I'd wanted a Subaru WRX for a while, and finally decided it was time when the 2008 model was released. The last few changes in the line had been minor, and the 2008 was a major redesign. I was quite happy with mine until this year,when they made another major change in the line, adding lots more power (265 hp vs 220 hp, and lots more torque), a redesigned tighter suspension, that supposedly rides just about as well as the 2008 but with much less roll and more stability, all for the same price as the 2008 models.
Until the 2009 was released, I was happy with my 2008. Now, 12,000 miles and ten months later, I wish I'd waited!
Jeff Peterman "What we got here, is . . . failure to communicate."
Hindsight is always 20/20 - imagine that you had waited and the new version changed something in a not-so-pleasurable way. What then?
We can't win for losing...
>>Hindsight is always 20/20 - imagine that you had waited and the new version changed something in a not-so-pleasurable way. What then? <<
Then you buy a nice, low mileage trade-in from one of the "got to have the latest" crowd. <g>
That's how I get my Lincolns...
Having decided that right after a major model change was the right time to buy, there was no way to anticipate another major change the following year.
As for buying a used low mileage vehicle, whenever I've looked over the last few purchases, the difference in purchase cost between a new and a 1-2 year old was small (assuming purchase from a dealer) when you conside the extra warranty on the new vehicle and the lower financing rates for the new vehicle.
The new vehicle market has changed substantially since the Web made detailed cost pricing available, and it is easy to get a relatively good deal on a new vehicle. That hasn't happened on used ones - at trade in, they still feel that they can offer really low amounts and ignore the value predictions given by Edmunds or Kelly's. I've never been offered more than 50% of the trade in price predicted on-line. On the other hand, a used vehicle for sale is always at the top of the amount predicted. When I bought the WRX and had a 2001.5 (released in 2001 as a major change to the 2001 model, very close to the 2002 model) Passat to sell, the Web trade-in value was around $5000, with a private sale value around $7000. The dealer offered $2000 in trade in. Car Max offered $3500 in trade in. I sold it through Craigs list within a week at $5500.
Part of me is tempted to try and trade in my near-new low-mileage 2008 WRX for a 2009, but I know I'd get less than 60% of what I paid, so I'll just plan on holding on to it for my normal 6 to 10 years. Meanwhile, I'm hoping that some of the new parts on the 2009 become available as "updates" to the 2008 at a reasonable price - unlikely, but I can hope.
** adding lots more power **
Did that do anything to the fuel economy?
>>Did that do anything to the fuel economy?<<
I haven't seen any figures, but the extra power was from changing the turbo to provide more air at higher RPMs: while my power starts to drop off at around 5500 RPM, the new model keeps gaining power up to over 6000 RPM (I'm not sure of the figure). As a result, I expect that the new model driven the same way as the old will get about the same mpg, but will drop if/when you use the extra power. The official MPG could easily be the same.
With mine, I get around 23 mpg for my normal commute. I found a nail in a tire a few weeks ago and had to drive with the donut spare for two days while they tracked down a replacement tire. With the spare, I was careful not to push the car as hard and to keep the top speed below 50 mph,and my mpg increased to around 27 for the same commute! With a turbo, the mpg depends heavily on how hard you push the engine. But this engine/vehicle wants to be pushed pretty hard, and even though mine only has the 224 HP engine, and takes about 5.4 seconds to hit 60 when pushed (the new one does it in under 5), it's still a lot of fine to push it a little. This keeps me awake for my 45-60 minute (each way) commute.
>>I'm hoping that some of the new parts on the 2009 become available as "updates" to the 2008 at a reasonable price
Sounds like someone buying a PC planning on changing the CPU in 6 months. Good luck!
Intsalling "mods" on a WRX is pretty typical. Subaru have a whole line (under the SPT - Subaru Performance Team - brand), and they are many third party parts. If you buy an SPT part and have it installed at the dealer, it even gets included in your vehicle warranty. E.g., they offer a "short throw" stick shift module, which replaces the stick and some of the linkage so that you can change gear more quickly, and suspension add-ons for a more stable ride (none of the latter have come out from SPT for the 2008 yet).
http://www.subaru.com/microsites/spt/home.sptmain
There are some who say you're not a real WRX owner until you've had at least one mod installed.
>>I found a nail in a tire a few weeks ago and had to drive with the donut spare for two days while they tracked down a replacement tire.<<
WOW! they used to "patch' tires you know.... now one nail and throw it away! <g>
The last 2 Lincolns I got were about just shy of 2 years old and still within the original factory warranty so I could get "extended warranties" if I wanted them. They were lease returns and picked them up for about 40% of the original selling price. One looked that no one ever sat on the back seat at all.
I got the Grand Marquis because I needed a 4 door car and the Town Car was a bit too long for my wife to handle confortably (Same basic car as the GM, 7 inches longer)
>>WOW! they used to "patch' tires you know.... now one nail and throw it away! <<
The nail went in just outside of the tread, in through the side wall. At $250 per tire, on a vehicle that had been driven less than 5000 miles, it would have been nice if they could have patched it, but no one will patch a sidewall puncture.
I'd be very cautious about buying a performance vehicle off-lease, especially one with a manual gearbox. There is no way of knowing how hard it has been pushed by the previous owner, or how well they've maintained it, or how badly they've fried the clutch from user error or aggressive driving (you can damage the clutch on the WRX pretty badly with a single overly agressive launch - all 224 HP hitting at once, with the AWD preventing the tire slip that could bleed out the power).
>>There are some who say you're not a real WRX owner until you've had at least one mod installed.
Gads, more overclockers... ;-)
>>they used to "patch' tires you know
Sepends on where the nail hits. Dead center is easily reparable. Outer edges are not...
>>[D]epends on where the nail hits. Dead center is easily reparable. Outer edges are not...<<
I've been unlucky with this - on three occasions over the last few years I've had nails or screws either go into the side wall just beyond the tread, or go in through the tread and stick out through the side wall. Fortunately, they've all created fairly slow leaks, so I could get the vehicle home and change the wheel in my garage.
While $250 for the most recent incident was expensive, the worst was the last time: I had four tires with about 10-20% tread left, probably good for about 6 months more driving. One of the tires was ruined from a nail. The good news was that I'd get 50% back on a replacement from Costco. The bad was that they didn't carry the brand anymore, and the equivalent tire had a totally different tread pattern. Driving with an unmatched tire makes the vehicle less stable when cornering, so my only options were to either pay full price for the same tire elsewhere (which still would have been an issue because of unmatched tread depth on one end of the vehicle), or replace all four tires at Costco and get the money from the punctured one towards it. As they had a sale on the tires I wanted at Costco, I took the latter route. I had them replace all four tires, but when I went back they wouldn't give me the discount - they said that the discount (something like $100 off the set) was if I bought four tires, however I was only buying three because the fourth was being replaced under warranty. It took a little discussion, but I convinced them to do the right thing - give me the discount on four AND the credit for the failed tire. In the end, a simple nail cost me about $600, but I had four new tires.
By the way, this last puncture convinced me of the advantage of low-pressure warning systems. I was close to home when the low pressure warning light came on in the Subaru. I got out and looked, and didn't see a flat tire and assumed the system was malfunctioning. I drove the rest of the way home and then checked the tires - one was down to 6 psi. I didn't see anything wrong, so I pumped it back up. The next morning it looked fine, but when I checked it I saw 0 psi! So, a low profile tire may look fine even when flat - if I had kept driving, the tire would have shredded and at least ruined the wheel (around $600 for a replacement).
>>I've been unlucky with this
Same here I need to get out of the "metal collection business". Of the last three insidences, one was a nailat the outside of the tire, one was a SCREW/BOLT at the outside of the tire and one was an odd piece of metal that put a 1/8 inch hole in the center of the tire. Road Hazard protection is a great thing...
The last nail I HEARD while driving with the windows open. I drove over to the tire shop and almost had a police escort as he saw me driving slow on the right lane of the freeway (I heard the nail after getting on the on-ramp). He drove off as he saw me exit the freeway...
I blew a tire doing 85 hoing to Vegas to attend COMDEX one year. It was as if someone had run a knife around the rim on both sides. Amazingly, the tread stayed on the rim, protecting it from damage. The shop had a heck of a time getting that piece of rubber off the rim as it was fused on real good. Good time to be lucky...
I had one do that too... yeah, bummer.
I wouldn't buy a "performance car" anyway...Where can you drive it legally (except a track) to get a full enjoyment out of it? I go for comfort instead.
>> wouldn't buy a "performance car" anyway...Where can you drive it legally (except a track) to get a full enjoyment out of it?<<
A few of the high spots on my daily drive:
On my way to work -
1. I take a turn-off from a 25 MPH road onto a 50 MPH road and have to merge into the traffic on the faster road, and fairly quickly go from the right lane to the left lane for a turn. Accelerating around the turn, from about 20 to 55 and merging with the traffic is fun. Unless I get stuck behind someone who stops on the turn off and waits until the road is clear.
2. I take a sharp turn onto the start of a freeway, which has a wide sweeping turn at the start. Taking the turning sharply and then immediately accelerating to take the freeway turn at around 60 is fun.
On the way home -
I take a off-ramp from one freeway that becomes a long sweeping turn that goes over the first freeway and becomes an on-ramp for another freeway. The posted "safe speed" is 40 (a yellow sign, not a speed limit sign), but I typically take it at 60, and have to go around the slower vehicles while taking care to make sure that they're not likely to change lanes on me at the last minute.
It's not that I enjoy driving fast, but I enjoy acceleration (straight-line or lateral), and I have a lot of fun driving the 20 mile commute. I'm looking forward to the snow this year to see how the WRX handles on some empty streets. I only had one chance last year, where I drove through about 6" deep fresh snow in our neighberhood, and enjoyed the way I could do controlled drift turns.
>>It's not that I enjoy driving fast, but I enjoy acceleration (straight-line or lateral),<<
Problem with driving fast is the slow people on the road.
When I feel "the need for speed" I call a friend that has a modified Long-Eze and we go flying... (a 1500 Lbs (gross weight) airplane with a 360 HP turbo charged engine....)
>>I call a friend that has a modified Long-Eze <<
I don't have one of those, so I have to make do with the WRX. But I'd still like the extra power of the 2009.
