Well better late than never right?
First thing's first; to mod a car you gotta buy one! This car is praised for being a great driver's car for under 30k and you'd think that after a couple years, you'd be able to pick one up very easily and at a good price. Optimistic. The first one I found was a 2013 black M/T at a dealership on my way to work. They wanted way more than I could afford even after hours of haggling. I decided then to start actively looking around and actually found an awesome deal on a BRZ posting a bout an hour away. They couldn't hold the car because another party was showing interest in it. So I drove over to see if I could buy it first. Well by the time I got there another salesman was already making terms and selling the car. I have no doubt the other group was informed of me too and probably paid sticker price for the car. Pretty bummed by that point. Rather than haggle with another dealer or private seller I went to my local Carmax to see what they had.
A 2013 ultramarine M/T! The no-hassle price was lower then the other two dealers too (and about the same miles). I didn't want to miss out so I bought it that day and they even put a big bow on it!
I was super stoked and they even plate the car for you right then and there.
Literally two days later, my dad comes home and says he found a 2015 A/T with 2500 miles in blue for sale. It sounded really nice and I would have preferred the A/T because I hit rush hour every day going and leaving work, "thats cool, but you know I just bought one and that probably costs more".
"they're selling it for less than you paid!"
called the dealer, (Lithia). woke up at 4am the next day drove a few hours with my dad so I could meet them at opening and see what was wrong with it. In the test drive, the guy told me that they normally sell trucks because of their location (Springfield) and nobody seemed want an automatic FRS and it had sat on their lot too long. They were ready to move it to another location but thought they'd lower the price a bit before paying to move it and see what happens. $18.5k
Now this is what my driveway looked like....
Thankfully Carmax has a return policy that's pretty cool. They took their car back and I was able to apply my loan amount to the new car almost smoothly and even put more down.
So now I have the car! Next, time to personalize it!