I need a new DD, Veeky Forums. Leaning heavily toward early 2000's Subaru impreza hatchbacks

I need a new DD, Veeky Forums. Leaning heavily toward early 2000's Subaru impreza hatchbacks.
>Find one local, 01 Outback Sport, manual
>80k on the clock
>Looks good, all the fluids look and smell right, no rust, interior is a little rough but not too bad for what I'm wanting
>Test drive
>Everything seems fine, but when the car is in gear, with clutch engaged, and coasting, there is a grinding noise coming from the transmission area
I've read on forums that this could be center diff bearing, synchronizer, in/out shaft bearing, all kinds of shit.

My question for you, now. Has anyone here had that kind of trouble out of their car? Any opinions on what it might be, how much it would cost to fix or how long the car can run with this issue?
I talked to the owner but he's pretty stiff on $4,000, says that's a common non-issue on Subarus with manual transmissions and won't budge.
Just needing a reliable, economic AWD for the hellacious commute to work during the winter months.

he's saying that because he's trying to sell it. there's no way in hell you should be dropping that kind of money for a powertrain on borrowed time. you're also around prime headgasket-blowing mileage on those cars, and if the transmission indicates abuse, the engine is going to be similarly abused.

True. How much is a car like that even worth? 2k?

I'd inquire about if the timing belt has been replaced, because 80k is about the time it's gonna go, and I'm not entirely sure if that model has an interference engine, so it could potentially fuck your valves up if the belt goes un-replaced.

Shut up and buy a civic for 3k

I don't think it would have the 2.5 notorious for HG issues, it's probably the 2.2 which is fairly bulletproof

But agreed, OP can find something in better condition for 4k

My 175k 5mt Forester shifts perfectly and makes no noise, just a matter of taking care of the car

>but when the car is in gear, with clutch engaged, and coasting, there is a grinding noise coming from the transmission area

What I've ran into that causes this noise could be:
>Pinion bearings
>Carrier bearings
>U-joints
>Transmission output bearing
>Transfercase input bearing
>Transfercase output bearing
>Bad ring and pinion setup
>and chipped spider gears

And yes, all of these resonate up the driveshaft and sound like they are coming from the transmission area. The chipped spider gears took me forever to figure out because I thought it was coming from inbetween the transfercase and the transmission.

In short, I've ran into this so many times and none of them were cheap fixes except ujoints. Not sure about subarus, but I would just walk away. No sense going down that road if you don't have to.

I drive one of those, bought it second hand from some greasy indian in PA drove it cross country from NJ to Banff Alberta Cali and back ran real well, however they are not work 4000, even 3500 is a lot try to get him down to 3000 or walk away.

Wow fuck my grammar.

But those are so faggy:(

^ here

just saw you're in CO as well, there's definitely a Subaru tax here that's for sure

I've been trying to find a well maintained 1.8 or 2.2 GC Impreza as a winter beater but they're fuckin tough to come by this time of year, not a single worthwhile car on Craigs right now

You wanna buy my Forester lol?

Perfectly maintained with every receipt since new, new clutch 1k miles ago, new timing and drive belt, water pump, headgaskets were inspected by a Subaru specialist when the motor was pulled for the clutch (original started going at 172k), the Six Stars are looking good

I'm in the Denver area, will sell for $3.5k

Another thing that makes a fuckton of noise at certain rpm's or just in random conditions like coasting depending on what went wrong is the exhaust shield

notorious on Impreza platform cars for getting fucked up and making noise, sounds scary as fuck. Just climb under the car and try to wiggle the shield closest to the transmission tunnel, that's where it usually fails or gets loose or whatever

While I'm on the subject of Subarus, anyone know any common problems with Scion FR-Ss? Specifically one with the automatic.

no faggier than a beat to shit and broken subaru.

>Automatic
There's the problem.

Kill yourself

Fuck it's like a perfect little AWD Corolla with a pancake motor

Boy get the fuck outta here if that shit isn't minty fresh 4,000 is a rip I bought mine 9 months ago with 79k for 1600, little rust but that's natural on these cars. 5 speed and I put over 11k on and offroad in it this year, only thing that went wrong was a flat tire once. I recommend heavily, the 2.2 is a beast, don't let this dude rip you off

I have a 2000 Impreza l. It makes noises from the tranny, especilly at highway speeds. At first I was concerned, but after 10,000k, I've just kinda forgotten about it and so far so good. Still would like it fixed, but opening the tranny would cost more then what I payed for it ($2000)

Where do you find cars in this price range? All I can find is stuff over 120k miles on cars for sale.

Craigslist just wait for a gem to pop up they always do

>little rust

holy fuck that thing is swiss cheesed

my Foz has "a little rust" above the wheel arch and it makes me wanna kill myself, I can't imagine how you thought buying that car was a good long term decision

Dude who cares it was a $1600 car, you're an idiot if you'd pass it up because of a tiny bit or rust

Thanks

By PA do you mean Prince Albert?

Nope Harrisburg Pennsylvaniato be exact

The letgo app is pretty good for finding shit dirt cheap, for me in North Jersey theres 3 of these for under 2000$