Anyone bought a brand new Subaru lately?

[cheddar]

Excuse the waffle, here's the story:

I fancy a WRX, the new widebodied, higher powered, quad muffler jobbie and I've politely asked my local dealer for their best price on one stating that if it was agreeable I'd sign up today.

They have none in stock, no new ones, no demo's, no used ones and have quoted late Feb for delivery unless it's a black one. Apparently only 6 have been allocated for the whole of 2011 in order to protect residuals.

Being weak willed I tend to buy quite a lot of cars and from experience I expected to be offered, or end up with, 6-12% discount.

List price is $45,900 + $1050 orc.

They came back to me with a deal of paying full list price but with free on road costs thrown in and stated that Subaru NZ will not allow any discounting except on the Forester and they quoted Hondas policy of 'No Discounting' as a reference. I know Honda have this policy and they widely advertise it but I haven't heard of Subaru adopting this.

I thanked them before bidding them farewell. They've since come back to me with a price of $44,820 on the road - stating that they pleaded with Subaru NZ for financial assistance. Minus on road costs this is a discount of less than 3%. I know it's a hell of a lot of extraordinarily ugly car for the money - Golf R performance for $30k less - but I have a niggling feeling I'm being worked over.

Have any of you been mad enough to buy a brand new Subaru recently and if so what sort of deal did you strike up.

[cheddar]

Update:

After a polite e-mail requesting 'a little more movement' they've come back with an e-mail stating: "I hope you're sitting down for this" $44,320 on the road including floormats (woohoo) free WOFs forever and free valets as often as I like.

That's down from $47,050 full RRP incl on road costs.

I'm not one to squeeze a dealer or salesman until they despise me - I mean we all need to earn a dollar eh. and, as I said before, it's a hell of a lot of car for not a whole lot of wedge.

What say the learned NZ PH'ers?

Accept?

[willyheatley]

Hi there, got a new WRX STI about a month ago, retail about $65 I think, paid about $57 with 3 years servicing thrown in.
Was some 1 day special they were running, and yes they won't give the usual fleet discounts that Toyota and Holden etc give us. Great car though, you'll love it. Not the auto though is it?

[cheddar]

willyheatley said:

Hi there, got a new WRX STI about a month ago, retail about $65 I think, paid about $57 with 3 years servicing thrown in.
Was some 1 day special they were running, and yes they won't give the usual fleet discounts that Toyota and Holden etc give us. Great car though, you'll love it. Not the auto though is it?

Auto? Be like buying a three legged racehorse.

You'd be certifiable.......

[lestag]

basically ring around other dealers and confirm. I would of thought a few would bite your arm off

[willyheatley]

cheddar said:

willyheatley said:

Hi there, got a new WRX STI about a month ago, retail about $65 I think, paid about $57 with 3 years servicing thrown in.
Was some 1 day special they were running, and yes they won't give the usual fleet discounts that Toyota and Holden etc give us. Great car though, you'll love it. Not the auto though is it?

Auto? Be like buying a three legged racehorse.

You'd be certifiable.......

Yeah I know, just checking. Drove one at Hampton Downs at the launch day and it was horrid.

They are a great car though and the WRX is not a whole lot slower than a STI. Definatley couldn't find anything like it for the money.

Go on, do it

[cheddar]

willyheatley said:

cheddar said:

willyheatley said:

Hi there, got a new WRX STI about a month ago, retail about $65 I think, paid about $57 with 3 years servicing thrown in.
Was some 1 day special they were running, and yes they won't give the usual fleet discounts that Toyota and Holden etc give us. Great car though, you'll love it. Not the auto though is it?

Auto? Be like buying a three legged racehorse.

You'd be certifiable.......

Yeah I know, just checking. Drove one at Hampton Downs at the launch day and it was horrid.

They are a great car though and the WRX is not a whole lot slower than a STI. Definatley couldn't find anything like it for the money.

Go on, do it

I did it.

[D1GGY]

Great, I look forward to seeing some pictures and hearing about your driving impressions...

[cainchapman]

I thought about one, but bought the GTI instead. Go and drive one. The R Golf is not worth the premium of $15k over the GTI and with a $1,200 investment at Torque Performance I have equivalent power to the R Golf now too. It had more creature comforts than the WRX and doesn't attract the cops attention as much.

[cheddar]

Did the Golf thing Cain, with an Edition 30, all the car anyone would ever want, incredible thing.

Just a bit too sterile for me though, almost too perfect.

Gonna try this rough diamond for a while.

Wanna race?

[willyheatley]

I'm with you Cheddar , no offense Cain but the Golf just felt a bit too nice and a bit too bland.
If the heat from the donut eaters gets too much, just take a leaf out of Esprit's book & tell them to f*#k off?
Apparently works ok, just don't breathe in while the pepper spray is in the air.

[GravelBen]

[cainchapman]

I'm always up for a race! I agree with the comments about it being a little Teutonic. But it is a lot more exciting than my 540iS was. More performance, less luxury. The 30th edition GTI was too peaky in it's power delivery, like an STI.

[Atom Johnny]

cainchapman said:

.... and doesn't attract the cops attention as much.

I'd be more worried about the other unwanted attention. Aren't they top of the list of rides that get boosted by players of console games.

Edited by Atom Johnny on Friday 14th January 11:24

[GravelBen]

Atom Johnny said:

I'd be more worried about the other unwanted attention. Aren't they top of the list of rides that get boosted by players of console games.

Think the Skyline or Silvia currently holds that dubious honour. Imprezas are pretty high on the list too, but when you read the smaller print of those statistics they say the vast majority (over 80%) of stolen cars are pre-2000 models.

Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 15th January 02:21

[lestag]

GravelBen said:

Atom Johnny said:

I'd be more worried about the other unwanted attention. Aren't they top of the list of rides that get boosted by players of console games.

Think the Skyline or Silvia currently holds that dubious honour. Imprezas are pretty high on the list too, but when you read the smaller print of those statistics they say the vast majority of stolen cars are pre-2000 models.

Correct, "The Nissan Silvia remains the most frequently stolen car for the third consecutive year."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id...

[cheddar]

GravelBen said:

Hasn't arrived yet Ben, no new ones available, no demo to photograph, no used ones to see either. Sat in a base model Impreza at the dealers just because, well, I had to sit in something.

Best I can do for now:
http://www.netcarshow.com/subaru/2011-impreza_wrx/


Edited for better piccies.

Edited by cheddar on Sunday 16th January 19:54

Edited by cheddar on Sunday 16th January 20:41

[cheddar]

cainchapman said:

I'm always up for a race! I agree with the comments about it being a little Teutonic. But it is a lot more exciting than my 540iS was. More performance, less luxury. The 30th edition GTI was too peaky in it's power delivery, like an STI.

Cain, nice graph. I like it that you've tuned what must be a virtually brand new Golf 6. How many kms had you covered before getting bored tuning?

The ED 30 was anything but peaky, max torque was produced at 2000rpm and held until nearly 5000 and they always produced more power than the 227bhp (230ps) claimed by VW as they didn't want to upset sales of the similarly engined but highly priced Audi S3. Many dyno's had them at 190kw/255bhp straight from the factory. Great engine, great car.

WRX's are similarly linear in their power/torque delivery but, as you said, the STI needs plenty of revs to really fly.

I'm not a tuner but after reading reports and seeing dyno charts of near 20bhp increases with just a better intake/filter set up in new WRX's I'm tempted, after all 210kw should be enough for most circumstances eh........

[cheddar]

cainchapman said:

I'm always up for a race! I agree with the comments about it being a little Teutonic. But it is a lot more exciting than my 540iS was. More performance, less luxury. The 30th edition GTI was too peaky in it's power delivery, like an STI.

Just had a proper look at this chart Cain and it appears a bit odd.

Sure, you've gained 20kw but peak power is now at only 4700rpm and tails off thereafter. A steady rise to around 6k would be better. Could you have requested that? Even the standard GTi peaks at only 5,500, obviating the usually enthralling chase to the redline. I don't know any petrol powered car that produces peak power at 4700rpm, let alone a performance orientated one.

And the torque reading? It's showing a peak of 850nm/627ftlb?

Can you explain Cain?

[cainchapman]

The figures are incorrect for the Torque. To accurately reflect that you need to calculate using the final drive ratio and gear that the dyno run is performed in. Robin didn't bother. If you use the stated 280Nm and use the 22% increase on the graph figures you get about 350Nm.

The 30th Edition Golf and the R Golf have the bigger S3 turbo. That was the best flow we could get through the turbo following my request for the widest possible torque band. Yes, I need to 'short-shift' to keep it really flying, but the graph belies just how rapid it is.

I waited about 50k before chipping it, only because I was too busy to schedule it in. Now done 65k. I would like to have the shift points lowered in the DSG, but would need to send the computer off to Germany. As it's my company car, that would be a real pain in the a$$. And it is still making over 150kW at the 5500rpm the standard car does. So I figure I'm still winning.

I need to get it back to the Night Speed Drag Wars and get it into the 13s.