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Hi all,
Good to find an active Subaru forum! Hopefully will become a regular when I find what I'm looking for.

After having a Forester a few years back, and regretting selling it ever since, we're in the market for another Subaru. The criteria I've been searching for around the traps are any model, under $10,000, less than 150,000km, preferably wagon or hatch, and preferably automatic.

I've almost narrowed it down to the following, but would love some advice, particularly who to use for pre-purchase inspections in Brisbane.

A 2000 Outback Limited, 131,000km, lovely car, leather interior, dual sunroofs, no full service history, but a heap of maintenance documented from the most recent mechanic a couple of years ago. Private seller is an older guy who seems as honest as the day is long.

or

1999 Liberty wagon, genuine 77,000km with full Subaru history, well presented, cloth trim, no sunroofs, power windows, cruise control, icy cold A/C interior like new.

Both 4 cylinder (not sure if the Liberty is the 2.0 or 2.5) around $7.5K.

Typical for me, I'm struggling to decide. I think the Liberty might be better, given we'll have seat covers on anyway to make them more kid-proof, I never used the sunroof in our Forester.

Any suggestions, even if you think I should stay away from both, or know of something on the market that fits the criteria?!

Thanks for the help.

head gasket issues in the 2.5 ltre outback motor... is it twin cam or single cam

twin cam motor has the issue

TOONGA

TOONGA wrote:head gasket issues in the 2.5 ltre outback motor... is it twin cam or single cam

twin cam motor has the issue

TOONGA

The Outback had the head gasket done a couple of thousand km ago - invoice to show for it. Not sure if it's the twin or single - how would I tell?

Twin cam engine finished with the Gen2 in 1998 so these are both Gen3 and single cam.

Id go the Outback if you plan on needing the higher ground clearance, but if you are only doing highway kms buy the Liberty. Check the size of the engine in the Liberty, a 2.0L might be good on fuel, but will be fairly sluggish pulling the 1450kg Liberty about.

every single gen3 i know of has done a head gasket around 150k. yes the quad cams were worse but the gen3's still have an issue.

If the head gaskets have been done I would definitely go the outback. You will find the lib underpowered in comparison.

It turns out the Liberty was sold before I had a look, so down to the Outback for now. It's had the head gasket done - not sure if it was preventative or not.

All in all, looks nice, drives great, other than lacking log books, seems a good thing. Any idea when timing belt is due for these?

I notice a nic elooking 03 Subaru Impreza S GX MY04 for similar money. Any comments on that vs the aforementioned Outback?

266000kms on my gen3 outback with the factory headgasket

Ended up going with the Outback. Pretty happy so far, hope it stays that way

ryangus wrote:Ended up going with the Outback. Pretty happy so far, hope it stays that way

Keep the maintenance up and look after it, then I'm sure it'll keep you happy for some time!

Cheers

Bennie