cheapo
06-20-2010, 09:37 AM
Hi.
I want to introduce myself and my new car. We live in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada and we just bought ourselves a 2003 XC70.
We are longtime old Subaru owners, but we have a big dog now, and we needed a new way of transporting him and our two children. The 3-way split rear seat allows us fold down the middle seat and position the dog with his hindquarters in the cargo area and is head and shoulders between the two kids. We then clip his collar to the child seat anchor on the back of the (folded) middle seat.
Like so:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4717138331_f5569993a3.jpg
The dog doesn't love it, but its a big improvement over turning him loose in the cargo area where he changes position and turns circles incessantly.
The car has about 192,000 km (119,303 mi). The body is in great shape, as is the interior. We had it inspected (pre-purchase) by our mechanic (he's been fixing our Subarus for about 9 years) and he listed the following issues:
Oil leak from turbo;
Brake pedal sensor needs replacing;
Front seat belt buckles need replacing (to cancel SRS Airbag warning on console);
Exhaust, centre section (resonator?) needs replacing;
Timing belt and water pump due for replacement.
When began bargaining with the seller I mentioned these issues. At that point he produced the car's service records (why didn't I ask to see these before?) which showed that at the last service they had indicated that the source of the leak was the bevel gear housing which needed to be resealed and that the oil pressure sensor required replacement.
I figured it was unlikely the car was leaking oil from both places and bargained on the basis that I wouldn't need to fix both the turbo and the bevel gear and sensor.
The seller was asking for $8,000. I bargained him down to $6,500. How'd I do?
The day after buying the car, I took it to my mechanic for him to get it road-worthy. He did the timing belt and water pump, replaced the failed exhaust section and installed the summer tires. At my request, he checked the operation of the AWD, which he reported was working fine. $950.
He shampooed the engine to clarify the source of the oil leak...which remained unclear, so after driving it 200 km (125 mi) or so this weekend, we are taking it back to the garage on Monday.
I am not very knowledgeable about cars, but I would say I am mechanically inclined, so I expect, as things go wrong, I will be taking advantage of this forum and the knowledgeable people who make it what it is. With the complexity and reliability of this car being what they are, I imagine I will be spending some time on this forum!
I want to introduce myself and my new car. We live in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada and we just bought ourselves a 2003 XC70.
We are longtime old Subaru owners, but we have a big dog now, and we needed a new way of transporting him and our two children. The 3-way split rear seat allows us fold down the middle seat and position the dog with his hindquarters in the cargo area and is head and shoulders between the two kids. We then clip his collar to the child seat anchor on the back of the (folded) middle seat.
Like so:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4717138331_f5569993a3.jpg
The dog doesn't love it, but its a big improvement over turning him loose in the cargo area where he changes position and turns circles incessantly.
The car has about 192,000 km (119,303 mi). The body is in great shape, as is the interior. We had it inspected (pre-purchase) by our mechanic (he's been fixing our Subarus for about 9 years) and he listed the following issues:
Oil leak from turbo;
Brake pedal sensor needs replacing;
Front seat belt buckles need replacing (to cancel SRS Airbag warning on console);
Exhaust, centre section (resonator?) needs replacing;
Timing belt and water pump due for replacement.
When began bargaining with the seller I mentioned these issues. At that point he produced the car's service records (why didn't I ask to see these before?) which showed that at the last service they had indicated that the source of the leak was the bevel gear housing which needed to be resealed and that the oil pressure sensor required replacement.
I figured it was unlikely the car was leaking oil from both places and bargained on the basis that I wouldn't need to fix both the turbo and the bevel gear and sensor.
The seller was asking for $8,000. I bargained him down to $6,500. How'd I do?
The day after buying the car, I took it to my mechanic for him to get it road-worthy. He did the timing belt and water pump, replaced the failed exhaust section and installed the summer tires. At my request, he checked the operation of the AWD, which he reported was working fine. $950.
He shampooed the engine to clarify the source of the oil leak...which remained unclear, so after driving it 200 km (125 mi) or so this weekend, we are taking it back to the garage on Monday.
I am not very knowledgeable about cars, but I would say I am mechanically inclined, so I expect, as things go wrong, I will be taking advantage of this forum and the knowledgeable people who make it what it is. With the complexity and reliability of this car being what they are, I imagine I will be spending some time on this forum!