noob's rookie questions

[jdmcnary]

Hey guys...new to the world of WRX's but am loving the site, and plan to buy a WRX 4 door premium soon...before I do though I have a few rookie questions I'd love your help with:

1. I can't seem to find a WRX on the lot within 100 miles of me in any direction. Are they always this hard to find, or is it this time of year? It seems from lurking that ordering and waiting is pretty common, correct?

2. When you order a car like this, does that mean the dealer will not budge on the price at all...or at least as much as if the car is sitting on their lot?

3. I don't plan to do much to the car aftermarket...maybe a short shifter, bushings type stuff, but was wondering, how long does a turbocharger last in miles...on average?

4. I live in a land of snow...lots of snow...so different tires/wheels are a must for me. Are there places to buy/avoid when it comes to tires/wheels? Is it normal to just go through an online retailer like tirerack or discounttire?

Well thanks so much for any help! Excited to join the club!

[06scoobyrex]

Welcome...

1.if your looking for a new wrx, then yes place an order and get all the options you'd want from it...

3.the turbo can last ~150K if properly taken care of...

4.the tire rack is very good... look into bizacks and wintersport tires... I have toyo proxes 4"s that are scipped and they do really well even in utah snow...

[Stlgrndskeeper]

Hello and welcome.

1. I can't speak for all parts of the country but, I think that ordering is pretty common. I live near St. Louis and had to go to Lincoln Nebraska to get mine.

2. IMO it's always worth at least trying to talk them down. Having said that you probably won't have too much wiggle room.

3. You definitely want to go with the short shifter and bushing, it makes a pretty big difference. I assume you mean the life span of the turbo itself? IMO (keep in mind there are members here with tons more experience with the subaru turbos than I) if you don't absolutely abuse the hell out of it and you keep up with the proper maintenance it should last the life of engine. Obviously if you go mod crazy then all bets are off. I had a twin turbo Audi S4 and a Wolfsburg Jetta (had 158,000 on the clock when it died in an accident) and in both cases the turbos had no issues, and I tracked both cars.

4. I agree snow tires are a must. I buy all of my tires from Tirerack. They do alot of onsite testing and research. I purchased a set of Continental Extreme winter contacts. They are very reasonably priced and finished either 1st or 2nd among the tires they tested. Some guys pick up some beater wheels for there winter setup.

Well good luck! Not jumping the gun or anything but, I hope to see some pics of your new WRX soon!

[BigDaddyRex]

1. Just got my 2011 after a December order - like you I found nothing within 300 miles, so I ordered it the way I wanted it (STS, dimmer mirror, armrest ext., DGM). The benefit is that you get it fresh (8 miles on mine) - no test drivers beating it up.
2. Dealt with a variety of dealer and ended up about $700 under dealer cost - so definitely negotiate.
3. You can mod this car aplenty, but it comes with everything most of us need (except a decent audio system), so you will get your moneys worth. The STS shifter is a solid choice as it gets warranty coverage.
4. I bought Dunlop winter tires and a cheap set of wheels from Tirerack - sans TPMS, which was significantly better than nearby dealers. Had the dealer mount them when I picked it up. Do not drive in the winter on the summer rubber.

It's a sweet ride - looks great and it moves ....

[mm05897]

2. When you order a car like this, does that mean the dealer will not budge on the price at all...or at least as much as if the car is sitting on their lot?

Negotiate the price BEFORE actually placing the order. After you order, they are less willing to negotiate. I made this mistake. Although they were still willing to go down some, I have read about so many others who did much better by negotiating the price before placing the order.

[jdmcnary]

1.
2. Dealt with a variety of dealer and ended up about $700 under dealer cost - so definitely negotiate.
....

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it! For those who ordered...how can you get a dealer to order you a car for under "dealer cost?" Doesn't that mean they are actually loosing money by placing the order for you? I've also seen guys say they ordered one for "under inventory..." How does that work??

[xFalleNx]

There are a lot of factors that go into how low a dealer is willing to go. They always claim that the invoice price is what they pay, they don't mention anything about holdbacks.

All of the posts you'll see regarding people getting cars will be from all over the country. I wouldn't expect to get a car for under invoice anymore. With how well these cars are selling and the fact that it is nearly impossible to find one on the lot the dealerships know how bad people want the cars and are willing to negotiate a little less.

Obviously it can't hurt to haggle with them and shop around. Personally I would email all dealerships within reasonable driving distance from you and ask for a quote on the exact car you want to order and tell them that you are shopping around and who ever gives you the best price will get your business. You'll find some that want to play and others that won't.

If you end up having to pay a little over "invoice" personally I would be happy with that as long as you don't end up paying "msrp".

[BigDaddyRex]

For myself, as xFalleNx suggests, I played dealers against each other. Got numbers from a bunch via email and phone calls, then took them to the closest dealer to me and told them I wanted to stay local, but only if they could do better than the lowest numbers I showed 'em. They basically matched the best and gave me a better trade-in, making them the best deal by far (dealer cost is 24,079 [per Lotpro.com], MSRP is 25,495) - I paid around 24,800 with the STS, Dimming Mirror and Armrest extender included). I think I did well, and the time spend was well worth it compared to some of the quotes I got.

Good luck!

[jdmcnary]

Awesome, that's so helpful! So, when I email a variety of dealers around me, I should tell them exactly what I want, including the options? Like: "2011 WRX Premium 4 door in Dark Grey with these options: STS, Dimming mirror, armrest extender, winter floor mats, and roof rack bars" ?

[xFalleNx]

Yes, that way they are able to give you an exact price of what you want.

This is now 2011, people are catching on to the fact that you don't have to leave your house and argue/haggle with a sales person. Somewhere a dealership will want to play ball with you.

It took me about 4 dealers to go to until I bought my car. I sent them all the same email saying something along the lines of "I want blah blah blah...I am emailing all dealerships within 100 miles of me.....blah blah blah...who ever has the best price earns my business...blah blah blah" I got some that sent me generic emails saying the price was MSRP and I needed to go talk to a sales rep, yea screw them.

The place I ended up ordering from gave me an online price that I was very happy with and when I went there to talk to a sales rep she was awesome and right to business because I had already gotten the numbers that I wanted.

I ended up talking to the internet sales manager and he straight up told me that it is better for them to make good online deals because the dealership makes money off of it with doing minimal work. They don't have to go "all out" with the bs routines and crap.

Personally, I think that is a very very good business model the dealership I went to has. They were the most honest up-front place I have ever been. Why? They realize this isn't 1995 and they have to fight me and brand me with a hot iron to buy a car.

[2002_wagon]

Negotiate price. I found a 02 wrx with 89000k on it and got the price dropped down about 2500. just go in with a plan what you want to pay a month. Its your decision make sure it stays that way . my turbo blew @ 104000K but its because it over spooled when i dropped in elevation from colorado to florida. what year are you planning to buy?????? if you go with 02 or 03 you might want to woory about the tranny.

[xFalleNx]

They can get you any monthly payment you want.....with extended loans and sky high interest rates. Don't worry about what your monthly payments will be.

If you get the car for the price you want and know how much you want to put down, you will get the monthly payment you want.

When I went in to buy mine I had a few dealerships only focusing on my monthly payment, but when you look behind the low monthly payment I saw them trying to sell me a car at 3k OVER msrp with a 6% interest rate. Funny how that was the lowest monthly payment out of all the dealerships. In the end though I'd be paying like 6k more for my car.

Look up auto loan calculators and toy around with a few numbers yourself, you'll be able to figure out where you should be with monthly payments. One of the things I did that actually pissed off a lot of dealers was I had an auto loan calc app on my phone and kept using it any time they were trying to talk numbers.

I had it in my head that if I get the car for under 27k and put the 10k down from the sale of my last car and get the interest rate that SOA was offering at the time, my monthly payments would easily be affordable. I literally calculated my payments out myself so well to the point that my guestamate was ~$5 off/month.

[jdmcnary]

Another question: Does the armrest extender cover up one of the cupholders in the center console?

[xFalleNx]

No not at all. You can fit both drinks in there and have the arm rest up.

The arm rest extension is perfect for longer drives or times that you are on the highway and don't need to shift. I find that when I'm just driving around town and stuff I just leave it down. IMO, it's a must have option though.

How is your search going though?