1996 Subaru Legacy GTB from UK and Ireland - Comments

Well yes I have a 97 legacy gtb twin turbo and I have never owned a car such as this the last thing you see when you put your foot down is the boy racer behind pick his chin up off the floor as he specs out in the mirror,,, corners like its on rails and sticks like s**t to a blanket,,,this car makes me feel so happy..respect to all gtb wales uk...

I'm guy in his early 30's from Northern Ireland - I am going to travel to England to get a GT-B (none for sale in N.Ireland), I have concerns that all the Japanese imports you see have very low mileages?? I have read Japanese cars have lower mileage - God knows why. The GT-B's I see for sale do vary from £2000 to £5000. I would like a white one in manual. How reliable are these cars? Are the electrics good? I have read that Subaru came 2nd to last above Jeep in a car reliability survey. I don't do lots of miles so petrol costs are of little importance (just as well).

I have owned my 96 GTB manual since import in jan 2006 just been for its mot and all it needs is brake discs and pads to front. This car has never missed a beat and aslong as you keep on top of the servicing they will run for ever. Mines running at 322bhp and leaves me with a huge grin every time you hit 4000rpm and that bigger turbo pins you back in the seat 0-60 in 5.7 embarasses most things at the traffic lights.

Mine had done 106000 kms on import and I have covered 20000 miles since so wouldn't worry too much about mileage just make sure you get to put your foot down on test and see if any smoke comes out at high revs on second turbo.

I was wondering if any of you posting on this thread have the EJ20R motor, and if so, your you have a service manual in English for it? Having a very hard time finding one for a JDM Legacy Twin Turbo Model Year late 1996 oe mid 1997. ECU has three dissimilar plugs on it.

I live in NZ and have owned a 1996 GT-B Legacy (auto) for the last year and a bit, at first it was great - reasonably fast (turbo fun), amazing handling etc until after about a week of owning it. First the plastic side of the radiator split ($400.00 to fix) then the rocker cover started to leak oil ($ 300.00 to fix, also very hard to replace).then the transmission cooler hose leak ($ 80.00 to fix) and for the finale just yesterday on my way to work my transfer case literally blew up as I was driving over a bridge, I knew that a bearing had started to go in there however it had only been making a quiet noise for a week (i was waiting for my pay to fix it). This will cost between $ 800.00 and $ 1800.00 to fix depending on the 'box!!

Overall my legacy was the most horrible car I've ever had (a few of my mates had them as well and had heaps of issues too) they just not reliable. I owned a slightly modified (lumpy cams, exhaust, intake and suspension) 1989 Toyota Corolla FX-GT which I bought for $ 1800.00 - and it was easily a lot faster and better handling, plus it was so reliable, not a single problem for 3 years!