicles that lived long term in Scotland suffer much worse rusting issues than those in the south.

They do, especially those owned by me as they spend a lot of time immersed in salt spray from the sea on top of the underside getting a perma coat of salt from the roads in winter. The last 15 fishing cars i have owned have all been scrapped, though usually due to blowing up. The latest one did indeed break due to corrosion, rear suspension arm snapped off sub frame, fortunately on a slow back road after being diverted off the A75, and not on the M74 in a hurry as i had been 20 mins or so earlier The 3 different vehicle AA relay taking 10 hours to get home the day before i went on holiday wasn't funny.

[Matt_T]

Hi wc98,

A suggestion I would make is to look for non-ULEZ compliant diesels in the London area - they are often stupidly cheap.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202409154...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202407272...

[wc98]

Thanks for all the input. Went to see the car today and it was sold pending a download of the service history from a Subaru dealership so it wasn't meant to be. On the plus side the dealer i messaged in Yorkshire ( hopefully very little rust compared to Scottish cars) messaged me back about the Octavia Scout and is in the process of sorting out delivery. Delivery costs take it a little over what i was hoping to pay but thems the breaks and it's the first one around that price i have seen the brake discs actually have shiny metal visible rather than a complete blob of brown, never understand why dealers put cars up for sale with zero prep. It's also my preferred colour though that was way down the list of priorities.

I suppose that's the difference between dealers that sell dozens of cars per week like the local main dealer garage my mate spanners at and those that don't. The dealer that was selling the Outback has a good local rep and every car up for sale on the website has usually been prepped to within an inch of its life.

Great suggestion by Matt but unfortunately the mate i pick up regularly for fishing lives in Glasgow city centre, ULEZ central so euro 6 was high on the list.

[wc98]

Matt_T said:

Hi wc98,

A suggestion I would make is to look for non-ULEZ compliant diesels in the London area - they are often stupidly cheap.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202409154...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202407272...

If that Accord had been blue and i saw the post before the message from the dealer