The ad for today’s Nice Price or No Dice Legacy claims it to be a “Great all-wheel-drive commuter” and with nearly 300K on the clock, it’s obviously done a lot of commuting. Let’s see if high miles warrants a comparatively low price.
According to Horse Illustrated, a Pinto is one of any breed of horse that is distinguished by the mottled color pattern of its coat. This is separate from a Painted horse which is a breed unto itself, based on bloodlines.
Interestingly, the 1980 Ford Pinto wagon we looked at yesterday was of all one color. Well, its interior was black and brown, but I don’t know if that counts. Sadly for the Pinto’s seller, that fact was the only interesting thing many of you could find about the well-preserved car. At $7,500, it also was deemed far too pricy for most, falling in a 75 percent No Dice loss.
Yesterday’s Pinto was a simple car, parsimoniously spec’d with only the barest of features. Pretty typical for its station and era. There’s a lot of appeal in such a car as with such few features, there’s far less to go wrong. This 1997 Subaru Legacy wagon is another simple as a pimple car — so unencumbered by unnecessary frippery that it has managed to make it to nearly 300,000 miles without getting kicked to the curb for having some minor annoyance turn into a major stumbling block.
The simplicity is evident on the outside where plain black-painted steel wheels pair with black trim and door handles for an overall institutional look. The unadorned bodywork looks to be free of any signs of road rot and while the paint does appear to be in serviceable shape, it’s a little hard to tell for sure since it’s coated in snow in all of the seller’s pics.
The interior is equally simple in appearance. There you’ll find manual winder windows, something that you can befuddle the kiddies with if you could ever pry them away from their screens. There’s also a big empty spot in the instrument cluster where on more aspirational versions a tachometer would sit.
Here that’s just a space used to remind you of what make and model you are driving and to caution you to only use unleaded fuel. With that space paired with the big speedo, the instrument cluster has a look as though it’s wearing an eyepatch. Maybe it’s a pirate?
It’s not all gruel and gunny-sack clothes here, however. This Legacy does have A/C and an automatic transmission to make life a little bit easier. Working both of those is the expected 2.2 liter naturally-aspirated flat-four giving 137 horsepower. By 1997, Subaru was only sending AWD Legacy models to the U.S., so this car spins all of its tires when needed, another nice perk.
According to the ad, the title is clean, and everything on the car — what little there is — works as it should. With the mileage, it’s likely that any major EJ engine gremlins have either been dealt with miles ago or have not manifested on this mill. The question then is whether or not this well-used but seemingly still eager for more hijinks Subie could be worth $2,500 to take on.
What do you say, could this simple but stalwart Subaru command that kind of cash? Or, does that price make this a Legacy that few will remember?
You decide!
Missoula, Montana, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!
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