On July 22, 2009 I bought my first car, A 1991 Subaru Legacy L. It's not the first car I've owned but the first car I bought with my own money. My Triumph is the frist car I owned, if you havn't already, you should check it out :D

Anyways, I was looking for a new winter car. I used to drive our Aerostar in the winter and the Spitfire in the summer, but I was looking for something a little better on gas and a little more sporty than a minivan for the winter and off days. I had been working a part time job so I had some money, I figured $500 for a beater wasn't too bad.

The first thing I came across was a 1990 Ford Escort. A little rough but not a bad car. I was looking for a 2 door hatch besides an Integra and this was in my price range, can't imagine why. Paul, the owner, wanted around $700 for it but came down to $500. Great, but it sold when I was on vacation and I didn't buy it.

So I visited the Elmira-Corning Craigslist to see what kind of glorious gems I could find, I had a little more money so I opened my sights for any clunker under $750. But all that Craigslist could give me was extreme high milage Cavilers, Neons, wrecked Escorts and rusty Honda Civics. I quickly learned that I would get what I payed for and I wasn't going to get a top notch car for a bargin.

July 20th I took a drive. Originally I wanted to get gas at the New York and Pensylvania border but I went to Mansfield instead, looked for a cheap set of wheels, then headed to Troy about 30 minutes east of Mansfield on Route 6 and found a 1989 Ford F150. This was a true redneck special from the dirt carpet to the cracked windshield to the rusty fenders. I liked the truck but I didn't like the price, I thought $800 was a bit too steep for a truck that belonged on a farm.

Troy Pennsylvania had nothing to offer except heavy traffic and road construction. I really had to squeze through the steets and with a big Aerostar I wasn't too comfortable, so I left and headed back home. Thats when I found this Subaru in a car lot on Elmira's Southside. I wanted to buy something American but it doesn't hurt to stop and look, right? I jotted down the number and called later that night. New everything, brakes, shocks, struts, tires, and it just had a tune up not too long ago. The car had 208,000 miles but a newer engine with only 70,000 miles, and it being a subaru engine, it could easily go another 100,000 miles. All this for $900.

I called up the owner 2 days later and talked a bit about the car. He asked what I was willing to give for it, I thought $700 was reasonable, but we settled at $800 for the price. It was a little more than what I wanted to spend but I think it will be worth it. And $800 for a car with new parts like this isn't bad at all, especially a newer engine. So keep checking on this site more more updates as the summer progresses and please leave a comment about what you think.