High mileage 2007 LGT, what should I look for?

[dparm]

Finally located a manual LGT near me, and it has the VDC! It is a 2007 but has about 61,000 miles.

 

What sort of things should I be looking for given the mileage?

 

And what is upcoming maintenance that I need to keep in mind? It's at a Suby dealer, but I can't assume it's had a 60k service or whatever.

 

 

FYI they want $18999. It's black-on-black with VDC and the OEM rear spoiler.

[fishbone]

That is pretty high mileage but most likely highway driving so in some sense it has every chance to be in a better mechanical condition than a city-driven car with less miles.

Maintenance-wise, I can't really think of anything else besides replace spark plugs (the maintenance has been revised on the LGT from 100K to 60K), maybe coolant/diff fluids. I'd also have them replace the turbo banjo bolt and I'd request them to keep it and have you actually look at the screen mesh and see what kind of condition it's in. If it looks clogged to heck or otherwise out of the ordinary, I'd be wary. The turbo may not be in the best condition. The oil is fed through it to the turbo, there's been reported turbo failures due to clogged filters before Subaru made it part of the maintenance schedule. You may also want to have them keep the spark plugs so you can have a quick look and make sure they're not out of the ordinary.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Good luck.

[franklin]

^fisbone pretty much covered it.

[Rick]

I would think you could find a better deal from a private owner. Unless you have a trade in of course.

[JoeFromPA]

Fishbone hit it. My opinion on 2 year old high mileage cars is that their owners typically aren't beating on them and don't mess with maintenance too much....because they obviously need to drive alot and rely on the car. Of course, there are exceptions to that.

 

I'd add in: change out the auto trans fluid.

[fishbone]

I'd flush ALL fluids just to be safe, it's something I've always done with purchased used cars. You can't be too safe unless, of course some are obviously clean (such as brake fluid, engine oil). Tranny fluid, coolant, diff fluids, service these regardless. You can't tell what condition they are really in by just looking at them. Also, if it's an auto, make absolutely sure you are flushing the tranny and using OEM fluids (just to cover the possibility the previous owner did a flush but did not use OEM)

[z28dreams]

I'd flush ALL fluids just to be safe, it's something I've always done with purchased used cars. You can't be too safe unless, of course some are obviously clean (such as brake fluid, engine oil). Tranny fluid, coolant, diff fluids, service these regardless. You can't tell what condition they are really in by just looking at them. Also, if it's an auto, make absolutely sure you are flushing the tranny and using OEM fluids (just to cover the possibility the previous owner did a flush but did not use OEM)

 

I second this. When I was shopping around for people to do my coolant flush, no less than 3 mechanics quoted me using Dexron III ATF, which is NOT compatible with the car. (You need Subaru's ATF or one of the few others that are compatible). The old 4AT's could use this, but not our 5EAT's.

 

I'm always torn when buying a new car between these 2 options:

1. A car that is just past the maintenance interval, so you don't have to pay for it yourself. (Saves money, assuming owner did it properly)

2. A car that has very low mileage, but about to hit the interval. It will cost you $$$, but you'll know it's done right!