[alfa] WRX vs Alfa

["AlfaBill LLC /alfabill.com" <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>My son had a 2002 WRX until last week when the dealer bought it back for his
>full (upside down) balance owing, after much negotiation with interested
>parties. The car had been originally driven for about 24,000 miles by a
>Subaru of America VP without being registered, and was sold by the dealer as
>new by virtue of no prior registration.

With all due respect, it's tough to categorize this as a typical example an 
malign a marque. If it had such a tough life, it should have been passed 
by. Dealing with this car for a paycheck, I can tell you it is a very 
durable car and like any other, can be broken by hamfisted use and abuse.

How a car with 24,000 miles can be portrayed as new puts up a flag. That 
car was in no way new. It should have been "punched" and the warranty clock 
should have been running.

I think common sense comes into play here, accepting a 24,000 mile car as 
new, regardless of it's history. Unless you bought it very "right".
The retail market on that car is about $17-18K for an unmolested model.

At the job, we had an '02 demo which had hundreds of ham fisted drivers, 3 
or 4 autocrosses and a 8 driver rallycross in it's life, and it was driven 
HARD every day of it's life. The 2nd gear synchro finally got notchy at 
23K. The clutch was replaced at 26K because it felt tired. Based on the 
treatment it got, this is amazing. We have seen some ugly damage done to 
these cars ( 5000 rpm drop clutch starts with AWD)? And alot of doe eyes 
young lads who "never took it above 4 grand" if you listen to them. (drag 
strip shoe polish still on windows as they roll off the wrecker)...

The early WRX had a clutch chatter issue, but any car that has 3 clutches 
and 3 transaxles in 24,000 miles must have been dumped on cruelly every day 
it was on the road.

I think you will find your experience was an exception, and not the car's 
fault. It's a shame to dampen the pleasure of a guy getting a new car 
because you got an abused used car.

Vlad, Best of luck with your new car, it's a blast of a package and very 
tweakable for added performance.


Bill Harkell
AlfaBill LLC
Tampa Florida USA
http://www.alfabill.com
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