Is this a good price for a 97 Subaru Outback? (CV joint, gasket, mileage)

[atotalblamblam]

I've made an offer for a 97 Subaru Outback, impeccably maintained, looks new and drives smoothly, but has 182,000 miles. I'm in Oregon. I offered $3700. Too much, or ok? What would you offer?

Kelly Blue Book places it a bit over $5000, but edmunds.com's true market value says $2500 for one bought from a private seller, $3750 for one from a dealer.

[ferretkona]

It only really matters if you feel it's worth it. The bank might not agree, but I figure you are paying cash. You might want to look in the newspapers and see the average price there.

[sunsprit]

From what I've seen trading around in this series of Subie Outbacks, the PNW region is a lot higher than other areas ... such as the front range of Colorado or the New England area ... so your offer may not be too far out of the money for a local car.

At this mileage, I'd be concerned that the head gaskets have been changed on this 4-cam motor, as this was a major failure point. Subie finally came up with a later head gasket that appears to work, and I've got over 100,000 miles on the set in my '97 Outback ... but there's a number of cars out there on the originals or an early replacement set that are just a time bomb looking for a nice day to fail.

Symptoms include oil in the water, overheating, or slowly overpressurizing the radiator and blowing coolant out the overflow tank. If this happens, you need to be shutting the motor down immediately before you warp a head or damage the block. The heads have very little material available to mill them flat, so get totalled out very easily ($$$), and the blocks can crack close to the block deck with overheating ($$$$$) ... if the block fails, a used motor in good condition could easily cost more than the car.

These cars typically go well into the low-mid 200,000 mile range without other major repairs, so if it's been "well maintained" (which definitely includes the fluid changes on schedule, gearbox & rear diff, engine oil) ... you can reasonably expect quite a lot of remaining service from the car. When the front CV joints start to fail, complete new axle assemblies are inexpensive and easy to install ... if these have been replaced, then you'll probably wear out the rest of the car before they fail again.

[las vegas drunk]

Considering the average car lasts 200,000 miles, $3,700 is way too much for it with that many miles. I personally would not pay over $1,500 for it, but that is just me.