Hi all,

It's about time to retire the '88 Civic and get a '04 WRX Wagon. I'd be interested in any experiences you folks have had with dealers in the subject area. By experience, I mean the buying experience, but I'd be interesting in service department comments too. (I do most repairs/maintenance myself.) The closest dealer to me is Herb Gordon located in the Montgomery Auto Park off Rt 29 in Montgomery Co.

Any thoughts? Your help will be much appreciated.

Felipe Teixeira got mine for me. He has a wrx (with alot of mods), but said he was not on any forums. Give him a call: 301 670 4800, hes located in Gaithersburg. good luck!


Edit: i have a wagon also, i love it, solid choice

Jesse

Thanks for the info. I've not heard of the person you mentioned. Who is he?

On your '03, did you go for any of the performance options (wheels, suspension, shifter, etc)? If not, do you now wish you had?

Ritche at stohlman subaru in tysons corner sold me mine. I was one of the first in the states to get it. Had it since march '01 and have 32K miles already. He is a younger guy who knows everything about subaru's and was great to work with.

I got my 02 TS at Annapolis SUbaru on rt50. They were great.

Fitzmall.com is where I got mine, got the price then called round to get a better deal and no one could match it.

Thanks Zombiedog. I took a look at fitzmall.com. Very interesting. I'm waiting for the 04s. I wonder if there will be a (significant) price increase.

hey, I'm new here - I don't technically have a wrx yet, but i'm working on it :) This weekend I hope (I'm trying to dump my old Eclipse on someone before I do this)
I've been doing it all with Fitzmall as well, the one in Gaithersburg. They're real friendly, I stopped by last weekend with no warning and they just let me take one out for a spin with my friend with the suggestion that I bring it back in one piece! I'm getting an '03 because I'm too impatient to wait for the new ones, but on the plus side it's only $21,600.. no one around here has been able to beat that yet.

Of course, that's with no options, but no way am I paying the dealership prices to install things I could do perfectly well on my own .. that's my only complaint. $500 for a trailer hitch? whatever.

Hey bleuquila,
would you mind share your contact or person that you deal with at FitzMall. I am looking at the exact same car.

Appreiciated

Sure thing - I did everything with Harry Dayal at the Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg Fitzmall. He was really cool about test driving and me being totally indecisive about options. Both he and Al Goldberg were nothing but friendly and helpful.

The only negative experiance to report was this guy Sandy who's in charge of the security systems - he's a salesman like you read about, so make sure you KNOW EXACTLY what you want before talking to him. Otherwise you'll wake up the next day unsure what you agreed to, and how he managed to convince you!

The phone is 301 670 4800 (harry X11223) or dayalh@fitzmall.com

good luck :) I'm at 600 miles after 5 days - almost through the break-in period!

Thank you, Just one more quick question. You got the wagon or the sedan?

Oh, wagon all the way. Without a doubt. I'm forever hauling stuff all over the place, and being able to fit lots of things in the back and have fun driving was the whole reason I started looking for a new car.

Plus, if I ever start modding it, these are the funniest things ever - http://www.rallydecals.com/rallydecals/image_large.asp?ID=130

Herb Gordon gave me the best quote over the internet. A guy named Phil Klatka or something sent the lowest quote out of the quotes I received from other dealers. Some dealers will say they have a no haggle quote, but once you present them with a lower quote that the lowest you received, they will either scramble or tell you they can't touch it.

Annapolis Subaru ended up getting me the best option/price deal after bouncing around between 3 dealers. I ended up paying around $900 under invoice.

The sales team was more friendly than most, and they seemed to be the most honest (though I wouldn't trust ANY car salesman).

I just got my new 2003 WRX at Fitzgerald in White Flint. They have pretty decent prices on their web site: http://www.fitzmall.com. I'm not sure that it was the absolute best price, but what it really came down to was the amount they gave me for my trade-in. They came out with a number that was more than generous for the shape my car was in. The guy I dealt with there was Maurice Whiting. He was pretty thorough about everything. The good thing is that they don't let people just randomly test drive the WRXs there (they have a demo that they let everyone test drive), so you don't have to worry about getting a car that has been beaten on in test drives.

I can't wait to get through the break-in period!

Congrats on the WRX bp_rex. When I bought my previous car, I had a beater that the dealer offered a lot on for trade. Only problem is, he would have been making more than a boatload, because he would not come down in price on the new car. Dealers will make their cash one way or another. I ended up selling to carmax, and buying the car elsewhere.

What options did ya get?

It is mostly stock. It had a cargo net in the back, an air filter (whatever), and the cross bar kit. The cross bar kit was important cause I want to get a ski and bike rack for when I go to the mountains. So far the car is sweeeeet. The drive in to work this morning was very fun (even though I am keeping it under 4K rpms). Can I say again that I can't wait to get through the break-in period! I'm just achin to hear how the engine sounds at 8K rpms.

Originally posted by plunk10
Herb Gordon gave me the best quote over the internet. A guy named Phil Klatka or something sent the lowest quote out of the quotes I received from other dealers.

I just bought a car from ol' Phil on Saturday. I got what I thought was a reasonable price, but I can't say too many good things about Phil. Not very knowledgeable and he seemed to have an attitude thing going. It turned out my wife was thinking the same thing about him. Herb Gordon is close to me and the price was good enough, and I didn't feel like going to VA to find the car I wanted. I just wasn't thrilled giving Phil the sales commission. Oddly, on his wall he had gold and platinum sales awards. Go figure. Maybe it was a bad day.

Got a WRX Wagon from Fitzgerald in Gaithersburg. Brian Channin helped me. Very pleasant dealing with him. Found it best to do research on their website to find available models and options. Their other locations can be checked also. Side note: If you want to see a vehicle at another Fitzgerald location, it would be good to call ahead. I speak from experience. I didn't call and things did not go smoothly.
Got the wagon without additional options. So far, the performance has been plenty good for how I drive. Any suggestions for basic mods? Would like to get Yakima Lowrider rack clamps. They are lockable and with the Yakima round bar, all their accessories can be installed without adaptors. Unless I'm mistaken, Yakima makes the Suby rack accessories- sans the non-round crossbars.
Hoping to find good service at Fitzgerald Gaithersburg.