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2007 Subaru Liberty advice before purchasing

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:54 pm
by Pepps
Hi all,

I'm a rookie to Subarus so looking to get some advice on one I have my eye on.

It's a 2007 MY07 Subaru Liberty 2.5L manual sedan. It has 160,000kms on the clock, so slightly higher than average, but has full Subaru service history.

The car presents well and drives well, the only thing I am worried about is the high kms. But if it has been serviced on time at Subaru I'm sure its been taken care of.

Just wondering when the major service intervals are up on this Liberty and if there are any major ones coming up that I should know about that will set me back $$$

Thanks in advance everyone

Bryce

Re: 2007 Subaru Liberty advice before purchasing

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:58 pm
by HyRax
You should be able to score a 2007-2008 2.5i for much less K's than that from a Subaru dealer directly. How much is it selling for? I got my MY08 with 65,000K on it for $21K this time last year from a Subaru dealer rather than do a private sale. I'm the second owner.

Overall, if the car has been looked after and serviced, then the kilometres really doesn't matter for anything other than resale value. The major service is the J interval and is usually done every 100,000K's or every three years. This will involve a replacement of all fluids, replacement timing belt and all the usual interval service bits. Long term the head gaskets will eventually require replacement (you could go as far as 300,000K's before this is needed) and this is where is can get costly - not for the gaskets themselves, but for the labour to reach the lower head gaskets.

First thing you should do with any Subaru is pop the bonnet and look on the side wall behind the driver-side headlight. There should be a square yellow and black "PAINT OK" sticker. If that sticker is missing or painted over, there's a good chance the car has been in a frontal and repaired.

If you really have your heart set on it, invest $160 or so and pay for a mechanic to give the car an inspection and produce a report. If the owner has a problem with you doing this, then he's hiding something and you should walk away.