1991 Subaru Legacy GT 2.0 turbo

Summary:

GREAT!

Faults:

The only thing wrong with this car is: in the Subaru tradition the body is trying to use rust as a self destruct method.

General Comments:

Bought used for $350US, lady owned, fully dealer serviced. It came needing some "healing" and I got it back 100% mechanically in a week (brakes, ball joints, tires, and exhaust)

Dealer parts are expensive and after market parts are available much, much cheaper. For example: the muffler lists @ $418, I installed a $30 after market "turbo" muffler.

Dealer quality is "spotty", the good ones are really good, and the bad ones are really bad!

I am seeing 27-29 MPG highway, about 20-22mpg city (Imperial gallons).

Seating is OK for about 8 hours, any longer and it is a back breaker.

Quick enough for me and handles very well.

Not too happy about the automatic in this model, though it works well, it would be a Rocket with a 5 speed.

These cars are worth nothing used, if you can find a used one that has not been too badly abused, and can deal with repairing it yourself, you will be more than happy with your purchase. I can understand how one could become a nightmare, but for a guy/girl who likes to "tinker" and repair their own these cars offer about the best used car value I've seen for quite a while.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 5th April, 2006

1991 Subaru Legacy L AWD turbo

Summary:

As far as the other high mileage 91's, I seem to have a lemon.

Faults:

I have had to replace the wheel bearings and axle on the front passenger side multiple times.

At about 112,000 miles the transmission had to be rebuilt.

At about 113,000 miles the timing belt, gaskets, and harmonic balancer were replaced.

I was forced to replace the coolant hoses at about 110,000 miles.

I have recently had to replace a fuel line, coolant line, hose clamp, PVC valve, and trim the rotors.

General Comments:

I have a love hate relationship with this car. She is a dream to drive when she is functioning.

She is great in the winter. She drives through snow and bad weather almost efforTlessly. She always starts right up on the first try when other vehicles are coughing and sputtering.

The body is in wonderful condition and often get admirers.

The cabin is surprisingly spacious and comfortable.

The trunk also has a large capacity.

When she is running well I love her.

When she has those long moody stretches and spends a lot of time with the mechanic I despise her.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 30th May, 2005

26th Jun 2005, 21:11

Yes, there's a thermostatic switch located in the evaporator, which measures the temperature of the evaporator; this keeps the evaporator from freezing up (and not blowing air at all).

What happens is the switch wears out and turns on and off rapidly/randomly when it reaches the built-in on/off temperature point. Sometimes it won't come on at all, sometimes it won't shut off when it needs to, and other times it'll flash on and off rapidly, creating a stuttering/jerking load effect on the engine.

If you want to service it yourself (expensive part, if I recall), visit http://www.legacycentral.org and their forums; complete information on just about every problem that's ever happened, and then some; otherwise take it into a Subaru dealer (I wouldn't trust it with anyone else).

Regards.

1st May 2006, 08:49

Sounds like a standard Subaru. It also sounds like the source of your mechanical problems was the dreaded 100,000 mile mark. My experience (I own two), every 100,000 miles these cars need the timing belt, front rotors and axles replaced and transmission flushed and belts changed. After all, basically nothing on the power-train of these cars is adjustable. If these repairs are done in a timely fashion (before the timing belt slips or transmission starts skipping...etc) they will run flawlessly for 100's of thousands of miles.

Love my suby. I call it the goat; It will go anywhere. ;-)

1st May 2006, 17:08

I've never heard of a car requiring its axles to be replaced with any type of regularity.

Why do you have to do this?

17th Jun 2006, 02:44

By axles I think he means the half shafts. this is normal.

16th Jul 2007, 08:01

I have a 1991 Legacy. I have owned it since 2001.

So far I have replaced the half or CV shafts 2 times. My friend that I bought it from said he had to replace them every year or 2. I have lifetime warranty them at an auto parts store, so when they go out, all I have to do is give my time and labor replacing them. About an hour each. They must go out a lot because of the angle design.

Other than that, the car is great. It drives like a dream. goes anywhere in the snow. Has lots of power and also good gas mileage.

Right now I am turning it into a tuner. For those of you that don't know what that is, it is a customized street rod (the Fast and the Furious) type car. It is an eye catcher, and I plan on putting it in some car shows soon.