Others considered... was: How The Dealer treats us... was: Start of a silly season

Tue Dec 2 15:29:28 PST 2008

Just sold my 2002 WRX bugeye - why? So I could rebuild the motor on the
rally car.

Had the Sube almost 4yrs - didn't do a thing to it but change oil, add
gas and swap tires.

We have 6 pre 99 Audi's in the driveway - 3 run - they all need work
though ;) Even so, I'm always amazed at the quality of the drivability
when they do run well. Cars like these just aren't made anymore...

One thing I can tell you is that the Sube's won't be the same as the
Audi's when they're 15 or 20 yrs old - you'll throw them out for
something else.

The stealerships no longer make money on selling cars - at least not
very much money. They have to make it up somewhere - and that's going to
be in the service and parts departments. 

Vittorio -

-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com]
On Behalf Of Richard Beels
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 6:12 PM
To: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: Others considered... was: How The Dealer treats us... was:
Start of a silly season

I'm so stuck on awd that I'd be stuck without it.  Even with virgin 
WS-50s, the Jetta won't make it up the driveway when it 
SNOWS.  :-)   I've owned nothing but VAG since 1993 as well (all Qs 
with a Jetta) but the last couple years of the stealerships around 
here have killed my quattro buzz.  Plus, my travel for work schedule 
has picked up and the consequent lack of wrench time forced me (well, 
the wife forced me :-) into a "new" car for the wife.   Sooo, what do 
you do when you sell your last running Q in the summer and start 
looking for a new ride?  Whatever your wife tells you to do, that's
what!

She wanted an awd wagon.  Audi, BMW, Volvo, VW or Saab were the 
alternatives.  We even looked at <gasp> crossovers: Mazda 
CX-something and the Nissan Rogue.  "Ahoy matey!"  :-)    We bought 
an Outback.  Found a turbo wagon for 29K out the door 2 months 
ago.  First car payment ever - 0% though.  And my local dealer is 
actually a nice guy - all the people there "get it".

Few weeks later, the Jetta dies on me 300 miles from home (no garage, 
no tools, no VAG-COM, nothing :-( ).  I do some checking online and 
see that Subaru announced 2900 cash-back and 2 year 0% financing on 
their 2008 WRXs.  I did some searching online and calling and got it 
down to 21K+tax.  Had the car bought before I even heard back about 
the Jetta.  Selling that to the father-in-law.  Would have loved to 
do the STi but for 10K more?  I can add a bunch of stuff top the WRX 
before I hit 10K.

How's the WRX?  It feels like my old CRX on steroids.  If your 
serious, look for an '08.  The HP bump is 40: 220-ish to 260-ish but 
it's just a bigger turbo.  More lag and the rpm is higher for the 
#s.  The little turbo spools up nicely and is pretty lag-less.  Don't 
know about nav (becasue I didn't want one) but there are probably a 
few out there still.  Hit the Subaru website and search each 
dealer.  Or call your local dealer and have him look up the 
inventory.  He can see NJ, PA, DE, VA and MD dealerships on one 
screen.  I do have to say that the NJ dealers I talked to weren't as 
nice as the PA dealers - and I'm not saying that just because I live 
in PA!  :-)

The one big downside is my skillset and knowledge is all 
VAG-specific.  I'm lost looking at Subaru stuff.  Anyone out there 
know if there's a VAG-COM equivalent?

Also, stuff is going fast from my 90Q 'super blowout craptacular" 
sale. :-)   Still have the 3 cars left and I keep finding parts as I 
clean up the garage.  I just found a pair of rear shocks for a FWD 
80/90 (NIB), 2 pieces of the black mid-door trim (new), 2 sets of 14" 
steelies (used) and another rear bumper (slightly damaged) and more 
centercaps for the basketweave wheels.

At 12/2/2008 at 13:39, Shakespearean monkeys danced on Dan DiBiase's 
keyboard and said:
>I dunno, I kinda like the new WRX 5-door. I've always liked 
>hatchbacks for their practicality, and with the 2009 WRX being
>given a pretty significant bump in hp - up 20 or so to 265 - and 
>under $30k with navigation and satellite radio doesn't seem
>like a bad deal. I even kind of like the new look.
>
>  Dan D
>
>________________________________
>From: Ed Kellock <ekellock at gmail.com>
>
>I'm stuck on all wheel drive.  I haven't seriously considered anything
>without it for a long time.  Mercedes showed me how to think German.
VW was
>my gateway to other makes.  The original Audi Coupe became the monkey
on my
>back.  I've had nothing but Audis since 1990.

Cheers!

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