Hello, all. This is my first post here, and wanted to say that I'm glad I came across this forum. I currently live in the South Metro, and have been driving pickups and Hondas to this point. I recently ordered a new 2017 WRX, and am counting down the days until it makes it here to the states. This was my dream car when I first got my license back in 2005, so I'm pretty excited. I've been passing the time by reading up on anything and everything I can about the car, which has brought up a ton of questions. Hopefully some of you live in the area and can provide some advice on the following things. -Do you know of any good clear bra applicators here in the Cities? Since this will be my daily driver, and will see quite a few miles per year, I think it would be a good investment. A quote I received had half hood, front bumper, fenders, door edges, and headlights listed at $950. That's a chunk of change, so I wanted to see if any of you could let me know if that is a good deal or not. -I'm sure there are plenty, but are there any good mechanics you would recommend in the Cities that are knowledgeable in Subarus? Are most mod-friendly? I've done dealership service on my Honda, which I have been happy with, but would like to save a bit in the long run (and have heard that some are sticklers with mods). -Would any of you recommend an Accessport and tune after break-in? I looked up performance upgrades, and came across MAPerformance, which I was surprised to see is right here in Minnesota. Would you recommend them or any other tuners in the area? I'm not looking to make my car a loud and rough teenage dream, but have heard that it can help with the touchy accelerator in the new models and smooth out the power. Maybe a reasonable catback down the road. -My buddy told me about ambassador coupons, and to look around online to get some cash off of a new Subaru. I did a quick search, but didn't find much of anything. Is this still something that they do? Some forum posts made them seem like a taboo. If so, apologies. Those are my most nagging questions for now. Thanks for any and all responses. I travel quite a bit for work, but hope to run into a few of you at local meets in the future.
Welcome to the forum and congrats on the purchase of your dream! 1)Chris at Flawless Front Ends is the best in the cities as far as I've experienced.(i know that there are other good ones out there tho! But he'll get my business until i'm in the ground) @FlawlessFrontEnds&Tint Send him a 'private conversation' for a quote! 2)RS Motors is in Burnsville/Savage on the south side of town. They do engine and trans builds, tuning, and some other wrenching. They built my car and tuned it and i have had zero issues with Ronnie and the guys there or their work! http://www.rsmotorsinc.com JMAutomotive in Osseo is a fantastic shop also that are full service including tuning and built motors. Jesse and the guys do solid work with excellent customer service! My new favorite place to take my car for service. http://www.jmautomn.com 3)I would strongly recommend just enjoying the car for what it is stock for as long as you can! Keep it reliable and add some cosmetic stuff(ie:front lips, mud flaps, tint, suspension, wheels, etc). Soon enough you'll get an AP or stage 2 open source tune and the perverbial mod flood gates will be wide open and you'll lose your family and home to your car. Lmao! Seriously tho, enjoy it stock as long as you can! They are a pretty enjoyable vehicle bone stock! 4) we have some ambassadors here! @silver03 @MinnesotaFTW There are a couple more too I believe. Hope this helps and enjoy your stay!! PS, when are you supposed to take delivery, color, package, etc!? -Josh
Thanks, Josh. I appreciate all of the good information. I'm not sure on the delivery, but most likely July based off of the wait of others. Mine is a WRX Limited in Lapis Blue Pearl with the nav/keyless/audio upgrade. I may have to give those ambassadors a shout to see if they will help me out. Looking forward to reading up and getting to know you all.
I'm not sure if they have something separate for the 2017 or how much of it carries over, but this NASIOC epic thread of 2015 WRX knowledge was pretty helpful when I got my 2015.
That's a great resource, Mike. I'll read through it during the next month or two that I am waiting. I have read quite a bit of the NASIOC threads that jumped out. Great technical info, but intimidating for a noob like me.
Welcome aboard! Josh's reply summed it up pretty well. I can hook you up with a $500 off coupon if any other ambassadors haven't already reached out...I'll shoot you a PM with details.
I'll echo what Josh said... +1 for Chris at Flawless. I've taken several of my cars to him for tint and clear bras over the years, and he does an excellent job, and charges very reasonable prices. Leave it stock! Especially if you want your warranty to remain valid. We've all heard stories of dealerships checking the ECU's for any past changes, and denying warranties if there is any proof of changes. Even if you "unmarry" your accessport before bringing your car into the dealer, they can see that the ECU has been changed in the past. The new 2.0DIT engine is great, so enjoy it for what it is as long as you can. I successfully used an ambassador coupon when I bought my Forester XT. Remember to negotiate your price first, and then present the coupon before they start the paperwork. It's a pretty seamless process.
Price is already negotiated, and I think it's pretty good. $3400 below MSRP and $1200 below invoice. With the nav/keyless/audio and cargo tray included, and Joe's coupon applied, I should be paying less than MSRP on a stock Limited model +TTL. I'll look into Flawless for the clear bra, as I know it is something I'd like to do. I may just be shocked by the pricing regardless, as over $1000 was not something I was anticipating. What was really tempting about the tune was the accelerator adjustment. I'm told that they can remap the power to feel like you're using the whole travel of the pedal, rather than getting most of the power in the first 10-20%. I felt like touching the pedal at all would put serious power down, and there was not much room for smooth driving. I may be able to get used to it, but that was one of two things that bugged me on the test drive. The other was the "sloppy" shifter. It's a pretty long throw, and there is a lot of horizontal play on the stick that I am not used to. I was looking into a shifter stop and a short throw from Kartboy. Will that cause any problems with maintenance or warranties?
That's good. With tighter shifting, this car will be a blast. But I suppose anything would be compared to my automatic Honda Accord.
Make sure that you order all 3 bushings with it when you place your order! I believe that TiC has them too. Bottom of the first page... http://turninconcepts.com/driveline.html
Nice, sounds like you got a decent deal. What dealer did you buy from? I won't attempt to quote a price for Flawless, but it should definitely be less than $1,000. Regarding the tune, I hear what you're saying, and it's totally your decision. To me, the biggest advantage of a paying the premium for a new car is to have the warranty. If I were to want to mod a car, I would buy used. I'd say to drive the car as-is for a while and see if you can get used to it...otherwise save your pennies for when the mod bug bites!
For $200 you can get a DBW controller module that plugs in between the pedal and the cable, and allows you to adjust the relationship between pedal angle and ECU signal; no changes to the ECU: http://www.avoturboworld.com/avoshop/throttle-controller-2007-p-58.html
I bought from Hueberger in Colorado Springs after reading a bit on NASIOC. Great price, and I'm out in South Dakota for business pretty regularly. It will hopefully work out to where I can head from Rapid City and make a nice weekend of it to pick up and drive back. With the return trip, I should have the break in pretty much done if I can keep up frequent RPM changes. I just sent a PM to Chris at Flawless, and am looking forward to hearing back from him. A clear bra and a tint would be the top of my list for exterior. Not sure how Minnesota settled on a 50% tint law, but I'm hoping that I can have a prescription written for a 35% tint the next time I get my vision checked. I have long drives often for my job, and I'd prefer to have a bit more protection and fewer headaches from the hours on the road. Not sure if this is very common, but it seems like the only way to get around the MN regulations.
From what I've read on this, you can get a prescription for less than tint. Only good for 2 years, and you have to go get another one. It only applies to windows behind the A pillar, so it's still a NO-GO on windshield tint. SUV's, vans, and wagons fall into different regs, where the non-passenger part can be beyond the tint.
