Subaru Sportswagon 91' + Gibb River Road

Mate with the amount of modern day back-packers travelling the road in 25 year old Hi-ace vans you'd have no problems. Good tyres and shocks needed, a punture repair kit and check the depth of the Pentacost River at the east bend of the track as it's the only big water crossing you'd have to deal with. Just check the road conditions and crossings with the local shire and the roadhouse/stations before going.

As for the Suburu , have a read of this, though I don't think every owner should try it

Site Link

Rough corugations and punctures on sharp stones is all you have to worry about on the GRR

I'd upgrade the suspension with a lift kit and replace shockers etc before you leave.
Get the vehicle checked out thoroughly also.
A few hundred dollars spent before you go is much better than sitting on the side of the road waiting for assistance to carry out repairs.
Don't forget the usual spares like radiator hoses and fan belts. Fit the new ones before you go and carry the old ones as spares. That way you will know that they will fit if you need to replace them.

Just to add the what is above.

Make sure you check the alignment of the front end of the vehicle before you buy. When they bend front struts the tyres wear very fast and it shows the vehicle has been bashed around a bit.

Also, check the rubber boots on the CV joints, leaking rubber boots leads to CV wear, (a clicking noise on full lock when moving, test drive on a hard surface at full lock in both directions), CV's have come down in price but still not good to have a borken one in the middle of nowhere.

Where possible, run them on 95RON or better unleaded, the extra economy will more than cover for the extra cost

Finally, check the oil pump, earlier series engines had a problem with them leaking around the 135K mark.

Hope this helps

Rolande

My 89 DL touring wagon was quite powerful, not that economical but nice to drive. Not to bad off road. Anyway mine had done 330,000 and the engine was very solid. Reliability was awesome. I would say put quality tyres to resist puncture and a good quality service. Other than that they rock.

Its very hard to break an L series Subaru. But they are getting old, and other stuff like head gaskets, timing belts and tensioners, CV boots etc etc can cause issues. They were beautifully engineered, but you just need to get it checked out by someone who knows Subarus.