hey peeps, well its time for me to move on to a new car, well a new "used" car anyway. after losing my t-leg to a fire, i've been looking at many subies for awhile now. from impreza's to forester's to outback's, but the 3rd gen Legacy sedan seems to be the top of my list now. a couple of quick question: 1) whats the difference between the L and the GT. 2) does all 3rd gen Legacy comes wit the 2.5? 3) are there any flaws to these years? exp: head gasket.... 4) hows the auto tranny. pefer 5spd but may consider auto any info will be great.
http://www.cars101.com/subaru/legacy/legacy2000.html and http://www.cars101.com/subaru/legacy/legacy2004.html those are all the phase II EJ25s, so no head gasket issues like the phase Is. 4EATs are fine, reliability-wise. depending on use, and maintenance, sometimes they fail prematurely. but for the most part, they're pretty good.
Wrong, they have much worse head gasket issues (the reason I stock 70+ headgaskets of the good kind and the crap kind), but its EXTERNAL leaks. Luckily they are a very simple job, and can be done with the engine in the car. The 4 eat is pretty decent as long as it currently is in good working order, problems like low clutch piston seals and transfer clutches are common, and expensive, but the dont just plain fail very often.
Before 2002, the L was a base model. Steel wheels, cloth interior, no sunroof, etc. The GT was the middle model, adding a roof, nicer cloth, uprated interior bits, rear LSD (I think), better stereo, alloy wheels, etc. The GT Limited was the top model, adding leather and heated seats to the GT. 2003 they changed the lineup, with the L Special Edition. It's a Legacy GT, just badged differently. The GT Limited became the GT. They're solid cars in my experience. I always liked the 03 LSE in white with grey interior. We also had a black LGT 5 speed wagon that I lusted after when I worked at BP.
OMG, you could not be more wrong. I have seen headgaskets go as soon as 19K miles on these engines. Where as the phase I's, usually make it to around 100K miles, and Subaru updated the gaskets for these engines.
thanks for all the info guys, i may still consider one of these, in sedan form. maybe an auto. but, who knows, im still in the hunt for a impreza coupe so....lets wait and see. again, thanks for the info.
