2012 Subaru Impreza

pao

the biggest issue with the horn change out..reading from the WRX/STI forums is location, and wiring harness using the proper relays....the mounting location for the OEM on the WRX/STI appears to be different from that on the Impreza......also dont know if the wiring harness is interchangeable.....the hella supertones come in pairs.....at least the ones used by the WRX crowd...

I beleive the Impreza horn is mounted lower...I honestly havent found it yet!!..agree it is a bit wimpy sounding.....

xwesx

Yes, you do have to install them on a relay and mount them in a different location (I generally see them mounted behind the grille, just in front of the A/C radiator or front-mounted intercooler, if equipped.

xwesx

Most likely. I don't know what that horn sounds like, but it looks like it would be a plug-and-play replacement for the OEM.

Youtube to the rescue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXzYqrKMg8c

fredjohnson

wow, same here. I was embarrased with that horn. Sounds tinny and toy like.

minghi

I've this on my miata and people no longer people cut me off

http://www.thompson-automotive.com/Air_Horn.html

xwesx

Dang! :shades:

angitherias

Dang that's loud!

techdude

Going on to week three..in no rush since it lets me save up more for a down payment. One thing that i had issue is that the engine hood went back to using a metal rod prop. The salesman said the previous years didn't have that. It seems a step backward in my opinion. Jury is still out on the oversized side mirrors for me. I don't think i mind that they're attached to the door, but rather they look too large. If safety was the reasoning, i'd rather them use a blind spot monitoring system found on other vehicles. That should be standard on all vehicles.

pao

not worried about a hood support to be honest....so they get rid of support springs or tension rods.....something else to replace IMHO....as for the mirrors...I like them..great visibility all around the vehicle with them.....a blind spot monitoring system is great..but it begins to nickel and dime the price up....I would also think they would integrate the turn signals into the mirrors as well....but alas no.....

love the car after almost 10 weeks and 5300 miles!!...get 31 MPG overall at the moment

mmyk72

Anyone know what size are the wipers? Want to start stocking up when there are good deals out there. I'm planning on buying a hatch later this year. Thanks!

[Deleted User]

I checked my manual but didn't find a listing of the size, so I measured them for you:
Driver side - 25 1/2" (about 65 cm)
Passenger side - 15 3/4" (40 cm)

I'd hold off on stocking up, though, considering Subaru's generous 3-year warranty. Wear items like wiper blades are also covered, so it'll be at least 3 years, probably 4, before you'd need to purchase new blades.

[Deleted User]

We're just about to roll over 1,000 miles on our '12 5-door Limited and I wanted to post an update on MPG. Fuel economy was one of my primary concerns considering some of the negative impressions I'd heard from the very first owners the month prior to my vehicle's arrival. A test-drive of a dealer's demo vehicle alleviated those fears and I went ahead with the purchase, and I've been tracking our real-world mileage.

To date about 950 of our first 1,000 miles have been all city or suburban, and according to the EPA our actual MPG should be around 27 mpg. Our computer and manual calculations have shown between 28 and 29 mpg in that environment. The computer and my manual calculations have been surprisingly close, off by just a few tenths. That's contrary to what I've read from other owners' 1.5 higher-than-calculated experiences.

Last weekend I made a freeway run and reset one of the computers to track highway mpg, with the first 15 miles at about 60 mph on flat ground and the next 8 miles at 70 mph with some elevation change. For the first leg the computer showed just over 48 mpg, and then at 23 miles the computer showed about 45 mpg. Conditions were 45 degrees F, no traffic, no wind, 4,200 feet elevation, two people (one an 8-year-old) and one hockey bag with equipment. Our higher elevation kills horsepower, particularly with normally aspirated motors, but I've found the reduced wind resistance beneficial to MPG. The car is stock, with just some accessories adding minimal weight.

I'm not expecting 40+ mpg on a regular basis, but I think 36 highway average will be very doable for us. Many others haven't been so fortunate based on reports posted in the forums, but at least for us, the Impreza mpg is just fine.

mmyk72

TYGUY: Thanks very much for getting the measurements. I never knew the warranty covered this...good to know!

xwesx

Thanks for the report! I'm definitely going to have to drive one of these things, but have yet to take the time to head over to the dealership. I always feel a little bad about asking to drive a car in the winter months unless I'm planning an imminent purchase.

My trip computer (2010 Forester) is one that is generally 0.75 to 1.5 mpg optimistic, but it is a moot point now... it stopped working, out of the blue, about two weeks ago! Grrr. I'm sure glad I ended up getting the extended warranty, even though I really hoped I wouldn't need to use it.

ateixeira

In a Subaru thread the biggest complaint is the tone of the horn.

Funny!

raycc

Anyone know when the 2013 WRX will be in showroom. Is it fall of 2012 like the XV Crosstrek?

Thanks

bpizzuti

I dunno but I hope so. Love to see if they adopt the BRZ engine and get north of 30 MPG on a WRX. If they did that I might consider one.

raycc

Yes I heard it's going to be a turbocharged version of the BRZ engine

loveisfree

I personally dislike the two tone color on the wagons and always have. The only one I kind of like is the black/grey two tone. I agree the wagon looks bland in general until I started looking at the sport model. The roof rails, wheel, package combination makes it look much more interesting than the traditional model. I am waiting for the 2012 sport premium I ordered and had the HARDEST time deciding color. I generally would have never picked silver but the ice silver is very pretty and unique. I ended up choosing ice silver over satin white pearl and the obsidian black pearl, which were my 3 top choices.

odie6l

I'm in the same boat. I can't stand the look of the 2-tone. If they kept the grey / silver just at the bottom mayber, but having it cover the entire front and back doesn't look right.

We decided on the Ice Silver also (haven't confirmed anything yet.) and will be getting Honolulu Blue over Black pin striping done on it (Hand Painted, not Taped) once we comit to it. We also have confirmed the name of the vehicle will be "Silverbolt".

Odie

debbadoo2

When I first saw the two-tones on the Subaru website and other websites, they didn't really impress me. But now I have seen some "real-world" photos from people who own them, and they actually look really cool, much better in real photos than on the website. I am actually leaning toward the two-tone.

xwesx

I like two-tone as well. I wish they offered a Camellia Red over Dark Grey, or any light-over-dark options instead of the trim only being the lighter shade.

bpizzuti

I wonder if they'll put a decent autobox on it. The BRZ is supposed to have a nice 6 speed something or other, don't remember if it's going to be a traditional auto or a DSG.

bpizzuti

I hate the two-tones, and don't like the roof rails. On the other hand, the 17 inch wheels they use with the Sport models are probably the best looking wheels available on the thing.

xwesx

We agree on the wheels. They are sharp; I wouldn't mind a set of those on my Forester! I saw my first "in the flesh" Impreza Sport on Monday - dark blue. It looks nice in person, but the wheels were the real standout. I think they're impressive for an OEM selection.

bpizzuti

Maybe they'll start offering those wheels on the other trims. Or maybe the smart dealers will offer those wheels as a dealer option. I think those would look nice on a WRX-variant too, particularly a charcoal gray one...

angitherias

I wish those wheels were available on the Canadian versions.

birdadly

Just found this forum area today and was awesome reading thru the pages! Just want to add what I've ordered and ask a quick question.

Ice Silver Sport Limited w/moonroof
-popular pkg #1, hood protector, side moldings and remote start
$23,300, or $25,017 OTD. I only shopped around locally (w/in 120 miles) so I hope I did at least okay.

This is my first new car. I've just started my 4th week of waiting, was told 10-15 weeks! So I didn't have to make a decision on extended warranties yet... so

Q: do many Subaru owners purchase extended warranties? I didn't negotiate anything yet, but was quoted something like $1,700 for a total of 7-years or 70,000 total miles. I also have the option of buying Interior protection and exterior protections separately... waste of money?

Thanks for your time and thanks for all of the good reading!!

once_for_all

congrats!

I bought an 80k extended on my '03 Forester, and never got to use it. With 150k now, still no issues, I'm comfortable not spending the money on an extended warranty on my new Impreza.

I'm not getting any protections either.

I ordered a premium hatch, auto, All-weather, and the foglight package (1A I believe). $20,918, just below invoice. Was told 6-8 weeks.

John

camdoll

I was pretty hesitant about it and was going back and forth, when I finally decided to not get it, the sales manager dropped the price to below $1300. Needless to say, I bought it.

In my opinion, even if nothing major goes wrong with the car in the 70K miles, little issues can sometimes add up over the years and a couple hundred dollars is a reasonable expectation on most car repairs (especially new ones). Knowing everything is covered with no deducible for 7 years, gives me a fantastic sense of security. Plus, you must always account for murphy's law.

Maybe acting like you are on the fence about it and finally decide "not to get it" is the way to negotiate the price. I never thought that the warranty was even negotiable before. :P

irritatrix

I find it funny that dealers tell you these warranties are good for X number of years, so they "only" cost Y dollars a year. Your Impreza's manufacturer's warranty is for three years b-to-b, five for the powertrain. So your extended warranty is really only for an additional four years b-to-b and two for the powertrain, making your REAL yearly cost for the warranty quite a bit higher. I'm not saying they aren't worth buying, though I never have in the past, but just that the sales pitch is mathematically bogus. You shouldn't be dividing $1700 by 7 years, but by 4 and 2.

xwesx

Extended warranties are absolutely negotiable, and ~50-60% of MSRP is a good target. Like John mentioned, sometimes they pay off and sometimes they don't, but it is the piece of mind that you're buying on day one.

You don't have to buy the extended warranty, or buy it at the time of purchase (you can buy it any time prior to the expiration of the 3/36 bumper-to-bumper warranty), or buy it from the dealer that sells you the car. However, if you do buy the Subaru Gold Plus, it has the some added benefits, including trip interruption, from the day it is purchased through its expiration. Much of the protection takes effect after the B2B and powertrain warranties expire, but there can be benefit to early purchase if you have any problems with the car during that time.

birdadly

Looking for ideas on whether or not to get the extended warranty is actually what got me to this site! Edmunds had a page that said dealers usually pay about 50% of what they offer it to buyers for.. wow.

That makes sense about the paying for only years after the original warranty expires; the dealers sure like you to think you're getting a deal!

I'll most likely take it if he can drop it several hundred bucks. I may start with him around $1,000 and see what he says. Or maybe ask to throw in the interior/exterior coverages for free or something. I guess I do like piece-of-mind, and so I am a type that that is worth something. Ugh.

Thanks everyone!

kanjii

I bought the warranty because its a brand new engine and chassis. Its my first Subie too. If it was a Toyota or Honda, I probably wouldn't. The only other time I bought an extended warranty was when I bought my 2006 Nissan Xterra OR. Thanks GOD I did. Right after the 36k warranty ended, the mechanics saw a leak around the rear brakes. They had to replace the whole rear differential. Saved my over $5k.

onemodog

I bought my first Subie this year and also bought an extended warranty. I think it was the 5/60 or 6/60, I cant recall exactly.
The main reason I purchased the warranty was because it is basically a new car (transmission etc). If I never have to use it, I can live with that.

techdude

Are there any term limits as far as miles or years on the extended warranties? I'll be racking the miles pretty fast and plan to burn through the basic warranty in about a year and half, if that

once_for_all

you can get the package that suits you, IIRC 70k/80k/100k were all options when I bought my Forester. The longer the period and the mileage, the more expensive--and it isn't proportional---the 100k costs a lot more per mile over 36,000 than the 70k.

You can bet that the statisticians have it pretty well figured out. Like all insurance, IF you can afford to cover a problem yourself, you are better off not buying the extended warranty.

John

xwesx

That's right. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

As for the 100,000-mile warranty, that can be had in 5, 6, or 7 year lengths, so you just have to consider your average mileage per year and determine what fits best.

irritatrix

I test drove one today and placed an order for a Red Camellia Pearl Premium hatchback with CVT and only the cheaper All Weather package (heated seats, mirrors, wipers). I don't like a lot of fancy gizmos on my cars because it's just more stuff to break, I don't care about wheels, I have my own portable GPS which I prefer when traveling and renting cars, etc. I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but I paid almost to the dollar what truecar.com said that model was going for in my area + $350 for the $500 All Weather package, so I think I did ok. Had a totally low-pressure experience and my salesman even advised AGAINST the warranty - at least at first. As another person commented, you can always buy it anytime before the factory warranty runs out.

I was really impressed with how the car drove; I didn't find the CVT as laggardly or pokey as I expected and I found myself speeding without realizing it. Brakes were great, wind and road noise acceptable. Yeah, there's a little cheap plastic in the i/Premium models, but what the heck. I literally can't get out of my neighborhood when it snows due to a short hill with a 22% grade, and even though we don't get much snow here, I won't be held hostage in my house by it anymore - which is much more important to me than some hard plastic armrests on the doors.

They said at worst I'd have to wait 6-8 weeks, but the car could possibly come in sooner, I suppose if they can work a trade with another dealer. But I'm expecting the wait because in my searching of inventory online, I've never seen one configured the way I want.

larry1135

Has anyone had any quality or mechanical issues with their 2012 Impreza so far? My wife and I are looking at this as a possible purchase but with this being a new from the ground up generation I have some hesitations plus we are also new to Subaru in general never owned one yet. Feedback on the quality and reliability would be of great help.

Thanks much in advance

camdoll

When I was buying mine I thought the same thing. Why would I buy a 7 year extended warranty when I already get a 3 year one? And wouldn't it make sense to just purchase the 7 year one once my 3 year one expired, giving me a total of 10 year coverage, if it is still the same cost??

The real deal is, you are in fact only buying 4 years of warranty service. If you buy the extended warranty at the 3 year mark you are still only extending it to the 72K miles. The benefit of buying it at time of purchase is the few small, but added, differences in coverage between the standard and the extended.

For some reason this whole concept was lost on me at first...

thom52

regarding reliability or new car issues, I can only chime in from the perspective of being a first time Subaru owner for a week, and coming from Toyotas and Hondas, I was also VERY concerned about Subaru reliability.

So far....
The car seems rock solid in its build and well thought out in observable engineering. (e.g. the oil filter is a handshake under the hood to access.)

There were a couple of VERY early minor producution issues that were mostly solved.

The only problem we have apparently been unlucky enough to be one of the few to get is the "hard starting issue", which seems to have no solution and is debatable, according to Subaru, if its a problem.
Sometimes the car just doesn't want to seem to start or takes a couple of attempts with significant cranking. NOT something you expect in a new car.

I am pursuing a "solution" that comes from CAREFULLY reading the owners manual and pondering the implications.

The manual mentions turning the key to the "ON" position, then "checking the gauges", THEN starting the car. Also NEVER touch the accelerator pedal on a first start attempt.(per the manual).
What REALLY seems to be happening, is that you have to turn the key to "ON", wait for the gauge needles to stop waving around and then start, which apparently gives the car time to boot up its computers and fire up the fuel pump. I am GUESSING the fuel pump "headstart" is related to it being a flat four engine....somehow.

This is my wife's car, and she is not long on patience. IF this "fixes" the sporadic problem, then she will be happy and loves the car enough to overlook this funky starting procedure. (Prius startup is more complicated, after all)

People have taken the cars back to the dealer for troubleshooting, replaced batteries, charged batteries, all to no avail, and since its a sporadic problem, its even harder to trouble shoot. The two step starting procedure is still in test by a number of people and so far has not been totally proven, or refuted.

We are hoping the work around is all that is required, because we absolutely love our Marine blue, Premium CVT otherwise. And getting the Premium with just the All weather package (we do NOT need nav or fog lights or the other Goodies) seems like a very good Value.

oh yah, also be aware that Subarus have a very firmly established history of blowing their headgaskets between 70,000 and 120,000 miles. (note that is right after their longest extended warranty offer). Supposedly they have fixed the issue in the new engine. I have heard the way to avoid that is keep on top of your oil changes religiously, and keep your battery terminals clean and tight. Seriously.... apparently the gasket becomes a sacrificial part in the "alternate" circuit electricty finds if you let the resistance build up in the path through the battery. So I have heard from a very good Subaru mechanic.

scwmcan

Glad you are enjoying your car, but your mechanic is overstating the head gasket issue. Yes it is serious, but it mainly affected the early version of the 2.5l version of the engine. The 2.2l engine has always been more robust in this area and very few have been affected. The later version of the 2.5 are also supposed to be much more robust. I wouldn't worry about it in the new engine as I am sure that Subaru has got it figured out by now. Also the explanation of why it happens is very unlikely, I am sure there is a reason for it ( from what I understand the original gaskets were a thinner material and the new ones are thicker and a different material or something along those lines, along with the engines being resisted as well). As for your starting problem it sounds a little weird to me, I hope that they can figure it out for you so you can continue to enjoy the car.

iliketoshift

Camdoll makes a great point about about buying the extended warranty cuz it's a first year model. Statistically it's not a good deal for the buyer, but you can't put a price on piece of mind. The engine is new, although subaru engines are tough. There were a batch of of their engines (in the earlier 00s) that had head gasket problems, but I'd be willing to be they over engineer that part now and something else will categorically fail (if there is a weak part in the design).

My vehicle is susceptible to the long-start problem. But I haven't experienced it recently. My guess is that it was a combination of the computer learning the environment, and the cold weather. This is my second subaru, and my first, a '10 Forester has had no mechanical problems yet.

Buyers with no tolerance for mechanical problems should stick with Toyota or Honda. But by taking that stance you lose out on more diversity in the car you can choose. And still, those car companies do not produce completely flawless vehicles.

I think it's fair to criticize Subarus for some things (interior refinement would be #1), but mechanical longevity is not one of them.

ateixeira

established history of blowing their headgaskets

You'll be glad to know the FA/FB20 and FB25 engines were designed with this in mind.

The cooling for the heads and block have separate lines now, so coolant doesn't even flow through the gaskets any more.

Gaskets can't leak coolant if coolant never even touches them. Problem solved, case closed. :shades:

once_for_all

it doesn't work that way. A 7 year is still 7 years, no matter when you buy it. Also, buying a 7 year at the 2.99 year point is more expensive than at brand new. The statisticians figure two factors, first that you may have preexisting conditions or suspicions thereof that have motivated you to extend the warranty period, and second, they haven't enjoyed the benefit of your money for almost 3 years, so they need to make bank on lost ground.

John

dcm61

Also, buying a 7 year at the 2.99 year point is more expensive than at brand new.

The warranty is the same price at 0 yr/0 miles and 2.99 yr/35.99k miles. The risk you take waiting is a price increase and missing out on the "extra" benefits. The risk buying at delivery is lost opportunity cost of the money and only getting a prorated refund if you trade or total the car prior to 3/36K.

xwesx

That is my experience as well.

The warranty length, as with mileage, is factored from new. For the time aspect, it starts as of the vehicle date of delivery (sale).

xwesx

It is a good idea, with any vehicle, to give it a couple seconds between placing the key in the "on" position and attempting to start. I generally set it to 'on,' then latch my seatbelt, then start. Every fuel-injected vehicle I have owned takes longer to start if I do not give it that delay, but Subaru does tend to take a noticeably longer time.

I like the gauge sweep because it gives you a good guide as to how long you should wait before starting, but the whirring of the fuel pump is also audible in a quiet environment - when it shuts off, that's your cue!

pao

had my 5Dr HB PZEV CVT since 17 Dec.....about to roll 6K miles and not one problem.....averaging 30-31 MPG on my overal commute of 103 miles round trip.....lovin the car so far.....