well i went to look at the above car today. everything checked out pretty clean except one thing. the car made a click/tap noise everytime itd hit a bump. it was not rythmic at all just when ever we go over a bump it would click/tap.it does not sound metallic. im a complete nub when it comes to subarus so any idea what it could be. the only mod on the car is a hideous 3 inch exhast. if its anything you guys experienced and an easy fix im about to pick it up. thanks for any advice

 

It could be a suspension/steering related noise. However, my car has similar mileage and when I go over speed bumps, the most noise comes from the toolkit in the spare wheel well. Unless it is firmly wedged in, it can work loose and clunk around - worth a quick look anyway.

Do you have any idea which end of the car the noise is coming from?

 

as far as i could tell it was just under the car maybe towards the front couldnt really pinpoint it though

 

How much are you looking to pay for it? I would expect around $11,000 for a car with that many miles.

 

Is it possible to get a mechanic to give it a check over? The difficulty is that this could be anything from nothing to $$$$s.

At that kind of mileage, its struts will probably be well past their best unless they have been replaced. Mine started leaking around the 75,000 mile mark. Wheel bearings are worth checking because these are relatively expensive to replace. Timing belt should be replaced at 104,000 miles, so you will also need to do that within 8,000 miles of buying the car.

I don't know how experienced you are with looking over cars, but another couple of quick checks are to look at the oil on the dipstick (should look healthy and clean - no sludge etc), and also look in the coolant reservoir. It should have nice clean coolant and nothing else. If it looks smeggy, the car may have a bad head gasket.

Obviously, you can fix things, but it is good to know what you will be looking at in terms of expenses over the next couple of years.