3 owners, great condition, i got pictures from him. It had timing belt, head gaskets done 10K ago. regular oil changes. no problems Im told. Im just looking for a first car that can handle utah winters

2.5 will probably continue to have HG issues at some point but for a grand, if you get a year or two out of it, it has to be worth it. check the coolant overflow to see if it is blowing compression in to the tank. see if there are records for the hg and tb work.

See if you can read documentation, likely a receipt, that the head gaskets were replaced 10K miles ago. Check to see if the replacement head gasket was a genuine Subaru part. If so, the motor may be good for many more miles. Figure a well maintained Subaru motor is good for 300K miles.

 

If non Subaru head gasket was used, then I would have reservations about how long the replacement head gasket will last.

If it has an EJ25 (If its an Outback or Legacy GT - Bigger dual overhead cam motor with great power but known for head gasket trouble) it's a good deal. You may again run into the head gaskets leaking, but you can get several good years out of it most likely if the recent job was done right. If/when that happens a junkyard 2.2 motor is easy to swap in for better reliability.

 

If it has the EJ22 - smaller but supremely reliable motor (Regular Legacy base, L etc.) it is a fantastic deal. Those motors go to 300,000+ regularly and are very easy to maintain and work on.

 

Based on your description I would have no hesitation in that deal. Good reliability. Good winter capability. Cheap price. And you said great condition. Go for it! Then come back, post up pics and start enjoying the car.

i wouldn't want original timing pulleys on there - they are likely to fail at some point.   so if only the timing belt was replaced - which is likely - i'd plan on installing new pulleys.  or maybe as "part of the sale" you can ask him if he'd install the pulleys for free if you buy them ($100 Gates kits on Amazon).

 

i wouldn't want it unless you can verify they are Six Star or Subaru headgaskets.  I wouldn't want it if it's aftermarket headgaskets.

 

Other than that - those miles shouldn't be terribly scary.

If the price is really low for your area...which it seems to be for this time of year - aren't prices high out west?  I'd wonder why it's priced so low with all that work done.

Good deal, you can always do the 2.5 to 2.2 swap if the engine goes.