I'm sure most people on this site are performance car enthusiasts in general, with a certain (unbiased !!) leaning towards the STi......however I have also been following the postings on Evolutionm.net regarding the Evo VIII release (STi "competitor" if you will) with great interest and what I'm about to relate may be very pertinent.

US deliveries of the VIII have just started and the excitement on that site from prospective owners is almost palpable......bear with me, it's relevant. However, there have been numerous postings from people who have had their names on waiting lists for a LONG TIME only to have the dealer offer them a car but with a $4000+ mark-up (sometimes as much as $10,000; yes, that's correct and not a typo).............take it or leave it.

OK it's not all dealers (and it seems to be more prevalent on the West Coast) but this appears to be the unfortunate reality of a supply-and-demand situation for an in-demand car......some people have been "happily" paying (stupidly in my humble opinion) $45k for a $29k car.

Problem is, this kind of practice is likely to occur with the STi (unless there's an official edict to dealers from SOA, like Nissan with the 350Z to stop it). Will it be widespread ? Who knows, but I reckon once the road tests start to appear in the press, the hype about the STi will by far surpass that of the Evo VIII.

What to do ? Well, if possible, have your name on multiple waiting lists and have the price in writing. Also be ready to take the best offer and be prepared to shop well outside your local environs to get a good deal......unless of course you're willing to wait out all the hype and take delivery in '04 sometime.

It also probably wouldn't hurt to think about a viable alterantive to the STi (just in case the very worst happens) and leave your options open.

 

very good thread.

i was gonna bring this subject up as well


enought bought the markup and attitude from dealers.


some interesting details i found in April issue of SCC

and i quote

"mitsubishi announced pricing for the US evo 8 at our press time. The MSRP is $28,987 -4992$ more than a WRX sedan.

!!Production volume is not limited. In other words, Mitsubishi will build as many as it can sell !!"


don't know if those folks from SCC are smoking.. or them Mitsu dealers are smoking.

wait 90 days for the mark up to drop.

so many people are pissed off by them..
i really wanna see how many they can sell above MSRP.

be so funny if i roll by the Mis dealer w/ my STi(upcoming) and tell them i got this bad **** at MSRP,, and btw.. is that still the same evo that s been sitting there for 3 month?

 

oops..

forgot the address the main response..


when i asked them Mits dealer in last July.. they already told me they would mark it up. i ve talked to so many different dealers i forgot how many. one of them actually told me.. that "we will make a lot of money from the Evos" sounds like they don't make money at all.... prolly true too.. mits financial status is really looking bad.

in contrast. when i talked to Subaru dealers. i got 2 different response.

1 in october of 2002. this guy (very cool guy) told me as far as he knows at that time.. three possible production volume was speculated.
1. 500 units coming for US @ 5000 $ mark up
2 2500 units coming for US @ 1-2000 $ mark up
3. 10,000 units coming @ no mark up and even a tick under msrp cuz their dealer is so damn big..


2nd reponse. sales manager... when i asked her about the STi she claimed ( around Dec 10thish 2002) at taht time. she thought it was gonna be like when the wRX first came out.
they should be able to do sold orders.. which is @ msrp or again a tick under..
they would get as many as possible.

but later i called her (twice, after debut in Detroit) when i asked if they will charge mark ups.. she said she doen't think so.

i guess they are making a grip of profit selling @ existing price . even though it's not very certain but for some reason i kinda trust her.


btw... Mits dealer will always tell ya they ve got 10 mid age fools w/ 45 K cash in hand lining up for the Evos.

yah right..

try selling them then.. Evos are very impressive. but do not worth any markup.

 

I'm hoping that with people starting to take delivery of EVOs it will pressure Subaru into announcing the final bits of info about the car.
Price
Options
Production qty and Allotments
Curb Weight
Arrival Date

I'm even considering going to a dealer and telling them that unless they can give me, in writing, a price for the car I'm going to take my money to Mitsubishi and see what happens. You can always dream, right?

Keith

 

And dealers wonder why they have a bad reputation! It's all about money, they don't care about you; your just a paycheck to them.

 

i really hate the fact that the dealer can mark the prices up so much, but i think some of you should really think about the economic factors in this matter. We recently covered this subject in macro econmics and in simple terms, when the demand for a product goes up the product price can be moved up to a point. The STI and Evo have such high demands that the price could be moved up a crazy amount. Be for real ppl, i think mitsu and probably subaru could careless about how the customers feel about their pricing as long as they're still going to sell every single unit that comes to the US

 

A few years ago when the PT cruser was hot dealers were getting thousands over MSRP. Now that its been around for awhile its just another car. DC gets the same amount of money for this car weather the dealer sells it for invoice, MSRP or over MSRP. The point here is dealers are reaping the benifits for a limited supply car; not the manufacture. Sure the manufacture will sell every one it builds and the dealer should sell the car (if it is a high demand car) for no more then MSRP. Look at the Chevrolet Corvette, they sell every one they build. The buyer will be paying closer to MSRP then invoice.

I guess I have a problem when the manufacture says the car should cost no more then X and the dealer tries to sell it for more then X. To me it just price gouging. It all depends on your point of view.

 

if i can't get a good price i ll just go bust me some old junky fun car.

240s
944
maybe a FD

 

Welcome to capitalism.

I have a real hard time with people complaining about markups. Don't buy the car if you don't like the price but understand that chances are someone probably will. The dealership wants to make money thats why they are there, no other reason. I mean cmon someone calls you up and offers you more money to do the same job you're doing you gonna tell them no I'm not worth that or are you gonna take what you can get.

And to the people who do pay over MSRP and think they got robbed...well you didn't. That was your own fault. No one forced you too do it. No dealer I know is a frickin Jedi or something. You walk into a dealership with x amount of dollars and say "I want that car, heres my cash" the dealer is going to take the money. he certainly isn't going to say "oh well I sold it for less yesterday" thats up to you the buyer to be informed, last time I checked you have to be an adult to buy a car.

 

technically it's a pre-corolla but.. some people stil refer it to a corolla.

but it is the ancester of a celica.

well., for people that knows. 86 is enough said

kinda hard to find now a days...

a friend of mine from school has one.

this dude that lived 1 block from me had one..

he tailed something while drifting..... tried to fixed it and pull bunch of parts from a AE 101.. but the car is gone.. dunno what happend to it..

86 is gonna be hella fun.. but hard to find.

plus i heard waiting for parts take forever.