After a station wagon.

wsnownz, Aug 5, 8:45am
Looking for a 4wd station wagon, preferably manual. At the moment looking at Subaru legacys around 1999. Closest I have found to what I want is a 1999 Lancaster 2.5 Auto and a 1999 250t. Should I be looking at something else! Price range is 5-6k. Mostly open road and ski field driving.
mugenb20b, Aug 5, 8:51am
Toyota RAV 4.
wsnownz, Aug 5, 8:56am
Had a bad experience in a rav4 so no thanks.
mugenb20b, Aug 5, 9:03am
Yeah, tar them all with the same brush, they are all bad. Buy a 250T or a Lancaster and you'll get a true meaning of "bad experience".
wsnownz, Aug 5, 9:20am
I've got nothing negative on the vehicle itself, just personal reasons drive me away. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.
mugenb20b, Aug 5, 9:37am
That's true, but I thought that a bit more ground clearance can be an advantage, that's the only reason I suggested a RAV 4.
drew2009, Aug 5, 1:20pm
The 2.5l Subaru motor was really bad for head gasket problems, the factory head gasket usually stuffed by 200,000km, but a good engine if head gaskets have been replaced and a few cooling system tweaks done. Most people consider that to much trouble so ud be better off with a Nissan Stagea or Volkswagen Passat for reliability. Or a 2l engined legacy would be slightly less problematic if you must have a subaru.
n1smo_gtir, Aug 5, 1:40pm
check the good ole lemon and dog guide on the cars to get an honest review. at approx 150,000k is when most legacies start packing the sh1ts unless it's been well looked after year after year. even then it's still no guarentee. hard to find a legacy that hasnt had a good thrashing in its days before it gets to your hands. i had 3 legacy myself n they all died of overheating and blown headgaskets at approx 159,000ish. but other than that, when it did run, i enjoyed the ample leg space and boot room for quick naps on long trips, not to mention how well it took corners, stuck to the road like sh1t to blankets even in the rain. i'm driving a nissan wingroad now, the 1.5l engines good for city drives but up steep hills its lacking the power. 2.0l minimum for hills. the caldina gtt looks alright and drives pretty well, but test drive one n let ur instinct guide you.
n1smo_gtir, Aug 5, 1:43pm
i like the stageas. even more the turbos. it's like a skyline in a wagon package.
paddy1234, Aug 5, 9:10pm
Legnum VR4, best handling wagon under 50k and 206kw
phillip.weston, Aug 5, 9:13pm
That's a joke right! D&G guide rubbishes EVERYTHING which isn't a Toyota Corolla, and even then gives the Toyota Corolla 3 stars. While they are correct on some things like safety assessment, they can also be incredibly wrong about the assumptions they make about many cars.
phillip.weston, Aug 5, 9:15pm
Yes but fuel consumption will be terrible. I didn't think anything could be much worse than my '91 VR-4 until I bought a Legnum VR-4, however it was tiptronic and higher kms. I would almost just say find a Legnum 25ST-R which is AWD and has most of the same interior/exterior features as VR-4 with half the fuel consumption. But to me they aren't a $5-6k car anymore, they're a $3-4k car.
drew2009, Aug 6, 2:28am
Yeah dog and lemon guide is the sort of guide that you have to pick all the bias and wrongness out of, its only good if you allready know your cars in which case u won't need it anyway.
I Recently recommended the dog and lemon guide to somebody i know buying a first car and I won't be doing that again.
Best way I've found is to search internet forums the world over and check out the reviews and fix ups. I've learnt plenty about legacies like that.
You will be able to find heaps of info about Legacies Passats Stageas Caldinas ect online.

Take each option for a test drive at the caryard and see what you like best, (then go buy it privately) lol.
craig04, Aug 6, 2:47am
16v V6!
vtecintegra, Aug 6, 11:25am
Those are great wagons but there is not way that is more economical than Legacy.
spongefrisk, Sep 16, 9:48am
OP was looking at 5-6k spend