Ricky's Dual-Purpose Track Car/Commuter Build

[alpine]

Originally Posted by Wrecky_Flowers_

Damn dog, what happened to Flo?

same thing that happen to BRZ

[autosenses]

Love the seats. Stock seats are pretty good but would love some nice leather pole positions for track runs.

I agree on driving and getting to know the car stock so mods can be more noticeable and effective.

[Wrecky_Flowers_]

So unfortunately it's time to close this thread. I was rear-ended by someone following me into a Y-junction who didn't see me brake while yielding to oncoming traffic and I got whacked at about 30+ mph. The hit was hard enough to damage the quarter panels on both sides of the car. It ended up being a total loss and I got a good payout, so I was able to replace the car (more on that later) but I was heartbroken as I really fell in love with my BRZ.

Here are some pics:





Apart from the quarters being visibly damaged, you may be tricked into thinking the damage wasn't that bad and thus fixable. AU CONTRAIRE! Here are some photos with the bumper removed:









Here's a photo of the guy who hit me, to give you an idea of how hard the hit was:



As you can see, the chassis behind the bumper cover was pretty destroyed, and all of it would have had to have been cut out and removed to be made like new. The frame rails didn't look bad at first glance, but upon further inspection you could tell that one side was pushed in and wrinkled. The rear subframe took a hard hit too - the diff broke out of its mounts and the rearmost panel in the subframe was bent in. I knew this was going to be a write-off pretty much the moment I got out of the car and saw the damage for the first time.

Before anyone says that the accident damage "isn't that bad" or that the damage was "repairable" - I don't care. I literally do not. I went out of my way, calling dealerships over two months, waiting for the car to be built and arrive, travelling out of state to pick the car up, to be able to own a NEW sports car, not a REPAIRED sports car. By the time the quarters are cut off and replaced, you're talking about a full car respray otherwise the paint will never match and it'll never look like the car I bought new from Subaru. That's not the experience I was buying into when I paid full price for the car only two months prior. Luckily, both the guy who hit me and I had Progressive, so the whole process of getting a settlement took less than a week and I was paid out well enough to go buy a replacement car in todays market. It was a short discussion with the collision adjuster regarding the extent of the damage, and what looks like a simple pull and respray to some got quoted as a $22k repair by Progressive, and that was at the absolute bottom end of the spectrum. Between the cost of labor, availability (or lack thereof) of parts, and level of repair that would be needed to restore the car to its pre-accident condition, the decision to consider this a total loss on Progressive's part was largely academic.

Regardless, I really loved that car and bonded with it over 6700 miles, a long road trip half way across the country and two track days. This one hurt. Part of me was hoping the adjuster would call to say the car wasn't as bad as I had thought, and that it could be fixed, but I know how anal I am and I'd never be able to look at the car the same.

Enough of the bad news. The good news was (like I mentioned earlier) that I was able to buy a new car with no money out of pocket, and I was able to do it without flying to Arkansas, or calling a million dealers. I was also able to recover the Recaro and wheels off the BRZ before it eventually got sent to the auction house.

Here's the car at the auction house on a neat pedestal they use for inspections while I swapped out my parts. Golf Alltrack beater car doing work, as usual:





So yeah, that's it. The book is closed on my one and only Subaru ownership experience after 56 days and 6,719 miles. This one will always feel bittersweet, as I have some fond memories of the car, but I've vowed to draw from the lessons learned with this car and apply them to the replacement. I'll start a new thread documenting that car and ownership experience, but in the meantime here is a little teaser...