may have a chance to purchase this locally owned car . one owner , 225,000 miles . gonna look it over next few days .. have seen it once but not in detail .
can be bought in the range of $2700-$2800 range . i do know it has leather . heated seats and the body & interior are in very good condition. the people have 3-4 cars and are moving to the west coast. need to get a couple off their vehicles gone , to make the move easier. tires are good also . they have nearly all the service records. they have told me at 160,000 they replaced the head gasket serp. belt etc. the brakes have just recently been replaced .
ok ... just how much life has a subaru of this age and condition got left ? !
the price seems pretty much in line , i am just concerned about the high miles . i have a 2001 model jeep that is in excellent condition and i have replaced a lot of stuff on it . it has 178,000 miles. would part with it if the subaru comes home , but not sure what i would be gaining , better gas mileage somewhat for sure . am really fond of the jeep . have had one older subaru , 1998 model , that had the same head gasket problem at 130,000 miles !
should i be concerned with the 02 model subaru having this problem very soon again ?!
just give me your best opinions on mainly the possible purchase of the 02 subaru .... and any other goods or bads with both mentioned vehicles .
i know , i know , the 01 jeep i have is reputed to have tranny problems . i just had a small electronic part put on the transfer case and it runs /shifts perfectly . was getting ready to have the transmission line flushed with new filter and all new trans. fluid , but if i am going to the subaru , well ... may not do it .
that's pretty much all my thoughts at the moment ... thanks !!

We had a 2001 Forester that had the head gasket problem. Invested around 2K in it at 125K, got 40K on the new gasket and it failed.

Wife wanted another Subie. Bought a new 2011 Forester. It started burning oil at 35K. Drive shaft warped at 55K. We traded it in on a Honda CRV. 2011 was burning a quart every 1800 miles. NO MORE Subs at this house.

A friend who is a Subaru mechanic once told me that in our climate anything over 150K is getting iffy. My 2005 has 140K on the odometer but got a new engine at 40K when the timing belt broke, 20K before recommended replacement. I do not think they are as tough as similar vintage Toyotas esapecially if you had the 22R inline 4.