Subaru Rust Issues and Which Dealership Is Best?

[Independence59]

I'm interested in getting a new Subaru Crosstrek sometime next year, but I have a couple considerations, and wanted to get your collective thoughts please.

#1) I've read a lot of reviews regarding Subarus in general having more than usual issues with rusting, and this has got me concerned. Was that a thing of the past, and it's gotten better
now, or is it inaccurate?

#2) Which Subaru or Subaru selling dealerships would you recommend for purchasing a new Subaru and maintenance?
I'm open to any dealership that sells new Subaru models in and around the Calgary area, but wouldn't mind going other places in Alberta to get a better deal.
I know when I got my previous car, I got a great deal in Okotoks that I couldn't get in Calgary after visiting like 4-5 dealerships, not to mention that I was more comfortable with the people and service there as well.

Anyways thanks, and look forward to your thoughts!

[HiTempguy1]

#1) I've read a lot of reviews regarding Subarus in general having more than usual issues with rusting, and this has got me concerned. Was that a thing of the past, and it's gotten better
now, or is it inaccurate?

It depends on what you mean by rust issues. Older Subarus had very thin paint combined with some poor design of the sheetmetal that caught and held moisture/salt. I don't know if I consider a 200k km Subaru that is 10+ years old to have "rust issues" if the rear quarters are rusting out after years of winter driving.

The newer Subarus are definitely better in regards to rust.

#2) Which Subaru or Subaru selling dealerships would you recommend for purchasing a new Subaru and maintenance?
I'm open to any dealership that sells new Subaru models in and around the Calgary area, but wouldn't mind going other places in Alberta to get a better deal.
[/QUOTE]

I'm a big fan of Scott Subaru in Red Deer. Most people in Alberta will recommend them, and for good reason. They aren't a shady dealership full of salesmen trying to fleece you.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Both Calgary Subaru dealers are absolute garbage, you're best off going out of the city.

[J-hop]

To be honest I don't think dealer selection will matter at the end of the day.

I have found subarus seem to have more problem spots than the other cars we've owned. Specifically around the rear wheel wells which seems to be a combination of thin paint the way the bumper sits on the body and how grime gets easily caught. With ours the main thing has been regular washing and filling any chips right away. At some point I'm going to pull off the rear bumper to check. Our 08 is absolutely mint but I've seen newer ones than ours with bad rust problems.

I will say one thing. Please be sure to drive a lot before you buy. Why? Well I've found our 2.5i Impreza does NOT have enough power for highway trips. With two bikes on top and a bit of a headwind I struggle on every hill. I've decided next year we are upgrading to a wrx.

Maybe the CVT will help on the crosstrek at highway speeds but by the specs our Impreza should be faster so be mindful.

08 Impreza
Curb weight: 3175
2.5i hp: 170
0-60: 8.2

2017 crosstrek
Curb weight: 3208
2.0i hp: 145
0-60: 10s

So you're slightly heavier with 25 less horsepower and way slower to 60.

[ExtraSlow]

One thing with Subaru is that every one is winter driven, whereas most other brands have ever a decent percentage that are garage queen's for half the year, so they endure harsher conditions on average.

[redblack]

The crosstrek's are painfully slow, I would look at a Forester xt instead.

[403ep3]

Just picked up my new WRX from Scott Subaru on Saturday and the process was fantastic.

I'd suggest staying away from any of the dealers here.


http://www.dealerrater.ca/dealer/Scott-Subaru-review-39261/ I'm the July 15 review

[eblend]

The crosstrek's are painfully slow, I would look at a Forester xt instead.

As a future owner of a 2018 Crosstrek (should be here next week), I had to test drive the 2017 to get an idea of how the car drives as it's just a better version of 2017, and read many people say this, but when i drove it, it was perfectly fine. It's not a sports car, so I don't know why people expect that kind of performance out of it.

[eblend]

Forgot to mention, as someone who is about to drop down $37k on a crosstrek limited at Centaur and have already paid the $1000 deposit, does it really matter which dealer I go with? Real question. The sales guy is nice and is keeping me in the loop of where my car is, been pretty good to deal with, so why wouldn't I just buy there? I read some reviews and many people say poor customer service...should i really care about this if my experience is fine, don't plan of ever taking the car there unless it's for warranty work. Reading some reviews online, people gave a dealership poor review because, and i quote "every time I called, they asked me who I was?" Like seriously, do you need a BJ from the dealer, or am I missing something here? You are just buying a car...get it, take it there for warranty work if needed, and that's all? I don't plan of ever taking my car in for tire rotations for example, and will do my own oil changes, so does it really matter, or am I missing something?

[never]

Forgot to mention, as someone who is about to drop down $37k on a crosstrek limited at Centaur and have already paid the $1000 deposit, does it really matter which dealer I go with? Real question. The sales guy is nice and is keeping me in the loop of where my car is, been pretty good to deal with, so why wouldn't I just buy there? I read some reviews and many people say poor customer service...should i really care about this if my experience is fine, don't plan of ever taking the car there unless it's for warranty work. Reading some reviews online, people gave a dealership poor review because, and i quote "every time I called, they asked me who I was?" Like seriously, do you need a BJ from the dealer, or am I missing something here? You are just buying a car...get it, take it there for warranty work if needed, and that's all? I don't plan of ever taking my car in for tire rotations for example, and will do my own oil changes, so does it really matter, or am I missing something?

If you're happy with the service you are getting, then don't worry about it.

[403ep3]

For me it's the principal. If you give shit service, from the sales point of view, you don't deserve to have the commission.

If you are getting good service then good on you. It's not always the case lol

[J-hop]

As a future owner of a 2018 Crosstrek (should be here next week), I had to test drive the 2017 to get an idea of how the car drives as it's just a better version of 2017, and read many people say this, but when i drove it, it was perfectly fine. It's not a sports car, so I don't know why people expect that kind of performance out of it.

Around town no problem. Going up hills on the highway as I mentioned is where you're going want more. Our 2.5i Impreza is horribly gutless in the 90-120kph range.

It won't exactly apply with the CVT but with our 08 4spd auto I have to shut off the cruise on hills as it will down shift twice trying to get the car up the hill and you end up screaming near redline. Super annoying, I shift the car to manual shift mode, downshift once, floor it and hope for the best.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I will say one thing. Please be sure to drive a lot before you buy. Why? Well I've found our 2.5i Impreza does NOT have enough power for highway trips. With two bikes on top and a bit of a headwind I struggle on every hill. I've decided next year we are upgrading to a wrx.


This. The power is absolutely abysmal from that gutless N/A 4-cyl Subaru puts in everything. At our altitude it's making like 125 HP and it has no torque. 0-60 is something like 10 seconds in ideal conditions, Calgary is probably 11+. Subaru was on my list until I saw that was the only motor option in my price range. It has the same power as my old Civic and man that thing was a chore on the highways, passing people in a reasonable distance/time-frame was pretty much impossible or not safe - and my old Civic was 500lb lighter than a Crosstrek. In traffic it doesn't matter but if you use your vehicle for much else it becomes a pretty big negative IMHO.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Forgot to mention, as someone who is about to drop down $37k on a crosstrek limited at Centaur and have already paid the $1000 deposit, does it really matter which dealer I go with? Real question. The sales guy is nice and is keeping me in the loop of where my car is, been pretty good to deal with, so why wouldn't I just buy there? I read some reviews and many people say poor customer service...should i really care about this if my experience is fine, don't plan of ever taking the car there unless it's for warranty work. Reading some reviews online, people gave a dealership poor review because, and i quote "every time I called, they asked me who I was?" Like seriously, do you need a BJ from the dealer, or am I missing something here? You are just buying a car...get it, take it there for warranty work if needed, and that's all? I don't plan of ever taking my car in for tire rotations for example, and will do my own oil changes, so does it really matter, or am I missing something?

It matters. Of course they will be good to you if you haven't paid yet. After that you will likely see a sharp decline - just wait until your first warranty discrepancy or something like that. Also if you do your own oil changes it will probably void your engine warranty - make sure you are 100% clear on all the details surrounding that.

I don't care if a salesperson remembers me or not, but all the good ones do, even years later. Helps to know you aren't just walking commission for them. Most of them don't GAF about anything after you've signed.

A couple of my usual litmus tests of a good sales person are if they tell me their cost or if they make me go pay $30 for a CCC report. The latter means I go find a new salesman. Also, how hard they try to BS me about admin fees and extras - if they treat me like an idiot to maximize their commission, I hate that. Another thing that is super annoying is if you ask them technical questions and they try to BS you rather than say they don't know or offer to go find out for you - when they pull out the brochure and start scanning, well...

Just go to Red Deer, you'll probably get a better deal too. Then you can get it serviced wherever you want.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I've purchased new from both dealers in Calgary, I'd say Centaur was better. I do however work in the industry and made that aware to both dealers immediately when I was dealing with them, which probably made it a little smoother for me.

[eblend]

Just go to Red Deer, you'll probably get a better deal too. Then you can get it serviced wherever you want.

Drive to Red Deer just to get a car, even when you just said that the problems may come down the line when trying to get it serviced anyways, which would obviously be in Calgary. Seems like a waste of my time at this point. Perhaps I could save some money doing so, but not sure since it's the brand new 2018s that are just coming into Canada now, not sure there would be much incentive for them to lower prices much. Perhaps I will give Scott Subaru a call and see what they offer.

[eblend]

Contacted Scott Subaru, waiting to hear back from them on availability of what I want. So...how does one get a deposit back from Centaur if it comes down to it...? It was $1000, contract says no refunds, but i believe they have no legal grounds to keep it, they even told me this initially, but told me "if I lose a job or something..."

[Mitsu3000gt]

Drive to Red Deer just to get a car, even when you just said that the problems may come down the line when trying to get it serviced anyways, which would obviously be in Calgary. Seems like a waste of my time at this point. Perhaps I could save some money doing so, but not sure since it's the brand new 2018s that are just coming into Canada now, not sure there would be much incentive for them to lower prices much. Perhaps I will give Scott Subaru a call and see what they offer.

I'd drive to red deer to save some money - it's a quick trip. If service is once a year or so, who knows, maybe you would go out there if it was better. I would. If you are 100% sure you will service it in Calgary then it's a moot point, but I'd still go to red deer if they can beat the price by a material amount.

My car was an all new model for the year when I got it (one of the first ones in Calgary) and I basically got it at cost with a bunch of stuff thrown in on top of that. I pulled the transport packing materials off it myself. You shouldn't have problems getting a good price just because it's a new model - it's not like it's a Type R or some limited production model. Get them to tell you the dealer cost and make sure you aren't getting hosed - any half decent salesman will do this. Negotiate from the bottom up. Then take that price and see if red deer will beat it. Make sure you aren't paying any admin fees either or for wheel nuts, glass etching, mats, etc.

Centaur should just give the deposit it back to you - don't tell them you are going to another dealer though, just say another expense came up or something, or that you might be losing your job and need to hold off a couple months. If they keep it then just do a CC charge back. You should never leave non-refundable deposits in the first place though, and get it in writing.

[eblend]

I'd drive to red deer to save some money - it's a quick trip. If service is once a year or so, who knows, maybe you would go out there if it was better. I would. If you are 100% sure you will service it in Calgary then it's a moot point, but I'd still go to red deer if they can beat the price by a material amount.

My car was an all new model for the year when I got it (one of the first ones in Calgary) and I basically got it at cost with a bunch of stuff thrown in on top of that. I pulled the transport packing materials off it myself. You shouldn't have problems getting a good price just because it's a new model - it's not like it's a Type R or some limited production model. Get them to tell you the dealer cost and make sure you aren't getting hosed - any half decent salesman will do this. Negotiate from the bottom up. Then take that price and see if red deer will beat it. Make sure you aren't paying any admin fees either or for wheel nuts, glass etching, mats, etc.

Centaur should just give the deposit it back to you - don't tell them you are going to another dealer though, just say another expense came up or something, or that you might be losing your job and need to hold off a couple months. If they keep it then just do a CC charge back. You should never leave non-refundable deposits in the first place though, and get it in writing.

Thanks for the info. I contacted Scott Subaru and waiting for a call back regarding availability and all-in costs. Then will see if it's worth fighting for, or at the very least try to see what my dealer can do. I am planning on getting accessories discounted, as I am sure there is a huge markup on those. I plan on getting everything, all the mats, mud flaps, rear bumper protector ect.

[403ep3]

I paid msrp for my wrx, but was able to get Scott to throw in mud flaps, rubber mats, armrest extension, rear view with auto and dim, and discounts on 3M and undercoating.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Thanks for the info. I contacted Scott Subaru and waiting for a call back regarding availability and all-in costs. Then will see if it's worth fighting for, or at the very least try to see what my dealer can do. I am planning on getting accessories discounted, as I am sure there is a huge markup on those. I plan on getting everything, all the mats, mud flaps, rear bumper protector ect.

Get them to show you the cost then make sure you're comfortable with their profit margin. If not you're going in blind. If they won't show you, find another dealer or salesperson because you can pay $30 and find out yourself.

Markups on winter mats, mud flaps, and stuff like that is really high, so they should be basically throw-ins or a heavily discounted price for the whole gamut of accessories. Sometimes they try to hide things like locking wheel nuts, glass etching, block heater, 'key replacement', etc. in an admin fee so that it looks less like a blatant money grab.

Call Rainer at SR International and see what he charges for paint protection film - it will probably be half of what the dealer charges, so either go to him or get the dealer to match the price of a third party shop. In my case it would have been $230 or so from SR International and the dealer wanted $599 for an inferior product. I imagine it's similar for your vehicle. Just go in with as much information as possible so you can confidently either agree to certain things or turn them down when they try to sell you a million extra things. Obviously don't get any paint protection, interior protection, or undercoating done at the dealer as third party shops will be better and cheaper.

And yeah, for $200 or whatever you might not want to drive to red deer, but take into account the accessories too if there are any differences there. In my case, it was over $2000 better than any other dealer going to Okotoks, so it was a no-brainer. I would have gone to red deer for that too.

[eblend]

I paid msrp for my wrx, but was able to get Scott to throw in mud flaps, rubber mats, armrest extension, rear view with auto and dim, and discounts on 3M and undercoating.

Interesting, I got a quote from them and best they could do was $353 dollars less then Centaur, but 4-6 weeks wait time. I found out from Centaur that my car is on the transport truck out of Vancouver this weekend, so the savings aren't worth it for me, especially since I am driving a large minivan to and from work that I borrowed from my parents currently, and would easily eat all the savings in fuel costs over the 4-6 weeks while waiting, not to mention trying to find a ride out to Red Deer.

Hopefully I can negotiate some accessories into the deal, but the 2018 accessories guide is not out yet, so don't think I would be able to before pickup unfortunately :(

[Independence59]

Thanks for all the input everyone! I'm feeling like I should be looking at other options as well, and not just Subarus after reading everything. Not that I'm
totally turned off of my original choice, but just becoming less enamored. :)

[eblend]

Picked mine up yesterday from Centaur. The experience was pleasant for the most part, thought they wouldn't move on the pricing for accessories, and basically said "the deal is already done"....well there was no announced accessories at the time of the deal, so kind of hard to get them in there.. I didn't care too much this time around, but going forward there is a very good chance my next Subaru will be from somewhere else....and all they had to do was throw in some floor mats to have a return customer.

https://photos.smugmug.com/New-pictures/n-mXTvM/i-jGKQCnR/0/873249db/X2/i-jGKQCnR-X2.jpg