I’ve already ordered things for it.

Just a couple things though. Most importantly, snow tires, from the TireRack. The 2011 WRX comes with summer tires only when new, so by the time it gets here, I’ll need snow tires ASAP. I ordered a set of Blizzak WS60s (235/45/17) for $121 each on closeout. The new models for 2010 are coming in now (WS70) so I imagine they’re clearing out the older ones. The new WS70s run about $156 or so for my size. So it’s a considerable savings. I just wanted to order them before they were out of the closeouts… because the Blizzaks are top notch snow tires – but I don’t need the absolute newest version to get a good tire.

I also ordered a set of mud flaps from Rally Armor. They technically didn’t have anything available for the 2011 WRX as of yesterday, but it is the exact same body style (in 5dr trim) as the 2010 STI, so I ordered those. Specifically I ordered the UR flaps with blue Rally Armor lettering to match the car. I see that they have them available for the 2011 WRX now!

Oh… and I was at a car show yesterday that had a very new WR Blue, 5 door, STI in the show… It was basically the same exact style of car I will be getting. Same color and same body – and similar engine. It looked sexy. I can’t wait for mine!

This one had all of the right answers.

I was finally able to place an order for a 2011 Subaru WRX. I ordered a Premium model, 5 door, in WR Blue. Ordered it with the roof rack base and short throw shifter. Actual price was even $300 below invoice (before destination).

Of course I don’t have an actual ETA for my new wheels yet, but the order is in, so to speak. Now the waiting begins… Again.

Someone wants to spend $28k at your car dealership and has money available.

Do you…

• a) Try to help out, but put forth no actual effort?
• b) Do everything possible to accommodate and inform the buyer of options?
• c) Just blow the buyer off. You didn’t need that sale anyway.

Let’s just say that if you pick A or C, I’m done doing business with you.

Yes this related to my new car shopping and a certain Ithaca dealership. As of this writing, I think I’m at the final point of my patience. Here’s the latest problem…

It has been nearly THREE WEEKS since I’ve heard a single word from my salesman. That’s three weeks that I’ve been waiting, with money in-hand to get a new car. The reason? “We don’t have the accessory pricing yet.”

Yes, that is exactly what I was last told as to why I could not yet order my car. I figured I’d try to be patient about it. I did start inquiring at other dealerships (which, if you followed my latest postings, you’d know that I have very limited success in that area as well). Nothing yet has panned out.

Of course I’m not just sitting around waiting for the salesman to call me back… this past Tuesday I left a voicemail for him since he was out for the day – totally expecting a call back the next day (why wouldn’t he?). Well here it is on Friday and I STILL have not heard anything from him. Tried to call again and the secretary there said he may be with a customer and offered to put me into his voicemail again. So I left yet another voicemail. Though knowing that he was in the office today, I’m essentially making this evening the cutoff. If I don’t hear back, it’s game over.

And now, thanks to a friend that is also interested in a similar car, we both have sort of compared notes and there may be light at the end of the tunnel. I hope. So if I don’t hear anything from the original dealer by later tonight, I’ll be taking a drive tomorrow to hopefully put in an order and put down a deposit.

It’s time to get this ball rolling. I’m tired of waiting.

Now  I was going to just let this go and be sorry for the families of those that were lost… it was an accident and probably should have never happened. That should be that… but this morning there was a friend of one of the people that died on the Today Show running his stupid mouth about it.

Let’s get one thing clear… this is an off road truck race… not a moped race. They race big trucks, fast, through the desert, over jumps, and through anything they come across. There should be a certain amount of common sense that this can be quite dangerous. I think the danger is inherent in the activity -- both as a driver and as a spectator.

What happened sucked. It was quite awful for the people involved and now for their families… but this guy on the Today Show… to insinuate that it was the driver’s fault, IN ANY WAY is fucking retarded. I’m paraphrasing here, but the guy basically said these driver’s have a “responsibility” to be more careful where there are spectators.

I’m sorry, what? Does this guy know that it is a fucking race with big, huge trucks going really fast? No, they don’t have to be more careful, they’re racing for your entertainment. You think people want them to just pussy-foot through some area because there are spectators there? No. They don’t.

If you’ve ever seen an event like this (or Rally racing) you would see that people often get quite close to the course. It’s part of the thrill, as they say. You can get so close to the racers going by… and in this case, people got too close. It was a spot where there was a jump and people love to watch that stuff. It is where the action is. But if you’re not smart enough to put yourself in a safe location when this is happening, then it is no one’s fault but your own.

Consider this -- if the driver had still lost control and wrecked -- but there were no people there, it would have been viewed as the most awesome thing ever. But since there were people there (by their own choice!) and they died, it is now a tragedy and IMO, might go a long way to shutting down this event. That would be another tragedy, I think.

If this guy wants to talk about the driver’s responsibility -- how about the responsibility of spectators and having some common sense? Sure, it seems cool to be so close to the racing and be a part of it -- but if you don’t realize how dangerous it is -- for even a second, you shouldn’t be there.

I’m sorry this guy lost his friend… but that doesn’t make him any less of a fucking retard for trying to place ANY blame on the driver.

Here’s a good example of how close people usually get to these things… this is a Rally video, but it is much the same as the off road racing is… tell me that in these clips that the driver’s should slow down b/c people are there and that the people are not responsible for their own actions… go on, tell me.

Then there are times when you’re just not sure if someone is fucking with you because it wouldn’t make any sense. Like trying to buy a car for example? Why would they want to dick with you? They’d potentially lose a sale. Sure, they can be less than cooperative to try to sell you something else on the lot, but that only works with some people.

I’ve gotten such varied and wild responses from Subaru dealers recently that I’m actually starting to question if I made the right decision…

First dealer that I’m still talking to won’t take my money or request a car for me because they don’t have the accessory pricing yet. Why this prevents them from sending in an order for the car I want, I don’t know. Just get it on its way so that it gets here faster AFTER we do the pricing stuff. WTF?

A closer dealer (with a shitty reputation) is another option. I sent an online request through their website to find out if they’re ordering 2011s yet and how much one would be with the options that I want. I got two canned responses and no actual information – more than a week ago. Again… WTF?

I even went a little farther out of the area – about an hour and a half away, the supposed #2 Subaru dealer in the country would seem like a great place to start. I sent another online request through their website and actually got a real response back – but it was a bit …. confusing, to say the least. To their knowledge, Subaru isn’t even starting 2011 production until November – expecting mid-late December delivery. Um… WHAT THE FUCK? I know for a fact that people are receiving their 2011 WRXs already. Like, keys in hand, car in driveway. There is no possible way that information is remotely accurate. Fail.

There is ONE dealer that’s more than happy to take my money… and it is SEVEN hours away in New Hampshire. It’s great the they’d love to help me out, but that just seems like an absolute logistical nightmare. And then when I asked how it would work (that I’m so far away) I basically got no actual information on what would happen… “Oh, we do it all the time, it’s no big deal.” Um, I’m sorry, but it is for me – and without telling me how it actually works and what to expect, you pretty much just lost my interest. I’m not going into something like that totally blind after I asked for specific info.

There is still ONE more option I haven’t tried yet… but I’m afraid to ask them as I might get an even more different story. I have not yet talked to the dealer in Williamsport that I went to for my test drive. Maybe they’ll be cool and take my money… I don’t know. Like I said, I’m scared to ask.

You’re killing me here, Subaru. I want to give your dealers money for a car – but no one wants to take it. That makes me sad.

Three times this week I’ve emailed a company using their online form on their website… and I have yet to receive an actual response from any one of them.

First was another car dealer… they have a Sales Request form on their site. I filled it out asking about a price for a specific new car. I got not one, but TWO canned email responses saying someone would contact me soon. That was Monday. Fail.

I also emailed a tint shop in Rochester from their website. I wanted to find out pricing for getting my (eventual) new car tinted AND get some 3M Clear Bra installed since they do that as well. I got one canned email back immediately saying I’d hear from someone in 2 business days and nothing else. That was on Tuesday.

This last one is sort of a stretch, but here goes anyway… First thing this morning I emailed another car dealer through their website to find out if they could order a car for me. Gave my specifics and info. Nothing back yet (not even a canned response from this one). So like  I said, this one is a stretch as it was just this morning I initiated contact… but come on. Don’t they have people monitoring these things?

Speaking of contacting someone and not getting anything back… my current car dealer (for my tC) has a parts request form online so you can order parts/accessories/whatever. It has room for the part numbers and everything. I used it a couple times a few years ago and it was perfect. I knew what I wanted, put the numbers in – and got an email back confirming before the order was placed. Then they called when my parts were there.

In the past year I’ve tried to use the same form TWICE and never heard a thing. The first time it failed I had gone in person to order the parts when I was there for something else – I mentioned it to the guy that I had tried to use the form but never got a response. I did it again about 2 weeks ago to order some more bits and pieces… still never heard a thing. Total fail.

Tip to businesses with websites: DO NOT setup a contact/info form on your site unless you have dedicated people to handle it. Or at least CHECK it once in a while.

See…

FBI Seal

See article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/08/03….

Two of the things I’ve removed are technically suspension pieces – front and rear strut bars. The rear one actually goes inside the car and is visible in the trunk. The front one goes in the engine bay and connects the two strut towers there.

It’s long been discussed that these two pieces do next to nothing to increase performance on the tC. Mostly because the areas they’re connecting are already supported quite well. I’m wondering though… perhaps at the limit (while autox-ing, for example), they may do more than first thought?

Here’s what I’m thinking…

There’s another guy I autox with fairly regularly… he has a decently prepped Mazda Protoge 5. Can’t say what he’s done exactly, but he and I are typically neck and neck on most courses. The only exception when I got beat by any extended margin was on a rainy course. Other than that one even, we trade top times on a regular basis. Usually only a tenth or two off of each other’s time.

Yesterday – after having removed both of those strut bars, he handily beat me by just over 1 second. Doesn’t sound like much time – but in autox, that’s like an hour in a day. My car felt OK overall I think. Didn’t seem as stiff as it usually was, but that’s incredibly hard for me to judge without being and expert driver or anything.

So it is possible… just possible, that the front and rear strut bars on a tC do more than initially thought.

But… would an every day street driver ever come close to noticing a difference? No. Don’t think so.

And then again, maybe I’m just trying to find a reason that I got beat so bad this time…

Last night, since the dealer didn’t have the pricing available yet for me to put in my order, I decided to remove my seats. And the harnesses. And the harness bar. And while I was in there, my rear strut bar.

What a job… overall, including a quick run to Home Depot a couple miles away, and a short break for some Applebees chicken fingers, it took about 2.5 hours to put everything back together with OEM parts.

It feels weird.  I’m back to OEM seats and seatbelts. What a change. Though driving home from Jen’s parents place last night in my “new” seats, it really kind of set in that this car is going bye-bye. I may be a touch sad about it… being my first brand new car… and one that I’ve certainly done the most work to, it holds a little place in my heart.

That’s not to say it won’t be kind of nice to see it go – in favor of something awesomer… but hey, a guy can have attachments too.

The next step though is to try to sell all of the crap I just took off. That money will then hopefully go towards the down payment of my new car. Whenever that will actually be.

I suppose this is a good thing. I mean, I’m not rushing into a 20-some thousand dollar purchase… which seems like a good idea to not do. The one real variable so far though, is my current car. What to get on trade?

I’m trying to return it to as much of a stock car as I can… and it should be decent when I do finally hand it over. But what can I really expect to get for it? Here’s what some of the sites are telling me for trade in value:

• Edmunds TMV: $5410
  • “average” condition – may be a bit conservative on this
• Kelley Blue Book: $6025
  • “fair” condition – “good” condition is $7050
• NADA: $6325
  • “average” trade in

So I don’t know if the Edmunds price is just really conservative or the others are inflated. It’s really hard to tell. I’d like to believe I’ll get about $5000 for it. Anything less and I’d be a bit disappointed I think… anything more is just less I’ll have to pay every month.

I’m also trying to get a bit of cash together to put down with it. Obviously buying anything like this, the more you can put down with it and in turn, the less you can finance, the better off you’re going to be. You’ll get not only a lower monthly payment, but you’ll also end up paying a lot less in interest to the loan – no matter what your rate is.

That’s another thing that’s on the table at the moment. Financing. My credit is “ok” … but it’s far from great. I like to believe it’s good enough to get a new car, but it’s hard to tell what other banks are going to think. Though a word of advice (and again, stressing this), the more cash you can put down and NOT finance, the better the bank will look at it as well. If you’re putting down 1/3 of the value in cash, that’s less the bank has to cover and more equity that is instantly in the vehicle if it were ever to be repossessed. Meaning, if they ever had to take it away, they’d be more likely to get more of their money back from it.

Anyway… I decided to try to get preapproved through my bank (Corning Credit Union). The last time I asked them for money, I tried to get a personal loan to consolidate some credit cards – but I didn’t have enough equity in anything really to get them to do it. Oh well… hoped this time would be different. I talked to one of their loan officers after filling out the application online. Apparently the underwriters questioned one of my closed accounts (the collections one). I informed him it was just a collections account that I had finally paid off. He recognized that I had been at a low point in 2006 and everything was going a lot better since then. I hoped that part helped.

When he finally called me back he had good news and sort of OK news. The sort of OK news was that I could get the money… but he didn’t really seem to happy about it or sure of it. Like they were hesitant. I could have the money for 66 months at just over 8%. Frankly, for my credit score, I didn’t think that was too bad… However… if I were to get a cosigner (and again, it sounded like they really wanted me to go this route) I could get it down around 3.5%. That’s a HUGE savings. To put it in perspective, the difference on a $21k loan (plus tax, title, etc) at 60 months would be about $3000 in interest in almost $50 per month. Yikes!

Guess I need to look into that cosigner thing…

Though it is very likely that I’ll still look at the dealer financing options too. Who knows… maybe I can get 5% or so through them and not have to bother with the cosign?

Oh, did I forget to mention that I also test drove a 2010 WRX the other day?