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Old 05-26-2002, 06:31 PM   #1
WRX-1977
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Default STI available sooner than expected??

I had a rather interesting conversation with a Subaru salesperson today. He is a salesperson for a VERY reputable Subaru dealership in Northern New England. We got to talking about some woes his computer was having, as I work in the IT field. After setting his mind at ease and giving him some solid advice, I figured I'd swoop in with an inquiry regarding the STI...the old you I scratch your back, you scatch mine mentality. Innitially all I could get from him was that the STI was indeed coming to the US "soon". I then asked him a bit about his car, a pimped out Legacy, in hopes to build a little rapport with him. I then asked him when his dealership would be accepting deposits on the STI. His reply was "by not taking deposits, we won't have people nagging us every week asking for updates regarding the status of the STI". I quickly responded, well if it's still the better part of year away before SOA releases the STI, why would people nag you. It was the smirk on his face after I said that that made me press him further. I mentioned the EVO and it's expected release around Jan 2003, and he quickly answered back that SOA is hoping to beat Mitsubishi to the punch, but is keeping things tight lipped. I asked him to specify further, and he did mention a September to November timeframe. I have no reason to doubt this guys credibility. He's definitely a Subie fanatic, which his modded Legacy goes to prove. My only question is if Subaru is in fact hoping to stun the North American market with a suprise announcement, when and where will it take place? Everyone was kind of expecting some big news at the "Rally of The World" Event, but no big announcements were made. Fuji Heavy Industries certainly has a way with keeping their product develpments under wraps. Remember how shocked the world was when the press discovered that the current WRX was to have the "bug eye" look as opposed to the traditional front end that all the "spy shots" had suggested. More recently, no one had a solid picture of the current Forester until a week or so before it's official debut. If SOA can keep a secret as well as FHI does, I find no reason to doubt this guy's story. Until then. I guess we all have to take a "wait and see" approach.
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Old 05-26-2002, 07:47 PM   #2
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Based upon your location, I will assume that dealership is Tri-City or perhaps Exeter. Regardless of dealership, I'd offer that their information is no more or less accurate the brand of speculation any other dealership anywhere in the states now comes up with . The STi will be here when it gets here, and I don't think the salespeople will be the first ones to know about it .


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Old 05-26-2002, 11:01 PM   #3
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STI, Will be relased in summer 2003, as 2004 model, one per dealership, and cost 35,000. Its all fact
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Old 05-26-2002, 11:08 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally posted by judgegavel
STI, Will be relased in summer 2003, as 2004 model, one per dealership, and cost 35,000. Its all fact
how is it that your so sure about what you have just said? just wondering

syp
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Old 05-26-2002, 11:51 PM   #5
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This beating Mitsu to the punch is all well and good, but not telling people when the car is going to come out and then just "stunning" them isn't a typical marketing scheme.

It sounds like this guy is implying Subaru will keep quiet until later this year and then BAM! here's your STi.....Like, I show up at a dealer one day and they're like "hey, we just got these in today without notice"




I'd say that Subaru will probably confirm or throwout these rumors later this year, maybe when they inrtoduce the redesign?
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Old 05-27-2002, 12:27 AM   #6
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i went to the dealer he said to call him in mid july about sti
i bet ten dollar the sti will come around august
anyone want to jion
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Old 05-27-2002, 03:21 AM   #7
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When it comes out (notice I said WHEN), we will know ahead of time. The techs that will need to work on it will have to be trained on it, even if its only updates, they will be trained before they even see the car in their dealers. We will not be surprised.
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Old 05-27-2002, 01:52 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally posted by judgegavel
STI, Will be relased in summer 2003, as 2004 model, one per dealership, and cost 35,000. Its all fact
The word I got via a well placed source was that it will be one per dealer if they are lucky!

So much for those dealer who have and are boasting about many many deposits they have taken - one dealer I heard of had something like 20 deposits taken
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Old 05-27-2002, 02:54 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally posted by judgegavel
STI, Will be relased in summer 2003, as 2004 model, one per dealership, and cost 35,000. Its all fact
If there is greater demand than that why not sell more? What's the point in making a car nearly unattainable unless you are ready to buy the day they come out (which nobody even knows for sure when that will be.) If Subaru pulls some crap like that I'm not going to fall for their 'ole bait and switch, I'll walk right back out and go buy a 350Z or Lancer Evo or something. There are going to be quite a few performance cars in that price range on the market not long after that, I don't think that it would be a smart idea for Subaru to start jerking people around like that.
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Old 05-27-2002, 04:14 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally posted by jcp7620


If there is greater demand than that why not sell more? What's the point in making a car nearly unattainable unless you are ready to buy the day they come out (which nobody even knows for sure when that will be.) If Subaru pulls some crap like that I'm not going to fall for their 'ole bait and switch, I'll walk right back out and go buy a 350Z or Lancer Evo or something.
Because the STi's always have been a limited-production run. The Japanese Domestic Market STi's are produced in runs of 400- no more. If we see one per dealership stateside, it would be like a flood of STi's. The EVO is also a limited-production vehicle, albeit on the order of 750 or 1000 vehicles a year IIRC.


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Old 05-27-2002, 05:21 PM   #11
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I went to my subie dealer to finalize the paperwork on my wrblue wrx and my salesman said the same exact thing as the salesman above. Subaru Indeed wants to beat Mitsu or at least match them. My salesman said look for it to be here late 2002, early 03. With a pricetag of 32-34000. He said it will be very limited prod. with about 1 per dealer. I would wait for the sti, but it's too expensive for me. that's more than 10k more than the wrx i'm buying
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Old 05-27-2002, 07:46 PM   #12
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Hi guys, We have been lucky enough to have had the STi models in Australia for a few years now. For what its worth the latest model sells for A$55K here i.e. about US$30K. I actually race a current model STi in the Australian GTP Championship. If you're interested our web site is www.protecnica.com.au
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Old 05-27-2002, 08:44 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally posted by North Ursalia


Because the STi's always have been a limited-production run. The Japanese Domestic Market STi's are produced in runs of 400- no more. If we see one per dealership stateside, it would be like a flood of STi's. The EVO is also a limited-production vehicle, albeit on the order of 750 or 1000 vehicles a year IIRC.
Currently, the STI is produced in as many numbers as will sell. They did use to do that with the past STI's, but they are no longer the hand-built specials they used to be. The S202 and STI limited are being produced in numbers of 400 each, however. And the 22B came out with 400 only in Japan, with additional models being made for overseas.

The Evo still is on a fixed allotment. The Evo VII was produced in an allotment of 10,000 RS's and GSR's. The Evo VII GT-A has no fixed allotment, AFAIK. I think it's an experiment by MMC to see if they can compete with the Legacy B4 twin turbo (which probably sells 10,000 a month or every couple months at peak...)

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Old 05-28-2002, 02:48 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally posted by wrx006
I went to my subie dealer to finalize the paperwork on my wrblue wrx and my salesman said the same exact thing as the salesman above. Subaru Indeed wants to beat Mitsu or at least match them. My salesman said look for it to be here late 2002, early 03. With a pricetag of 32-34000. He said it will be very limited prod. with about 1 per dealer. I would wait for the sti, but it's too expensive for me. that's more than 10k more than the wrx i'm buying
This isn't good This is now the 6th time I've heard (or read) this in the past week. If this is all true there is no way anyone on this board is gonna get one priced at fair market value for say... 3-5 years. I'm not suggesting Subaru should flood their markets world-wide with STI's but it's evident they need to INCREASE STI production. Business is great - time to increase and expand production facilities. Also, the 2.0L STI should now be made readily available, and for exclusitivity bring on a 2.2L or 2.5L loaded with all the corporate toys and sell those for $40k.
It's a shame; the reality of it all is that Subaru could easily unload 7k+ STI sedans [even more if they include a wagon or Forester STI] annually in the USA.
Oh well, probably best we all keep our options open until an offical announcement just in case this availability nonsense becomes reality.
I personally will be disappointed; maybe instead a Forester turbo - I doubt it, since at this moment I only trust the new 6 speed gear box mated to ANY Subaru turboed engine . So many "If's", however I'm sure Volkswagen will have something new next year that will suite me adequately.

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Old 05-28-2002, 03:00 AM   #15
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Please note subaru only gave January- March on there WRX release so why would it not be that they will give us a July-October/November release date????
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Old 05-28-2002, 03:19 AM   #16
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I'm not getting your point, maybe I'm reading it wrong.
The only obsticle I see in a pre-December NA availibility is that people are saying the redesign will not be unveiled until September. They would have to start NA production almost immediately thereafter to get them here by the earlist December. Also if the STI drivetrain remains unchanged the AVCS is a component NA Subaru techs are not familar with; add at least another 6-8 weeks to run all the master techs thru.
How far off am I?
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Old 05-28-2002, 07:14 PM   #17
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What the heck, I thought I'd chime in (after all I've been lurking in this forum long enough). It seems to me, based on all the assorted rumors we've seen and a little business and marketing sense (and no, my cousin's step-sister's adopted daughter does not have contacts deep inside SOA) that there are three possible time frames for the STi release, each with pluses and minuses. I'm going to assume right off the bat we'll never see and STi over here with the current bug-eyed headlights. The one we get will be the face-lifted one--with the snappy and yet unrevealed new front end--which should show it's face at the Paris auto show in September. There's been so much general buzz in the automotive press and such a negative reaction to the Impreza's new snout in all but the North American market that I take the fact there will be a facelift and it will appear in Paris as a given.

Now, if the new new-age Impreza bows at Paris, that means the absolute earliest we could see an STi here would be October, and more realistically November or December. This is a fortuitous time slot for SOA for several reasons. One, as previously mentioned, it nips the Lancer in the bud and builds on Subaru's momentum with the WRX. It also nicely ties in with the launch of the Turbo Forester early in 2003 ("Look! We now have Three turbo cars!") and prevents the Impreza line from being upstaged by that uppity little sport-ute. The one big timing problem with this period is, haven't the 2003 Imprezas already been launched, and without the face-lift? It would be very odd for Subaru to be selling a beautiful new STi next to the homely looking WRX.

The next viable time slot is the late January to march one. This makes a lot of sense. It gives Subaru a reasonable amount of time to retool and prepare for the new look and get the STi over here. It also arrives at the same time as the Evo and RX-8. It might get a little lost in the crowd, but at least it's arriving in time. And in fine VW tradition, the entire face-lifted Impreza ranged could be called the 2003.5 model year, leaving those whose bought the early 2003s a little miffed but the rest of us pleased. Or Subaru could just call it the 2004 model year and be done with it.

Lastly Subaru could wait until July-August-September of 2003 and launch the STi. This seems far too long to wait. From a marketing point of view the RX-8, Evo and G35 coupe are the new darlings of the ball. The momentum from the WRX is now squandered. And Impreza sales will dive. It's far too long a gap between showing the new look and offering it for sale. Plus I assume the STi is pretty much good to go. They didn't spend all that time and money on the new STi just so they could launch it in Japan and Europe. Did anyone notice the European and UK STis were first shown in left-hand drive? And did anyone else get the impression looking at it that that car easily passes US emission and crash standards, looks like it was built to do so? I think the only reason we haven't seen it here yet is just the new sheet metal isn't ready yet. Once it is, we should see it here. My bet's on January to February 2003.
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Old 05-28-2002, 08:14 PM   #18
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Regarding the one per dealership thing: That seems more than a little absurd. It seems to me that there would be at least one employee per Subaru dealership that would snap up their allottment before it even hit the floor, leaving the public with nothing. Unless they did an auction for their one STi, in which case the price would be way higher than $35k.

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Old 05-28-2002, 09:01 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally posted by quynce
Regarding the one per dealership thing: That seems more than a little absurd. It seems to me that there would be at least one employee per Subaru dealership that would snap up their allottment before it even hit the floor, leaving the public with nothing. Unless they did an auction for their one STi, in which case the price would be way higher than $35k.

josh
Bingo! Can you say second sticker kids?

The number being bounced around sources in Japan is 350 to 400.

but certainly no where near the 10 or 20 per dealer I know for a fact some dealers have taken deposits for.

Have a look at the numbers in Australia and UK - I do not believe for a second that STi could do them in the numbers some people seem to think they would magically do them in.
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Old 05-29-2002, 12:25 AM   #20
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I'm glad to see my post got some people talking. Until SOA/FHI makes an official announcement..it's all speculation, but it looks like some of these "stories" bear strong similarities... Until then, keep your eyes and ears open..and by all means...keep on those dealerships. Someone out there is keeping QUITE a secret from all of us...


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Old 05-29-2002, 04:06 PM   #21
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Exclamation

I talked to the salesmanager of the dealer that I got my last 2 subarus. I told him I was getting married in a month and after I sell the house (combining two houses) the very next thing I was going to do was order a WRX. My fiance' said I had to get the car because she was tired of hearing me talk about it. (She's a keeper!)

I told him I wanted to wait until August to see the '03's. I asked about the STi, the auto-stick, about the H-6 GT, and the new Bright Yellow. He said that when he was at the ride-&-drive of the new Forester they too were asking the same questions. He said the new auto-stick was "go" in the Legacy line, he said that he had heard the same rummer about the new yellow, no changes on the '03 and no STi until Dec-Jan and that it might not happen until Spring of next year. No word on H-6 in the GT, though he confirmed that they wanted to make a flagship GT.

Not that you wanted to hear some of this
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Old 05-29-2002, 09:26 PM   #22
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Cool 2004 STi

I just put a $500.00 deposit on my STi here in Phoenix! The sales rep and dealership GM told me that 1st they will know more after the Subaru Detroit meeting on 5/30.

I was told, nothing confirmed or set in stone, but a 2004 model STi will be available June of 2003 or so. MSRP around $32k.

No specs or ideas about anything else!

I did have to sign my life away in agreement not to broker the car when it arrives. I am third on the list! Now its just hurry up and wait!
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Old 05-29-2002, 09:35 PM   #23
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Angry 750 STi's for 2004

Also, after talking with the dealership GM. He mentioned that Subaru HAD to import at least 1000 cars if they wanted to use the STi in Rally Races here in the states.

He said that there would be 750 available for sale to the general public and the other 250 would go to Race teams and magazines.

Hope this helps!!!!!!!!!
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Old 05-29-2002, 10:05 PM   #24
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Default Re: 750 STi's for 2004

Quote:
Originally posted by horshack
Also, after talking with the dealership GM. He mentioned that Subaru HAD to import at least 1000 cars if they wanted to use the STi in Rally Races here in the states.

He said that there would be 750 available for sale to the general public and the other 250 would go to Race teams and magazines.

Hope this helps!!!!!!!!!
Nope they do not have to do that.

Sorry but the days of homogolation are long gone. The early WRX like my Australian MY94 was a true homogolation special (when you have to sell 5000 base cars then 500 mod'ed one to go racing with - the Oz WRX's were part of the 5000)

the STi is already being raced here. The WRC/ SCCA rules just mean that you either run in either WRX or STi Spec (gear ratios, brakes etc) not a mix of parts like the old body style WRX which Subaru was smart enough to get through as a variant each time. Mitsu made the mistake of making each EVO version which meant you had to make all the mods to take advantage of any new parts.

The rules used here by SCCA are slightly modified WRC rules
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Old 05-29-2002, 10:07 PM   #25
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Let put it this way guys/gals. Consider ourself lucky cause we will be getting the STI or if you prefere the EVO.


Those poor Integra Type R owner friends of mine are like p***ed. The new JDM Type-R didn't even make it to AU. The AU type R is a Type S with superfacial mods. Btw Type-R was also a limited production run. No the million dollar question will be how much is the surge charge ? 3K 4K 5K ?
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