Test drove 06 STI (sales rep beats on new car during drive)
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Registered User
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1
From: Bend OR
Car Info: Soon to be STI
Test drove 06 STI
So my buddy and I were just killin time before class yesterday and hes lookin into buyin a new car off this settlement he just got. The subaru dealer has a brand new white with gold wheels sti so we went in and talked to the sales guy and we went and test drove it. Heres where it gets good. The sales person tells us he has some track experience and said he could show us some pretty cool turns so he takes off mashing thru the gears redlining 1st thru 4th just going crazy and in the back of my mind im thinkin there has to be a breakin period and this guy is ruining this brand new car it only had 8 miles on it. We get back to the dealership and we get out the thing smelled like sh*t smoke was pouring out of the brakes and when my buddy finnaly got to drive it he would hit the brakes and it would pull hard to the left. Do all of these STIs get beat by car salesman? I dont know just my stupid story
STi's are built for something like that, even after taking some abuse right off the bat. It should be alright. But, not all dealerships do that. It just so happen that you ran into some salesman that doesn't car or know anything about Subaru's.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 376
From: Moved to Portland, OR
Car Info: 2005 Black WRX STI
Its not just Suby dealers! I went and test drove a used $100,000 porshe GT3. I didn't drive it but the dealer did. No warm up and the guy tore the crap out of that car. Full blown power slides. I had a great fricking time but I wouldn't have purchased the car after seeing how he tried to sell it... Besides, my STI is faster (yes its at a stage 4 with FP Red) and it has AWD!
Still, fun as hell.
Still, fun as hell.
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,312
From: UCIrvine
Car Info: '05 Crystal Grey Metallic WRX Sport Wagon
I don't have an STi, but I did insist on getting a WRX right off the truck because I've heard of this going on. You can always just order the car, or put down the down payment and wait until they get a brand new one off the truck. Then you know anything wrong with it is the factory or your own fault.
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12
I special ordered my STi a few months back and was able to get it right off the truck so no one could abuse my baby. I did ask my salesman about the break-in period for this car, he told me that there is no break in period, just drive it the way you would normally drive it because the engine and tranny "adapt" to your driving style...I don't know how much truth there was to this, so I played it safe and kept the RPM's under 5k for the first 1k miles. Seems like strange advice for a dealership to give someone who just bought a car from them if there wasn't some truth to it.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 376
From: Moved to Portland, OR
Car Info: 2005 Black WRX STI
Originally Posted by LRM1981
I special ordered my STi a few months back and was able to get it right off the truck so no one could abuse my baby. I did ask my salesman about the break-in period for this car, he told me that there is no break in period, just drive it the way you would normally drive it because the engine and tranny "adapt" to your driving style...I don't know how much truth there was to this, so I played it safe and kept the RPM's under 5k for the first 1k miles. Seems like strange advice for a dealership to give someone who just bought a car from them if there wasn't some truth to it.
1) 1K break in period, no cruse control, nothing over 5K rpm.
2) Take it easy but every 50 or 100 miles take the rpms up to redline. Don't launch or do anything stupid but get the pistons moving. The rational is that carbon deposits develop at the high point of the piston stroke. Stroke changes (very slightly) over the rpm range. Those carbon deposits can be as hard as hardened steel. If they build up, and then push the car to redline, those pistons are now slaming into the deposits left at low RPMs.
My opinion, follow number two. Push the car a bit but don't rip on it. In each gear take it up to redline and keep the rest of the 1000 miles safe. Don't do it very often just every once and a while. Use regular oil (to help seat the pistons) for the first 5K miles.
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 23
Car Info: 04 silver wrx
my 05 wrx was a different car after it was "broken-in" properly. my 1st blast to redline triggered the check engine light- same with my buddies 05 wrx. both cars needed the rear oxygen sensor replaced. make of it what you will.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 81
From: the yay
Car Info: car info
know i heard about that when i bought my 03 that the computer adapts to your your driving and tunes it to the way you drive... some mag did a an article on it when they first came out with the wrx...just me 2 cents
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Posts: 1,642
From: CAL - California
Car Info: AWD & RWD JDM
Originally Posted by LRM1981
I special ordered my STi a few months back and was able to get it right off the truck so no one could abuse my baby. I did ask my salesman about the break-in period for this car, he told me that there is no break in period, just drive it the way you would normally drive it because the engine and tranny "adapt" to your driving style...I don't know how much truth there was to this, so I played it safe and kept the RPM's under 5k for the first 1k miles. Seems like strange advice for a dealership to give someone who just bought a car from them if there wasn't some truth to it.
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I used to work at a dealership in San Diego and I only took an STi on a test drive once, of course the dude bought it after that, but that was the only time I know of that we actually test drove one.
If a salesperson took one out for his own test drive, that would be the last day he worked there.
Believe me, there was at least three or four people a week that wanted to test drive one but we never let em. The only reason that we let the one guy drive it is because he was on the fence about it with all of the paperwork filled out. That and he certainly had the ability to buy it.
There was one occasion that a service guy tore off in one to get gas for it (racing another service guy in a Tiburon GT), both got canned.
Hell, I was almost fired for hitting 5K in second in a Forester XT, they thought I redlined it. Most of the people I worked with were very good to the cars and wanted the customers to appreciate a SuB with less than 5 miles on the ODO.
I dont work there anymore so I can say screw that place. The salesmen were good, the management sucked.
/rant
If a salesperson took one out for his own test drive, that would be the last day he worked there.
Believe me, there was at least three or four people a week that wanted to test drive one but we never let em. The only reason that we let the one guy drive it is because he was on the fence about it with all of the paperwork filled out. That and he certainly had the ability to buy it.
There was one occasion that a service guy tore off in one to get gas for it (racing another service guy in a Tiburon GT), both got canned.
Hell, I was almost fired for hitting 5K in second in a Forester XT, they thought I redlined it. Most of the people I worked with were very good to the cars and wanted the customers to appreciate a SuB with less than 5 miles on the ODO.
I dont work there anymore so I can say screw that place. The salesmen were good, the management sucked.
/rant
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 42
From: Mililani
Car Info: 2006 CGM STi
READ your manual!
it says to keep it below 4 rpm until 1k miles. the computer on these subarus needs a proper break in. its like exercising for the big fight. properly training the fuel system, variable valve timing, etc, it makes it so you dont have to come in and raplace a ignition coil for example. sorry for the weak analogy but you get the point. aloha!!!
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 52
From: Hollywood, FL
Car Info: 2006 STi
I just purchased an '06 STi earlier this week, and found it just the opposite. I guess in the past year the dealership had wrecked a couple of '05 STi's which didn't set well with someone. I couldn't test drive the thing until I "proved" to them I was serious about buying one and not just some kid off the street. When I finally did test drive it, the agent kept his eyes glued to the tach and set the shift buzzer to 4.5k. I took it over that light once on the freeway to pass a car and he had me take it back to the lot. What surprised me later was as hard as they made it for me to take a test drive, once I did they couldn't get rid of the car fast enough to me.
As an aside, I'm a previous Acura owner and after having driven the Subaru for a week, I'm never buying another Honda again. I won't buy from that Subaru dealer again either, but I'm sold the car.
As an aside, I'm a previous Acura owner and after having driven the Subaru for a week, I'm never buying another Honda again. I won't buy from that Subaru dealer again either, but I'm sold the car.