Reason for so few BRZs (SoCal) Dealership Tour
 

Hey all, got some very interesting information during my San Diego Subaru dealership tour regarding the weird allocation issues.

I visited a couple of the bigger Subaru dealerships in the area asking about the BRZ. The first (El Cajon) told me they would be getting their first BRZ on the 6/19 and then only one brz per month for the for the rest of the year. These had not been presold but the manager said he had about 4-5 people calling him a week leaving their info. He was insitant that there was no waiting list and that it would be first come first serve. (my guess is it's gonna have a huge markup and will go to the customer willing to pay)

The second (Kearny Mesa Subaru) told me point blank that they were getting 11 for the rest of the year and 8 were presold. His waiting list was huge too but he said the 3 not presold would be first come first serve, but they probably would not be on the floor till November December. Dealer even said that it was limited to help keep the value up. I was thought that was weird thing to say because wouldn't that 'value' translate to the sale price too?

So ultra depressed, I went to Kearny Mesa Scion and talked to Rich. Can't say enough good things about this guy. He really new his stuff. I told him about these issues and he told me that since the project was financed by Toyota, part of the deal was that it would be 70% Toyota allocation to 30% Subaru allocation. He showed me some real life examples of massive brz markups (3k-7k over msrp) in both SoCal and elsewhere because of the limited nature of the car.

The nice thing was that he was able to actually give me a 6 week ETA! Not this nebulous "well maybe by Christmas we'll have more stock." But after test driving the frs, the marginal benefit for accessories on the limited brz seemed to evaporate considering scion pure pricing vs unknown brz ETA with who knows how much of a markup. So I put in my deposit on the frs

Sorry for the length. This info seems to be hard to come across on the web and thought it may help.

Rich will take care of you. I put my deposit down 3-4 months ago with him and took delivery of a white FRS the day after Memorial day. He does know his stuff and makes the car buying process so easy. I too was looking at the BRZ, but after talking with the Subaru dealers, I decided I didn't want to deal with the markup and other BS. The sales person at Kearny Mesa Subaru basically told me to expect $31k for a limited BRZ. At that point I knew Subaru was going to mark up the car and charge whatever they want. So I decided to go with the Scion pure pricing. I don't think the two cars can be that different, and I am extremely happy with my AT FRS. This car is so much fun to drive. I am sure you won't be dissapointed with the FRS.

Man, the more i read posts like this i can't help but ask myself, "When was the last time a car was so hyped and truly excited people like this?" Honestly, i can't come up with an answer. There have been many awesome sports cars in the past, but i've never seen a following like the FRS/GT86/BRZ have. It's astounding. Sorry to be off topic.

Congrats on your deposit on the FRS!

I've said for months now that Subaru is going to sell WAY more FR-S's than any Scion salesman ever could. :lol:

You're not the first BRZ fan to jump ship I've heard of, but to date I've yet to hear somebody crossing over from Scion to Subaru (sure there will be some, as I'm sure somewhere out there there's a crappy Scion place next to a decent Subaru dealership. But haven't heard of it yet).

I think you made the right call. The FR-S has everything you need and nothing else you don't. Even without HIDs, lights are still good enough, and I could care less about NAV. Rather put in an aftermarket down the road. What color did you pick?

It's the most affordable sports car in recent memory. It's pretty much the new Civic, the ricing of this car has already started and will continue.

lol funny that you say that. The El Cajon Subaru dealership is literally next door to the El Cajon Toyota.

I got firestorm, it was a tough choice between that and whiteout but in the end I stuck with red.

When you think about it, 31k limited brz vs 25k frs, it gets really hard to justify the added value of the brz with the price.

Wow really trying to make the difference look bigger? is that the after tax BRZ and before tax FR-S?

I paid sticker for my Limited - $28k. Ordered 3/1, arrived 6/1. No markup, add ons, or nonsense.

U can find BRZ's out there for MSRP. U just have to look. Both cars are kinda limited. Some Scion dealers are only getting 1 FRS per month.

Don't believe the hype about the BRZ being so limited. They are just trying to justify the markups. I have seen FR-S with $5k markups too.

i would highly suggest Frank Toyota/Scion in San Diego/National City. they had several there and you can even drive them. smaller non-corporate dealer but lots of info and very very friendly...

I visited my family in SD for Memorial weekend and toured a handful of Subie/Scion dealers with my dad. I've been telling my him about this car for months but he never fell for the hype. After he saw the cars in person his mind did a 180 and he's been calling around for a BRZ Limited but sees no hope for one anytime soon.

I, however, live in Kansas. Among 3 Subaru dealers who have capacity for multiple orders, only 1 BRZ has been sold-ordered. Probably 9 or 10 slots are still open. One of the dealers had asked me what configuration/accessories I'd be interested in way in back when pre-orders opened up on the 1st week of March. I didn't even place a deposit/get a VON but they called me last week saying my specific configuration came in. They called others who were interested but nobody would claim it lol and the Toyota nearest my house had 3 unsold FR-Ss just sitting in their lot today. :bonk:

Here are pics from my SD Memorial Day trip.
1. White FR-S @Toyota San Diego <-- This was a First 86 model prepped for the special delivery event.
2. Black FR-S @Toyota Chula Vista <-- Was not sold at the time.
3. 2 Blue BRZs @Kearny Mesa Subaru <-- Both sold orders.
--
4. The last pic is an unsold white FR-S with blue BRZ back-to-back which I shot in Kansas today.

Nope, just referencing this.

Seems East coast is getting lucky, MSRP BRZs