Request: Please stop wadding up the WRX

[Skirvdawg]

I'm thinking that maybe someday I'll be interested in getting a WRX, like when I get tired of my RS. With all the accident pix I've seen and stories I've heard here about folks crashing their WRXs, I'm thinking the insurance are going to assign this new car a higher risk rating. I'd hate to see this car get a bad rap because people who are new to the scene think that AWD makes crashing impossible. It's not a Ferrari; I'd hate to pay Ferrari insurance rates for it.

Ok, my flamesuit's all buttoned up, bring it on.

[kaos200]

Im not gonna flame you, I agree, but mostly want to request...
STOP crashing the beloved GC8 body style, we need to keep these rare, beautiful Subarus running in good order. So please, please stop destroying the only good looking subaru (besides the Legacy)
My flame suit is now on too!

[kaos200]

Originally posted by Skirvdawg
I'm thinking that maybe someday I'll be interested in getting a WRX, like when I get tired of my RS.

one more thing... that's blasphemy!, tired of an RS?!? pish posh!
that's ridiculous!

[mbiker97]

You also have to consider that almost as many WRX's have been sold as all the previous year RS's. More cars out on the road mean more crashes.

Seth

[Fish]

yeah, there's a WRX buffer.. eh.

Next person that's going to wreck thiers.. call me beforehand and I'll take it off your hands.

[brunetmj]

Hmm. I have given some thought to this post and other similar ones. There is no way of knowing whether the WRX has crashed and burned more than any other car. Say the number of WRX’s sold in the US was 50,000 (I don’t really know the number) but just pretend. Also say that the people most likely to visit this web site are more hard core race enthusiast and their numbers here are 1,000 people with 50 of them having had car crashes.
Perhaps because they enjoy racing they are more prone to wreck thier car.
Or people who are more likely to visit this site are younger and more prone to accidents than the average population.

What could be determined from this web site when talking about car accidents in the WRX? The answer is nothing.

I guess my point is speaking statically (which is what insurance companies use) I would not even give it a second statistical thought based on the evidence from this web site. There are other factors that may be at work here which have nothing to do with the car.
I am not saying that there is, but only that there could be.

p.s. the RS is a beautiful car

[Mazoku]

...wadding...?

Did you make that word up, or am I living in a cave?

[Iowannaski]

Statistically in significant, think again!

Let's say that by the time the WRX has been in the US for 1 year, 25 have been reported totalled on the i-club. If that seems unreasonable, insert your own figure. Furthermore, lets say that each totaled WRX costs the insurance company $25,000.
(we'll just worry about collision right now, and figure that any money they get for what's left cancells out the costs of handling the claim / making money). Now, let's say there are 12,500 WRX's on the road (this number is fairly accurate). So 25 * $25,000 / 12,500 = $50.
That's 50 bucks extra per driver, per year. Perhaps not financialy significant, but certainly
statistically significant. Basically, every time
a WRX owner totals their car, everybody has to cough up at least $2. Probably more like $5-$10.
Think about that next time you see an, "I rolled my baby" post

...wadding...?

Yeah, wadding....You know. Take a piece of paper and crumple it up into a little ball. That's wadding up a piece of paper.

[Skirvdawg]

Yes, wadding! I made it up (I think), got a problem with that? I'm an inovator and a trend setter, so sue me. That and I couldn't think of the other word I was looking for to describe crashing. You know how the Brits have all those cool words to describe things, that's where the word I was looking for came from. Ok, so my original intention wasn't so inovative, but the end result was.

Now that you know what it means, stop doing it!

I didn't want to be prejudicial and say that it's all the people new to the AWD scene, because, well, I don't know. If I had to take a guess, though...Besides, I feel like there are more new members (post WRX intro) than old (people who heard of rally before March of this year).

[OnTheGas]

I'm a sick ba$tard, therefore it's OK for me to confess that this morning while sitting on the pot, I was reading my WRX manual, [user pauses til snickering from other users subsides].

Anyways, one of the many little warning boxes in the manual says to not let the extra confidence from the stability of AWD influence us to drive in a dangerous way, so that we don't overbrake, make sudden manuevers, etc. I'm paraphrasing, because I don't have my manual with me, but that little box certainly applies to what Skirvdawg is saying.

Recently a local driver, while test driving a WRX from a local dealership with his mother in the passenger seat, used a tree to stop the car. The manuever put himself and his mom in the hospital, with his mom seriously injured. That was a bad thing, but I would have to assume that the good news is that his family will probably refuse to help him buy a WRX. If he buys a WRX, he is a driver who is more likelyl to drive our insurance rates up.

The WRX is alotta car and that makes it darned fun to drive, but Skirvdawg is correct. We gotta stopping wadding them up, or the insurance is gonna kill us!

[Jessie James]

Ok, my flamesuit's all buttoned up, bring it on.

LOL!

[mr_disco]

There are less than 10,000 WRX's sold at this point. Remember they are only bringing 10,500 into the states. But there's probably more like under 20 WRX's totaled that we have heard about from I-Club members.

[Subie Gal]

*not gonna say i told ya so*
*not gonna say i told ya so*
*not gonna say i told ya so*
*not gonna say i told ya so*
*not gonna say i told ya so*



nope... not me

j.
www.subiegal.com

[Rebellion]

yeah .. I haven't seen close to 20 "wrecked" WRX's on the board yet... it's more in the neighborhood of 6-8.... I've seen half that number in dealer related mishaps as well... Should we stop taking our cars to the dealers cuz they have a "significant" amount of accidents too?

[Mazoku]

Yes, wadding! I made it up (I think), got a problem with that?

Heh, no prob, I make up weird words like that myself, was just curious if I was missing out on something.

[H1]

You? Smug? If you hadn't signed it it'd have thought it was an imposter.

We all bend cars every now and again, and the new WRX drivers I've seen are taking the same interest in learning to drive their cars well, as we did.

Insurance companies will continue to screw us, no change there.

Dave's 0.02Ruble

[OldWRXr]

OnTheGas: paraphrased from the manual...

one of the many little warning boxes in the manual says to not let the extra confidence from the stability of AWD influence us to drive in a dangerous way, so that we don't overbrake, make sudden manuevers, etc

I'd be interested to find out just how many of those who were in accidents were on the RE-92's, or who had changed to a more sticky tire. Also whether or not the suspension was or was not modified. We may be able to narrow down the reasons the WRX's have been in accidents other than careless driving.

[imprezawrxsti.com]

Some of the totalled WRX's may not fit in this catagory, so if you totalled your WRX, but it was an accident with no idiocy involved, then don't take what I am about to say personally.

I, too, am tired of people driving these around like they are the next Colin McRae without having one bit of knowledge about what they are doing.

And I'm really tired of the people that say I am not allowed to bitch about insurance rates. If you drive like an idiot and total your WRX because you are being an idiot, then guess what, you are helping the insurance rates go up for others and that is not fair.

When you drive a car such as the WRX or even a RS, you have to know your skill limit and not go above that. They are 3,000 pound lethal weapons and you should treat them as such. You should keep the "Colin McRae" style driving to the track/autox/rallyx in a controlled enviroment.

Now, don't get me wrong- this doesn't mean drive like a granny or even drive the speedlimit. But when you are weaving in and out of traffic going 100+, that's being an idiot. Streetracing- that's being an idiot. Driving while intoxicated- that's being a complete idiot.

Just do yourself and us a favor and know the limits of the car and yourself and don't even COME CLOSE to them when on the street.

I suspect that we should expect some of this with the new WRX, and unfortunetley with the STi as well. I can't wait to see what insurance is going to cost me on that one.

JJ

[remarcable]

People like to think they are really better drivers then they actually are.

With the WRX, due to AWD and PDG (Pretty Darn'd Good) suspension from the factory, it feels like you are Colin McRae up to a certain point.

What most people don't realize is that Mr McRae has been doing this for many years, has much better equipment on his car, and most importantly.... doesn't drive 120mph into a turn on the freeway. (Cept in Germany, heh)

Mcrae and most other rally drivers have also been in very nasty accidents on several occasions and suffered serious injury. And their cars are about as safe as they can be made for the driver.

Whenever I'm feeling cocky on the road and pissed at other drivers and contemplating doing something stupid like lane weaving I think about how I would feel if I WADDED the car into someone else and killed them. How much fun is jail going to be?

I drive quicker than most people on the road around here, but I'm also a better, more observant driver than most people. I'm not infallible; in fact I've had 2 close calls where my driving 9/10s on the street almost got me in a tree or somebody's yard. So now I try to slow the heck down and get my jollies in empty parking lots or dirt lots where the only person I can injure is myself.

Orange cones don't have families. I don't feel bad about running over them.

[Iowannaski]

Originally posted by Iowannaski
Let's say that by the time the WRX has been in the US for 1 year, 25 have been reported totalled on the i-club. If that seems unreasonable, insert your own figure.

Ok, two things. First of all, 25 was a projected estimate for the first year WRX's are on the road. The first US WRX has been on the road for about 6 months now, so only about 25% of the first year's worth of US WRX miles have been accumulated at this point. Secondly, let me reiterate - if that seems unreasonable, insert your own figure. Looking at the math again, it doesn't seem at all unreasonable to think there will be at least 25 reported i-club rex rex by next march. Something
tells me when winter hits a lot of WRX drivers will think they are even more invincible.

[Iowannaski]

Originally posted by remarcable
, but I'm also a better, more observant driver than most people.

[fire prevention] This is not at all directed at you, remarcable, I'm just borrowing your words for an example [/fire prevention]

[fuel]
90% of people believe they are better than average drivers.
[/fuel]

[rogue]

Wadding? Nonsense!

If you've rolled your WRX, you've crinkled its jammy dysfunction, and you're a smegging knob.

Beyond that...

We've only seen reports of a few accidents, especially considering the thousands of WRX owners represented on this board. Please bear in mind that you're going to see reports of accidents much more often than you'll see reports of "I drove to work today, then home again, and didn't hit anything."

In fact... is there any accurate count of how many WRX owners are on this board? Considering the WRX Non-tech forum is the most active at the moment, I'd assume something in the ballpark of a third to a half the users, but that's just a wild guess. Certainly more than a thousand. Out of that, hearing about 20 accidents isn't a staggering number... it's nearly in line with normal averages. Who here HASN'T been in a car accident?

[RRinDC]

JJ wrote:

I, too, am tired of people driving these around like they are the next Colin McRae without having one bit of knowledge about what they are doing.

And I'm really tired of the people that say I am not allowed to bitch about insurance rates. If you drive like an idiot and total your WRX because you are being an idiot, then guess what, you are helping the insurance rates go up for others and that is not fair.

When you drive a car such as the WRX or even a RS, you have to know your skill limit and not go above that. They are 3,000 pound lethal weapons and you should treat them as such. You should keep the "Colin McRae" style driving to the track/autox/rallyx in a controlled enviroment.

Now, don't get me wrong- this doesn't mean drive like a granny or even drive the speedlimit. But when you are weaving in and out of traffic going 100+, that's being an idiot. Streetracing- that's being an idiot. Driving while intoxicated- that's being a complete idiot.

Just do yourself and us a favor and know the limits of the car and yourself and don't even COME CLOSE to them when on the street.

I agree. Quit wadding up yer Imprezas, you numbskulls. You're not Colin McRae, and you'll never be able to drive like him (but you CAN play his video game!)

And hey, rogue, I don't think we're reading about all the i-club members who have wrecked their WRXs; I bet a lot are too "shy" to talk about it on the board.

[Hiroki Tada]

Originally posted by rogue
....hearing about 20 accidents isn't a staggering number... it's nearly in line with normal averages. Who here HASN'T been in a car accident?.....

Dude.. Insurance people work directly for the devil himself..

They'll find any reason at all to jack up your insurance rates. It doesnt matter if its 20 crashes or 100 crashes they'll still say that the WRX is a high risk car and raise the rates. Look at the reports by the governments about what type of cars are involved in crashes. They always give you numbers based on how many crashes there were in a certain year. However, it should be based on # crashes vs. # of vehicles of that type. So my point is that no matter what happens, WRX insurance is going to go through the roof anyway.

Besides they also calculate the insurance rate by how many tickets are issued to WRX drivers. And how many WRX drivers will really abide to speed limits anyway?