Confused about the warranty
 

For a while I was on the edge whether I wanted an frs or brz. I had finally decided on a brz, but test drove an frs simply because the dealership is less than 5 minutes away. At the end I was told they offer a lifetime powertrain warranty on it. I'm not going to be doing any mods that would void the warranty and plan on having this car for quite some time. And with the history I've had with my car, that warranty is one huge reason I'm buying new.
Anyway, I've looked everywhere and have been trying to find an answer to this for a while without going up to the subaru dealer. Is this lifetime power train warranty something they only offer for the frs, or perhaps it's something only this dealership is offering? I've got my heart set on the brz, but this might have me reconsidering...again
Sorry if this has been discussed already, I'm having trouble searching through these forums! :bonk:

EDIT: It's looking like this might be just a promotional kinda thing at the dealer by me? Supposedly it's pretty common in Florida?

That is correct, dealer promotion. Standard warranty in the US for the FR-S is 3yr/36,000M bumper to bumper and 5yr/60K for powertrain.


You'll want to read the dealer add-on carefully to make sure it really does what they say its doing. Wish I could have gotten that offer on mine since my last two cars both had 250,000 and 290,000 miles on them.


Info available here.


http://www.scion.com/cars/FR-S2015/warranty/

Also, read the fine print of "Lifetime" anything. Many times it's the "lifetime of the product".

In the world of electronics is pretty common for them to set a fairly low expected lifetime of the product. (Like 2 years on a power supply).

Lifetime my ass. they'll do anything to say "oh this one does not cover under warranty"

I would not trust that, they can always find bs reason to void your warranty such you did not do their recommend premium oil change, they found sign of abusive driving (very subjective!) ...etc

http://www.efgcompanies.com/products...-warranty.aspx


This is what a lot of dealerships use.

Being picky but I believe it's 3 yr/ 36,000 miles as the national average is roughly 12,000 miles/year, most of the industry is built around that kind of lifecycle.

And fully agreed, a "lifetime powertrain warranty" sounds great until you read the fine print. Don't expect anything that has a finite life to be covered; spark plugs, coil packs, clutches, water pump, belts and hoses etc. you will have to pay out of pocket to replace anything that is replaceable, and you better do it at the dealership or to the terms stipulated in the contract otherwise it could be a possible cause for future problems giving the warranter grounds to not warranty a part.

To me, I read "lifetime powertrain warranty" as "if the engine/tranny grenades itself after several years of paying a premium for dealership service and parts while you've kept the car perfectly stock, they will fix it with either a remanufactured engine/tranny or a used one"

Personally I'm not a fan. I could be wrong, some people love it, and I've got my own oddball logic.

Correct, typo, fixed, thanks given.

I always chuckle when a sales guy tells me that a warranty is x years long and neglects to mention the Y miles. With the miles I put on I chewed through my 10 year Mitsu warranties in a little over 3 years. Since my driving has been reduced for the last few months I may, just barely, make it to a year on the FRS.

Yeah I didn't expect it to cover the little stuff or anything, I just figured it might be comforting to know if I have some bad luck and need to replace an engine again I wouldn't be paying a fortune. Thanks for the input guys! A lifetime warranty might prevent me from modding anything after a few years anyway

My Subaru dealer put a Lifetime Powertrain warrant on my BRZ so if you are dead set on wanting it just look around. Honestly they are usually third party warranties that require you to jump through hoops. All dealers sell them or will push you to get them during the finance process; you can always negotiate one into you're deal if you feel like trying.

Quick question, is there any fine print to this?

Most "lifetime" warranty that they offer here in ohio are usually have a ton of fine prints, such as getting regular maintenance done at that certain dealership (oil change, tire change, etc) plus any repairs that needed to be done. This is why I usually ignore these lifetime Powertrain since they have so many catches. Missed one $100 oil change then you'll lose your "lifetime" warranty.

To sum it up, it really depends on if you are going to get all your car maintenance done with your dealer or by yourself. If you're a car geek, and usually do your own oil change etc, then I would suggest to ignore these warranty.

My old frs had one of these lifetime warranty and I ran off when they said they wanted almost $800 for the 30k mile service. It only costed me 200 total, with better aftermarket filters. I believe toyota only wanted $500 for their 30k service. In the end, they voided my warranty.

I remember them saying that part of the catch was you had to get your oil changes done there, but of course she spun it to make it sound like that was a good thing.
But it seems like I simply fell victim to the "Lifetime warranty at no cost?!! Sign me up!" group and never stopped to think it was probably too good to be true. I'd probably end up doing the same as you did in the end, too.

Trust me, be your own mechanic. It'll save you a ton with your upcoming services. Changing my tranny oil with motul 300 costed me about 50 for a 3 liter bottle. Kings toyota wanted $300 their oil the same oil that I wanted to change. Or pay 180 @ 2 hr labor with my own oil. This forum rocks, there's a bunch of diy for almost everything. If you need help pm me or any of the forum senior like @Tcoat

If an extended warranty has a condition that you must use dealer servicing avoid it like the plague. Not because there is anything wrong with using the dealer (there isn't in most cases) but because there will be many more strings attached if they use that gambit.

Little trick for those that do change their own oil (don't anymore because I am lazy):
Grab the receipt and take a clear picture of it beside the odometer. The date stamp on the pic will give good documentation of when you did the change.

There's always fine print to any warranty. The one via my dealership has the "service here" clause. You really have to decide how long you plan to keep the car and if you plan to trade-in there when considering whether or not to service there. Most times the ability for the dealer to transfer their lifetime warranty to the next owner is big in negotiating your trade in and with any car, their being able to quickly access service records. Getting an extra $1k for your trade will usually outweigh maintenance costs for 3 years imho, but I guess it depends what you want to do to the car.

My maintenance is some them, some personal, some specialty garages. I have aftermarket stuff. They've never given me an issue when I come in, but I'm sure if I were claiming on their BS warranty it'd be drama.

i have Subaru Gold Plus warranty, it will extend your warranty up to 7 years or 100k. It is pretty awesome for me, i have 7k miles and already have two tires replaced for free.

http://www.subaru.com/owners/resourc...ity/index.html


Classic Plan
Classic plans cover nearly 1000 parts in all major component areas, including engine, transmission, drivetrains, front suspension, steering, brakes, electrical, cooling and fuel systems and air conditioning. Also provides towing and rental car reimbursement for covered repairs.
Gold Plan
Gold Plus plans include all Classic plan coverage plus hundreds more parts. In fact they provide essentially the same "bumper-to-bumper" coverage as the basic factory warranty. Only a few maintenance items and body parts are not covered. The Gold Plus plan also reimburses for lodging and meals when a breakdown interrupts your out-of-town travel, plus: 24-hour emergency roadside assistance*, $100 allowance for "Sign & Drive" dispatched towing, jump start, tire change, gasoline delivery, locksmith service, road hazard tire protection, computerized trip routing, retailer locator service and travel assistance.