Buying advice - MY07 GT Spec. B - High kms?

[jameswh]

Hi all,

I have been looking around for a MY07/08 GT Spec. B (manual) for quite some time now. I have found one which strikes my interest, however - the car has 106,800km on it. They are asking $25,000 for this particular car.
The car has a full service history, it doesn't seem although anything has been missed. Although I would prefer a car with much lower mileage, should there be any concerns for me picking up this car this late in it's life? Is there anything I should be keeping an eye out for?

I don't have any plans to keep it stock, although I don't plan to go over the top. Probably just a TBE, CAI and tune.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks. : )

[Jim]

Hey mate, i think it all comes down to how well it was looked after by the owner. Mine had been to Perth and back so it had about the same amount when i picked it up. Felt brand new, the interior was spic and span and the car doesnt have a scratch on it, never missed a service with Subaru either.

Thats an awsome price, i paid 27k for mine. Even if it has low kms, your inevetably going to put the k's on it anyway so i dont see what the issue is, as long as its been looked after and serviced.

[sooobi]

Some might say with it being 3-4 years old and averaging 27k-36k kms per year thats average rather than high k's..

[jameswh]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Jim, how many km's are on yours now? With regular servicing, does it run as well as it did when you first picked it up?

How do these boxer engines cope in the later stages of their lives? Is there anything I should be looking out for around the 110,000km mark?

[swingn]

As long as the condition is good - Which can be a concern when the car has done higher miles - & it's got a good service history, I think you should be pretty safe.

All that being said, I would still get an independent inspection just to be on the safe side.

[jp928]

mATE OF MINE HAS A WORK fORRESTER gt (2.5, ~2006), which has been chipped, exhaust and suspension modified, has serious grunt. Had an engine mount failure (warranty, with some persausion), radiator top tank failure. Now at ~160k kms, has developed a noisy front diff....but its had a HARD life -lots of serious launches and vigorous driving. Engine is still sweet, uses minimal oil.
I have 80k on mine now, uses no oil, no issues. I think at 106k, you should be cool just keeping the services up to spec.

jp 08 gtb 6mt wagon.

[bradr]

Over the years, I've owned three Subarus (all non-Liberties) and have travelled over 200,000km in each of them.

Never, have I been caught on the side of the road with a non-starter or a breakdown. Even flat tyres have always been either at home or at my destination.

So long as they are well maintained, they simply don't let you down. Each of those Subys got some serious punishment over their lives with us with lots of rough dirt roads and, with the first two, some offroad sites, too.

The secret really is to have them regularly serviced and to get that oil changed so it doesn't harden up in the engine - a common thing due to the architecture of the motor, apparently.

Although I can't talk about turbos, ordinarily, 107,000km for a Suby is run-in.

cheers,

bj

[Jaz]

I'm up to a 132 in my 2006 MY07 GTB. Seems to be coping with it ok. I bought it with a good service history, and had it checked out.

[teK--]

As mentioned it's not so much total mileage, but what sort of mileage it is. Whether the car has a hard life is usually obvious when looking at condition of body and interior trim in general.

[olliej]

I've bought some higher Km cars before without too much bother. However, what you save upfront in purchasing you are likely to lose when you sell as I believe its harder to sell a performance vehicle in the 160km+ territory.

I find that higher milage vehicles that are kept well are mechanically sound, its more the squeaks and general wear and tear that can start to appear and remove that 'tight' newer car feeling.

[jameswh]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

It is quite difficult to find a manual Spec. B in my price range (<$30k).

I have found a number of 2.0T GT's in manual - however, I have heard that turbo lag is a huge problem with these models. Is this truly the case? I'd be happy to live without the other bits (SI Drive, Sat Nav, etc) if the 2.0T was a decent engine.

[garbo41610]

There is nothing quite like the 2.0L turbo's lag. You wait, and wait, and wait then BAM! POWAAA!!!

Seriously though, yes, there is lag but you get used to it. The car still pulls fine up to 2500RPM or so when you are just pottering around town. My old MY05 GT (2.0L) IMO is a bit more "aggressive" in the way it accelerates, much like a WRX. I am fortunate enough to be able to compare my old car to my MY10 GT wagon and the car overall to drive is much more linear in its acceleration. Quite similar to the 3.6 I test drove (just for sh1ts and giggles, but don't tell Brendon).

[jameswh]

Does the 2.0L Tuned by STI model also suffer from this lack of low down torque?

[Kekotic]

Removed.

[Jim]

Where are you located and looking?

In Sydney there are quite a few sub $30k GTspecB's in 6MT, and just cos its advertised higher doesnt mean sellers wont budge, gotta haggle a bit! A seller is always going price something at the maximum they think they might get for it with the right buyer, however most (normal) people allow room to move for negotiating in their prices. In private sales of cars, people who just shoot down offers will end up having to wait forever for their car to sell till the (cashed up moron) comes along and throws the cash at them for their advertised price.

In the fair amount of cars i have sold myself, i dont think i have ever ONCE got what i advertised it for!!

Dig into the classifieds mate, the right one for you will show up!