Called up my insurance provider, and they said insurance would only be $20 more /month than on my '01 FS. I'd love to search for an FXT, but I'm not to familiar with how much people are selling them for. What should I realistically set aside to pay for an '04+ FXT?
Well, you have KBB, Autotrader, and local ads to look at. It can vary a bit depending on mileage, mods, condition, and so on. If you're looking for manual, it might be hard. Not a ton where made, so you might find yourself taking a little drive to a nearby state to pick one up if a manual is a must.
I've learned not to trust KBB, as they don't put the "Subaru tax" into play when looking up any Subaru. Otherwise, I'm getting mixed signals from different places. At this point, I don't really care if it's Manual/Automatic. As long as the car is a good price, I'm okay with it. I did find a decent one for $3,990 in Wisconsin with about 190k miles. Looks beautiful condition wise, and I contacted them in regards with a trade in for my car, and I'd only have to pay a few hundred dollars with my trade in.
$4k is cheap, but also 190k miles is a lot. I'd ask why it's priced like that. You're basically at your second round of big maintenace on the engine at this point, aka timing belt, pulleys, water pump, fuel filter, spark plugs, etc. If you can do the work yourself, it's pretty cheap. If you're not that mechanical, it'll cost you a bit. Also if the engine hasn't been rebuilt, I'd be curious how much oil it's burning. Getting the engine tested might be a good idea. It's not that the engines don't last well. It's just that the miles add up. Plus you have no idea how the car's been used. If it's a manual, make sure the 5 speed shifts well. You should get zero syncro issues and no gear whine at all. Some people drive manuals poorly and are overly forceful with the Subaru transmissions. The end result is worn syncros and crappier shifting. The automatics don't have problems, except...it's an automatic. Yeah, I don't really read into KBB much, but I do look at what's actively for sale around me. Autotrader, ebay, craigslist, Subaru dealership sites/ads in the area, etc. all will give you a good indicator of value.
I was wrong, it's $5k. http://www.hansenbrothersautosales.com/2005_Subaru_Forester_Milwaukee_WI_257140881.veh Whoops, wrong carfax. http://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory/p/Report.cfx?partner=CFL_0&vin=JF1SG69605H720881 I can see why it's so cheap now...
I agree with @derp Realistically you're probably going to spend more than 4k. With turbo vehicles I think its important to ask for all service records and have a compression test done with the engine to see what you are getting yourself into.
The compression test is useful when you suspect someone's trying to dump a car with ringland failure on someone else. This is pretty noticeable though. Off boost power is moderately lower. It's quite apparent, especially up hills. It's kind of like pulling a spark plug wire on your older Forester, noticeable. However, it's still nice just to see how well the engine's doing overall. As for the rear end damage. Maybe it was minor, maybe not. It's hard to say without inspecting the car. You can easily look under the rear and in the spare tire well for how bad it was hit. Panel gaps can be a sign.
