Share your interesting experience when you bought your BRZ/FRS

[g0ast]

I'm looking to see what other people have experienced when they bought their BRZ/FRS, cause I'm sure I'm not the only one with an interesting story on how they acquired their car. Here's mine as an example.

Bought BRZ March '13
So as a gift for graduating from Arizona State University in 2013, my mom gave me $15k to put down on a new car (thanks mom!) (this $15k part returns later) and I knew she would so I already had a narrow list of a few cars that I'd choose from, but I chose the BRZ. Very specifically a Galaxy Blue Automatic in Limited trim.

I searched various dealers and their stock online from AZ, NM, NV, CA, OR, and WA and I got close a few times but it was a Manual, or a Premium trim, etc. Then there it was! A little Hyundai/Subaru dealership in San Diego, they had my car being shipped over, I immediately called them since there were no other cars like mine at any other dealers and told them I want that car, my heart stopped when the guy said the car already had a deposit on it, then I just said casually (really just a passing comment) "well it's just I had $15,000 to put down and I really wanted this car" and he's all like "well sorry, we'll let you know if something happens." (Like he didn't even notice the cash comment). If he did I bet he would have sold me the car right then and there..

So 10 minutes later I'm still looking at dealerships to no avail and I got a call from that dealer saying my car was "suddenly available" and I knew it was coming when he said "you have $15,000 cash, correct?" I was like yea I do!

Two weeks later I took a one way flight to San Diego, picked up my car the morning after it got off the truck.

Amazing what money can do to get things you want! All that and I managed to beat them down to $1k under MSRP "for my travel expenses".

What's your story?

[N1rve]

I just recently sold my car (long story) in December, and I was basically Carless. I went to Longo Toyota to see what cars they have. There, I saw a Pearl White FRS... And I knew I had to have an FRS.

I saw three silver Argentos on manager special (23,500) stick shift. One of the salespeople walked over and asked if he had any white ones. He drove me in the little cart up to where ALL the Scion FRS' were.

I saw a four 10 series... I was like "Can I see a 10 Series instead?"

He opened the door, let me sit in it, drove it back and fourth... and I was like "Ok. I want the 10 Series instead"

However -- I didn't purchase my car at this time.

Went back a week later, went to go find the same person who helped me. I filled out a credit application, and while I was doing that, he went to go find a 10 Series with the lowest miles (13 Miles).

He went to go find another sales person because he was too tall for the FRS. I went on a full loop test drive (as they called it).

The car just took off... it felt fast to me.. LOL

Drove it back to the dealer, and then I signed for the car. At this time, it was 8:30 PM and it was dark. I wanted to see the car under very bright lights to check for scratches (this was after I signed for the car).

I noticed then there were blemishes on the front bumper. (The paint bubbled from factory.) He tried to buff it out with compound and wax. He offered to repaint the front bumper, but I didn't want a repainted car.

He then said that he'll exchange my car for another one. He didn't want me to be an unhappy customer. We went back up to the lot and looked for another low mileage FRS.

Put it back under the light, low and behold no damage. This FRS had 19 Miles I believe.

Went back into the finance department, changed the stock number. The sales person then took me to the Dealer Gas Pump. Filled it up...drove me back to the front of the dealership (this was 10:30 PM). The dealer closed at I think 10 LOL. He helped my sync my phone, show me the features of the car, and told me "don't pull a Paul Walker" LOL

[JM9ISM]

Ordered a car with Clint from Colorado.... been waiting for 2 months because I need this car to be delivered in Socal.

Fast forward to December, the truck driver who had my car on his truck called and said "this is unusual, I dropped the car off to another person that had ordered the same car and same color and I checked the VIN twice". I was shock for a moment... what should I do!

The driver asked me if I wanted to hop in his truck and go get my car, and I said yes.

Took us almost an hour to get to a city of Altadena where the driver dropped my car off.
Since it is my first M/T car, I stalled 3 times and that was the worst experienced!

[BRZZZZZZZZZZ]

No drama here, walked in, told the sales person what I was willing to pay, they agreed, put my deposit down and away we went.

[Bg8780]

Not really much of an experience when buying the car. My first BRZ was wrecked in a snow storm pile up. I flew to Albany NY to pick up the new one. Drove it to DC to meet my buddies for St Patty's day. Met a girl in DC that I've had my eye for years. (Long story, I don't feel like going typing the entire story) We fell in love that weekend and I plan on wifing her up when I get home.


TL,DR; Fell in love with my current girlfriend while taking my new BRZ on maiden voyage from NY to DC to OH then down to GA. It only cost me the first wrecked BRZ lol worth it.

[nalc]

Went into the dealership, test drove a SSM Premium AT. Decided I really liked it, didn't mind the fewer options on the Premium over the Limited, I wasn't a fan of the AT. so I decided I wanted either GBS or WRB or DGM Premium MT.

Went back two weeks later with the VIP paperwork. There was a GBS Limited MT on the lot. I test drove it, decided that I wanted a GBS Premium MT. Started looking, but all I could find in the area was with a spoiler. I was adamant that I either got no fogs and no spoiler, or if it had fogs or a spoiler I wasn't going to pay for them. Waste of money. I don't care if you try to rationalize it as only being an extra 9 dollars a month on my car payment, I am not paying extra for it.

So we're arguing and not really getting anywhere. Then I say "Well, how about I just take the GBS Limited MT I test drove last weekend"? If I was going to spend an extra $400 on a spoiler that I didn't want, I might as well pay a little more and get the keyless entry and alcantara that I do want.

So I made the deal. I was on a business trip, so I was going to pick the car up on Friday evening after I got home. My train ended up breaking down, and I had a cruise ship experience where I was in a crowded train car with windows that don't open and air conditioning and bathrooms that aren't working because the power is out for like 3-4 hours on a warm day.

I ended up getting home like 45 minutes before the dealership closed, immediately rushing to the dealership, and closing on the car.

The whole time, I was texting back and forth with the salesman. He kept telling me that if I couldn't make it in time, we wouldn't be able to do it, and asking if I could come in any earlier. Hey asshole, I'm on a broken down train, no I'm not sure when I'll be there, WTF you expect me to do to get there earlier? Get out and push? Then he started going on about how the finance guys were booked solid the next day (Saturday) and I wouldn't be able to buy the car on Saturday if I got home too late on Friday. I decided that if I didn't get the car by the end of the day Saturday, they didn't deserve my business and I was going to walk.

Luckily (or not, I'm not really sure yet), I made it in time and got the car as the dealership was closing up on Friday night, then drove home in a thunderstorm. That deal was on very thin ice by the end of it. As I gave them my keys for the car I was trading in, the salesman was complaining that I only had one remote clicker for it, and how they cost over $100 to replace. I was completely out of patience at that point and if they had so much as suggested reducing the value of my trade-in, I was going to take my one remote back and leave. I gave him a murderous glare and he stopped talking about it.

It was actually a pretty unpleasant experience. I have yet to have a pleasant experience at a Subaru dealer.

[AznBRZer]

Went in on a Saturday afternoon just to see if I could get the deal I wanted for shits and giggles: $31k OTD for a Limited in auto($26.6k with auto-dim mirror, wheel locks, trunk tray before taxes[$1700], extended warranty[$1400], and fees/destination[$1300]). Car was listed on their site for $27k before destination. Finance manager ended up coming over and told me $32k with warranty after the salesman went back and forth a couple times with numbers I didn't like ($31.5k with no warranty). Told the manager that I don't need the car and if I don't like the numbers, I could go to Scion down the street or just not buy the car today. Part of me was thinking that he'd say that he was sorry we couldn't work something out, but he ended up saying $31.5 with no trunk tray. We shook on it and made it happen. I also told them not to wash the car.

While I was in the F&I office, I suddenly remembered to tell them to becareful when screwing in the license plate on in trunk because there are no holes for the bottom of the plate. Few weeks later, I discovered that there was an attempt. Got some comped touch up paint for that. While they were doing PDI, they came over and told me that I had to go buy a front plate bracket and I argued with them about it because all cars come with them. I went back into their service bay and found it in the trunk, which they were unable to open. They spent a total of 4 hours putting in the bracket and putting on my mirror as well as trying to get the trunk open. Got home and realized that they cut up my passenger-side window and forgotten my wheel locks, so I had to go back the next Monday to get it checked out. They told me that they'll replace it, but the locks won't be in for a couple days, so I set up an appointment for the weekend. Went in to get the window replaced, wheel locks, and even got the trunk tray comped. Couple weeks later, I decide to clean up my glove compartment and found the grommets that they were supposed to install.

Still got a good deal, but I should've had them throw in a diffuser because I knew I had some more wiggle room and I let my emotions get the best of me. Never going back to that dealership again because of some other problems I had.

[Wilsonk227]

This isn't a BRZ or FRS experience but I decided to share this story because I thought it was super hilarious. (For me at least)

A while back ago I owned a 2008 Honda Civic coupe and was looking for a new car. My dad drove by a Mitsubishi dealer in anaheim (Anaheim Mitsuhbishi) and saw a lancer. He liked it, and talked to the salesman about how much it cost. The salesman said that if I came in, he'd get me it for a good deal. So we went on the weekend and we talked about the car. It was a lot of back and forth and a ton of haggling. Being as inexperienced and young as I am, I didn't read everything as much as I could. We trusted the dealer and their employees and it turned out they ended up ripping us off. I wanted $0 down and they gave it to me...for about $30k out the door which was a huge amount...I didn't even know they costed that much for a 2nd tier Lancer. Anyways, I signed the paper for $0 down and that day we traded the civic in and drove the lancer home. When we got home we read everything and I felt so stupid that they tricked us into buying the car. Their Assistant Manager was shit, he was like "I'll use my Employee pricing to get you in this car!" and he didnt....plus he was rude and very pushy.


Fast forward 1 month, we had to go back and forth to the dealer because it turned out, they did what they called "spot dealing." They gave me the car before the banks actually approved of it. So basically, they REALLY wanted me to sign for the car so they gave it to me thinking the banks would approve of it. I was 18 at the time paying for my own car and the banks wanted 2k down. I said no because I knew where this was going. In the end we had a huge back and forth thing and I ran out of patience, was pissed at the dealer and pissed at everyone there (except the salesman, he was kinda cool and nice).

All in all, they couldn't do the deal because the banks said no and we needed to do a reverse trade/purchase. So in the end, I got the Lancer free for a month, drove about 2k miles on it by going to Vegas and Fresno. Sucks to be Anaheim Mitsubishi, but they got back a used car, I got back my civic, and had a free month of new Lancer Karma's a bitch lol


ONE MORE THING, Anaheim Mitsubishi has a yelp rating of 2.5 stars LOL no wonder they were so terrible

[Chauntalei]

Flashback to April 2012. Pre-orders had been open for a while, and I had emailed a few dealerships to see what their allocation/markups were going to be. Talked to some folks at my closest dealership (Carlsen Subaru, Redwood City CA) and they told me $1k markup, but no idea when I'd be able to get a car. A week or two later, I went to Stevens Creek Subaru in San Jose, CA to see a BRZ in person. Sat in the SWP showroom model and immediately was sold. Their markup was the same as Carlsen, but they had spots on their allocation list open still. Put my name and a $250 deposit down for a DGM Premium w/spoiler. Had a little back and forth with the guy about when the car would arrive, turns out I was something like #28 out of their first 35 allocated cars, so it might be a while.

Fast forward to early May. Stevens Creek is now telling me it will probably be September or later before my car arrives. I am way too impatient for that, so I start looking around. Found a dealership in Washington that had a CBS Premium AT pre-order that had been backed out on, and it was the next car scheduled to be delivered. Wasn't super keen on the AT, but it sounded like it would be a lot sooner than my DGM order. So, I took the guys spot on the list, and got my deposit back from Stevens Creek.

Couple of weeks later, I'm talking to the dealership in WA when the guy tells me that they haven't actually ordered the car at all yet, they're still waiting for more allocation from Subaru, but whenever they get that, they'll order the car. So now the situation changes from "Yours is the next car coming!" to "Yours is the next car coming once Subaru tells us we can order more, and then we have to put the order in, wait for it to be built, shipped, and delivered!"

Needless to say, I'm not happy, but by this point, my Stevens Creek allocation spot is long gone, and nobody else around me has anything available, so I resign myself to waiting.

(Here's where the happy ending happens.)

Memorial Day weekend, 2012! I get an email from the sales manager at Carlsen Subaru out of the blue. "We have an SSM MT Limited that someone backed out on, it's here in the dealership as we speak, and because you got ahold of us early, you have first dibs. It's yours if you want it." So, I email him back about price, and the $1k markup is still there, but he quotes me everything including TTL, and it's still well within an acceptable price for me.

I drive down that Sunday, do all the paperwork, write them a check for $15k as a down payment, and wait for Monday to show up so they can run everything through finance and the banks. Monday rolls around, I get a call at about 10am saying everything is good, and by noon I'm driving home in my brand new, 8 miles on the odo, 2013 Subaru BRZ!

I found out later that the car I took home was the very first that Carlsen Subaru had delivered to a customer, and what seems to be the 2nd BRZ delivered in the SF Bay Area at all. (Someone at Capitol Subaru in San Jose took delivery of their WRB BRZ about an hour before me and we're pretty sure he was the first. Also, all of the local first 86'er got their FR-S's around the same time, some before me, and some after me.)

[azngolfur]

Hm... I was #13 on the wait list for Subaru in Walnut Creek, CA... they had 1 car pop up in the 6+ months on the wait list and offered it to me 2k above MSRP

8/15/12 - took my '10 LGT for 75K service on a Wednesday at subaru in Livermore, CA. In the middle of service 5 BRZ's showed up on delivery truck!!!! The salesman I bought my LGT from was there, I told him that if any one of those 5 dropped out, to call me right away and I'd buy it on the spot.

8/18/12 - sales guy called me in the middle of a family BBQ on a saturday, said one of the DGM Limited pre-orders dropped out. Immediately gave the BBQ'ing duties to my little brother, cleaned out my car, drove straight to dealer, and traded it in. Wasn't even on the waiting list at this dealership... just happened to be lucky that I was there when it was being delivered and drove the car away with only 4 miles on the odometer at MSRP! Also had my cousin meet me there to test drive and drive it home for me since I didn't know how to drive stick yet. LOL

[JS + BRZ]

Emailed like 5 different Subaru dealers in Socal region requesting a quote on white BRZ Limited. Played with them to see which dealer gives me the best deal. Pacific Subaru did and went to pick it up. Everything went smooth.

After like 2 months into my ownership, one of the sales rep from Puente Hills Subaru decided to call me and see if they can price match the price that I emailed them 2 months ago........

I told her are you kidding me? It's been almost 2 months since I sent out that email. She was like ohhh...... alright. Enjoy your ride sir.

Idiots.

[Lebby83]

I new I wanted a 2013 Limited pre-owned... Called two local dealers that were showing basically the same car already with an intake/exhaust on them, each with a little over 4k miles. One got sold before I could look at it. Went to the other dealer that still had one... test drove it and left to think about it. Drove 15 minutes down the road, turned around, went back and bought it. Dealer made everything very easy and I picked it up 3 days later

[Akari]

I had a great car buying experience personally. Flew to Colorado to meet Clint at his dealership and came out with my car at a great price a couple hours later.

Took an out-of-the-way roadtrip through the mountains of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington where I really got to know the car intimately. Myself and my other driver along with really learned to push the car to it's limits carving mountain canyons along the way. We almost hit a couple of animals(deer, cow, coyote, birds, etc), got caught in a full on sandstorm, spent a fun night in Reno and just had a blast the entire way.

[ramiram1984]

Fuck, why can't I EVER get ANY gift for accomplishments. lol..damn lucky bastards getting cars as gifts.