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Comments
And tell me about it. My '98 is holding up pretty well, it would make no sense to trade it in right now.
By the way - don't say V6, say H6, for Horizontally opposed.
Or B6, for Boxer.
-juice
Actually, the noise shouldn't be too bad if you're wearing the helmet, right?
Nice Christmas present.
Let's see, for Christmas, if I could have anything. . .
World peace, end to world hunger, gas at $0.02 per gallon, plenty of parking spots at the mall so we don't have to fight over them, and, what the heck, a Bugatti Veyron. But I'd settle for a Z06 Vette.
tom
nice one.
Cheers Pat.
Bob
Bob
-Frank
-Frank
And btw, it takes 4 hits to sink a battleship (3 hits for a frigate, Swampy). link
Steve, Host
Cheers!
Paul
I braved the elements, and decided to use my new LGT instead of the Outback.
I had no problems getting to work. At 5:30am, I beat the snow. Getting home however, was basically the ride from hell. I left Exeter, NH at 2:00 in what I learned was the height of the storm. My commute to northern MA normally takes 45 minutes.
101 and 95 south were not plowed, and it was total white-out conditions. At this time it was snowing 4" per hour. The GT did incredible. I followed the guardrails and marker poles at 10 mph, working my way around abandoned and off the road vehicles. It took 1.5 hours to reach the MA border, which I usually do in 15 minutes.
495 South was slightly better, but quickly became a parking lot. There was a broken down plow in the middle lane, a jack-knifed truck across 2 lanes, abandoned vehicles all over the place. 1.5 hours to go another 5 miles.
Finally, It just stopped snowing, there was an incredible sunset, and the road just seemed to clear. Another 45 minutes, and I was home!
Total ride was just under 4 hours. The GT performed wonderfully through some of the worst conditions I have seen in many years. Sorry for the long post. Rob M.
Bob
and *I* had no injuries .. only the car .. lol
Just took the kids sledding - had a blast.
Their favorite thing to do? Wipe out...
-juice
Bob
Brrrr!
-juice
Can someone comment on this, is it true? When did Subaru get a BMW complex? I guess Audi gets my money
Bob
It's really amazing how theses Subies do in the snow.
Hope you have a better commute Monday!
tom
Maybe you can find a dealer with a used one to test drive.
Some dealers are really unreasonable. I remember when the Odyssey first came out, I asked if I could test drive one. They had the nerve to tell me after I bought one I could test drive it on the drive home! :mad:
Needless to say, I never went back. And you can do the same!
Good luck
tom
Craig
CRaig
Bob
Cheers Pat.
Probably going for the Toyo's like you. The Outback has 20k on the OEM Potenza's, and seems to be slipping around a bit more this year. First things first.
Another storm is in the cards for Thursday. Woo-Hoo! Rob M.
I got to drive my Evo only after agreeing on terms and making the car purchase conditional pending a successful test drive. I had previously driven all other competitors, including a privately owned 2004 WRX STi. (I couldn't drive a new STi, either! :P )
You might try to find someone on a big Subaru enthusiast site like nasioc or i-club who will let you check out their STi.
~Colin
Thing is, would you buy a new sports car with 300 demo miles on it? Knowing they'd been hard miles, not following the break-in schedule?
Probably not.
Another question - what if they did allow test drives, but you could not go over 4000rpm? That wouldn't be very useful in evaluating the car.
It's tough to strike a balance, though I like the idea of finding a local owner willing to take you for a ride (at least) in one that is fully broken in and can be driven appropriately.
-juice
what does porsche do?
I've heard dealers run a quick credit check, but they are not supposed to do that without your permission.
It would make sense for Subaru to have a demo car, one per dealer would be too much but maybe a couple in each major metropolitan area.
Honda did this with the Odyssey and Pilot, at least I saw one of each as a demo vehicle at Ourisman Honda, they had "Not For Sale" signs clear as day on the window. It's easier to justify for higher-volume models in short supply, but not a niche car like the S2000 (or the STI).
-juice
Congrats to Bob on his new toy.
On the subject of test drives: Most dealers try to put something in demand in the hands of at least one key salesman, so it becomes a matter of scheduling a mutually agreeable time. On the times they have not tried, I have walked away. I cannot see spending 30 large on something I cannot try out first.
Steve
Put yourself in their shoes. You sell STIs for over $30 grand.
A guy walks in, no appointment, and asks to drive the hottest car on your lot. It has 2.3 miles on the odometer, and you know the buyer will want it that way.
What would you do?
It's a tough call. You let him drive and the odometer will have 17 miles by the end of the test plus the likelihood of not exceeding 4000 rpm are slim to none (and slim just left the building).
I think I'd make an exception for someone who schedule an appt and pre-qualified for a $30k loan so you know they can afford one, and even then, the drive would have to be kept short and under 4000 rpm. I'd refer them to a local club if they wanted to see an STI really being driven at the limit.
But casual walk-ins? Young males especially?
Put it this way, I would not trust ME :surprise: to test drive one, especially when I was younger!
-juice
With the Corvette, most dealers would not allow a test drive. The dealer we ended up buying from had 2 demos used purely for test drive purposes, which was nice. But this was the exception rather than the norm (Biggest Corvette dealer on the West Coast)
My Subie dealer will let you take out an STi, no problem. In fact, they let me take one out by myself after I bought my car while I was waiting to do paperwork.
tom
I'd love to test drive an STI, but I'll admit this straight up - I'd have absolutely no intention of buying one, at least not coming in.
-juice
That's the reason why Lexus is #1 in sales and SERVICE, and they are the opposite of a drivers car. But they don't qualify people. They make customers in to family.
BTW, I am 35 bald headed with a beard. { i look 29} But like I said I was driving the wife's loaded FX35.
Subaru has made the wrong impression on me that's for sure.
You could've came in a silk suit, but if you weren't serious about purchasing, you weren't going to get a test drive.
Now-- should Subaru and Mitsubishi be making cars that can better stand up to abuse? Maybe, but I'm not sure how. AWD's traction has to go somewhere and in all cases it's the clutch.
~Colin
I bet if I went now, sat down with a salesman and explained what I wanted, and gave them permission to run a credit report, ... then I'd get a test drive.
do they lose my business?
That's exactly what I said when I walked away, yet they didn't - there was no way I was actually going to buy a Porsche as a teenager.
I bet if you had stuck around longer, had a long conversation with the salesman, and brought up your credit record, then they would have made some arrangements for you.
The "No Test Drive" sign is probably to scare off the casual browser who has no real intention of buying, like me in front of that 911 a couple of decades ago.
-juice
Would you buy that exact car?
Please answer the question, honestly.
-juice
I gave you some ideas on how to get a test drive. I explained why letting just anyone drive the STi is a bad idea. If your primary concern is bitching, please carry on somewhere else.
However if you were really wanting to drive an STi and find out what others think about them, you might yet be in the right place.
~Colin
Federal law allows a dealer to run a credit check only if the customer is applying for financing. Determining whether the customer is reliable enough to test drive an STI or Evo is not a permissible purpose.
What a dealer could do, however, is ask a non-financing customer to get a copy of his or her own credit report, which may involve a small fee, and give it to the dealer to review before going on the test drive. I don't know if any dealerships actually follow the practice, and in any event assuming that the person with a clean credit report is safe to test drive the STI (or the opposite) seems rather risky.
A dealership has to put up some obstacles to prevent the joy riders. In most cases it's probably personal judgement, which is why I suggested sticking around for a while so they know you're serious.
Example: last week I got a Mazda test drive certificate for the new MX-5. Basically you drive one, the dealer signs the paper, and you mail it in to get a $35 gift certificate.
I walk in, talk to a friendly salesman, he offers to sign without having to bother with the test drive, because he knows most people just want the certificate.
I said, "Not so fast, let's check out the lot", so we walk around and check out the inventory. I spot a MazdaSpeed6 sedan and tell him I'd like to drive that one.
OK, Judgement Day.
I'm a casual shopper, a walk-in. I came in my Miata, they know me because my wife used to service her 626 there. He knows I live in Potomac so credit is not an issue. But - I came for an MX-5 offer and asked to drive a special limited edition sedan.
Denied. No test drive. His excuse is the dealership is about to close. Nonsense, it's 8pm and they're open until 9pm.
Why? Did he think the test drive would take longer than 60 minutes? Or did he know that I was a casual shopper and was unlikely to make an impulse buy on the Speed6?
The latter.
Now, if I had done research on the internet, found out that dealer had a Speed6 in stock, e-mailed in advance, set up an appointment, and then come in...I'm sure the result would have been different.
dhamilton should try that, in fact if he doesn't it only goes to show he was not all that determined to test drive/buy an STI in the first place. Which only proves that dealer was right to deny him.
-juice