Mine has been pretty cheap to maintain, though I do 90% of my own servicing which I have found pretty easy to do for the most part. Turbo cars don't get head gasket problems but are often more expensive to maintain in other areas. If you don't want the head gaskets in the back of your mind, try to find a 3.0L 6-cylinder Legacy or Outback as they do not have these issues, as well as not having a timing belt service (they use a chain). I'm pretty strict on my oil changes, as well as changing my coolant every 2 years with Subaru's coolant (the blue stuff) and "conditioning" additive (thicker blue stuff). Mine are ever so slightly weeping coolant but the car still runs just fine and there aren't any excessive leaks or milkshake (oil and coolant mixing, which is bad) so I'm holding off on changing them as it essentially requires the motor to be pulled. A few people have them blow at 60k, some are still fine after well over 200k miles. The head gasket problems on the '05+ aren't as rampant as the '04 and prior 2.5L cars but it's still there. The labor for it isn't cheap, so it's worth knowing it's been taken care of. If you can't find the record or the p/o doesn't know, it should be changed immediately. You need to make sure that the timing belt and water pump were changed at ~105k miles (which is the service interval for it), otherwise it's on borrowed time. I own a 2005 Subaru Legacy 2.5i wagon, with just a hair under 200k kms (~124k miles) so I'll chime in with my 2 cents. Electrics should keep on keeping on, the interior holds up pretty well, and fit and finish remains. Other than the potential for massive engine failure and the AC and the rust though, Subarus don't tend to break. Rust is a big thing with these cars, especially in the NE. The other issue my Subaru had was the AC broke, which I've heard is a common issue. If the car has had the head gaskets done perfectly, the new gasket is still the exact same gasket that corroded in the first place, so in another 100k miles you'll just need a new one again. If the head gasket does go, then you will be looking at a $2000 repair bill, and there's a very good chance that even if they repair it, your car will still leak coolant/oil like a sieve if they don't do it absolutely perfectly. You could buy a car with 90k miles, and it will be either at the very end of it's life, or at the very beginning, and you have no way of knowing what it will be. As someone who owned an older Subaru, the head gasket issue is very real.
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