no sure if this is the proper place for this but here it goes..

i bought an 02 wrx about 2 months ago, with 33k on it, i paid what i though was a fair price everything seemed ok on the testdrive although it was night time, i purchased it. i brought it up to my work the next day to find that it had an aftermarket upipe and downpipe ( looked like hks with a cat welded in) anyway i brought it to the dealer a couple days later to make sure they knew about it so i would still be covered under my warrenty, they said ya no problem.

so about 1 month later i was almost at 36k where my bumper to bumper is up, so i figured id bring it in and have a few things done, like a new armrest and find out why my cel on my gauge cluster wouldnt light up with the key on, and it became a mess.

the cel had been on the whole time for a cylinder 4 misfire...so to make a long story short i was out of a car for 24 days while they replaced two valves in the #4 cylinder, i picked it up 24 days later to find that they replaced the gauge cluster with a new one so my car now says it has 400 miles on it and the cel is STILL ON for the #4 misfire, also they put on a factory downpipe.

but this is just the tip of the iceburg, the car has
-a horrible idle
- either a main bearing or rod bearing knocking
-uses about 2-3 quarts of oil every 3k
-boost spike
and those are just a few to name,

i spoke with the previous owner today and he said that he only had the car for about 1 month and then threateded the dealership with a lawer because of the problems it had- and the next day they gave him an 04 for the same price, im not saying that i want an 04 but i would at least like my money back

what are your guys's opionions/recomendations? im going up there tommorow witha 2 page long list of **** wrong with it. and i guess well see what happends

im sorry to hear about your story..just a question, did the car have any problems while u were driving it that were noticeable or did the CEL just come on out of the blue with a misfire code?

no the check engine light would never turn on no matter what i did,

there was somethig bad in the cluster, so they replaced it and now its always on

yeah someothing bad in the cluster........ like a disconnected CEL.......

Good luck - not sure about your state, but AFAIK lemon laws only cover new cars and the original purchaser. Used cars are sold 'As is' by the dealer and the mfgr only has to honor the original factory warranty, not the lemon law statues.

If I had to venture a guess only way you are getting anything would be out of the dealer, and your going to need a lawyer. And since the car was modified, even though it wasn't done by you, I think your looking at a hard battle.

EDIT - Just checked my state laws and there are certain cases where a used car is covered. But I think you are still going to have an issue because the car was modified.

One thing going in your favor is that the dealership set a precedence when they allowed the previous owner to return the vehicle for a "better" one at no cost. Basically this is the dealership admitting there is something wrong with the vehicle.

RW

so this dealership, sold you a car which they bought back from another customer, knowing there were problems, and turned around and sold it to you? wow

i see legal actions in your future.......but sure hope it does not go down that route

With stuff like that popping up ...Run don't walk away from it if you can. That sucks for you. I think that is why they aren't holding the resale value that WRXs should- as a generalization, seems like every owner bought it because of the performance/cost ratio, did the 3/8 mod, adds a mechanical boost controller and beats the crap out of them. I don't think I would buy a WRX used because if the prejudice I would have about how the last owner treated the car. Do a little homework on your state's lemon law and possibly call a lawyer.

See if they will reflash it back to a stock form for you too. There may be some Engine managment going on too.

That's crazy, no wonder why people hate car salemen/dealers. Since they are not helping you out any longer, you should either threaten with a lawyer because of a Lemon law, or because the dealer rolled your odometer back from over 30K to 400 miles. This may or may not be a good thing, but a while back I read a post about how someone here went to the dealer with a friend who was dressed in a suit with a breifcase (like a lawyer) the friend didn't say anything, but just observed what was going on. He said it worked out for him.

Steve

Did you buy it through the dealer or direct?

The mods sound like the issue. I'm surprised they replaced valves for the misfire. Typicall the injector or plug/coil pack is suspect, and in fact my 1st 02 had misfire issues and they were heat related (heating fuel rail). I can't imagine the aftermarket exhaust helped.

This car might be a lemon, but it isn't clear it is Subaru's lemon.

it's definately not Subaru's fault. Not only will they not lemon the car, but if they for some reason audited the repairs, they wouldn't warrantee it either. If a car is modded (e.g. CEL removed, etc) it can hardly be considered their fault that the car is malfunctioning.
Your only hope is with the dealer. Unfortunately, their back is up against the wall too, because they probably got screwed when they took the car in on trade, which is why they're trying to offload it (which doesn't make it right). If you go the lawyer route, you'll probably win, depending on the wording in the contract. If you bought it "as is" you may be screwed. especially if it's not checked as "remaining factory warranty".
Just go in there on a busy Saturday afternoon, and go Ape$H%T right on the showroom floor. Preferably in front of as many customers as possible. This will increase their motivation to either 1) buy you off, or 2) have you whacked.
if we find you at the bottom of the river with your feet in a big cement bucket, we'll know who did it.

I don't think it's legal for a dealer to sell a car that has faulty or non-existant emmisions controls on it (lack of cats, etc). You may have some leverage there.

Sellers disclosure. The dealer knew the car was a problem, and did not tell you. The dealer may have known (and should have known) that the CEL light was non-functional, and did not tell you. Also, fraud when the dealer told you the warranty would cover you. However, all of this may require a lawyer.

The other thing to remember is that you shouldn't expect any other Subaru dealer to honor any warranty because of the mods, so this dealer is the only one who might fix it. To protect yourself, you need to start documenting on paper (maybe even notarized) the whole story. Write down everything that happened when you bought it. Write down when and what problems you noticed. Write down the story the previous owner told you. If possible, get him to write down his story and have it notarized. Make your requests of the dealership in writing and get responses in writing. This will all help enormously if (most likely, when) you end up in court.

ok so heres the deal, i went up there today after work with my 2 page long list of problems, the sales manager has been there only 2 weeks, and he didnt know what history the car had, but he did offer me an 05 to lease, for 320 a month, i laughed in his face and said i cant afford that, so then he said he could get another 02 on the lot of equal value and swap them out

but the kid who returned his got an 04 for the same price, so im going back up there monday when the guy who sold me my car is there..and try to work something out for my troubles, ( i did have to drive a 2000 vw jetta for 25 days) , i sure as hell dont want to pay 300 a month to drive that turd so i guess well see what happends

anyone got any good ideas of what to say, to coax them into helping me out a little more, i i dont mean to sound greedy , but that place is a joke and i need to squeeze every penny out i can get, to get back at them

I'd take the 2002 WRX of equal value offer and be grateful.

Who is the dealer? Maybe search here and see if other people had problems with them and use some of that? Is it a US dealer or Canada? Did they put a sticker on the door jamb with the odometer swap? It's legal to swap it as long as they put the sticker on showing the real odometer reading. We all need to worry about a dealer like this so it would help others if you'd tell us who it is so we use caution.

']I'd take the 2002 WRX of equal value offer and be grateful.
^^ what he said. You get to trade your car and it doesn't cost you anything. Since its a used car, that was modfied, I doubt they are legally obligated to give you anything. Probably any other option is going cost you a great deal in legal fees, and the net gain is that the only one who wins is the lawyers, since they get paid no matter what.

Yep, the only thing I might try to do is convince them to offer you a discount on an extended warranty, if you'd be interested in one. Maybe some perks like free oil changes or a box of filters. Something reasonable like that...but getting an '04 for the same price? That sounds unlikely. If they offered it to the other guy, there may have been something else going on there...like some mistakes in repairs or damage or who knows what else. It seems rather excessive to me.

...i talked with the previous owner tonight and he is going to give me all his paperwork on the car, including a statement stating what problems it has and estimated repair costs, which should be some good ammunition...i basically just want something stock, because with the aftermarket parts on the one i have now, no other dealer would touch it.


also after they had it for about 22 days they called me up and asked if one of the techs could take it home for a weekend to make sure nothing went wrong, and to just put some miles on it, at first i was a little worried but i agreed after realizing i didnt want to refuse any of the service they offered.
well it turned out a coolant leak sprung up so there was two more days of work, finally i get my car back and its full of food wrappers and on empty
( it was full when i brought it in and i had the decency to fill up my rental for them), and the undercarriage was covored in mud. this is not the service i deserve and if i had the choice i would never go back, but im stuck with them as long as im stuck with this cursed car

wow so the tech rallied it too! damn man you have 2 choices. go in there yelling and screaming or get a brick and throw it thru the showroom. i feel bad for ya man.

im not at all happy with them

well i find out for sure tommorow whats gonna happen so ill keep you guys posted

dude if someone did that to my car,i would kick their butt! especially if they took it off roading. look get urself a trade and nothing less!

Better Business Bureau? State attorney general?

Sounds like the dealer is the problem here.

Document the mud and food wrappers with pictures, and make a note of the fuel. If you want an 04, talk to the guy about splitting the difference. Actually first make sure he knows how bad things are, and how unhappy you are. Also make sure he knows that if he resolves your problem you will become a happy customer that would reccomend the dealership. All dealerships have "good will" dollars thay can spend, but they have to show it actually resulted in good will.

Document the mud and food wrappers with pictures, and make a note of the fuel. If you want an 04, talk to the guy about splitting the difference. Actually first make sure he knows how bad things are, and how unhappy you are. Also make sure he knows that if he resolves your problem you will become a happy customer that would reccomend the dealership. All dealerships have "good will" dollars thay can spend, but they have to show it actually resulted in good will.

This is the ONLY way I got out of my VW nightmare.

The dealership scene can be a disaster if you get the wrong dealer. Some are very good and actually care about what they do....some do not.

I had a VW dealer buy a car from me after they screwed it up (ABS problem) and then place the same car on there for sale lot without even completely re-assembling it.

Good luck.

well, my new 02 or 03 wrx will be there in the next few days...

i went up there tonigh and talked to the salesman ( who supposedly knew not about the problems) and i told him about 1/4 of the stuff that was wrong, and he came back 5 min later and asked me what color i wanted,

i not really happy...... but i am satisfied, but ill tell you this much ill never go back to that dealer...ill keep you guys posted about what else goes on

what happened? ;)

This is the ONLY way I got out of my VW nightmare.

The dealership scene can be a disaster if you get the wrong dealer. Some are very good and actually care about what they do....some do not.

I think this holds true for most dealerships regardless of the car manufacturer. My family has bought nothing but VW's and have had very few problems since finding a service manager who cares about what goes on in his service department. Also helps that there's an old school VW mechanic from Europe who does THE best tune-ups in this city. People go out of their way to get it tuned by this mech.

DOUBLE U ARE X, I'd be glad you got the trade-in and run once it's in your hands, then take it to another dealer.

Double U R X, just be sure not to be hasty with this new car, and grab it and run literally like people are suggesting. Make sure you get a clean carfax, give the car a thorough walkaround for paint lines, check tires, etc.. and you should hit them up for a 1/2 price extended warranty. Dealers have roughly 50% markup on extendeds. If they say 1/2 is below cost, ask to see the cost sheet, and pay them that. it should be 60% of retail MAX. I paid 10% over cost for mine (I work at a dealer), and it was about $1000 for 7 years 100,000 miles Platinum coverage w/ $0 deductable.

At LEAST, they are making the situation right. The whole deal is kind of BS in the first place, and it sucks that you had to go through it, but all's well that ends well..... right?

well i find out tommorow about my new car but tonight my car sprung a bad coolant leak...i cant tell from where but the car was smoking and there was coolant all over my splashguard, although it never over heated.....i popped the hood only to find my overflow was bone dry, and i decided to check the oil while i was under there and it was bone dry too!....the dealership added oil ( didnt change the filter though) when they replaced the valves in cylinder four, 300 miles ago!.....so i lost at least 3 quarts in 300 miles

thoughts?.....should i add oil and coolant?