I am considering buying a 1995 Subaru Legacy 2.2 with 260,000 miles on it. My wife thinks I’m crazy. The present owner has driven it 129,000 miles and says it has not needed any engine or transmission repairs. He also says it has had regular oil changes at the recommended intervals.
He says the oil goes down about 1/2 quart between changes.
I would have the car checked by a mechanic
before I bought it, especially the compression. Assuming that it checks out OK, how many more miles could I expect to get from this car?
Unless the timing belt was replaced within the past 60k-90k, you have to assume that there are NO additional miles left in the engine. Since a visual check of a timing belt is not likely to provide much helpful information, you need to do the following:
*Check the car’s maintenance schedule (hopefully, inside the glove compartment) to determine if the timing belt needs to be replaced every 60k or every 90k.
*Ask the owner to show you all of his maintenance records. Unless he can demonstrate though invoices that the timing belt was replaced within the past 60k or 90k (depending on what a check of the maintenance schedule reveals as the correct interval), then you have to assume that the timing belt, and the water pump, and the belt tensioners need to be replaced immediately. The cost of these jobs (likely to be somewhere in the $400.–$600. range) should be a factor in how much you offer for the car if the belt is due for replacement. Failure to replace the belt could likely result in the engine quickly becoming a mass of ruined steel at an unpredicatable time.
If your mechanic pronounces the car to be sound, and if the timing belt has been replaced on schedule, then you can probably count on the car going…maybe another 40k, albeit with more repairs along the way, due to the accumulated mileage. With this many miles on the odometer, repairs are inevitable, but these cars have proven to be very durable, and they are not subject to the head gasket problems that the 2.5 liter engines succumb to.
The timing belt is not an critical item on this vehicle. The 2.2L became interference in 1999 only. This was a great Subaru NA engine not the trouble prone 2.5L one.
I would guess another 40k or even more. But it really depends on past ownership. My family has a few(2.2L Legacy’s) run into the 250k-300k without serious repairs(rust ate them).