Did White bear subaru beat the crap out of my Mom's new 2011 WRX w/360 miles on it?

I think this thread is in the right place, and I'm just putting this out that because it is just stupid.

My mom brought her 2011 WRX back to White Bear Subaru (whose sales staff is pretty great, but apparently doesn't have a good service department) for some odd ABS behavior and bluetooth problems who ran through nearly a quarter tank of fuel in 15 miles of driving it! And to support the info that they beat the crap out of it they also dropped the average MPG by nearly 1MPG in that 15 miles. That average had been running for the entire 360 miles the car has been driven. It dropped from mid 17's to mid 16's.

Obviously the lower the average it is and the longer that average has been running the harder it is to drop it.

I'm completely astounded and they're trying to give her a run around about it. The engine had about 1/3 of the break in done and they treated it that way.

Has anyone else had problems with them?

 

Or they ran it at idle alot diagnosing it and then took it for a 15 mile test drive.

 

I highly doubt they drove it hard enough in the time they had it in their possession to do any damage. If the car feels fine it's probably fine.

 

I once let my car idle for four hours when I locked the keys in it, the fuel needle didn't even move, and that was on a 10 gallon, not a 16 gallon tank.

A quarter of a tank would conservatively be 2-3 gallons, which at best is 5 MPG. While I understand that WRX's don't get great mileage, you would really have to beat on it to drop a 15 mile average that low.

I just can't believe it and it really upsets me because I've been trying to convince my mom for years that subaru's are just great vehicles to own because of reliability and low cost of ownership and her first experience is completely being ruined.

 

This.

 

That might drop the average guys but the fact that a quarter tank of fuel is missing is a whole other thing. Sounds to me like they beat on it. Anyways why would they have to drive it 15 miles for a bluetooth reason or abs reason?

 

I know two of the techs personally and I can tell you they have better things to do than beat up a customers car. I'm definately going with the idle thing. I'll ask them what they think for the hell of it.

 

It makes sense that they drove it around a bit if the car was having an ABS issue. But to fix a bluetooth or other electronic problem they would have had to go into the computer and do some poking around on the laptop. Which I'm guessing they had to restart the car and let it run for a bit to see if they fixed the problem or not.

Like someone said above, if the car feels different or feels like its been beat on then it may have been...if its a really big problem call the dealership and ask them what they specifically had to do.

 

I guess it doesnt surprise me at all if they did go out and beat on it. I have a buddy who took his XLR Caddy in for a stero problem, he can to pick it up the next day and it was covered with bugs on the front and had 75 more miles on it. He went into the dealer yelling and screaming at them that they took his car out for a joy ride. They would never fess up to doing it, but it wasnt hard to see what they had done to his car. Maybe it did sit at idle for a while, but going through that much gas would take forever to burn even that much fuel. Just my .02

 

While there is no great way to tell if the did beat on it, I am sure they didn't. As far as warranty work goes, techs get paid nothing, and they don't waste their time taking cars for joyrides just to beat on them or waste fuel. That wastes time, and unless they are worthless techs, they would realize very quickly that time is money.

They would have had to put miles on the car for an ABS issue. If you want Subaru to pay the claim, you have to have a difference in mileage (that makes sense) or Subaru will simply deny paying a warranty claim. The car was also probably idled in the shop for some time, so accurate diagnosis of the Blue-Tooth, and ABS system could be performed. Fuel economy can be dropped very fast by letting a car sit and idle without any movement. No miles registering on the trip/odo, make the BIU change the MPG rating on the display.

How many miles are on the car? How many on the Trip "A"?

 

Subaru's fuel gauges do suck too... let me point that out. That's why I asked how many miles are on the tank. And the Trip A/B status. The fuel economy should change for whatever trip it is set at.

 

Keep in mind the fuel gauge is not linear. From the full line(not from a full tank but as the needle passes the full line) to 3/4 i average 100-120 miles. On the other end of the scale 1/4 to E is around 20-30 miles driven. On the same token the gauge level may change dramatically from when the car was last shut down to its next power up. It is a reference gauge not an absolute.

I wouldn't worry about it at all. Now if that average had been running for 5,000 or 10,000 miles then you may have a case but seriously a running average that covers <1,000 miles is easy to influence, let alone one that is <400 miles.

 

Kind of off subject but I went to the same dealership to possibly trade in the girlfriends G35X for a legacy (or possibly just buy) and got no help at all. Salesmen kept looking at us but refused to even ask us if we had any questions. I guess because I pulled up in a crappy civic, I wouldn't have the money to buy a car?

 

I have a tech in the family. If they are into cars, which most are.... a stock WRX is not a fast car to them. Trust me, they have better things to do. The better and faster they do their job, the more money they make. Not only does the MPG math not add up, but there is no reason for them to do this. Not only could they loose their job but even if they could get away with it they are losing money because they aren't working.

 

^^ This.

 

I'd be surprised if you could do anything to get 5mpg.

Most likely cause - battery disconnection resulting in resetting of trip computer (which reset the mileage), and the tech who drove it averaged 1mpg worse than your mom, without factoring in letting it sit and idle. Maybe programming got updated in modules which changed fuel level sender readings to be more correct (or prevent folks from running out of fuel), and/or resetting of the trip computer systems.

Did the trip odometer get reset?

There is most likely a logical explanation.

 

Agreed, and I'm not saying it was the worst thing. Just IMO after some ones looking around for a half hour or so just say some thing like "If you have any questions let us know." I hate when salesman hover around while your looking so I definitely get that.

 

I think you are blowing this way out of proportion, its like the guy complaining about a wind noise, but tells the service dept that nobody is allowed to drive the car. This isnt a GNX with 300 original miles, its a wrx, at 360 miles do you know how easy it is to lose 1 mpg on the trip in a subaru? Its the difference between passing someone and not passing someone, or accidently pulling out in front of someone, or getting stuck in traffic, was the car run through the wash? It could have happend there, CHILL OUT.

 

Agreed. This thread is funny though.

 

Exactly!!!! This has always bothered me why my damn needle won't seat at the "F" mark for a few miles. Just driving 5 miles, be it pump gas or E85 the needle starts dropping. Even though I fill the tank to the point where the gas starts spilling, the needle won't stay up there for those few miles...i used to think my tank was leaking.

*sad but true*

 

Believe me, I know. I am a tech too. Warranty for most things pays nothing. By the time you find the car, go for a short test drive around the block, and put it on a hoist and lift it up... You wasted all the time you get paid for diagnosis/inspection/repair.

 

I've read through your responses and thank you for the comments. We did bring it up to the service department, who were by the way, completely unhelpful. It would be one thing for sure if they offered a reasonable explanation with some form of evidence to my mom like what has been brought up here. I'm letting everyone know because I thought it would be wise to let others know, if you don't think my experience was relevant that's fine with me. Also, I'm not saying that the tech necessarily did it, and I don't care who did, it happened when they had it. It sure could have been whoever washed the car or someone else. It doesn't really matter to me, but it did happen when it was in their possession and thus it's their responsibility. And the trip meter wasn't reset when I checked it, it was at 360ish miles.

It could be some weird circumstance that caused such a large fuel usage, and the significant drop in the running average. But they didn't offer that explanation, they were just unhelpful.

If it is the case that someone there beat on it, what should I do? Just not care and let it go? It seemed like it would be useful to let other Subaru enthusiasts in Minnesota know about it. Feel free to disregard it if you would prefer.

 

I would. There are many schools of thought on proper break-in, most of which work just fine. Plenty of motorcycle racers will tell you they have good results with buying the bike, prepping it for racing, towing it to the track and proceeding to wring the snot out of it, and that is with engines that rev to 19+k and have much higher specific output figures. Varying RPM's and not holding constant throttle/load is far more important than staying under ___ RPM's for certain mileage. Car (and bike) manufacturers will play it safe and tell everyone to baby it until it has sufficient miles to make catastrophic failure of a component (not just in the engine) unlikely, thereby reducing the chances of someone not taking responsibility of their own actions and suing the hell out of them.

YMMV though.

 

what's with only getting 16/17mpg? I'd be more concerned about that then the other things mentioned.

 

The car is still new, therefore the mileage will suffer for the first few tanks as the engine loostens up. Again, unless you saw them actually beating on the vehicle, it's unlikely they did. If it sat and idled for a while, the average MPG WILL drop. You are consuming fuel, and the vehicle isn't moving!

If that was the first tank of fuel since the vehicle was purchased, and you were at 360 miles, then I would say congrats, you are doing awesome.

 

It sounds like you need to find another dealership, since at this point the service manager offered no explanation besides becoming defensive.....All this whole situation sounds like to me is a great setup to receive ****ty service in the future since you are now "that asshole customer". I'm not saying it wasn't justified, I'm just saying that's how everyone who touched that situation thinks of you now.

 

I brought my car in a couple weeks to get warranty work. When i dropped it off it was full, when i picked it up it had half. I didnt cry and scream i just said oh well thats life.

 

I think it's funny that people pay attention to this. I get checking mileage, but I also understand that the thing will at least be driven at least twice, and that it will spend a lot of time running for diagnosis, especially if it is an odd/intermittent issue......Have we had techs that beat on customer cars? Yep, and they don't work there anymore. I've heard all the stories, and none of them end in the tech staying there at the end of the day. There is entirely too many techs looking for work that don't do that for dealerships to keep techs who do.

 

I just got an oil change at White Bear Subaru and my car had 5.1 miles put on it at 11.6MPG. I'm on E85, so I normally get about 16MPG. Why would they have to take my car for a spin for an oil change?

 

I had to bring your car to full operating temperature following the oil change to verify that oil pressure was normal. To do so, I let it idle for approximately 10 minutes in the bay, then took it onto the highway at full throttle through second and third gears. I wanted to see how much faster it was than a 2011 WRX we just had in the bay around the same time.

 

If everyone is so concerned about someone else driving their car, doing one's own Maintenance and repairs is extremely rewarding...

 

Thanks for the honesty, hope you had fun! I don't really care. Just curious. E85 and the re-tune made a huge difference IMO. It's up about 100WHP from stock

I'll probably do oil changes myself now that it's warm out. Just been lazy and weather has sucked. Anyone know what kind of oil the Subaru synthetic is? I noticed the stick in the window is Mobil.

 

Wow, glad everyone is clear that I'm an idiot. Thanks!

 

Do your own oil changes please...Mobil 1 sucks

 

Thanks again for the responses, I think that my future service work will be done at Morrie's Minnetonka because I've been impressed when I've been there before and I've heard great things here and from others I've spoken to.

 

It really wasn't much fun until I bounced it off redline a few times. Your car pops fireballs like Bowser!

 

His mother may have a service plan with the dealership, and wanted to get it done there.

Either way, I'd still not talk crap about their service like you have without first asking NICELY why there were addtional miles and fuel consumed. And from the responses on this thread, you pretty much already have your answer, and they didn't beat on it.

 

I think I've stated at least twice that we've already brought it up to them and they were unhelpful and gave us the runaround. I've also pointed out that's it fine with me for others to disregard my experience if they would prefer.