Red92

We're listening. Good luck, and let us know what you find out!

Awesome, thanks! Any suggestions on what stores carry them?

Adding a bit to my previous post, I found this thread about the mpg gains from removing the roof rack: http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=61744 Quite a few reports of 2, 3, even 5+ mpg difference when removing the rack. :cool:

Happen to have a picture of those, by chance? My '92 Loyale (US market) has 'em both. I didn't know they were anything special.

Hey, where did you get that cup holder, and how is it attached? Does it work well? I've been looking for a good solution for the cup-holder issue. For now, I've always just opened up the lid on the center console and stuck it in there... although it means you can't really keep anything else in it.

Pumping up your tires a bit more will help lower rolling resistance. I'm not sure if any of the special low-rolling-resistance tires are available in the Subaru sizes, but narrower tires would help as well. Depending on how you use the vehicle, you can also improve performance & economy by shedding weight. Some of these can get a bit extreme for a daily driver, but if you only use it for a commute vehicle, they may be tolerable. Things like removing the air conditioning system, removing the rear seats, removing carpeting, etc. Even just running with the gas tank half empty is good for 50 lbs! Keep it at 1/4 or less, and that's 75 lbs of extra weight you are not hauling around all the time! If you have a roof rack, you can remove the cross pieces to be more aerodynamic. You could probably drop another 15+ lbs by downsizing the battery.

Well, I had a RHD JDM '92 Legacy VZ Type-R before this when I lived in NZ, and while I loved that car, I've been quite underwhelmed by the trim levels of the first-gen Legacies here in the US. :-\ I've never really cared for the second generation or beyond... So I've decided to scratch an itch, and get an older Subaru. I'd prefer to stay fuel injected, it must be a manual trans, and I'll give it a mild lift and some off-road wheels/tires when funding permits. A dual-range trans would be nice, but I'm OK with swapping that in later if need be. I already have a '92 Loyale, but rust and other issues are making it questionable if it is worth keeping on the road: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=125450 However, it could be a donor for the interior (seats & carpet), which would go a long way towards "de-ashtray-ing" this other one...

Yep, got it. I hear you guys. I'm not going to spend $2k, I'm going to try talking him down. That's why I'm trying to get a feel for where the price *should* be. If I can talk him down so that the price is within a few hundred of buying one from a distance and having it shipped, then it would be worth it just for the time savings. If a non-local car was in better shape, it would be more worth it to go that route... but I don't have a ton of time right now and can't get the time off of work to fly somewhere. :-\

It sounds like there definitely are better deals, just that they might not be local... It seems like it takes a lot of patience and a bit of luck to find one of the clean low-mileage examples. So we've established pretty universally now that $2000 is too high... so where does that leave us? Once you dip below $1000, the cars can turn into real basket cases around here. Nobody will fix the brakes properly, because it costs half the value of the car. Same with tires, exhaust, rust repairs, and everything else maintenance related. So the "fair" price must be somewhere in the middle?

Yep, that's why I'm still looking too. So realistically, how do you find a "good" Subaru out west and organize the purchase & shipping without getting scammed? The big-name sites (Auto Trader, eBay, etc) seem to have very few of these old Subarus... and I've had enough experience with Craigslist that I wouldn't ever buy something sight-unseen from there. Yeah, I could probably wait a little bit... but I doubt it would stick around for a month. Once you get to October, you're at the start of the snow season, and a cheap 4WD is going to sell pretty fast I think. :-\

Yeah, I had thought about that too... but it had service records for an oil pump seal, timing belt change, struts, and strut mounts all in the last 10k miles. I got the impression that he mostly only fixed things when they "needed" to be fixed, but I think he did the timing belt as preventative maintenance. The car isn't really beat up, just sort of pitted out. I think it could be cleaned up, it is just a bit unfortunate as it could have been much nicer. :-\

Thanks. Yeah, that's pretty much where I was at, just hoping to get a few opinions on the matter from those of you with a bit more experience. In terms of making it reliable, I think that the engine is the only real concern. Otherwise it drove OK, brakes worked fine, the lines looked good, etc. The clutch pedal was a bit "gummy" feeling, not "weak", just kinda slow to move? He said it had been making the engine noises for at least 3 years (as long as he has had it)... so I don't know if that means that it isn't as serious as it sounds... or if it means that it's already on borrowed time and ready to die any day now. :-\ What all is involved with a lifter replacement? Do the heads have to come off, and/or does the engine have to come out of the car?

So I went to look at another EA82 wagon yesterday, the big selling point being that it was a car from out west with "NO RUST". Granted, that was right... but the seller seemed to think it was made of gold because of it. $2k for a 200k+ mile vehicle with faded paint, an ash tray of an interior, a range of minor electrical issues, and the loudest engine tick/knock I've heard in a long time. The blue book value is less than half of his asking price, but in the rust belt, I have seen cars go for a bit of a premium if the body is in exceptional shape. What do you guys think? Are these old wagons rare enough now that they can command that much of a premium for a rust-free body? If it didn't have the engine tick, I would be more inclined to call it an "investment"... but I'm not sure just how fatal the "Tick Of Death" is, nor how costly it is to have repaired. :-\

Thanks for the encouragement. My uncle had an '86 GL that I always thought was a cool car... I think it was getting close to 300k miles on it when the rust finally killed it. They put it on a chassis lift at a shop, and the lift went up while the car stayed down. Oops! haha. So yeah, I've always had a soft spot for these cars.

I just bought it. Scrapping it will be the last option. Selling it will be the second to last option, but for now I am still figuring out if it is repairable. Like I said, it's a running/driving car that looks decent and almost everything works. Scrapping it seems to be just a *little* extreme at this point. Just to clarify, the dealer did not say it wasn't safe, they said that they didn't want to do the work. The service manager gave me the call figuring that with their labor rates, I wouldn't want them to do the work either. I think that that was pretty much it. I asked a sales guy what the cheapest used Subaru on their lot was, and it was at $14k. The lot was all nice cars, and the service are was very clean. So that kind of gives you a ballpark idea of what sort of place it was. I'm new to this area, so when the car developed the gas leak (AFTER I bought it ), and I needed to do something about it ASAP, the dealer was my first instinct for where to take it. Good idea. I should also add that I didn't buy the car expecting it to be perfect, I bought it knowing that it needed some work. I haven't investigated the exhaust yet to see what it needs, so I'm not sure how much of that will need to be replaced. While brake work does cost a bit, being a safety item, I consider brakes a worthwhile investment if you plan to keep a car for a while. A lot of people get scared nowadays when they see repair bills for old cars, and don't really think about what the end result will be when their car is repaired. They sell their used cars, and buy other used cars, spending much more in the process than it would have cost to fix their current used car up to perfect shape. If you're just after basic transportation, "exceeding the value of the car" is a bit of a misnomer I think. Thanks. Yes, I'm 100% with you on the tank issue, and trust me, should I decide that the rest of the car is worth the investment, the tank will be replaced. The patch is just a way to keep it from leaking for now, so that the car isn't a rolling safety/environmental hazard while I decide what to do. Thanks everyone for the help and replies so far. :cool:

I've always used Foamy Engine Brite on stubborn car interior plastics. It's a bit more aggressive than the products typically sold for interior cleaning, and definitely doesn't have any of the glossy/oily "protectants" in it. I'm not sure that it is necessarily "safe" for plastics though, and since my Subaru ownership experience is only 2 weeks old, I've never tried it on *Subaru* plastics, so you might want to test in a small area first. Another option: When I was much younger, my parents had a minivan that they purchased used with a bit of a ratty interior. We were on a vacation and spilled some "Dr. Bold" (a store-brand Dr. Pepper knockoff, but better tasting!) while pouring it into a cup in the rear cupholder. When we wiped it off with a paper towel a minute or so later, it took all of the grunge right off! We ended up buying another 2-liter and using it to clean the whole interior - the before/after comparison was amazing! :cool:

Is it speed-dependent? I didn't think the 4WD worked in my '92 Loyale until I tried it at lower speeds. For example, pushing the button at moderate speed, the 4WD won't engage and the light won't turn on. Pushing the button while stopped, the light won't turn on and the trans won't engage until right as I start rolling, then it clunks (softly) and the light comes on. Turning it off, it waits until I slow down to below ~10-15mph, then clunks and disengages. Turning it off below 10mph, it usually clicks right off. In all cases, the light on the dash seems to follow the status of the transmission, not the position of the switch on the shifter. *Disclaimer* I've owned my Loyale for about 2 weeks now, so I'm not entirely sure that mine acts as the factory intended.

Hello everyone. I just picked up a 92 Loyale a few weeks ago as a cheap winter car. It's in overall good shape, only 97k miles, and runs/drives great (manual trans with push-button 4WD). Pretty much everything works, but it has a few issues though - the brakes need bleeding, the exhaust needs to be replaced, and before I patched it, the gas tank had a leak from right at the fuel fitting. I had it at the Subaru dealer last week for the gas leak, but once they had it up on the lift, I received a call suggesting that I scrap the car instead of doing the repairs. Apparently they thought the car was too risky to tear into due to the rust underneath. :-\ So now I'm looking for a second opinion. I'm not totally opposed to sinking some money into it ("exceeding the value of the car" wouldn't set me back too much!), but I'm not familiar enough with these old Subarus to know where the real trouble spots are, or how much rust is "too much". Does anyone have any recommendations for shops in the south/central Wisconsin area, or alternately, any clubs of like-minded enthusiasts who might be able to steer me in the right direction? Thanks.