I am looking to buy a decent used subaru outback, since I had the impression they lasted to 150K plus. The one I'm having inspected now is a 99 outback with 67k - should I stay away from this given all I've read about head gasket problems? How would this compare to a 2002?

They are evil!!! Run away!!!

 

No, just kidding. Other than head gaskets at 120k it has been a great car. Pushing 160k right now.

You can read what I had to say on the 96-99 Outbacks in http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16588&highlight=outback this thread.

 

One more thing. The center clutch pack (automatics) tend to fail somewhere north of 100k miles on the 96 and 97's. Supposedly a change was made to address this on the 98's and 99's.

 

Commuter

I bought a '99 Legacy Outback Wagon (91,000 miles) with a bad engine knock, planning to regrind the crank or find an inexpensive used engine (I'm a mechanic). Two rods, a reground crank, oil pump and a set of bearings & gaskets were nearly $1200. The cheapest used 2.5 engine I found was $1500 and it had over 100,000 miles on it. I got a 'deal' on a new shortblock (no remans available); with oil pump & gaskets I had about $1700 in parts. Now at 97,000 miles, the trans is slipping in third gear. My trans shop will go through it for about $1400. I bought the car real right, and my wife loves it, but I can't say I'm overly impressed with the reliability. Additionally, I'm not happy about the limited supply of aftermarket parts - the dealer gets an arm & leg for everything! Nice driving car, but I don't see much quality.

A few further thoughts.

 

If you are looking at the 96 to 99 Outbacks, the 99 will be the best of the lot. They did make some improvements along the way. If you can find a Limited, you will also get a few features that we tend to take for granted these days (eg variable intermittent wipers for one).

 

67k miles is not that much, but you are at a point (more in time than milage) where the car will need some attention. Things like battery, maybe an alternator, belts, hoses, spark plug wires, wheel bearing, maybe O2 sensor, some other sensors, etc. The timing belt is only due at 105k, but you may find yourself in there ahead of time due to leaking front crank and cam seals. The TB is a fairly expensive service.

 

And if it was me, I'd be changing ALL fluids (transmission, power steering, brake, coolant, differential) as a precaution. This has hopefully been done once on the car already.

 

Try to get service records if you can. Eg - if the seals were changed recently, you should be good for a while.

 

Headgaskets... The Achilles heel. Just be aware and use it to bring the price down. Recognize that you might go 2 or 3 years (or forever) without this expense ($1200 to $1500 typical), or only 2 or 3 months or weeks. It IS a gamble. Just my personal opinion, but I'd say there is a 1 in 5 chance that this will happen before 100k. Greater chance if the anti-freeze has never been changed.

 

If you know what you are getting into, it's really not that bad. I'd probably jump on a 99 OB for the right price, now that I've lived with a 97 OB for 5+ years.

 

Commuter

we got a '01... and I wonder about the same thing.