In honor of my sold Subaru this week, this week I’ve trawled through Gumtree for a Subaru Bargain Banger. And I’ve found one that well and truly makes the cut, just as long as you’re prepared to break out the mechanical life support for this long in the tooth Subaru Liberty…
Firstly you should note that the interiors pretty damn good for a 19 year old car. Yep, looks pretty decent. It’s got the handles still there and no tears on the seats and hey, that carpet isn’t too shabby either. Even the owner is happy with how it looks on the inside (“The interior is clean.”) That’s the good part.
And that’s pretty much the only good part for this Subaru Liberty LX.
Yeah the engine it seems has more bad days than good as the owner has also listed:
The engine is burning oil, smoking and leaking oil.
There is a water leak.
Better hope you haven’t cleaned your driveway for a while. Sadly there’s no pictures of said engine bay but it’s probably safer that way. There’s also that bit about the roof…
The roof has discoloured.
With acid rain it looks like. Still, it ticks all the boxes for a Bargain banger – it runs (and leaks), fits the price (it’s $500) and you could drive it home (provided there’s enough oil left in to get you home) and even better, it’s a Wagon! (Who doesn’t like a good wagon?).
With a bit of work lot of work, you could actually have a decent Subaru Liberty carry all ready for anything (except for rust and clean driveways). Now for $500, who’s tempted?
RULES OF BARGAIN BANGERS
The rules are pretty simple in the Bargain Bangers selection criteria.
1. The car must be advertised in FREE classifieds (ie Craigslist, Gumtree etc). After all who wants to pay for an ad for something cheap and nasty?
2. It must still run. Just. So no ex parts cars and no half picked half cuts or rolling shells or write offs. If it can’t be driven out of it’s own driveway under it’s own steam, then it’s no good here.
3. The budget limit is $500. Therefore finding something exotic or remotely interesting becomes a real challenge…
4. The range is 500KM from your posting location. Who knows what you may find in your own backyard?
5. The same model can’t come up more than once. We don’t need an army of 1982 Holden Commodores.
5. You don’t actually have to buy it in reality. But hey, a bargain banger is a bargain…