so here are questions for everyone who brought or want extended warranties

[excited86]

Are you expecting a mechanical defect or some major defects after 3 years?

Do you have information on how reliable are products of subaru and toyota?
This question is mainly for subaru product reliability, since subaru makes these cars.

If you brought the extended warranty, does that mean you are not going to mode your car until the extended warranty end?

would be nice if you can post the price and what it actually cover.

[the_3d_man]

I just want to know how much people are paying so I can get an idea of what I should be willing to pay. For the right price I might do it. I got the Gold Warranty on my Legacy for $740 and it has more than payed for itself. I might do it again for a similar price on the BRZ.

[Oriental Life]

As I posted somewhere before - NO EXTENDED WARRANTIES for Subaru! It is my second one, and I have warranty on the first one - never used it, and that car pushes 80K miles now. BRZ/FR-S doesn't have turbo. And no turbo means - no problemo.

When its going to be closer to 3 yo, then I'll decide if I want to keep the car, get extended warranty from Subaru (!) or update it with the newer one. By that time I'll have much more data to make my decision. Right now - buying warranty is mostly out of emotional attachment.

[FRiSson]

Extended warrantees are not worth it. Toyota knows that on a statistical basis, the warrantee (a form of insurance) will net more money than is paid out. So they will make a large profit on all warrantees sold. On top of that, the dealership also takes a healthy cut of the action. In addition, you lose money by paying up front. Toyota then gets the benefit of holding that money forever, and you lose out on interest or other uses of that money for a repair that might be many years down the road. In addition, Subaru is now the top-rated automaker by quality as rated by Consumer Reports, and Scion is very close by. So you are in a sense, betting against the quality of the two best automakers in the business. That's a bad bet. Maybe if you plan to abuse the car it might make sense, but you'll need to read the fine print to see if it only cover "normal" use of the vehicle.

[fistpoint]

Originally Posted by FRiSson

Extended warrantees are not worth it. Toyota knows that on a statistical basis, the warrantee (a form of insurance) will net more money than is paid out. So they will make a large profit on all warrantees sold.

Not worth it only if the car doesn't need repairs. Hondas and Toyotas for example. This is neither. If what you say is true(it IS most of the time), then Mitsubishi wouldn't offer warranties on the 3000GT VR-4. Thankfully my mom did get not one, but two extended warranties for that car(2nd after first expired). She used the shit outta both and they paid off by a factor of 4 or more.

For me the standard warranty will last 26 months before it's up(17500m a year). Anything after that is on me. That is a totally pathetic amount of time or mileage. Even a Vette or Viper should be trouble free for 36k, lol. Any repair that would be considered costly is going to happen after that time for any vehicle that isn't a complete piece of shit IMO.

I've never owned a Subaru so I have no idea what to expect other than hoping it's the same as from my Hondas over the last 20 years, which is that they require oil and filter changes only, that's about it. Does Subaru make cars as good as Honda and Toyota? I don't know, but I'm hoping so, even at an 85% level I'd be thrilled.

I'm going to find out what prices the warranties are, if I can get one for $800 or less(and be a 7y/100k)...I "might" actually get one for the first time since 1992. I figure any major repair is going to cost at least that much, so you're only gambling against one single repair at that price. The last warranty I looked at was back in 2003 for my Acura. They wanted $1600, hell no! Had I bought one for any price actually, it wouldn't have been used. Money well saved. So, $800 maybe, $1400+ I'll take the gamble and not get one.

Also this is the first model year and we already have what I consider more than a fair share of silly little issues that should have never made it out of the factory door.

odd drive belt squeaks
thump under the passenger side
CEL's going off for idle issues
panel fitting issues(this one is already fixed, supposedly)
seatbelt issues(either breaking the strap, or rubbing the driver)
NAV systems that lose signal
...I'm sure there is a couple more

Suppose any of those things manifest themselves after only a scant 26 months...cha-ching, empty the wallet at 90 an hour plus parts...and shop book times at least 2x what the repair actually took them to do.
.
.
.
edited to add: you guys who replied above me are making me feel a little better with your success stories, but this is still a 1st year model and we'd have to act quickly to have stuff fixed under warranty, especially us high mileage users. 26 months!

[kanundrum]

Was gonna buy one but then I thought its no point.

[soconfoozed]

I didn't buy the extended warranty for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, I could tell the saleswoman was trying to hustle me, and I just didn't appreciate that, so if I do buy, it'll be elsewhere.

Secondly, there's just no data on the BRZ. Nobody knows what to expect, so it's really difficult to weigh the pros and cons of extended coverage and make an informed decision.

As it was explained to me, you can wait until you have 1,000mi or 1mo left on your Subaru warranty to purchase the Subaru extended warranty. It's a $150 adder per year/12(?)k you put it off. My strategy is going to be to wait at least a year, and then to both see what my usage and reliability are like, and see what's happening for others. "Spending" $150 to make a decision with more data seems worthwhile to me.

[No Quarter]

My FR-S is my daily driver..500 miles per week to and from work, and then add on weekend driving, brings me to 28k to 30k per year. So, for me a 5 year 125k extended warranty made sense I think, at least the sales man convinced me that it made sense. Cost was $1400. Plus, my last car (a Honda CR-Z) had a bad sensor out of warranty, and I was without a car (had to get a rental) for 8 days, and it cost me over $900 to repair. So, my experience shows that "for me" it made sense. YMMV.

[HunterGreene]

I'm seeing good points on all sides here, but consider this:

I had an extended warranty on my tC, and I am glad I did. History: I had to have parts replaced/fixed due to a screwup made when my S/C was initially installed. That is all working fine now, but since I had the warranty, the repairs over time would have cost me well over $10,000 parts and labor if I had not had more than the original 5 yr/60,000 mile drivetrain warranty. (Edit: Actually, I wouldn't have paid for it, since they screwed it up. But if I were responsible for mess, it would have sucked for me and wouldn't have been covered under warranty anyways. But I digress...)

Also, after the normal warranty period, my 5th gear, and then my third gear synchros went bad. Repairs for both of those, which were done at separate times, would have cost me about $4000 total, parts and labor.

So was the extended warranty good for me? Abso-fuking-lutely. Will you run into these problems? Not likely, but anything is possible with a first year run of the car.

Should you get it? I would (and probably will) and here is why:

1) Along with it being the first year of sale, we have already been hearing of little minor things that are not perfect with this car. Who knows what will happen after the 50k mile point? Some might say I'm paranoid, but it makes sense when you see point #2

2) As it was brought up already, the warranty costs more as your car ages. This is, naturally, because there is more chance of something going wrong. If you pay for the extended warranty up front, you are going to pay less than you ever will later on. And the <$2k (USD) cost of buying an extended warranty is relatively cheap for the peace of mind you get down the road if something were to go wrong with the car.

Do I plan on modifying my FR-S after I get it? Possibly, but nothing that would compromise the ability of me to make a warranty claim.

That said, I may be a little biased due to my personal experience. But, as the saying goes, "better safe than sorry."

To sum up, I plan on getting an extended warranty, and if you can afford it, I would suggest you get one too.

/soapbox

[excited86]

here are some detail i found.

$~2500 to extend the comprehensive warranty (originally 3 yr, 50k km) to 7yr or 200k km. It also comes with 4 oil change (guessing worth $50 dollar each).

Payment refundable if no claims made in 7 years.

[FRiSson]

Originally Posted by fistpoint

Not worth it only if the car doesn't need repairs. Hondas and Toyotas for example. This is neither. If what you say is true(it IS most of the time), then Mitsubishi wouldn't offer warranties on the 3000GT VR-4. Thankfully my mom did get not one, but two extended warranties for that car(2nd after first expired). She used the shit outta both and they paid off by a factor of 4 or more.

For me the standard warranty will last 26 months before it's up(17500m a year). Anything after that is on me. That is a totally pathetic amount of time or mileage. Even a Vette or Viper should be trouble free for 36k, lol. Any repair that would be considered costly is going to happen after that time for any vehicle that isn't a complete piece of shit IMO.

I've never owned a Subaru so I have no idea what to expect other than hoping it's the same as from my Hondas over the last 20 years, which is that they require oil and filter changes only, that's about it. Does Subaru make cars as good as Honda and Toyota? I don't know, but I'm hoping so, even at an 85% level I'd be thrilled.

I'm going to find out what prices the warranties are, if I can get one for $800 or less(and be a 7y/100k)...I "might" actually get one for the first time since 1992. I figure any major repair is going to cost at least that much, so you're only gambling against one single repair at that price. The last warranty I looked at was back in 2003 for my Acura. They wanted $1600, hell no! Had I bought one for any price actually, it wouldn't have been used. Money well saved. So, $800 maybe, $1400+ I'll take the gamble and not get one.

Also this is the first model year and we already have what I consider more than a fair share of silly little issues that should have never made it out of the factory door.

odd drive belt squeaks
thump under the passenger side
CEL's going off for idle issues
panel fitting issues(this one is already fixed, supposedly)
seatbelt issues(either breaking the strap, or rubbing the driver)
NAV systems that lose signal
...I'm sure there is a couple more

Suppose any of those things manifest themselves after only a scant 26 months...cha-ching, empty the wallet at 90 an hour plus parts...and shop book times at least 2x what the repair actually took them to do.
.
.
.
edited to add: you guys who replied above me are making me feel a little better with your success stories, but this is still a 1st year model and we'd have to act quickly to have stuff fixed under warranty, especially us high mileage users. 26 months!

I am not sure that you understand what I meant by "statistically not worth it." It means that you are more likely not to need the full value of the warrantee than that you will need it. In statistics a single sample is not relevant, it is the average of the group that matters. As far as Mitsubishi goes, it has the lowest quality of all the Japanese automakers that sell in the US. It is much more likely that you will get full use out of a Mitsubishi extended warrantee than a Subaru one. You do mention that the FR-S is a first year car. That is a bit of a "wild card". Based on past performance, first year cars usually have more problems than later year cars. However, it is likely that the FR-S being a "halo" car that a majority of these problems will be handled by direct warrantee or by "hidden" coverage that Toyota will offer even after the original warrantee has expired. Toyota knows that any problems reported on the vehicle will appear on forums like this one. Their best defense is to cover the issue with a free fix rather than face unhappy and vocal customers venting on forums.

[Shagaliscious]

Originally Posted by the_3d_man

I just want to know how much people are paying so I can get an idea of what I should be willing to pay. For the right price I might do it. I got the Gold Warranty on my Legacy for $740 and it has more than payed for itself. I might do it again for a similar price on the BRZ.

They offered me one for $760. Since I plan on keeping the car for at least that long I decided on it. 6 year/75k miles, which coincides with my 12,500 miles a year average.

[luscious]

all new model of car, all new engine with all new GDI....

the real reason I got the warrenty? My wife was with me when I bought the car (BAD idea) and convinced me to get it...more to the point...insisted.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

History: I had to have parts replaced/fixed due to a screwup made when my S/C was initially installed. That is all working fine now, but since I had the warranty, the repairs over time would have cost me well over $10,000 parts and labor if I had not had more than the original 5 yr/60,000 mile drivetrain warranty. (Edit: Actually, I wouldn't have paid for it, since they screwed it up. But if I were responsible for mess, it would have sucked for me and wouldn't have been covered under warranty anyways. But I digress...)

Also, after the normal warranty period, my 5th gear, and then my third gear synchros went bad. Repairs for both of those, which were done at separate times, would have cost me about $4000 total, parts and labor.

I think that in your particular situation, it is worth to get it. S/C the car, and probably racing it? Of course there is a big potential for problems (I deduct you race it either on track or street because of the synchros going bad, and of course you don't ad a S/C to a car not to use it right).

I assume you got the TRD S/C, so it is even more worth it because the whole system is covered under warranty.

But, to the average Joe who won't be adding a S/C or FI covered under warranty, IMHO its not worth it.