Are Subaru determined to loose their customers ???

The new Buy an STi for £26 and a bit K and get a Prodrive performance kit for free is really pi$$ing me off.

Yes its a great deal if your buying new and with cash as always? Obviously Subaru are getting the PPP dirt cheap and using as a way to stop peopl haggling them down on the basic price. Should make them a bit of extra cash

Anyway having bought my Sti8 in 2003 and then fitted it with PPP then Prodrive springs and Pff7 wheels, the subaru dealers are now telling me that the car is worth about 2K less than it was a month ago because of this deal Does that mean in 2 months time the price of my car will go up by 2K ?? I think not. Well done to Subaru for devaluing their cars

My car has now (or so I am told) lost 14K in 2 years???

Am I going to buy another ? I doubt it very much. I might as well buy a expensive quality car such as a 911 and then enjoy (Loose term) the 3 K a year loss and have a car that is actually good quality and will last loads longer and not drop like a stone.

Ive had enough

When I first bought a Subaru. I had it 20 months and lost 2.5K on it against an RB5 and then a little more against my uk300 and then a little more on the Sti. Maybe the writing wa on the wall from the second car I bought. But 14K in 2 years is just enough

Ive had with Subaru

So if anyone wants to buy a nice sti8 off me then let me know and I'll send you the spec

Steve

 

Every new car looses money m8.
Every car maker comes out with new improved models and deals.
Every day we all get older...

That's life.
At least I can enjoy driving the best car I've ever had before I get old.

 

I know what you mean, but going from loosing 2-3 K on my first trade into to 14K for the same age car a few years later is taking the pi$$. Thats all

Yeah I'm well aware cars loose money, but the Subaru now seems to one of the worst depreciators. And having had 4 in about 8 years I think the time has come to spend even more money and go Porsche 911 and loose less

 

I'm afraid I agree.

Cars are the biggest waste of money there is.

Cheapest way is to buy an old diesel Mondeo or something that is already at rock bottom price.

 

Dave - that's not actually responding to the point raised by the poster and makes light of Subaru's current position in the market.

His point was, if I may paraphrase: Impreza's used to be a slowly depreciating car, they are now a complete money pit when compared to their competition.

In fact, the ACTUAL amount of money lost in the first 2 years is comparable to much more expensive and desirable kit. You'd lose similar money on an E46 M3 (my mate did - 44K-32K in two years). Not sure, but I'd guess a new 997 would be similar, maybe a smidge more, but considering the extra cachet??!

IMO, Subaru has lost its way in the past couple of years, in part due to their own slow development compared to other comparable cars - the gap between an Impreza and similarly priced cars 10 years ago was huge. These days there's loads of choice for the money.

Had they updated the exterior sooner, improved the interior to VW standards and whacked in the 2.5 engine - all for the same price - I think we'd see that gap open up again. I think they've got their work cut out now...

 

You must understand that when buying anything from new it will depreciate, except in your own possession.

If you appreciate the depreciation you will appreciate that depreciation is only in your mind young steve777.

Appreciate what you have for others having nothing

 

Steve remember me? I sold my totally standard STI after 2 years and 19,000miles back to the dealers for cash at £16,000 when I paid £23,700 for it exactly two years before. By the sound of it, it was the best move I made.

The only thing I did then was purchase a MR320!! Now I`m glad I didn`t pay full list for that at £31,500 inc. the 340 upgrade, the fellow I bought it off did severn months earlier. Needless to say I`ll never buy new again. Only after 3 months of buying the EVO Mitsi decided to knock £4000 maybe more off the price of a brand new MR320 (but not in Gun Metal Grey) making my bargin second hand EVO a realistic priced second hand EVO. If I sold it now I`d probably have lost a couple of grand on that as well. The biggest plus is, it`s more FUN!!

I think the way forward is not to buy brand new cars!!!!

 

Steve,

So what? You've still got an Sti 8 with PPP. Not so bad!

You can loose 14k in much worse ways!

If you want an investment, buy art work, if you want a fast car, buy a Scooby!



NS04

 

Hi Forest

Yeah thats only 7.7K not 14 K !!!!!

It just annoys me that the dealers play the game like they do and actaully de value the cars them selves. A real shame.

A 996 will be on its way soon i think. Stuff the 50K but at least in 6 years time when its 8 years old it'll still fetch 30 K. So thats not even 3.5K depreciationa year. I can stand that on a 911.

Anyway someone fancy my Sti8 ?? All the Prodirve etc. going reasonably cheap and cheaper with the kit on it than you'll get at a dealer. Still 10months warranty as well

 

There's a name for the release of better and better cars for less money as time goes on - it's called 'progress', and it's nothing if not predictable.

Whilst it would be great if development stopped the moment you bought your own car, that's never going to happen. Depreciation is, however, only significant if you're actually looking to sell your car; if you're keeping and enjoying it, then its value on the s/h market couldn't matter less.

The free PPP is a time limited offer anyway, probably to get rid of the stock of '05 cars before the '06 shape comes in. Once the last '05/PPP car has been sold, the price at which they were sold new is again irrelevant - they're worth what someone will pay for them. A car which had PPP included in the new price will be worth no more and no less than one that had PPP paid for.

In any case, how do you think I feel? I bought a new '05 JDM import STI, for about the same money as a new UK car with PPP. It's a much higher spec than the UK model, yet at resale time it'll actually be worth less - and for absolutely no good reason. Fortunately I plan to keep it for years, so the theoretical depreciation is all but irrelevant; I'll simply be enjoying driving a great car.

 

Good point Andy

I'm gonna sell though. But this time be careful to bya marque that appears more stable of a longer period. There aren't many but Porsche seems to be one. And in any case a 911 will be a dream car. I'm not so sure that the Sti is ??? Still enjoy driving it and my girlfriend says its the best car she has ever driven, but it still pains me that the economy lets you loose so much money. Lifting the import restriction on Subaru was a very bad move in my opinion

Shame. I still won't be buying another one and I doubt I'll ever buy a brand new vehicle again in my life and Ive had new cars since I was 22, now 38 so not bad

 

Good point Andy

I'm gonna sell though. But this time be careful to bya marque that appears more stable of a longer period. There aren't many but Porsche seems to be one. And in any case a 911 will be a dream car. I'm not so sure that the Sti is ??? Still enjoy driving it and my girlfriend says its the best car she has ever driven, but it still pains me that the economy lets you loose so much money. Lifting the import restriction on Subaru was a very bad move in my opinion

Shame. I still won't be buying another one and I doubt I'll ever buy a brand new vehicle again in my life and Ive had new cars since I was 22, now 38 so not bad

 

I think if you can afford a 911 then deffo go for it. I can't and for people that want to go fast on a budget in a car with some kudos, Subarus are still the answer. I got my 2nd hand '03 WRX for a good price with 12,000 miles on it and best part of two years warranty and breakdown cover. Buying new is never a good idea on any marque..as soon as you drive it out of the showroom etc....

 

The simple answer is if you don't like losing money, don't spend it on expensive car's. A car is not an investment, to some it's a important mode of transport, to other's it's a toy that serve's two purpose's, and i can say in all honestly that the Porche route is not a guaranteed safegaurd against depreciation, a friend of mine bought a 996 turbo for £72k, and looked into changing it for a Ferrari 360, about 6 month's later, and was offered £58k part-ex, that's £14k in 6 month's (not two year's), unless your going to keep your car's for a long time, your alway's going to lose a large chunk of money.

 

I have to agree with Steve on this one - Subaru's do seem to be one of the biggest depprecaition suckers out there. I also see his key point about the fact that unlike many other car makers, Subaru will chnage the spec of their cars more frequently than most. Look at the fact that within 5 years we have had bug eye and blobeye. Then we've had interior changes, spoiler changes etc etc.

Most car makers (including those far bigger such as Vauxhall and Ford) may make minor spec changes every year or so, but nothing major. Then they develop a whole new car. The WRX is not a whole new car and is the same chassis and engine that they have been developing since 1992 or whenever it was. Things like rear leg room etc are now very very bad - but Steve's point regarding the fact that each year something changes and they do another big push will devalue the cars more so than most others makes out there.

They launch the MY05 in Sept last year with the new interior - and after 6 or so months, they then add PPP - so yet another iteration of the car. The MY04 models had free servicing for a while etc.

Sure, new cars will always lose money, but the value of Subaru's versus the loss does seem out of proportion for what is not a mass market car (Focus, Mondeo's etc), especially given they seem to sell hardly any bog standard (N/A) Impreza's because they are very poor compared to their competitiors.

And given my last car was a Porsche 911 (993), paid £36,000 for it in 2002 and sold it due to having a family in 2004. I had had a lot of fun in it, and when I bought it, it had 24,000 miles on it, I sold it with 34,000 miles on it for £35,000. Losing £1k in 2 years is what deppreciation is all about - but that does I know show the difference between the marques. So in regards not spending money on an expensive car - it just shows how each car is different - and the WRX and devalued almost daily by Subaru bringing out different models, different deals. None of these deals can EVER do our resale values any good but will continue to harm them.

Andy

 

I guess from a commercial viewpoint there are two effects at work here. On the one hand, releasing a new shape harms the residual values of older models, effectively making buying a new car more expensive over the whole ownership cycle and therefore less attractive to some.

On the other hand, there will always be people who have to have the latest and greatest, who will buy the new car just because it's different, and as long as those extra sales more than make up for those who stay away because the marque depreciates so heavily, it's the right commercial thing to do. The whole mobile phone industry is propped up by this effect, they've done a great job of making an extremely dull product into a fashion accessory.

The way to 'win' is to buy a used model that's already taken a major depreciation hit if you're not planning to keep it for long - or, if you want to buy new, then plan on keeping the car long enough that you don't lose out too heavily. The only sure-fire losers are those who buy new AND try to keep up with every new model as it comes out.

 

If you can afford to keep it you dont have to worry about depreciation, I have had this dillemma and I think the more you think about it the more you panic and before long you are desperate to sell due to falling residuals.

You have a cracking car, keep it, enjoy it and if you get bored mod it, as time goes by depreciation will slow down until the point that it wont bother you so much.

 

A second hand 996 2/3 year old seems the way forward ! Just looking through the Porsche mag now and it doesn't take much working out to see buying a Subaru is a bad idea. Ah well I guess after 8 years of Subaru motoring its time to move on

 

2nd hand 996 is definatly the way to go

 

thats what i keep thinking