Soon to be owner.. (Hopefully...) Any suggestions?

[Knightwulf]

Well, need to clear a couple things with the bank, but it looks like I'm going to be picking up this beauty sometime next week. Will be buying it for ~$4500 (Final haggling isn't quite done).

Has some minor niggling things on it that need to be taken care of:



Apparently there's a loose heatshield (rattling catalytic converter).
Sagging driver's side sunvisor (which the current owner just velcroed to the roof).
Timing belt will likely need to be replaced soon (any ideas on cost of this? I'm not mechanically inclined, so I'll have to have it done for me). (Edit: Got a quote from a local mechanic who was suggested to me by Phast: 3.5 hours [$175] + parts.)
Tires have about a year left on them.
Transmission was rebuilt at 80k (115k miles on her now),
Loose window switches.
She'll need a tranny cooler.
..and there's a small dent in the left rear fender.


Current owner has all documentation/receipts from the two years he's owned it but not from the previous owner.


More pictures are in my locker...

Now, with that full disclosure from the owner... Do you feel this is a fair price? From what I've been reading and my best guesstimate as a neophyte, I feel if I could talk him down to about $4200, I'll be right where I should be.

In addition, if I do pick her up... Any suggestions on what I should do right off the bat?

Someone mentioned in another thread to get her completely swapped over to synthetics. Again, as a neophyte, I'm not entirely certain what all this entails. Specifics on what I should and shouldn't get swapped out would be wonderful.. ..and with what brands. Anything else you'd suggest?

As for tires.. Looking for a good all-season for day-to-day driving. I won't be street racing this gal. Suggestions there as well would be greatly appreciated.

--Wulf

(Edit: Forgot to mention.. She's a '95 LSi)

[immortal_suby]

awesome price for a 95

[RojoRocket]

Front wheels are on back-wards. Have em swapped when you replace the tires. Nice color!!

Glenn

[seasvx]

Originally posted by Knightwulf
Sagging driver's side sunvisor

...standard equipment on the svx. go here & click on the "interior" folder for a couple of ways to fix:
http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/user.php?How-To

(btw: nice LSi!)

[UberRoo]

Unless your conscience will keep you awake, you could probably chew 'em down a little more, but $4500 is a pretty good price. Not great, but definitely not bad.

The rattling heat shield is a common problem and usually not hard to fix.

The Velcroed sun visor fix doesn't always work, as eventually the headliner begins to separate and the whole thing sags. There are other fixes you can try. A replacement visor is about $85.

The engine is a non-interference design, which means that if the timing belt breaks, nothing bad will happen aside from being stranded along side the road.

I'm highly opinionated (and snobbish) when it comes to tires, so I may not be your best source of information. I recommend Michelin tires. I'd opt for the Pilot Sport in 225/50-16 or 245/45-16 or the Pilot Sport All Season in 225/50-16. These will be my winter tires. I have a cost-is-no-object attitude towards tires. They are by far the most effective bolt-on performance part available.

If the transmission was rebuilt properly, that is; with all the updated clutches and valve body modifications, it should outlast the rest of the vehicle. If not, then it could explode at any moment. It really depends on how it was rebuilt, who did it, and what side of they woke up on. If the stars were aligned just right, it may be bulletproof. Since you're looking at a '95, all the updates should have been done from the factory. Hopefully the rebuild reflected these updates.

If you have vertical scratches on your side glass, the pads which guide the windows need to be cleaned or replaced. They're cheap to replace, but ridiculously easy to clean. They're not terribly difficult to get to, but the damage to the glass is generally permanent. If you can get used to the glass partition, getting used to the scratches is easy.

The transmission cooler may not be necessary. Many of the newer SVXs have lasted well into the hundreds of thousands of miles without one. Mine is an example of that, and it still shifts strong. I think it'll last over 200k without ever needing work.

I have a small ding in my left rear fender too. ...and one in the door - no, wait - two, three, four, seven, eleventeen, twenty... A lot of 'em. They're, uh, character marks. Yeah, that's it.

What should you do right off the bat? A complete fluids change. I strongly advise against doing anything else. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I've heard of quite a few people doing preventative maintenance and only creating problems that didn't exist before.

I'd replace the fluids only with factory specified replacements. Some people who switched to synthetic have had problems as a result. I've opted to use fully synthetic oil because I'm lazy and it lasts longer between changes, but I will not be switching to synthetic transmission fluid because there are serious compatibility risks and I've heard enough horror stories to believe there may be some truth to them.

The transmission cooler may help, and won't hurt anything if it's done right, but they aren't always done right and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of a benefit from having one. Warning! Flushing the transmission may spell death. This procedure may have some benefits, but it seems to be very risky. It dislodges all the junk that was harmlessly sitting in the nooks and crannies of your transmission. All this debris is now free to find a bad place to get stuck. I'd be very afraid to try this procedure. The horror story logic applies here too.

Use conventional antifreeze. That new red-colored stuff which is supposed to last longer has caused a plethora of problems for many a poor soul.

I hope this deal goes through for you. I'd just drive her the way she is for a while. Get some good rubber on her, and fresh fluids. Give her some love and she'll love you back. The '95s were a good year. I see your headlights are free from fading and the paint is nice and glossy. She sounds like a real winner.