Realone

Thanks to all your comments, we did eventually walk away from this one. And given they didn't call us back yet, I suspect more was up. Maybe this is blasphemy on this forum, but we eventually ended up with a 2014 Corolla. Why? Because we were looking for a reliable first car and this seems to be it. I already miss the space and handling of the few Legacy's we test drove but I think this is for the best. We're probably gonna need a second car soon anyway so I'll be on the lookout. Just to answer that; I would be lying if I said there are no dishonest car dealers in The Netherlands. Most of them however, are associated with a "dealer union" (I don't really know how to translate it) that gives guarantees and warranties. You stick to those, and you can be pretty sure you're not buying a lemon, or have some sort of warranty to back you up. I will say, we bought this car from a user car dealership and the experience was very pleasant. So far so good!

You all might be right, this should be an easy enough red flag in a sense and maybe I should just make the decision to walk away. On the other hand, like mentioned above, it could be a simple fix. But even if they replace a sensor, it runs great during a test drive, and it passes an inspection, so I still trust it? Decisions... Also doesn't help that I immigrated into the US 2 weeks ago and I have to get used to the way car dealers do business here. I'm in the Raleigh area by the way and because of lacking a car, I'm fairly limited to my range when looking for a car. Edit: Forgot to mention that I don't believe they offer any complementary insurance. Reviews on different websites for this place are very good.

Wow, thanks for that quick and informative response! Unfortunately they called my wife and I feel like the women that passed on the message was just relaying whatever she heard from her mechanic. The phone did record the conversation but it's a bit unclear. After replaying it a thousand times we're pretty sure she's saying "the solenoid sensor has to be replaced". The car does not have a turbo. We we're always gonna do a pre purchase inspection. This car is a good deal, but waiting on having them fixing this (they ordered the official Subaru "part") can have us miss on another good deal. It was my first Legacy (or Subaru for that matter) I've ever driven and I was in love right away.

Perhaps I'm going out on a limb here but I would still like to give it a try, seeing you guys are more knowledgeable than me. Today, I test drove a 2011 Legacy. It all seemed fine, until suddenly the BRAKE + cruise control light started flashing, check engine and ESP were on solid. Then I noticed that when I accelerated and went above 4000RPM, the car would almost stall, although never shut off completely. Accelerating below 4000RPM worked fine and it kept driving. Later, the dealer called us and said the problem was "the solenoid" and that they'll replace it. Does this make sense to you guys, given the situation explained? From what I could find, the dash indicators basically tell you there's an issue and the different lights don't actually indicate a problem with that specific part. Correct? When they say solenoid, I relate that to the cars starter, right? How does a malfunction there cause the car to behave like that? I mean, it started fine. What I'm trying to figure out is if this makes sense at all. If not, I'm walking away from this car. I don't want to buy a car from someone who just cleared some diagnostics when there might be a deeper problem.