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Comments
I heard that they had promised to recycle some of the wood from a previous auto show stand, and that's where it went. Kind of funny.
-juice
Cool. Another Subie to your collection. I have to agree that the new OBs are very plush and quiet compared to the Foresters. They're aimed for a different market segment.
I see you live in the Bay Area too. Carlsen is a good dealership. No nonsense up-front pricing. The best thing is that they let you take cars on test drive sans salesperson.
You can guess who I want to give my business to when I'm ready to buy my next Soob.
Ken
Personally, I tip more than a $1...but I was once a waitress and tend to overtip even for poor service.
Tues., Jan. 30th, 5-6pm PT/8-9pm ET
Ed Hellwig - Associate Editor, Edmunds.com.
Associate editor Ed Hellwig came to Edmunds with a diverse automotive background that included stints as a gas station grease monkey, automotive spy photographer, and ice rink Zamboni driver. Ed spent five years making sure he hated cold weather at the University of Colorado in Boulder where he somehow earned a degree in American history between beer runs and football games. Upon returning, he proclaimed "snow sucks" and forever pledged his allegiance to the Southern California sunshine. Prior to joining Edmunds, Ed toiled under the iron fist of Tom Lindamood at A&M Specialists, a press vehicle logistics company, as a road-tester and delivery driver. While tooling around in Bentleys and Porsches was less than grueling, Ed just couldn't shake the editorial urge and jumped at the chance to join the Edmunds team. He's now responsible for writing road tests, editing our "Future Telling" column, and assisting in performance testing.
KarenS
Host
Owner's Club
Ed should've had a Subaru! I bet a VDC with bun warmers, AWD, rear LSD, and 212hp would change his mind about beautiful Colorado!
-juice
-mike
Drew
Host
Vans and SUVs message boards
Ross
..Mike
..Mike
Don
Bob
Drew
Host
Vans and SUVs message boards
Drew, we'll catch you one of these days. Can't join you tomorrow night.. got plans.
..Mike
..Mike
-- ash (suffering from the winter blues)
Audi copied me. The allroad quattro also uses lower case. I should sue! ;-)
Groundhog. Yet another nickname of mine. 6 more weeks of winter folks.
-juice
Bob
Cheers Pat.
-juice
Ross
Stephen
I'm sure that won't keep any of us from making to Philly, though!
SCOA had a meet one day when it snowed. Everyone showed up! :-)
-juice
We have had over six feet of snow this winter so far in Ottawa and is coming down fairly hard at the minute there have been very few days when we hav;nt had snow.
cheers Pat.
Cheers Pat.
Ash
(Note: only allowed 7 spaces)
H82W84U: Hate to wait for you
H82BL8: Hate to be late
CUL8RM8: See you later mate
XPD8-X4: Expediate x 4
GRIPNGO: Grip and Go
Stephen :-)
Of those you've suggested, my vote goes for GRIPNGO. Describes the WRX well!
Don
Go Canucks!
Cheers!
Paul
Good luck and let me (or Karen) know if it doesn't work.
Drew
Host
Vans and SUVs message boards
Drew
Host
Vans and SUVs message boards
Now let me get this straight. Pat & Ash are willing to let Drew & me have some of that beautiful Ontario snow, but we can't receive it until after 19 February because Paul will be in town without a Subaru and it can't be placed near schools so that kids won't harm Drew's paint. Have I got it right so far?
Stephen, I too like GRIPNGO best. I'll send some of our snow down to Seatlle for you if you promise to give me a ride in your new Rex as you're heading up to Whistler. If we all can agree, I'll get started making the arrangements. (Stupid spellchecker tried to change "Rex" to "ex" - hope this isn't prophetic.)
Let's just say that I've never used the spell checker ;-) ;-)
Drew
Host
Vans and SUVs message boards
I did some calculating this AM. I do this little spreadsheet thingy. Anyhow, here's the figures on WRX wagon so far:
(Assuming retail only)
Retail: 23,495.00
Dest.Chg: 525.00
options:
183.00 Auto dimming mirror/compass
140.00 Center Armrest extension
225.00 Security System Upgrade
(All other accessories to be ordered thru Darlene)
Total: 24,568.00
Trade-In 22,052.00 (Avg of KBB & Edmunds'TMV)
Net Bal: 2,516.00
Trade-in on 00'OB Ltd wagon w/auto, sec sys upgr,6-disc chgr, upgr spkrs/amp, auto dim/compass
10,650 miles, excellant cond.
Sales tax: 216.38 (8.6% of net trade-in bal)
Lic Fees: 150.00
Trade-In 22,052.00
Pay-off: 14,369.24 (thru Mar pymt)
Subtotal: 7,682.76
Retail: 24,568.00
Tax/Fees: 366.38
Subtotal:24,934.38
Less Down 7,682.76
Fin Amt: 17,251.62
My payments will be lower than current and called on insurance. They gave rough estimate and it's about $10 a mo cheaper. (USAA)
Stephen
Ross
Carmax around here is the best place to trade in. My buddy traded in a perfect '95 T-bird and got KBB Trade-in under "Good" not excellent rating. The local dealers (5 of them) would only give him $1500-$1700 less than that.
-mike
AWD 4ME
-mike
Drew
Host
Vans and SUVs message boards
P.S. Anyone else watching the live 24 hours of Rolex race on Speedvision? Looks like I'll be around till 10:30am PST tomorrow morning :-)
If it was would you recommend it I asked this question in a previous post as I can get one at a really good price and since I hope to have an outback in the next little while I would consider buying this item if I could sure it would be worthwhile.
Cheers Pat.
First off, I got a fair trade-in on my OB Ltd. I told the salesperson that if I had to buy at full retail then I was only going to accept full trade-in value, the apples to apples thing. The TMV on Edmunds was $ 20,399 @ 10600 miles and excellant cond. FYI to all who use KBB. You must hit good even if your car is excellant condition or you will get an over-inflated, read not reliable figure. KBB was saying over $23,000 trade-in, right! The NADA site only shows std OB and not Ltd model. Carter Subaru in Seattle is giving me $20,000 trade-in @ 12,000 miles, subject to re-appraisal. I told them that I would be doing a roundtrip to Whistler plus local commuting, hence the different mileage figure.
Secondly, I bought the WRX @ retail. The only options I have are extended center armrest, auto dimming mirror/compass, and security pkg. I will order other accessories through Darlene. Total sales price incl $525 dest.chg is $24,568 for WRX sportwagon in silver. No prep chgs, adv fee, market value adj, etc.
Thirdly, I only pay tax on the difference between trade-in and purchase price. I also will be getting money back from cancelling extended svc contract on OB. BTW, it was through a private co. and not SOA's extended warranty much to my surprise (I know.....I thought I had read everything when I bought the OB!)
My salesperson was Joe Spitz. He will try to get my order in on the first allocation but won't know if he's had success on this until next week since they've already begun second allocation. I told him about the Subaru Crew and gave him the address. Apparently, the person I first dealt w/on the purchase of my OB last year is no longer w/Carter.
Joe was great! He was totally upfront about which options I was considering were worth getting or not. He's probably going to be buying a Impreza TS wagon later on. He currently has a 97'OB sport.
Anyhow, the whole experience was painless. I put down a $500 deposit. The appraisor didn't even drive my car, just looked it over.
I found out some info about the STI options to be offered on the WRX. They are not covered under any warranty by SOA and are not even allowed to be installed by Subaru dealers. Joe showed me the explicit disclaimers from Subaru. Sounds like SOA may be covering their backsides as a lot of these mods would create a more challenging vehicle to drive than the avg N.American driver could handle. Anyone's thoughts on this? Also asked about why BBS option is so expensive. Was told that BBS created these wheels expressly for the new WRX and warned SOA that they would be expensive. Joe seemed to think that it would only be a matter of time before the 17"std wheel/tire combo from the UK and AUS will be offered aftermarket.
Well, needless to say (but will say it!)I'm excited. First allocation could be here by middle of March. I will keep you all posted on the progress. Meanwhile, I'm driving the OB like a grandma. I haven't been this nervous driving it since the first day I drove it off the lot. :-)
Sorry about the length of the post.
Stephen
Yes I have the Subaru power amp/upgraded spkr combo. I don't know what to compare it to as I've never heard the std system, believe it or not. I talked to the salesperson that I'm buying the WRX from about this. He said that the power amp may be a good thing if you primarily listened to heavy bass music, otherwise the standard system w/tweeters is good enough. I didn't order this upgrade on the WRX. Hope this helps and doesn't confuse the issue more.
Stephen
Stephen (aka, barresa11)
-mike
Stephen
Cheers Pat.
Stephen
Let me back up a bit. If I get too long winded, someone just slap me. I have been reading these Subaru boards since last July, and since I am starting to feel like a stalker, I figured I better step out of the shadows.
For 2 years my wife and I have each been wanting to buy an AWD vehicle. I was leaning towards a Dodge Dakota 4WD and she craved the Durango, each with the optional AWD transfer case.
The problem was that my wife, who is a "bean counter" by profession, couldn't pull the trigger on spending $32K, and probably ending up with 12 MPG. My problem was that I wasn't ready to part with my slightly modified '95 Dakota which has been a great vehicle but really no fun to drive in our Massachusetts winters, or even when it rains. It has ~350 lb-ft of torque and no weight in the back.
I needed to do something since I hated riding around with cement blocks in the back, and studded snow tires on the rear. My pretty truck looked like it was doing deliveries! I figured if I could find something for under $20K, I could keep my truck and also solve my bad road dilemma. Being of NFL linebacker size, 6'3", 260 lbs., I never think small, by necessity. I figured the Cherokee was it. Boy, was I disappointed. It was "old", uncomfortable, road more like a truck than my truck, and I couldn't seem to find a place for my left size 13 wide foot!
I went into mourning, thinking I was going to have to part with my truck, when I bumped into my lawyer. He is a 2 Soob family, Legacy and Legacy wagon, and is as much of a fanatic as you folks are! We got to talking about budget cuts and how the roads usually stink around here in winter, when he started talking about his cars and the AWD. I said that I know about AWD, but where would I fit. He said Forester.
This is where you folks come in. Being an engineer I always over-engineer everything I do, so I started gathering as much info as I could, using every Internet resource available to me, including Edmund's (Thank you!). I also found you fanatics. You really intrigued me. And what is this, a SOA representative trying to make customers happy? I had to go try one at the dealer.
Wow, I can fit into this. Sure, I would like to see it only have 2 doors, and be about 10% bigger in all directions, but look at the head room. I could wear a hat in here, if I wore hats. Maybe the hair on the top of my head will grow back if it is not rubbing. Let's go for a ride. He drives first. He takes us trough things I would never drive my vehicle through, including jamming on the brakes while diving into a LARGE pothole, with no hands! The Forester didn't seem to mind. My wife picked up all the things that had fallen out of her pocketbook when it flew off of the seat. My only question was how many test drives had this car been on?
I drove it next. It was a 5 speed, my thinking was that if I was going to buy a winter "tool" it ought to have the 5 speed. Besides, the engineer in me liked the balance of the 50/50 starting point for the AWD, and its overall simplicity. I drive "enthusiastically" (love my Valentine 1), and was concerned it might not have enough power for me, and while I would like to see more... I always would like to see more... it wasn't bad. The gearing felt like a good match to the power band, and the overall balance of the vehicle made good use of what was there. I like this. I am impressed with the overall quality. Everything fit as it was supposed to, and look at all the places to put stuff! Let's talk price.
I order a Silverthorn L, with 5 speed, luggage compartment cover, keyless, security upgrade, and armrest. Get it for invoice. Delivered middle of September. I love it! I have had so much enthusiasm, and good words for it that people are tired of hearing me praise it. And I fit! I still wish it were 10% bigger and had 2 doors, but I am comfortable. I have a bad back and that hasn't even bothered me.
Oh yeah, my wife. She is calmly watching me while all this is going on. She likes the vehicle too, and starts thinking that it could be a good step to see if she even likes an SUV type vehicle to drive all the time. She knows what a fanatic I am, and if I really like it, well...
Well, she wants an automatic because of resale value (remember, "bean counter"), in fact she wants almost everything! She orders a black "preemie", with spoiler, front deflector, wood grain, luggage cover, security, tweeters, sub-woofer, and armrest. She gets it for $300 over, and took delivery beginning of December. She loves it! She figures she saved $6K by not buying the Durango. It is gorgeous! I love it! We use hers when we go out. She has wanted a sunroof for the last 4 vehicles she has owned, but it never worked out. She loves this one!! She opens the inside cover as soon as the sun comes out, like an eyelid, and sneaks the glass open a bit on the warmer days.
It is nice having the 2 vehicles to compare things. I am still impressed with the overall quality and balance of them. I have already ordered and received some stuff from Darlene, including the complete set of Service Manuals (great reading!), and a couple of tailpipe covers. My wife decided that that was the only think missing on her car, so I ordered one... bought one for my L too, didn't want to hurt its feelings. Besides I hear they are worth 5 HP.
We have become Subaru fanatics, and it is all your fault... thanks! Oh, I have to go start my truck, it hasn't been used in a while.
Ross
Cheers Pat.