Considering a 3.0l petrol Subaru Legacy... am I mad?

ffocused

I will be changing my car next month & i have narrowed choice down to

Subaru Legacy 04 3.0 petrol
Subaru Legacy 03 2.5 petrol
Saab 95 02/03 2.0 or 2.3 petrol
BMW 530d 02/03
Volvo S60 02/03 2.0 petrol

it has to be an automatic too.

my budget is €2000 but could stretch to €3000 for the right car. I have a 99 saab 95 at the moment so I know exactly what to look out for in the newer model 95.
The Legacy was my pre recession 'next car' before I gave a nice 04 Honda Accord back to the bank last year & there are two 3.0 petrol models on carzone now, and also a nice 03 2.5l one which fits nicely within my budget but it's the older shape.
Does anyone have real world mpg for the 3.0 Legacy? I found 29.4mpg combined stated on car-emissions.com which I have always found to be fairly accurate, but it states 24.1mpg for the manual version.

What do you all think of my choices? any input appreciated

Anan1

There's a six year hole in the service history of that 04 Legacy.

Mandzhalas

ffocused wrote: »

I will be changing my car next month & i have narrowed choice down to

Subaru Legacy 04 3.0 petrol
Subaru Legacy 03 2.5 petrol
Saab 95 02/03 2.0 or 2.3 petrol
BMW 530d 02/03
Volvo S60 02/03 2.0 petrol

it has to be an automatic too.

my budget is €2000 but could stretch to €3000 for the right car. I have a 99 saab 95 at the moment so I know exactly what to look out for in the newer model 95.
The Legacy was my pre recession 'next car' before I gave a nice 04 Honda Accord back to the bank last year & there are two 3.0 petrol models on carzone now, and also a nice 03 2.5l one which fits nicely within my budget but it's the older shape.
Does anyone have real world mpg for the 3.0 Legacy? I found 29.4mpg combined stated on car-emissions.com which I have always found to be fairly accurate, but it states 24.1mpg for the manual version.

What do you all think of my choices? any input appreciated

s60-
have one myself,nice seats,very good stereo
really deprciated in last two years.paid nearly 5k for mine.will be lucky to get 2k today

ffocused

Anan1 wrote: »

There's a six year hole in the service history of that 04 Legacy.

I was looking at the other one, I saw the gap on that one too!
http://www.carzone.ie/search/Subaru/Legacy/3.0-A%23T-/201207206951326/advert?channel=CARS

Atlantic Dawn

I'd say go for it, your not talking a massive amount of money to start with, some people will go out and buy a Nissan Micra for the €160 road tax and it will loose €2000 in year one depreciation :rolleyes:.

I'd calculate your costs based on a worse case scenario of 25mpg and see how that stacks up. There's huge value out there on cars over 2 litre, particularly when you go over that €1000 a year road tax figure, great powered cars loaded with toys.

anthony4335

I have a 2005 2.5 auto estate, and I love it. Very comfortable to drive, and reliable. I get about 29 - 31mpg on average with mainly motor way driving. Make sure to check that the gearbox oil have been changed , it say every 100,000Km but I have been told to do it at least every 50k. They are meant to be a small bit of an oil burner but I have yet to experience that in 2 and a half years. The 4 wheel drive what sold it for me.

ffocused

If it actually does the claimed mpg it will only cost me an extra €500 a year to run compared to my Saab which at current prices is €5000 for tax & petrol.
I do 25000km a year mostly on motorway & n7.

RoverZT

ffocused wrote: »

If it actually does the claimed mpg it will only cost me an extra €500 a year to run compared to my Saab which at current prices is €5000 for tax & petrol.
I do 25000km a year mostly on motorway & n7.

1400 euro road tax, 25mpg over 25000km

Might as well buy an STI

Eric Cartman

go for the 3 litre, you only live once , and if things keep going we could all be forced to buy electric cars *shudder*

ffocused

Eric Cartman wrote: »

go for the 3 litre, you only live once , and if things keep going we could all be forced to buy electric cars *shudder*

It's bad enough to have a diesel in my list!

ffocused

RoverZT wrote: »

1400 euro road tax, 25mpg over 25000km

Might as well buy an STI

25mpg will cost and extra €1400 a year over my current spend, too rich for me!
I need some real world mpg for the Legacy as 25mpg would rule it out.

unkel

All petrols in your list except the BMW that's a diesel. How come or was that a typo?

ffocused

unkel wrote: »

All petrols in your list except the BMW that's a diesel. How come or was that a typo?

The Bmw is the only decent diesel automatic in my price range. I change my car once a year on average, so the extra outlay on a diesel is not worth it.

BorneTobyWilde

will cost a lot to run,
Geez seems to be crazy thing to buy these days

Dirkster

I had an s60 2.0t. Very smooth engine with the 5 cylinders and good power. Very comfortable with everything you could need. I got average of 30mpg out of mine with more town/country driving than motorway. The turning circle is crap though.

Eric Cartman

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

will cost a lot to run,
Geez seems to be crazy thing to buy these days

petrols only going up , get one before its really hard to afford. Im trying to get cash together for an e38 740i/750i . In 10 years it will probably be almost impossible to run one at the rate were going.

unkel

ffocused wrote: »

I change my car once a year on average

All those cars will prove hard to sell, especially the 3l Legacy. I would only buy that one to keep it

And why did you not consider a 530i? Very cheap to buy for what you get...

ffocused

unkel wrote: »

And why did you not consider a 530i? Very cheap to buy for what you get...

I would consider a 520i also, but would not go for the bigger engined petrol 5 Series as the 520i is easy to come by. The only reason I am considering the Legacy 3.0 is because it is a good deal cheaper then the 2.0 version & they are hard to come by.

unkel

ffocused wrote: »

I would consider a 520i also, but would not go for the bigger engined petrol 5 Series as the 520i is easy to come by. The only reason I am considering the Legacy 3.0 is because it is a good deal cheaper then the 2.0 version & they are hard to come by.

You have me confused

ffocused

Ok
ideal world..... I get a 2lt petrol 04 Legacy for 3k
Real world...... not going to happen, but I can get a 3lt Legacy for 3k

My comfortable budget is 2k for an 02/03 car, preferably no bigger then 2lt. All cars listed can be got for that money including 520i

I see no reason to buy a 530i when I can afford a 520i/530d which are both cheaper to run.

I hope that makes sense

RoverZT

ffocused wrote: »

Ok
ideal world..... I get a 2lt petrol 04 Legacy for 3k
Real world...... not going to happen, but I can get a 3lt Legacy for 3k

My comfortable budget is 2k for an 02/03 car, preferably no bigger then 2lt. All cars listed can be got for that money including 520i

I see no reason to buy a 530i when I can afford a 520i/530d which are both cheaper to run.

I hope that makes sense

Vectra SRI?

If your looking for value.

petrol 04 3k

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/3031666

diesel bit more.

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2852599

ffocused

They are both manual, I am only after an automatic.

ffocused

Just to update, I went for a Volvo S60 2.0t in the end. Got a nice silver one on 03 plate. I found it too hard to justify shelling out so much to our 'overlords' for a bigger engine.

blackiebest

Good, just saw the thread and was about to post re giving the monkeys who run our Bananarchy that kind of Tax money! Gob****es could not run a bath!