keep it or lose it?

[tougemachine]

Ok. Im in kind of a pickel, my 96 Legacy has served me well. I got the car back in October with about 170,000 miles on it and as of now i have 231,000 miles (i drive alot). But im at the point now where i dont know what to do with it. I need a reliable DD because i just got another eclipse Turbo. But theres a fiew problems with my Baby (legacy). First off the registration has expired this month and im afraid its going to be expensive since i have around five bridge toll fines and maby one parking ticket. Another problem is the condition of the car. It IS beautiful but it needs some stuff. 4 tires (225/45/17's arent cheep) an inner tie rod and allignment, a cat, front axels, a battery, and im sure theres sompthing else. But what im debating on is weather or not its worth it to put this much money into it or just simply buy another one (around 1,500 to 2,000 for one like it)

Ive become VERY attached to it but maby its so hard for me to make that decision to cut the cord because of that reson.

Any advise will help me from stressing out more, thankyou.

[hallowpoint]

hmm, well if you buy another one your just going to have the same problem with that one in a few months and maybe more expensive problems. i say just put a little $ into yours and run it till it dies.

[gryffinwings]

hmm, well if you buy another one your just going to have the same problem with that one in a few months and maybe more expensive problems. i say just put a little $ into yours and run it till it dies.

+1, you know the problems of this car, the other one you will not.

Also you can get most of those parts easily enough as far as I know, and 225/45-17s can be gotten cheap online, depending on where you go. I hear Federal performance tires are getting pretty good, I plan on getting Federal SS595 tires and you can get those at aroun 60 dollars each, you could go to tires-easy.com they have tires for cheap.

You can get a HFC for around 300 dollars from a guy on rs25.com.

My .02

[Huffer]

If you're going to DD your Legacy, sell the 17s for some cash. Take the cash, buy the spare parts, install and drive.
16" wheels are cheap, you can get a set of 02-05 WRX takeoffs for $150 without tires, $300 with.
Axles are $100, and take about an hour to install.
Cat is expensive if you go OEM but a universal high flow welded in is much less
Battery is $40-50 at Walmart.

All these items are basic wear and tear and will wear out on any car regardless of age/mileage.

Good luck with your decision!

[greenspeed]

sell the dsm...you used the words reliable and dsm in the same sentence...get out while you still can :smt010

[gryffinwings]

sell the dsm...you used the words reliable and dsm in the same sentence...get out while you still can :smt010

Depends on the Eclipse, later ones with the 4G63 were pretty good, especially the GSX, like an EVO with different skin.

[greenspeed]

sell the dsm...you used the words reliable and dsm in the same sentence...get out while you still can :smt010

Depends on the Eclipse, later ones with the 4G63 were pretty good, especially the GSX, like an EVO with different skin.

pist...all the turbos were all 4g63's

[Okin DaVanh]

pist...all the turbos were all 4g63's


At least that what I thought too.



I (obviously) would say stay with the Leg, But I noticed you said "Daily Driver" and not solely relying on the DSM. Good Choice :smt023

Price it all out. If it costs more to buy another car/insure and register it and toss in some extra $ for the occasional "needs TLC" situation... I'd say, find as many used parts as you can, and ride it out.

Nothing like buying another issue and starting all over again.

[jey]

A "new" $1500-2000 Legacy will have all those problems already too. I just bought one, it needed new axles, tie rod boots both sides in the front and a thermostat. Plus the last timing belt service neglected the water pump. If you learn to do the work yourself those are not expensive maintenance items. It you take the car to a dealer they become money pits quickly - my local one wanted $800 to do axles!

[tougemachine]

I do the work myself. The problem is time. I dont have any to work on it. Im considering keeping it i guess. Does anyone here in northern california have a whole exhaust i can buy. Thats one of the problems. I have a good stock header. And catback. But the cat pipe is junk

[Huffer]

Get something from an Impreza. Same cat section. Or just pick a universal cat + rear o2 spacer, take it to an exhaust shop and wait 2-3hrs.

[rougeben83]

A "new" $1500-2000 Legacy will have all those problems already too. I just bought one, it needed new axles, tie rod boots both sides in the front and a thermostat. Plus the last timing belt service neglected the water pump. If you learn to do the work yourself those are not expensive maintenance items. It you take the car to a dealer they become money pits quickly - my local one wanted $800 to do axles!

yeah and don't forget the cost to register, pay taxes and have it inspected (at least in ny you do), it always turns out to be at least another $500 on top of what you're paying for the car. Not to mention getting new insurance...

the car really has to be a heap before I would consider getting another one of the same vintage...

[Okin DaVanh]

even if you dont go the impreza way, plenty people here are upgrading daily. Post up some requests in WTBuy. Try to get what you need (the asap parts) 1st.

[BE-Fresh]

Def keep the legacy and give it some TLC. These cars last a long ass time if you give it some love

[Reason]

You want reliability and you bought a DSM? :smt017

[tougemachine]

I got my DSM for fun and was planning on having the legacy as my DD car. But shes being a pain. Im getting only avr 21 mpg. And at first i was told by a cuple people that my cat was clogged, so i did a vacume test and it WAS. So i removed the first cat (wich i think is a rediculas design anyhow) and weldid up just a 90 digree pipe to go there with the first O2. Sensor in it. But that left me wondering what now to do with the rear one. Now on my old 95 eclipse GS-T i just didnt add the rear O2 in with the exhaust so i dont get a CEL. And it DID work. But aperently not on the Legacy. So now i extendid the wire and put the second O2 behind the second (now only) cat. Now im not sure if that worked to remove the CEL i havent relly had the time to try yet. But it still runs kinda shakey. Im up on all the tune up stuff except the wires wich i changed back in october when i got the car (60,000 miles ago) so im thinking that may be the culprit. Also i had never done a fuel filter...hmm...

As for the tires im sure i can get them with any one of my pay checks. And the axels...same. Just a time issue.

I relly love the car and id say hands down best overall car ive ever had. Im trying to recruit a good friend and fellow DSM disease carrier to legacys. He says if he gets one he wants a 2nd gen GT.

So i know this is long windid but thanks for clearing up my brain about this. And if i do end up geting rid of it itll not leave my posetion. I may just hand it over to me woman for safe keeping and get an outback.

Anyone got rear leather seats and a blue hood? IM BRINGIEN IT BACK

[gryffinwings]

I got my DSM for fun and was planning on having the legacy as my DD car. But shes being a pain. Im getting only avr 21 mpg. And at first i was told by a cuple people that my cat was clogged, so i did a vacume test and it WAS. So i removed the first cat (wich i think is a rediculas design anyhow) and weldid up just a 90 digree pipe to go there with the first O2. Sensor in it. But that left me wondering what now to do with the rear one. Now on my old 95 eclipse GS-T i just didnt add the rear O2 in with the exhaust so i dont get a CEL. And it DID work. But aperently not on the Legacy. So now i extendid the wire and put the second O2 behind the second (now only) cat. Now im not sure if that worked to remove the CEL i havent relly had the time to try yet. But it still runs kinda shakey. Im up on all the tune up stuff except the wires wich i changed back in october when i got the car (60,000 miles ago) so im thinking that may be the culprit. Also i had never done a fuel filter...hmm...

As for the tires im sure i can get them with any one of my pay checks. And the axels...same. Just a time issue.

I relly love the car and id say hands down best overall car ive ever had. Im trying to recruit a good friend and fellow DSM disease carrier to legacys. He says if he gets one he wants a 2nd gen GT.

So i know this is long windid but thanks for clearing up my brain about this. And if i do end up geting rid of it itll not leave my posetion. I may just hand it over to me woman for safe keeping and get an outback.

Anyone got rear leather seats and a blue hood? IM BRINGIEN IT BACK

THANK GOD!!! and good luck with the repairs.

[T_F_E]

Yeah you should put the money into it and it will do well for you. You think tires are expensive for a subaru?!?! You should see the price of tires that I run in my trucks :smt023

[gryffinwings]

Yeah you should put the money into it and it will do well for you. You think tires are expensive for a subaru?!?! You should see the price of tires that I run in my trucks :smt023

I've heard truck tire prices are ridiculous, how much?

[T_F_E]

Yeah you should put the money into it and it will do well for you. You think tires are expensive for a subaru?!?! You should see the price of tires that I run in my trucks :smt023

I've heard truck tire prices are ridiculous, how much?

For 35's your talking 250 a piece

[rudgers73]

Yeah you should put the money into it and it will do well for you. You think tires are expensive for a subaru?!?! You should see the price of tires that I run in my trucks :smt023

I've heard truck tire prices are ridiculous, how much?

Crappy full sized pickup tires are like $100 each. Decent ones are like $140-$150 each. High end, like $180 and up

It really puts things into perspective for us with our little tires and low load ratings. haha Doesn't make buying some Potenza RE-11's sound so bad, huh? :smile:

[gryffinwings]

Yeah you should put the money into it and it will do well for you. You think tires are expensive for a subaru?!?! You should see the price of tires that I run in my trucks :smt023

I've heard truck tire prices are ridiculous, how much?

Crappy full sized pickup tires are like $100 each. Decent ones are like $140-$150 each. High end, like $180 and up

It really puts things into perspective for us with our little tires and low load ratings. haha Doesn't make buying some Potenza RE-11's sound so bad, huh? :smile:

Not really those RE-11s are still around 180 a piece for 225/45-17s, no way in hell am I paying that.

[rudgers73]

Not really those RE-11s are still around 180 a piece for 225/45-17s, no way in hell am I paying that.

well, me either. But if we all drove huge trucks we would be paying close to that and getting nothing special out of them. It's good to know that if I was going to pay $180 for a tire I would see a noticeable difference in my autocross times, making it feel a little more justified. Still not justified enough to do it, tho. :lol: