I just called the nearest dealer. The sale woman said that they are not taking any deposit on the STi. It's first come, first serve when the STi arrived. Sound to me like they want the buyers to bid on the cars. Sell to the highest offer, that's my guess. Has anyone heard of this?

 

I put a deposit down on Tuesday 1-7-03,my salesman called me on Wed. with more info,car is ordered,he maid it sound like the car had to be ordered and that Subaru did not want dealers marking them up and selling to high bidders,I don't know though,well I'm just waiting for June the expected arrival time.

 

I suspect that you'll find that it varies from dealer to dealer. When the Audi TT came out, one dealer in town refused to take deposits but put your name on a waiting list - when they came in the list was called in order and the first to come up with 5-10k over list got it. Another dealer in town quite happily took my deposit ~6 mos in advance and guaranteed MSRP.

Unfortunately, that's just the way the game goes.