You can't figure some people.

$4k and he has a car he apparently likes that runs for another 2 years at least?

For double that, does that dealership have anything even on the lot?

-- Todd H.

I buy cars like this for ~$400, put $250 into them, and then feel gypped if I only get two years from them. $4,000, the car had better run for another 5 years, minimum.

He probably feels he knows the car is basically a good car and fixing it will probably get another 100,000 miles out of it. I never used to buy used cars because I knew nothing about cars and would wind up paying too much for a car that needed too much work for what I spent. Then I learned to fix my own cars. My '89 GL should probably be sitting in a junkyard somewhere, but I paid $420 for it, put $200 into it and have been driving it for 2 winters. It's starting to rust and has a nasty noise from the engine every other week. I'll probably bondo over the rust, give it a shot of paint and try to fix the noise (Um, I'll do that *first*) and see if I can squeeze at least one more out of it. Why? I like the car! It's comfortable, handles reasonably well, does everything I want. Oh, and it's an older Japanese car... ;)

Like a vet telling you your dog needs put down. Who wants to hear that? :-)

But, your description of that wreck makes me feel good about my 99 Outback, it's in comparatively great shape at the same mileage.

-John O

update: Right head on, left head lost threads for 2 of the valve cover bolts. I had to remove it again. Will bring in my helicoil set tommorow. Went to remove the axle to repair the DOJ (Inside cv boot) The 14 mm bolt that holds the ball joint in broke off. (the car is from Wisconson) So a junkyard hub assy on its way, get it thursday. add a alignment to it on a rusty car-couldent even pull the cotter keys out! He wants us to reuse the lower eng cover :-/ it was held on with twine when it came in. Dosn't want to touch the heat shields or the CEL (Whew, that could have mutiplied in cost.) Anyway-it is progressing, will start it tommorow.

I have a 2000 Forester with 162,000 miles. I've been told both head gaskets are leaking too. Mine is in great shape otherwise. How long do I have to come up with the money ($2200 including timing belts/water pump etc.) before something bad happens. In other words, I can't afford it right now and must continue to drive it a while until I can. tim

If I could predict the future..... No set time, but on occasion the heads start leaking internally and cause a overheat. We did see one that the customer didn't pay attention to the leaks and it was going inside- the overhead killed the engine. Another line of thought, A engine from a junkyard may be less in cost and would have less miles. My forester has 158,000, and the engine I'll be putting in will have about 80,000. I put about 1000, repairing a engine for it and something went wrong- lasted 500 miles; I would have been ahead time wise doing the used engine first. Do you have any mechanical friend or skills yourself? Steve

Thanks for the info. The quote was from the dealer, but I have another reputable shop in mind. I may look into the used engine solution. tim

Problem is, 2000 and 2009 are different foresters. It might not make sense to you but a lot of people are much rather buy Evo III thru IX then the current crap X. Same sort of dilution happened with the Subaru line. Modern ones are coaches on wheels stuffed with gobs of useless options. So don't judge the guy: he is not buying a forester in a modern sense. It's a very different animal. Does everything really have to make sense for you to be happy?

Problem is, 2000 and 2009 are different foresters. It might not make sense to you but a lot of people are much rather buy Evo III thru IX then the current crap X. Same sort of dilution happened with the Subaru line. Modern ones are coaches on wheels stuffed with gobs of useless options. So don't judge the guy: he is not buying a forester in a modern sense. It's a very different animal. Does everything really have to make sense for you to be happy?

No not always; but we have plenty of Cars with 80K and a warrenty, This is like doing open heart surgery on someone with cancer. where is the balance? Anyway, the car is done, out the door and the guy wrote us a bad check........

This goes for just about any car, but the Japanese cars in particular. What I liked about my 'early' Toyotas was that the effort went into making a good car, not the bells and whistles. No power windows? WHO CARES?!?! The windows go down in three turns of the crank!!

Simple cars are sometimes the best cars!

And there's the *REAL* reason for fixing the old rusty beater!!!!

Are you buying Cobalt SS then?