At $4,500, Is This 2005 Subaru Outback Limited An Upfront Deal?

The bumpers on today’s Nice Price or No Dice Outback show noticeable battle scars from parking lot encounters. Let’s see if those, and the car’s appreciably high miles, can be overlooked at its potentially low asking price.

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At $12,800, the 2020 Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle we looked at yesterday realized a more than 50 percent dip in value from new at just four years of age. That’s not Fisker Ocean levels of precipitous drop, but it’s pretty sizable, and representative of the electric market on the whole at the moment. That wasn’t enough to get most of you plugged into the LiveWire, though, as the voting resulted in a shocking 68 percent No Dice loss.

I’d like you to think for a moment about all the parts of your car or truck that are there for a reason but that you hope you never to have to use. These are things like the airbags, the spare tire (if you have one of those guys), and, on each end, the bumpers.

Bumpers once were a big deal. Originally designed to protect vital parts of the car from damage during low-speed impacts, bumpers evolved into important elements of overall automotive design. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the American auto insurance industry goaded the Federal Government into requiring bumpers to fulfill their original mission, demanding a 5-mile-per-hour standard for bumper strength. That was revamped in the late 1980s to 2.5 mph, a standard that stands today.

Few of us want to test that standard, but that trepidation has not afflicted past drivers of today’s 2005 Subaru Outback Limited wagon as it shows evidence on both front and rear bumper of some minor encounters. Both bumpers are plastic-capped and could probably be rattle canned back into decent shape, so the aesthetics aren’t really that big of a deal. Suffering just a few minor dings and dents here and there, the rest of the car is attractive enough in both looks—and its overall kit—to make that matter even less.

First off, being an upscale Limited model means this Outback is optioned up very nicely. That package adds niceties such as leather upholstery and heated front seats. With 196,000 miles on the clock, you might think this car’s cabin has seen better days, but other than some extra shine on the tactile surfaces and the everlasting impressions of child safety seats on the rear bench, it all looks to have held up pretty well.

According to the ad, it’s in solid shape mechanically, too. The 168 horsepower 2.5-liter flat four has had a recent service for its timing belts and water pump and just passed its registration emissions test. The ad notes even more service records for past work are available for perusing.

The big news on this wagon is that it has a five-speed stick between the engine and Subaru’s “Symmetrical All-Wheel-Drive” system. That’s a rare option and moves this Outback to the front of the contender line. A clean title ensures no malarkey in registering or insuring the car, which means all that’s left to do is take into account the car’s $4,500 asking price.

What are we to make of this well-used but seemingly well-kept Outback at that asking? Does that seem like a deal for a nicely-equipped, if somewhat war-wounded wagon? Or do the miles and the scrapes add up to more than a $4,500 payout can bear?

You decide!

Sacramento, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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