1979 Subaru

[glh1975]

Hi everybody,I just found this subaru forum a few days ago.I was posting to find out about the 1979 subaru front wheel drive cars.I really like the 4WD station wagons but I really don't know much about the older front wheel drive cars.I have a chance to buy a 1979 front wheel drive 4 door in pretty good shape but was wondering what kind of fuel mileage they usually get,about the reliabilty and longevity of the engine and how hard the parts are to find.Is $400 a reasonable price,I can't seem to find out much about them on the internet.Any help would really be appreciated,thanks.

[nipper]

Hi everybody,I just found this subaru forum a few days ago.I was posting to find out about the 1979 subaru front wheel drive cars.I really like the 4WD station wagons but I really don't know much about the older front wheel drive cars.I have a chance to buy a 1979 front wheel drive 4 door in pretty good shape but was wondering what kind of fuel mileage they usually get,about the reliabilty and longevity of the engine and how hard the parts are to find.Is $400 a reasonable price,I can't seem to find out much about them on the internet.Any help would really be appreciated,thanks.

 

how to keep your subaru alive is a great book. These are simple cars and like VW beetles will run forever if taken care of. $400.00 cars are a myth, so if you found one, all the better. Rust is your #1 thing to look for, everything else is repairable.

 

 

Look for rust. Take it for a drive. Have a freind watch the exhaust for blue smoke, and watch the back of the car to see how it tracks. Don't expect perfection, but its reasonable to ask for the car to have all4 tires going in the same direction.

 

 

nipper

[gbrand]

My brother had a couple of 78 or 79 fwd subes in the early 80's, pretty good cars. i had an 80 4wd wagon, but sadly after I moved from snow country(Rolla Missouri area)-still got some damn good work outs in some ice and snow storms here in Texas.

 

In any case, i think 400 bucks for a decent running car esp a subie is a good deal, remember depending on how your budget and how much/long you plan to drive it you will be hit with the expenses of a good "once over"-inpect or replace struts/shocks, brakes, lights, tires, belts etc. change fluids and maybe put in a stereo. I did on my last vehicle, even though only about 5 years old and had 52K on the clock forgot how uch time and moneyit takes-still better way to go, then have a depedndablecar to last a long time.

 

Let us know what you do and how it goes

[DerFahrer]

Make sure to check out the Historic forum as well, since the car you're looking for is a Gen1, and only Gen2 and Gen3 cars are discussed here.

 

They're tanks, and while they're not fast or pretty, they'll last forever. Parts aren't too hard to find. Don't concern yourself with buying OEM parts from the dealer, because I'm buying all those up .

[glh1975]

Yeah,I noticed I had it posted in the wrong forum about 30 seconds after I posted it.Sorry about that.It was rainy today so I'm going to go look at it this week.

[moosens]

Moderbators...please move this to Historic...thanks.

 

[was wondering what kind of fuel mileage they usually get,about the reliabilty and longevity of the engine and how hard the parts are to find./QUOTE]

 

When tuned up etc. the FWD cars can get up to 30mpg and more if its a 5spd from an FE

 

Those FWD trannies seem to go forever.Shifter bushings and linkage are weak points over 80k usually,but not enough to take you off the road.

Part to keep it going aren't all gone yet.Look it over and let us know what it needs.We'll give you a better idea then.