Cars out west don't rust unless they have been places where salt was used. There is life beyond the rut, people do other driving than the daily commute.

I guess I am assuming a level of confidence in buying a solid used car. I have more confidence in something I can drive and evaluate than a used part that I can't test until after it is installed.

When I drive an awd subaru the part I am most concerned with is the center diff. Several tight circles left and right before you leave the parking lot. Buy one from a junkyard? It's a gamble. Make sure your mechanic can sort it out.

Curse the fates - I have an '01 - in a similar situation...except the trans hasnt blown up yet.
140k, white, 4cyl - the thing is a wonderful appliance and I havent had to touch it since I did the timing belt at 110k.
(okay, I did replace the alt. and front half-shafts, but coming from the VW world I expect them to die anyway...)

The transmission on mine has an oil filter (!) I changed that stuff and the front diff at around 100k also.

My rear diff hasnt been touched...ever that I know of- I need to get on this.

Other than the exhaust rattle on startup (and the fuel economy, I can't do better than 24) - its a great car.

Please keep us informed as to costs and outcomes ?

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

Look at it as if he's buying it as is...$2K plus $1400 in repairs. That means $3400 for a car that has the potential for another 100K miles or more. What is the real value of a vehicle like that? Not the market value, the real and true value.

I think repairing the car is the way to go. You can't beat a Subbie for lasting forever.

I bought a 1979 Subaru wagon in 1990 for $50. The engine was leaking oil everywhere, and the car had over 250K on the odometer. After a week with JB Weld and changing the oil over to 600W, which is super thick, I drove the car for another 100K, changing the oil once at the 50K interval. I ended up driving it to the junkyard and exchanging it for parts for a project car I had. Because of that car, I've had a love of Subaru since then. Anything that can survive the abuse I put that thing through gets my respect.

In the end...ignore the current value of $2K. Look at it as a $1400 car, since the $2k value has already been paid, and to get a replacement vehicle, the price would be nearly $4k or more.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

It actually IS a 3400 dollar car in these parts if it had to be sold. Good ones are hard to find and valued almost as crazily as my 93 Toyota 4x4, mileage isn't much of a factor. I'm looking at it like you, financially he's even in it now and wants to keep it till he finishes college.
Personally, I'm looking at it as a learning experience for him as well. It may end up being a bad idea to fix it, but on the other hand it might pay off. Either way he's having to think through the decision himself and spend a big chunk of his own money, so it's a golden opportunity for some real life finance. You can't tell a 19 year old much. You offer possibilities, describe various options and then let them either score or screw up.
Frankly, he kept the 240D two years and has now had the Subie two more. I bet by the time I was 19 I'd had twice or three times as many cars and took a beating on them all. Slow learner.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

By the time I was 19, I had owned 6 different cars of varying price and repair. I was taught that a spare car always beats a spare tire, and I really took that to heart.

1976 Dodge Charger...I worked from age 13 to age 16 for my dad without pay. When i turned 15 1/2, dad bought this car for me...it became a track toy. Sold it when I was 24.
1979 Chrysler Newport...$200 car. ESC system failed, replaced with older points style distributer and sold it 4 months after buying it.
1986 Yugo...Completed the payments for my brother and took ownership of it. Wrecked and replaced with the second one Yugo by the insurance company.
1987 Yugo...Clutch went out, traded for T-Bird. Had to make up difference of $2000 with cash.
1979 Subaru...$50 car. Drove for two years as a crap hauler. There was the most rusted out car I have ever owned.
1979 Thunderbird...Sold a few years ago to my brother. It's still on the road and still looks like new.

Anytime I pick up a used vehicle, I look at the book value of the car versus the repairs needed, as well as the potential miles I can drive with it before it dies. As long as the repairs needed to get at least 2 years use out of it added to the purchase price isn't more than 60% of the book value, it's a winning situation. Making repairs to used vehicles I already own is calculated by ignoring my purchase price, making sure it isn't more than 30% of the book value, and looking at how many more potential miles can be driven.

It isn't scientific, but it's worked for me for many years. I have yet to junk a car that I didn't feel needed it, or bought a car that I felt wasn't worth it. I've even bought cars for a few bucks with the sole intention of selling for scrap...so my method has worked well for me so far.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

My first was a 51 Buick Wagon that had been taken in trade for some horses or a stud bull or something. It was exactly as old as I was when I got it for my 16th birthday and had 16K miles on the clock. I hated it. An old lady car I thought. Youth is truly wasted on the young. A string of bad and costly foreign and domestic decisions followed one after the other. I don't think I became even remotely carsmart until college.

__________________
You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

There are outback sedans too... Not common though.