fil6

HI

I am new to the Subaru scene and was questioning whether I should purchase a new subaru impreza from Alliance Car Imports for around £16,930 with met paint and 3 year warranty.

Can anyone tell me the good and bad points in owning a scooby.

Cheers

FIL

pslewis

Best car you can buy

Buy an import by all means - but you will suffer badly come re-sale

You 'may' get shunned by UK Subaru dealers

You saves your money you takes your choice!!

Pete

mutant_matt

Most dealers are fine with Euro imports and you MAY suffer on re-sale, but in my experience, you will suffer a lot less than many people make out.

After three years, there is arguably no difference at all between them so if you plan on keeping it that long, it makes even more sense.

Matt

davyboy

You will not suffer when you sell, if you do not sell it on here

polarbearit

Yep, Davyboy is right, this board knows how much imports cost and tend to bid accordingly... Also UK Car owners like pslewis have to convince themselves that a UK car is worth the extra £5k

Seriously, expect the car to be worth a little less in the short term but residuals are much better than UK Cars.

Harry_Boy

Buy the import Mate - if it's a UK spec, you'll barely see any differences. The only ones are - no Cat 1 alarm, no locking wheel nuts, no 'extra' underseal.

Oh, and you'll need to register it with IM for the first year's warranty to be effective.

mutant_matt

2 year warranty now....

pslewis

Polarbearit says:-

Seriously, expect the car to be worth a little less in the short term but residuals are much better than UK Cars
------------------------------------------------------------------

Ermmmm, you not got the right statement there surely???? Residuals are far WORSE than UK cars!!

Pete

Harry_Boy

Under £17k is a good price. Just check that it's not subject to exchange rate fluctuations, or that the rate quoted isn't unrealistic.

Also, does it include UK delivery, VED etc???

fil6

What abou the car itself is it a good reliable car, and more importantly is it as fast as people make it out to be.

Also insurance I got some quotes for £890 fully comp, I am 23 and full no claims no points is that good with direct line.

Harry_Boy

£890 at 23 yo. Did you sleep with the girl at the call centre? Not a bad price at all....

polarbearit

Pete - UK 2000 car, 30k, going for around £13.5k (if you're lucky) on the BBS, EU import, going for £12.5k... The difference is at the time the import was £15-16k, UK car £21-22k. I'm not sure I'd mind the slightly worse resale price given the initial saving

brendy

I would reccomend buying an import the only thing is if you cut out the middle man you will save even more cash.
BUT your waiting time may be increased.
When I bought an MY00 UK spec from Holland including VAT and travel etc it cost less than 15000.

chiark

Pete,

I'd argue that residuals on EU imports are better than UK cars. Work it out. You've got 6 grand extra to play with, so percentage-wise, you're onto a winner...

Picture this: second hand buyer looks around. Sees MY00 EU import for 12k. Sees MY00 UK sourced for 14k. Which one do they buy?

EU import=16 grand new. UK spec car=23 grand new. So EU car has lost 4k (25%), UK spec has lost 9k (39%). Plus it's sold faster.

Figures are examples, but the point is made and I claim my prize.

(NB: assumes standard/silver or anthracite wheels. On that at least we agree )

boultsy

When I was first looking at importing an impreza MY99/00 was around 13k direct, 15k with leather and getting it home. Since the release of the bug, prices abroad jumped by quite a bit (around 2k) because pressure from other suppliers forced them to rasie their prices in holland and belgium to reduce the gap, I expect this is why UK prices never dropped when there was all the fuss over here.

I think the cheapest we've seen on this board is around 15.5k for a direct from dealer import that's around 21.5k euros including met. paint. So your paying around 1.5 to alliance for them to sort out the order and deliver it (assuming that price includes delivery).

Driving them is amazing, you really need to try before you buy, having said that I didn't and I wasn't disapointed, far from it, smiles all the way I think it's pretty fair to say that there have been no quality/reliability issues with the bug, a few niggles here and there on the odd car but that is it. Had mine now nearly 6 mnths and am still smiling

Only bad points would be running costs i guess, I tend not to use mine as an everyday car so can't really comment but I can imagine the fuel costs could be high if you used it everyday. I Must average around 250-200 miles a tank, all depends on how you drive it.

Insurance, well it looks like you've got that one sorted, £890 is a good price for 23.

Servicing, for the first 6 mnths (1000/7500 miler) your looking at around a £200

I've nicked the rest from a post of Joey Deacon's from back in october last year.

15000 Mile/12 Months Service : £300 (Includes the Bodywork Check)
22500 Mile/18 Months Service : £100

After this it starts to get a little expensive These are approximate costs as I haven't got that far yet!!

30000 Mile/24 Months Service : around £400-£450
37500 Mile/30 Months Service : £100
45000 Mile/36 Months Service : £500-£600 (Guestimate)


And as for Pete "Residuals are far WORSE than UK cars" Lewis I'm not even going to go there. UK and import owners will always disagree on this, as will bug and pre-bug.

MattW

Sorry - I'd buy the Uk car. I can trade it in later.

Been bitten by the EU import thing before, needed to sell my car quickly(too small for needs due to baby) and the dealer was taking the p1ss with the price.

I do subscribe to the view that its worth as much as a UK car because the spec is the same, however in the real world where every(in my experience where the dealership is accepting a model he already sells new) dealer will not take a trade in which is EU sourced.

Yes I know I could have solid it it privately, but who would buy a nearly new car from autotrader, without the dealer backup etc.

Just my experience, and before I get flamed, mates of mine have all bought imports without troble, but are planning on keeping them for 4+ years. Even the coy I work for, which is a large insurance coy started sourcing our German comapny cars abroad.



Edited to say - 890 for a 23 year old. DL quoted me 850 and I'm 30. I'd check they didn't quote a GX if I was you first. Either that or you live on the Isle of Skye!!

[Edited by MattW - 4/23/2002 9:09:28 AM]

chiark

MattW - good point. I'm keeping my car for 3 1/2 years at least. I reckon my local dealer would take mine in part-ex, give me an awful price and then put it on the forecourt for the same price as a UK sourced car. Hence I've got the bug, and I'm going to sell privately before my EU-sourced import arrives

But it's worth bearing in mind.

Harry_Boy

22000 Euros for a WR Blue MY02 5 door from Garage Knockaert in Belgium. What a bargain.....

reaton

Harry Boy,

You're right, that's a real bargain!!!

22,000.00 Euro's = £13,464.92

I want, I want, I want!

Rich

Dales

Don't forget VAT...translates to £15,821 plus delivery

[Edited by Dales - 4/23/2002 1:07:53 PM]

FreeT

Plus alarm/imobiliser, underseal if your bothered, bits n bobs = approx £500+/-
talking £16,500 tops v's uk £21,750 over 5k difference - scarey stuff isn't it.

Geezer

Good savings to be had, but really very difficult to get rid of.

I eventually sold mine to a "freelance" garage as no one is interested in second hand EU imports.

They discussed that very problem on 5th gear last night and I must admit it ties in with mine and some other people experiences I know of.

Stll, 5 grand saving initially is tempting.

Geezer

DanTheMan

Buy the import mate, imports rock

frisby

geezer, definately the case although it depends on who your dealing with. I supply cars to a car super market and they seem to give good prices on trade in EU imports. £13k for a MY00 import doesn't seem too shabby.

laters

stu

Ian E

iTrader: (1)

A mate purchased a 'X' EU Import standard MY00 privately November last year for £13800 and sold it privately recently for £14250. The original owner paid less than £15000 for this car new!

Scoob main dealers might not be that interested in buying EU imports but they weren't that keen to buy my previous UK Supplied Scoob a few years ago either!

At the end of the day the cars are built on the same production line to the same spec - its just the boats drop 'em off at a different place.

Cheers,

Ian.

(EU Import owner )

noodle

fil6,
Have you tried contacting Keyring Cars? They seem to have some good offers on EU Spec imports.

I'm considering them at the moment for a new Sti.

£21'500 v's dealers £25'995, albeit Keyring's car does not come with the Cat 1 Alarm, Tracker or Extra Underseal - but still a saving of a whopping £4'495, besides I want a clifford alarm and have no intention of selling within 3 yrs, so for me it may be worthwhile.

Good Luck.

john banks

Alliance Car Imports are great. Except they said they would help me claim back the cost of the 1000 mile service but never did. Other than that better service than any franchised dealer I have dealt with when buying a new car previously.

Things happened at the time they said they would happen unlike another importer who strung me along for about 10 weeks - Alliance delivered within a week at the time when you had to wait 20 weeks and I didn't pay a massive premium - they also arranged a local fitter to do security on it before I picked it up as I was coming from Scotland.

Daphne

Noodle - I bought my WRX from Keyring Cars and can only say good things about them - £16,800 total after exchanging Euros, paying VAT (which was £2,350 of the cost), 1 year tax, delivery to the door etc. Also, they can now arrange for Cat 1 alarm to be fitted on the car's arrival in the UK, before you get it. When you want to sell it, you can always use their website, where they've got used cars as well!
Insurance is the same too for a Euro import.
I've even found a really good, friendly local Subaru dealer!


[Edited by Daphne - 4/23/2002 8:21:10 PM]

MattN

anyone buying a car then selling it really soon will take a big hit.

Dealers are not stupid - you go them with a 6 month old import they know your going there cos you need a quick sale. Hence low offers. they know what they cost and so do most on here.

Allow for 25% depreciation in the first year - import or not. Just don't try and sell your import for 1k less than a UK model - it won't sell, but 2-3k your laughing still saved 2 grand.

tmp

What about the extra cost for a 3 year warranty on an import?

Tim.