themaner

Hello, a close friend is offering to sell his 2001 Suburu Forester that he has owned for a short period of time. He himself purchased it from someone else about a year or two ago in Chicago. Thus I presume it has spent a majority of its life in the midwest, the car only has about 109,000 miles on it. I am curious as to what concerns I should have with the purchase, his preliminary asking price was only 2500$ which sounds good to me (and I may be able to lower it) but I want to eliminate concerns in regards to potential repair fees. I am asking what I can do now (I can look at and even drive the car as much as I'd like) to see if there's any "red flags" so to speak before moving forward in the purchase. Primarily I have fears regarding the head gasket and would like to know if theres any way to see if this problem may develop down the line because I know they are possible in this model and that would really feel like a death sentence if it were to occur. Also, does the low mileage reduce the chance of a head gasket issue, if so at what mileage should I really be concerned. Or does the age of vehicle kind of make the mileage not really all that pertinent to whether or not it will have these issues. Thanks,