Clueless dealers do the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ no favors

[CaptivaBlueTeg]

Here's my issue with the sales figures. Where's the advertising? I still to this day get people asking what this car is. They've ever seen or hear about it. Since this article ahs come out, I thought back and realized, I've never seen an add for it. Canada apparently had one.






Yes, the dealers have no clue what the car is either. I drove the FRS, and all the guy could talk about was how the automatic was bad, because the paddles can ruin the transmission (I was driving the manual)


I drove 240 miles to go pick up my BRZ, only WRB Limited around at the time. But they knew they didn't have to sell me the car. I told the everything there was to know about it over the phone and had them get it ready for delivery. But, they also told me they didn't know much about the BRZ while I was signing the papers

[rick s]

Originally Posted by Drive

When I bought mine, I knew more about the car than the sales person.

Exactly! If you are making a $25K financial decision based on what a salesperson is telling you then, well!


These people IMHO are the same ones that bitch about the "lack" of power!!


Do your research.

[congee]

Originally Posted by BRZnut

Its not only the sales people who are not "selling it" but what about Subaru & Toyota? When is the last time you saw a TV commercial or read an ad about the FRS/BRZ? Why are the manufactures not actively marketing them????

This.

Marketing team for both scion and subaru need to be dumped. All the marketing material I found for the brz/frs was from this website or from subaru/scion youtube. Thats pathetic.

[Chauntalei]

That's really disappointing to hear so many stories about clueless dealerships. My dealership knew everything there was to know about the car before they ever had one show up in the showroom during pre-order time. They had even sent a couple of guys to Louisiana to a special 2-day driving event for the BRZ, just for the sales guys to learn about the car. One of them showed me some video he had taken while he was there, of him being taken around the track by a professional driver. (He got to track it himself later that day.)

[SirBrass]

I came in ready to walk when I got the BRZ, and I was dead serious about it, but I was a known customer. My salesman KNEW for a cold, hard fact that I dearly wanted out of my sti & into a brz or fr-s. (b/c I can't lie very well)

So, I think I got a decent deal b/c I came out feeling slightly screwed. And I've heard that "when you come out feeling like you got a deal, you got screwed. When you come out feeling slightly screwed, you got a reasonable deal."

On phone I am. Therefore, if mistakes I make, Frank Oz blame you should.

[mjh712]

First dealership I went to only had a Red Premium. They had just sold a white (one of the two colors I was looking at) Limited on a sale price. They had a WRB Limited (other color I was looking at) on their website listed as "In Transit". They wouldn't even give me a price, so I left. They didn't even motion to stop me.

Called a few dealerships,) one had a GBS they had just sold & a white one (and was a USAA approved dealer), so I went to look at the color's in person. Took a test drive of the white one (which was sold as I was test driving it). The dealership matched the other dealerships sale price and I got to pick the color and accessories I wanted. They sold me what I wanted & then found a car that met that criteria about an hour away. I picked it up a few days after it got to the dealership. The saleswoman admitted upfront that I probably knew more about the car than she did.

Of course back then there were few BRZs on the lot, if at all. Now the two dealerships I went to have a combined 20 in stock according to their websites, so they should be more familiar with the car by now.

[Xabiss]

My dealer was pretty good and at least he was honest about the car. When I drove up he came outside and pretty much said I do not know a lot about this car yet. It seems talking to you on the phone you know more about it then I do so lets just go for a test drive. I drove home in the car that day.

I don't mind a salesman not knowing a lot about a car, but please be honest about it and listen to your customer.

[Ursam]

Originally Posted by Xabiss

I don't mind a salesman not knowing a lot about a car, but please be honest about it and listen to your customer.

This describes my experience. The guy who test-drove it with me freely admitted that he didn't know much about the car, but he didn't give me a load of BS either, and he was great about allowing me to take it out on country roads and giving it a good workout on the curves.

While he didn't know much technical detail about the BRZ, he knew a lot about sales. He said that during the first year, they couldn't keep one on the lot. Each BRZ was sold as soon as it showed up on inventory. But, starting around last Fall, sales dropped off dramatically. Personally, I think this has a lot to do with lack of marketing. Most of my friends have never heard of this car.

[Prog]

My salesperson:

-didn't know that the doors were touch to unlock on the Limited until I showed her, and this was 5 months ago.
-told me she liked the color of the Lightning Red BRZ better than the Firestorm FR-S because it looks sportier.
-told me the speakers were Harman-Kardon (which would've been true if it were a Forester, Legacy, Outback, or Tribeca)

Then I later got the service department to fix a buzz caused by the accelerator assembly hitting the firewall. The a-holes washed my car without asking me, and clearly used a dirty towel. I was so mad.

[SirBrass]

Originally Posted by Ursam

This describes my experience. The guy who test-drove it with me freely admitted that he didn't know much about the car, but he didn't give me a load of BS either, and he was great about allowing me to take it out on country roads and giving it a good workout on the curves.

While he didn't know much technical detail about the BRZ, he knew a lot about sales. He said that during the first year, they couldn't keep one on the lot. Each BRZ was sold as soon as it showed up on inventory. But, starting around last Fall, sales dropped off dramatically. Personally, I think this has a lot to do with lack of marketing. Most of my friends have never heard of this car.

Kind of doubt this is really the biggest reason. The recent (and for some still ongoing) winter doubtless had LOADS to do with it.

Folks just aren't going to go out and buy a new lightweight RWD sports car when it could be spitting out horrid winter weather within days.

I've run into plenty of folks who aren't the most car-knowledgable recognize my vehicle and ask about it, etc. But then again, here, we can run summer tires year round and the most "winter weather" we got was a few all-day thunderstorms.

Let the weather warm up, and I bet sales will begin to pick up again.

[Kiske]

I assume most people who bought this car already knew what they wanted and already did their research. How it was for me. I prety much walked in with the only thing undone was a test drive.

[unvevo]

I had to tell my salesmen to quit talking a few times. He tried telling me it would be illegal to put a remote start on a M/T car. Then said he called around and every audio store said they would never do something so illegal. It didnt stop. Kept trying to explain the car to me. Didnt know anything.

[regal]

I don't know how many clueless dealers tried to talk me into completely different cars when I bought mine and they were hard to find (2012.) The Scion dealers always wanted to sell a Tc and the Subaru dealers an imprezza. But I would hope that situation has improved by now?

[Dorb]

Originally Posted by Kiske

I assume most people who bought this car already knew what they wanted and already did their research. How it was for me. I prety much walked in with the only thing undone was a test drive.

I never even did a test drive. Figured the 4 hour drive home would be good enough.