Well I've owned an '84 wagon and an 92 loyale wagon so I'm not a total newbie, but I know very little about cars in general. I found an '89 gl touring wagon, 5sp,4wd, 86,000 original miles. The windsield needs to be replaced as it is cracked passenger side. Also needs a new muffler in the least. Besides that it's nice in and out. There are 2 rusty spots at the base of the rim, but I can live with that. The guy wants $1100. Now this may be a stupid question but taking those repairs into consideration, is that a good price? What else should I be looking for in a car of this age? The under carriage seemed to be strong. Any suggestions?

seems high, but that older stuff might be more valuable in your area and maybe its' in great shape, that is low mileage which typically carries some value. don't over heat, run out of oil and it could get you another 100,000 miles though. and if you get on top of prevenative maintenance it can do it reliably.

 

you could probably get into an impreza/legacy for that price too and they have much more to offer in some ways. might be hard to find one anywhere near that mileage for that price though.

 

touring wagon - does that mean it's a turbo? if it's a turbo i'd be very cautious. they are notorious for having engine issues. headgaskets, cracked heads, blown engines. if i was going to drive an EA82 turbo i'd want to replace most of the cooling system hoses and turbo oil lines.

 

i'd want an ebay timing belt kit on it as the pulleys are 20+ years old, that's just way too much for my liking and all of them that i've ever seen at this age are way below par compared to new pulleys.

There was another thread on here just recently stating that the touring wagon was a trim package that had some luxury items and a unique bulged rear roof section. On any "aged" Subaru the main things I'd look at are the floor pans and rockers and by look I mean seriously look for cancer before you spend your money, poke around with a screwdriver, if he doesn't want to let you do that I'd steer clear. Also check the front of the exhaust because if you're going to need to replace the front cat and y pipe in the near future thats another $250 min. price. And just check the fluids for signs of head gasket leaks etc... oil in the coolant or vise versa. I love the older Suby's but just make sure you go over it well and get an idea of what you might have to spend later. Also if it has a check engine light on flash the codes on it to see what the ECUis reporting as problems. Hope this helps. And good luck.