Is that your Legacy, or are you just pleased to see me? Much as he’d like to hear the postmistress whisper this line into his maggoty old ear, Shed isn’t expecting it to pass her lips anytime soon. He is far too well aware of his limitations, having been told all about them and in some detail too by Mrs Shed over the last few decades.
However it will be other limitations, mainly financial, that might put him off this week’s sub-£2k tempter, a 2007 Subaru Legacy 3.0 R Spec B Sports Tourer. There’s nothing daunting about the asking price: £1,650 for a privately-owned 241hp all-wheel drive estate with a high-character flat-six engine under the lid sounds more than fair, even taking into account the fairly substantial mileage of 196,000. It’s the running costs – £710 (or possibly £700) vehicle duty and 28mpg – that might kill it for an old skinflint like Shed.
And that’s where Shed is going to miss out, because this car looks like an excellent opportunity for a switched-on buyer, especially now that there’s a snowy carpet covering much of the land here in the UK. You’ll get through most weather conditions in one of these, especially when it’s been as well looked after as this one appears to have been. The owner has been living the Subaru life over the last five years without forgetting to pay the car back with careful maintenance.
More on that in a minute. Spec-wise, Spec Bs are well specced indeed. Leather, electric/heated front seats, electric sunroof, cruise control, sat nav, climate, CD, DVD, PCP, RPG, it’s all there and more. This March ’07 example might have the steering wheel reach adjustment that came along at some point in 2007. The owner reports that it’s running as the manufacturer intended and possibly better than other less diligent owners may have experienced. New, an auto 3.0 like this would do the 0-60 run in a time not very far off seven seconds and romp on to over 145mph in a comfy and spacious fashion.
PHer Cambs Stuart kindly put together some points to watch out for on these and we hope he won’t mind Shed passing them on to you now. The biggest issue will be rust in places like the rear subframe, boot floor and behind the rear arch liners. Corrosion could also take a liking to the engine crossover coolant pipes, two of which are hard to access without dropping the engine or gearbox. Rear brake non-flexies rust too, leaks usually happening in a hard to spot spot above the fuel tank. Subaru did do two recalls on that in 2013 and 2014 however, plus the owner says he’s had all the necessary recall work done so you should be all right there.
There’s more good news. Judging by the MOT history and the reassuring ad copy you may well be all right on the underneath side of things too. There’s been no mention of rust on any of the 21 MOT reports showing up online. The most recent test, carried out last week, came up with nothing more than a deteriorated front registration plate. On closer inspection, the deterioration in question appears to be a vertical crack in the plate. Shed has closely inspected many a vertical crack in his time and thinks it must have been pretty quiet in the MOT station that day.
Other items with the potential to test your Visa card include strange noises from the diffs (fluids changed to the good stuff by the owner) and worn clutches on the manuals, not an issue here obvs and just as well too because according to Cambs Stuart they typically last for about 80,000 miles and cost about a grand to change. Wheel bearings and wishbone/ARB bushes aren’t everlasting either but again the present owner has replaced everything in that department. The wheels themselves are the correct 18-inch Subaru items with meaty Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tyres that were fitted as a team. He’s throwing in a set of OE 17-inch wheels with good snow tyres, snow chains, and a set of Thule roof bars. Basically you’re all set for one of the Alpine trips that our seller has been enjoying in the car over the last five years. All you need is the will and a tidy fuel budget.
Shed took Mrs Shed for a skiing holiday once. Unfortunately her first go on the drag lift coincided with a major breakdown in the winching gear, a small avalanche on the nursery slope and a polite but firm note from the venue operators asking them not to go out again. Shed was OK with it because they gave him a full refund.
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