midwestSubie

Purchased a 2017 Impreza Sport myself just this week. A custom build in the sense that they didn't have what I wanted on the lot, so waited 6+ weeks for the car to arrive. So it's here and ran into the same financial offers. Typically I have had good luck with fabric, undercoating, and paint protection. But I find it depends on the dealer and if it's inhouse or they farm out the process. Seems like the dealers are trying to keep most of the activity inhouse (lately). As a VW Golf TDI owner but now a Subie owner, found it odd that not all manufactures are doing oil changes at 10,000 miles. Subaru has this weird number of 6,000 between changes with synthetic. And when asked about the cost of the oil changes, it was something like $89.95 ($96 w/tax). Which is crazy. I spend about $100 for the diesel every 10,000 miles, and now faced with every 6k miles for the same money. Also, the finance guy pitched $110 per oil change when talking about the maintenance plan that they offer for $650 (12 oil changes / tire rotation / 10 car washes). Now this guy was not honest and will call him on it when I pick my car up. Bought the plan, but only because it's good for 5 years (refundable) and figured it would save me money. But instead of 6k miles, the plan calls for 5k oil changes. Sounds messed up. Never any issues like this with VW. So we proceed to talk about the other plans, my focus again .. fabric, paint w/undercoat, oh and window tint. The tinting was reasonable, about $290. Have been happy with the process for all my cars (from the past, VW, Mazda, Dodge, etc). Fabric protection, yah, the kids are grown, but the grandkids, though getting older are still kids. ;-). Paint protection - have intentionally left bird droppings bake in the summer heat for months, and no issues. Dropping came off, no spots on my silver or white cars. Hand wash only so rarely do you find swirls in the paint, even on my black mazda. Undercoating is a tough call. In the midwest, they don't seem to plow anymore. They just lay down this brine and that can't be good for any surface. Haven't had a car rust out and generally keep'm for at least 10 years or more. Had the Mazda for 16 years but finally started to show some rust issues in the 14th year. So for $1100, almost a good deal. Bought the car for $2000 under MSRP, so gave some of it back (I guess). Extended warranty/warranties: What? No confidence in their product? Bought the extended for the VW diesel only because it was my first diesel vehicle and wasn't sure what to expect. Didn't use any of the $1800 that was spent. Ouch but then again.. good!? Right? Now Subaru or the dealer had the Gold as well but on top of that, the dealer had a Platinum Plan. Not mentioned on the Subaru site. Started at $2700+ and eventually went to $1700 after repeated "no thank you" from me .. Hopefully not rolling the dice on this $25k car that I just bought. But I have at least 2-3 years before the warranty runs out. At 15k-20k miles per year, guess I'll know whether a VW GTI is in my future. Last topic: Luxcare Windshield Protection -- another one of those products that I have never heard of and can't find information on. Purchased NEW cars since the late 80's (1980's ;-) ) and never once have I seen this type of product offered. They claim with Eye Sight, the windshield could cost $1000. What kind of bullsh*t is that? At the auto show last month, many manufactures have what appears to be forward collision systems. It's a product that sits in the center of the windshield and all manufactures, except Subaru and maybe VW, are using a similar system. They offered this windshield hardening product saying it helps to reduce chips/cracks. The last 2 cars I have had, within the first week (yup less than 7 days) of purchase, both - stone to the windshield - big chip - but sealed them long before a crack developed and 5-10 years later -- the fix for the chip still holding and not further issues. This is NEW car #3 in the last 18+ years, so do I add another $499 to the bill? Need to make that decision by Friday. We'll first post.. first time on this discussion group .. looking forward to getting out to Subaru events (if not in Colorado, somewhere in the US).