skaunit

Well hello everyone. I was referred to this club by my co-worker who drives an 04 white STI. Me and my lady [soon to be fiance] are planning on picking up a WRX in the next few weeks. I'm completely new to subaru, and turbo vehicles, however definately not new to the tuner/modding croud. We live in downtown san jose, and are thinking of buying from Capitol Subaru here in SJ, because they offer a lifetime powertrain warranty. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself, and also find out if anyone has suggestions on what to look for in a rex? Alissa [my lady] has vetoe'd anything blue, and it has to be manual, and less than 50k on the clock. we are trying to spend less than $20k. any advice/suggestions would be great. Thanks.

NorCalBugEye

iTrader: (11)

first, Welcome!

its good youre doing your homework before you decide to purchase. here is what I looked for when I purchased my first and second subaru.

1. look for any noticable welds in the trunk or engine bay, might not be noticable if you dont look carefully. I was once looking at a bugeye that I almost bought and apperently the jackass welded two different cars together and pretended to forget to tell me about it. if the bondo was not cracking I probably would not have notice as well.

2. TEST DRIVE! make sure everything is solid. gear shifts are going to be a little notchy, subaru's do not have the greatest trans, but not to the point where is feels sluggish.

3. look over everything! look for any thing out of the ordinary inside and out. when i purchased my STi I brought my own jack and asked if I could look under the car, just to make sure everything was where it should be. take your time thoroughly examining the car as you will be stuck with it if something is wrong.

4. If youre going to the dealer, be prepared. show up with paperwork with what the TRUE invoice is if your buying new, and what the average price is if youre buying used. and dont be afraid to walk away, dealerships hate to see customers walk. I have personally gotten excellent prices for the simple fact I gave them the price I wanted and was willing to pay. I walked out and before I got into my car the salesman ran out and said "okay lets make this happen"

Lastly, Have fun with your subaru and really get some experience behind the wheel if you are not familiar with the characteristics of the car before you mod.


good luck to the both of you and I hope this helps in your decision on buying a suby, trust me you'll love it!

skaunit

Thanks for the info NorCalBugEye, some good things to think about there.

I actually hadn't considered buying new, untill I looked up the MSRP for a "base" WRX and realized its only about 2k more than the asking price on 06 cars with 20k on them. Also, we might get a pretty good deal on an 07 right now anyway considering the timing. So, we are re-considering that option. Final price isn't as much of a concern as monthly payments, which ideally we want to be under $400, but for a new car maybe $450 is doable.

Anyway, does anyone have any advice specific to looking for a WRX? Like, if you could buy your car again, do you wish you would have found a specific option, or looked for something different? Any tell-tale signs I should look for when buying used?

thanks again.

Evil Empire

iTrader: (1)

please dont fall for the monthly payment Bit make sure you are geting the price you want and then talk about monthly payments when you are fixed on a price. The will ask you 9485845084 times "Well what kinda payment are you looking for" Just look him in the eye and say I am not worried about that right now I want to get a fixed price and then we can talk about my loan terms. what will hapen is they will just bend you over and tell you "sure we can do under 400 a month" they will come back with 445 a month and try to talk you into that. but then it will be like a 72 month plan. that would be almost 32k, and I bet you anythink they will only put you in a used car for that. then you will walk off the lot and reaize that you are in your car for like 24 grand (to pay it off) and your blue book is like 19k. I think your best bet is to just go get one form a privet party. try to get an unmoded wrx like an 06tr or something. or something like these and just talk them down. plus if you are into moding the car just start with an STi. you will want everything they have later but it will cost you like 9 grand just to get close to the things then have. (2.57 6speed brimbos and so on)

I dont know any of these cars so I wouls sugest if you like any of them to have them checked out by a perfesional befor you buy.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/car/435020769.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/car/434183099.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/car/432957889.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/car/430916778.html

skaunit

Well, we really can't afford the extra cost or insurance of an STI, and it will most likely be a while before we really do any modding to this car anyway.

You do bring a good point about the monthly payment thing however. I will definately keep that in mind when picking out a car.
also, im not so sure I want to go private party in this case. This will be the most money i have spent on a car so far, and I would prefer that it come with a warranty for my peace of mind. While I do like to work on cars and do my own repairs, i'm not very efficient and tend to take a long time, longer than we would like to have a daily driver down for.

but anyway, thanks for the comments so far guys...

smoshmonker

If you're going private party and feel REALLY good about a car to the point of where you are going to buy it, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD take it to a mechanic you can trust at your own expense and have him look it over before you buy.

I just made the mistake of not doing this when I bought my 2.5 RS. Leaking head gaskets, torn CV Boots and possible rack and pinion damage. Please, don't make the mistake I did.

tonuprocker

iTrader: (5)

before you decide against the sti for the insurance rates,get a quote from

http://www.wawanesageneral.com/

skaunit

Well, for those that are interested, we ended up getting a 2008 WRX 5-door hatch. Charcoal grey metallic, only options were the cargo tray, armrest extension, and auto dimming mirror with compass and homelink.

We are very happy though. The car is my girlfriend's first, and then mine so its really for her. Not to say I don't get to drive it or anything, i'm paying for half. First mod's have already been discussed which are the sport mesh grill and tint. Then I have to talk her into exahust.

We would have picked a used one but the dealership didn't have any, and we needed a car sooner than later.

so, a new club member I am. Looking forward to a meet.

NW OBS

iTrader: (2)

OK. From the enemy here (Suby Salesman). First part 100% accurate. Deal with a price and only price. F*** monthly payment. It is math and math doesn't lie.

Private party for a turbo car ~ you would have to be out of your mind. A dealer will NOT sell you a car that has been in a severe accident... we need RETURN customers. Those cars are 'wholesaled' to local lots. Buy your used car from ONLY a Suby dealer. It has been inspected and 'reconditioned' to as close to new as a dealer can.

We have to keep our rep clean. A private party can have your tranny dump a block away and you have NO recourse. I will bend over backward to keep a customer as will most dealers...

Use your head. Pay a bit more for a car you can trust ~

whoopnar

Like you, I was recently looking to purchase a Subaru. My suggestion, take a look at the Santa Cruz Subaru dealership. They are really nice and don't haggle you. Plus, they have a "lifetime" customer program where you get free oil and fluid changes for three years and some other great perks. I have also had two friends buy from Carlsen Subaru in Redwood City and had great things to say about their staff.

Capitol Subaru is new and I don't know what to say about them. However, I highly recommend staying away from Stevens Creek Subaru. They do not listen and always throw the monthly payments at you instead of the final price.

If you want a specific person at SC Subaru to talk to, just PM me and I will send their info.

Hope all goes well.

skaunit

LMAO... no offense guys but you are just like my other car club. Read the whole post before adding your comment, which in this case does me no good whatsoever. As I stated, we already ended up purchasing a car, an 08 WRX hatchback, charcoal grey metallic.

whoopnar

Yeah, probably should have read the whole thing. Well, at least my recommendation is there for someone else to use if needed.

Did you end up going to Capitol Subaru? How was the service?

skaunit

yea we did... lifetime powetrain warranty is hard to pass up [however years down the road I may talk Alissa into blowing it for modding... but who knows]. I have a feeling most of any power mods we do will be STI upgrades to try and stay under warranty. But, I don't get to touch it practically for at least a few years.

The service at capitol subaru was pretty descent. We dealt with a guy named Ron who worked with us pretty well, and wasn't pushy. Theres a few factory flaws that we need to go have fixed this week, but they noticed them before I did as I was getting ready to go.

The most important thing... we LOVE the new rex!