1998 Subaru Legacy

Outback Wagon

4 Cylinder 2.5 Liter

Automatic

4S3BG6858W7628170

Clear

Gasoline

Up for auction is a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback with just under 150,000 miles. Starting with the exterior, the blue and gray two tone paint job is a really nice color combination. The paint has held up really well over the years and before listing it I went over it with polishing compound and gave it a fresh wax job. It is smooth to the touch and striking to the eye. The car is however a New York car and as such it has some rust spots and a few other places where rust is going to bubble through. In most cases, the rust spots show through at seams where the blue meets the gray, and tend to be in the gray area. This is a general issue instead of a spot issue, so instead of a bunch of pictures with tiny rust spots I'm just including a bunch of really high resolution photos of the cars exterior. The head and tail lights look good and with a little buffing they came out crystal clear. There is noticeable rust on the rear windshield wiper, I don't know why this area seems to be a problem, but I can't imagine this part would be too expensive to fix should its new owner choose to do so. The tires are Yokohamas, and have a little less than half tread. I'll upload a few pictures of the tires with a penny in them to show tread wear tomorrow when it's light out. The rims are pretty clean and are stock Subaru rims, a little wear on the edges and some brake dust build-up on them, but nothing out of the ordinary for a car of this age. On the inside, the trim is all complete and shines up really nicely. The car has a Kenwood aftermarket CD player and the sound system is pretty impressive for being to the best of my knowledge stock. The seats and floor have a few stains on them, as you'll see in the photos, but I don't believe they are anything more than a good steam cleaner can handle. This car has a TON of storage space. I've taken photos of the seats fully down, the headrests from the back seats come out to allow the back seats to fully fold down, and even the area under the back seat is clean. The top two anchors that hold the cargo net (shown in the photos) went missing, and I've replaced them with a few screws I had laying around. They're working just fine, but again should the buyer choose, these parts are available for very cheap. Mechanically, the car runs really well. It starts and runs easily every time I've started it, the engine is very strong. Oil changes are up to date and I just changed the oil in it using a Fram filter so the new owner has a few thousand miles before worrying about it. All the other fluids are topped off, power steering works well and the engine runs quietly. The transmission shifts smoothly, it tends to like to stay in 3rd a little over 3000rpms in normal driving, I don't know if this is normal for Subarus but I haven't had any problems with it. There are two small mechanical issues I'm noticing driving the car around for the first few times this year, I'll try to describe them as well as possible. The first one is that the shift linkage seems a bit loose, you have to push the shifter a little above where the R is for reverse to get reverse to actually engage. It's never been a transmission issue, just the physical shift linkage, because every time I pop the shifter forward a little it engages reverse and works just fine. The other is I noticed a small leak from the front differential where it mates to the transmission. I don't know if this is just because it's been sitting for a while or what's going on, but the only reason I noticed it at all is because this mating surface is just above the catalytic converter, so it has a little white smoke when a drop hits the converter. I'll include a quart of 75W90 gear oil with the auction, and it seems to be less and less of a problem each time I drive it, but I wanted to mention that it's a fluid I would recommend keeping an eye on. (Even if it doesn't go away it wouldn't amount to much more than a few drops at each oil change). I would fix the shift linkage myself but I'm afraid to do it because it's working fine right now, and I'll try to drive the car more as the auction goes on and provide updates on the status of the gear oil leak. Other than the issues I've described, the car runs great, the temperature gauge stays exactly where it should at running temperature, and the cooling fans kick on exactly when they should. I've also done the age old "put a white handkerchief at the exhaust" test to make sure it's not burning engine oil. It isn't. One other thing, the car needs an alignment. The steering wheel pulls about 1/4 turn to the right when the car is going straight. Shouldn't be a big deal I just haven't had time to get it done. I've tried to do the best I can to describe the car but if anyone would like to see a specific picture of a specific area, please let me know via e-mail and I'll get one uploaded as quickly as possible. I just realized I don't have a picture of the engine, I'll put that up with the pictures of the tires tomorrow. I also have a nearly brand new set of winter tires on a separate set of rims that I'd be willing to sell to whoever wins the car if they would be interested. Overall, the car starts and runs every time, the paint looks really nice and the car cleans up very well. The interior is clean, the stereo sounds good, the AC blows cold, and it's a solid car for anyone needing to move a bunch of people and a bunch of stuff. Note: This car is being sold as-is where-is with no warranty, expressed or implied. I'll be glad to let the buyer drive it around the neighborhood before taking it away, but I don't have the time to offer any kind of return policy or anything like that. In addition, anyone interested in bidding on this car is invited to stop by and drive it around, I have no problem with that at all. I'm requiring a Paypal account to bid on this car since I've had some bad luck with non-payment in the past, but if you do not have a Paypal account and are unable to acquire one, please e-mail me and I will try to work something out. Good luck, happy bidding, and just another reminder, I check my e-mails constantly so please if you have any questions at all about this car, don't hesitate to e-mail me! On Aug-06-10 at 16:53:57 PDT, seller added the following information: As promised, the pictures of the tire tread and a picture of the engine.