Planning on purchasing a WRX soon; advice would be helpful!

[Vanilla]

Hey all!

I'm Brian, and I'l planning on buying a new white WRX in the near future (hence the handle "Vanilla").

I was carousing Subaru's site and found some info, but not as much as I'd have liked, and since being pretty active on forums before, from the Honda civic 8th gen forum over at 8thcivic.com, and just gaming back in the day, I knew this would be the place to get advice.

Basically, my parents are getting me a car as a graduation present from college. Now before you go off and call me a spoiled rich kid (because I probably am, and deserve it), I tried to dissuade them and said that just a sheet of paper with how much school had cost them written on it would be a plenty enough gift for me. But they insisted.

After considering waiting for the new Si, I decided to give Subaru a go, and at least test drive the WRX. I have yet to do that, but from the awesome community you all have (which is one of the reasons I wanted an Si; I had a pretty strong community with the 8th gen civic EX even), and the great modding scene there is (it would take awhiiile for mods to come out for the 9th gen civic, I assume), and I don't really want to wait until 2012 to get my hands on one, I decided Subaru looks like the best bet.

Crap, now I realized I'm writing a novel; I'm in work mode, excuse you can

SKIP TO HERE if you don't want to read all of that stuff up there.

A) I'd like a WRX

B) probably non-STI since they are more expensive, plus on insurance, and I don't want to kill myself (not that I speed that much anyways, but you know...)

C) Can't decide between a hatch and 4 door

D) Don't know which trim level;
-ideally it would have a GPS, but I don't know what kind the stock ones are; are they touchscreen? Bluetooth? etc...; could I go aftermarket cheaper?
-I like the idea of HIDs, but again, would I be better off going aftermarket and getting a pair retrofitted for the price?
-I really want a sunroof. Can hardly stand not having one in my friends' cars for some reason. (or moonroof, I can't remember the difference)

E) Other facts:
-I'd like a white one
-I'm 6'2 so I'm not sure if a sunroof would help or hinder, actually,
-I really look forward to being involved in this forum and community if this is indeed the right car for me
-You get mad props if you actually read all of this. For real.


Thanks so much!

[Drews]

Go drive one at the dealerships. That will show you what you like.

[rage-wrx]

what is your budget?

[KHP]

If you're thinking of wanting HID's you may want to consider getting the Limited trim. At least then you wouldn't have to worry about properly retrofitting the halogen projectors which is costly if done correctly ~$400-$500 (not just some cheap plug and play hid bulbs and ballasts). This pretty much offsets the price difference between the Premium trim plus you get leathers which I like a lot. It all depends on your parents budget. Limited usually sells for $29k-$31k for what I've seen.

As for hatch or sedan. I originally ordered a sedan. My dealer screwed up the order form and the car that arrived was a hatch. Now I have a hatch and am in love with it. I believe it has tons more cargo room. Good for those college camping trips and/or moving around.

[wrxjdm]

CAUTION, if your not serious about getting one don't test drive. YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE. congrats on graduation and new car. welcome to the forum.

[RedRex11]

My $0.02
1) I'm 6'2" and I have plenty of headroom, despite the moonroof
2) If you ever lug stuff around get the hatch. I'd always had hatches, and my car before my wrx was a civic coupe. PITA to load cargo in IMHO. Needless to say my wrx is a hatch.
3) I'm personally not interested in integrated gps in any car, because the technology is constantly getting better and better, and before you know it it will be outdated. I don't know if yu have a smart phone, but I use my droid2 for my gps, through my stereo using the Bluetooth (which is standard!) and while streaming music. Pretty dope.

[sjcurtis]

Wow this is the best graduation gift ever!!!! You must have got some awesome grades. With everything you want I think you would like the limited. The head room inside the new WRX is awesome, the guy that rides to work with me is 6'2" and he has at least 3-4" from the top of his head to the roof. There is about a $2,500 difference between the sedan and the hatch so unless you really want the hatch you can save some money just by getting the sedan.

[rage-wrx]

There is about a $2,500 difference between the sedan and the hatch so unless you really want the hatch you can save some money just by getting the sedan.

There used to be a $500 difference between the 08-10 hatch & sedan,but for 2011 they are priced the same.

[paliknight]

OP, It would be best to post your budget.

if you dont have one, then i would definitely price a WRX with all the features/options you want and see what you can afford.

i would wait for the 2012 if your not in a hurry since the 2011's are hard to find and when you do find one, they are being sold at over 1-2k MSRP due to rarity. at least in my area they are.

overall it is the best car i have owned/driven and i have driven nissans, hondas, acuras, audis, etc...

[06scoobyrex]

Welcome... If your parents are picking up the bill, id get every option you can... Why not if you went through all that work you should be rewarded for it...

As far as the sedan vs hatch, get the hatch cause I with I had the extra space for the kid's stuff...

The stereo... I say get the limited trim and upgrade the nav unit if its not up to par for your likings... And if it isnt then buy an aftermarket unit and sell your stock one to recoup some of the cost to buy it...

[skudda33]

OP, It would be best to post your budget.

i would wait for the 2012 if your not in a hurry since the 2011's are hard to find and when you do find one, they are being sold at over 1-2k MSRP due to rarity. at least in my area they are.

I am not directing this at you at all just using this as an example because I have heard it a lot. I have a serious issue with saying wait for the 2012, I am guilty of saying this as well. If you think about it though what makes you think they wouldn't just crank out the 2011's when they could knowing how many they more they could be selling. It's not like the situation over there is magically just going to get 100% better when they say they want to make the 2012.

To the op, If you are 100% certain you want the wrx either buy the model you somehow luckily manage to test drive or order one as soon as you decide. Also in a lot of areas people are still getting any of the models well below invoice with a lot of add ons as well.