Looking at a 2006 Subaru Baja Turbo, fun or run?
A spot up the road from me is selling an '06 Subaru Baja Tubo with automatic transmission 230k miles for $4k.
Visually no rust on the outside. The inside of the doors that usually collects water is clean. It has some paint sun damage and scuffs. Wasn't able to crawl under the car to get a look of the underside, but the quick glance I had seemed pretty promising. Engine bay seemed very clean, a quick glance didn't show anything leaking in it. No tow hitch appears to have been installed so assuming it hasn't been used for that purpose. Comes with the bed cover as well as the extender.
CARFAX states it had one owner for the first 16 years and every service done to the vehicle seems to have been documented. Oil changes done no less than every 5k miles, fluids regularly serviced, brakes serviced, was driven about 110k miles from 2005 to 2021. Very, very babied.
Second owner seems to have thrashed the car around a bit. Owned it from 2021 to July 2026, odometer now reads 230k. No service records reported beyond this point.
Here lies my concerns:
- Second owner had 3 accidents reported in the vehicle. First accident in 02/22 states it was rear ended, minor rear damage, no airbags deployed. Second accident in 03/23 states involvement in a rear end collision, no further details. Third accident was reported, but has no details about it.
- The car's rear passenger side door has been replaced with a black one, so I'm wondering if the third accident is the culprit of that. Checked the door panels it looked like everything was aligned pretty well, no large body panel gaps, but still concerned.
- Has been owned in New England it's entire life, so underside rust is definitely a concern.
- I showed up out of the blue to the dealer to check out the car and they said they hadn't inspected it yet, but prior owner had been driving it and traded it into them so they know it runs. They had allegedly moved the vehicle two weeks ago when rearranging the lot and it ran. However they weren't able to get it started today, sounded like a bad relay and they said they'd get it running and shoot me a call to test drive it...
- No info on headgaskets or timing belt maintenance
Anyways, sorry for a wall of text. I love these cars and have wanted one since I was a kid, and the deal seems a bit too good to be true. I really just want something fun to turn into a camping car, bring my bike and kayak around in, some gentle off-roading, and something to drive to work if the snow up here is ever too much for my Prius. If I get maybe another 5 years out of the car I'd be happy. The dealer has good reviews online so I'm not concerned there. Just worried that the car might be a ticking time bomb.
I'm fine with some regular and more frequent maintenance on the vehicle. Kind of preparing myself for this to be a little bit of a project car, within reason. Will be checking the headgaskets with a combustion leak tester next time I'm over there. Will also be seeing if I can get the car inspected at another mechanic and get their opinion on whether there's damage elsewhere on the vehicle as a result of the prior accidents and from any rust.
Anyone with any insights, tips or suggestions? I've never bought a car this old so I'm not super sure what to look for. At what point is $4k worth it for one of these for you guys?