My brother's g/f is considering buying this car, a 97 legacy outback w/ 83K (dealer asking 12000) She's going to look at it tomorrow, and I wanted to let her know what to look out for. Does anyone know of any common problems or simple checks that can be done on the spot? Would you recommend a compression test? This car was either a milk-and-bread-mobile or sat for a long time... what might this indicate?

I'm open to opinions/thoughts on this entire matter...
BTW, she's gotta finance, so a great deal isn't expected

 

Check for headgasket replacement. These motors are notorious for head gasket failures. Although it may not be an issue for a car that wasn't driven very hard.

Also, $12k is a bit high. I wouldn't pay more then $8k (maybe up to $10k if it was in really good shape).