2009 Wrx 265 Hp

[Hyun]

this is bit funny to me. WRX is iconic name. So people who bought 08 wrx will now have to refer to their car as 2.5 GT since subaru is now calling them as such.
I understand upping the power to stay competitive but this is straight up b**** slap to their royal fans who bought 08. Today your car is WRX, tomorrow it's 2.5 GT. LOL.
On top of that, it looks like no change in msrp.. those 08 owners must be happy.

Hate to say but that's bad product management. I dont care what anybody says, if you misled consumers and leave them feeling cold, that's not a good thing. I also read bigger turbo... this is looking more like an overhaul then just an update.

Subaru knew before they released this car that their performance wasnt on par with competitor. Now they are trying to cover their ass, i mean RalliArt is bitchslapping their car silly. Lost respect for this company. We'll see how the story develop

update:
subaru never intended 08 US wrx to be the successor of actual "WRX." In Japan, apparently WRX is not out yet, never did.. just S-GT which is similar to US WRX. So why did SOA call it WRX?...

 

[controlo]

that is a good deal. IMO, that makes the STI look a bit overpriced.

 

[boostdog]

this is bit funny to me. WRX is iconic name. So people who bought 08 wrx will now have to refer to their car as 2.5 GT since subaru is now calling them as such.
I understand upping the power to stay competitive but this is straight up b**** slap to their royal fans who bought 08. Today your car is WRX, tomorrow it's 2.5 GT. LOL.
On top of that, it looks like no change in msrp.. those 08 owners must be happy.

Hate to say but that's bad product management. I dont care what anybody says, if you misled consumers and leave them feeling cold, that's not a good thing. I also read bigger turbo... this is looking more like an overhaul then just an update.

Subaru knew before they released this car that their performance wasnt on par with competitor. Now they are trying to cover their ass, i mean RalliArt is bitchslapping their car silly. Lost respect for this company. We'll see how the story develop

update:
subaru never intended 08 US wrx to be the successor of actual "WRX." In Japan, apparently WRX is not out yet, never did.. just S-GT which is similar to US WRX. So why did SOA call it WRX?...

They had to have something to bring to the market here for 08...i do agree with it being misleading....sort of...the car industry is changing and with subaru they make changes to the wrx/sti since it's release here in the US, Japan could be diff, every 2 years. Just like the guys that bought 05 models then the 06 came along with a 2.5ltr vs a 2.0 and a diff intercooler....etc. But I do think that they should offer something to the 08 guys. what exactly i don't know. I'm just glad to own an 07(stash)

 

[jaydubz]

They had to have something to bring to the market here for 08...i do agree with it being misleading....sort of...the car industry is changing and with subaru they make changes to the wrx/sti since it's release here in the US, Japan could be diff, every 2 years. Just like the guys that bought 05 models then the 06 came along with a 2.5ltr vs a 2.0 and a diff intercooler....etc. But I do think that they should offer something to the 08 guys. what exactly i don't know. I'm just glad to own an 07(stash)

I agree, on NASIOC there is a fellow who is trying to start a petition to have Subaru offer 08 buyers some sort of performance package at a discounted price. He is not getting alot of love from his fellow Subaru owners, who seems to love saying the phrase "oh well, it happened to the 05 guys"! That truly is a s*** stick laid down by SOA. I agree with Hyun that is truly truly poor product management. The new car is a stelar deal, but the poor handling of customer loyalty would make me think twice about Subaru. I would be all kinds of pissed if I was an 08 buyer considering the price.

 

[saranya]

under 25k is good deal. Even better deal than ms3 imo. I would take that over ms3 if i was in the market.

I just couldn't get over how bad the interior looks, imo.

 

[jaydubz]

under 25k is good deal. Even better deal than ms3 imo. I would take that over ms3 if i was in the market.

I think there will be a rather large exodus of MS3 buyers that will make the jump to Subaru for this new WRX. I am anxious to hear the performance numbers on this new car.

 

[Donas64]

this is bit funny to me. WRX is iconic name. So people who bought 08 wrx will now have to refer to their car as 2.5 GT since subaru is now calling them as such.
I understand upping the power to stay competitive but this is straight up b**** slap to their royal fans who bought 08. Today your car is WRX, tomorrow it's 2.5 GT. LOL.
On top of that, it looks like no change in msrp.. those 08 owners must be happy.

Hate to say but that's bad product management. I dont care what anybody says, if you misled consumers and leave them feeling cold, that's not a good thing. I also read bigger turbo... this is looking more like an overhaul then just an update.

Subaru knew before they released this car that their performance wasnt on par with competitor. Now they are trying to cover their ass, i mean RalliArt is bitchslapping their car silly. Lost respect for this company. We'll see how the story develop

update:
subaru never intended 08 US wrx to be the successor of actual "WRX." In Japan, apparently WRX is not out yet, never did.. just S-GT which is similar to US WRX. So why did SOA call it WRX?...

Totally a ripoff. Similar to what apple did to it's iphone customers with the price drop.

I know I'd feel completely snookered if I was an 08 owner. They should do some kind of buy-back program or factor covered reflash for more power on the old car. Something to compensate a little. Shame that they can't give ethe early adopters upgraded suspension too.

 

[Donas64]

I think there will be a rather large exodus of MS3 buyers that will make the jump to Subaru for this new WRX. I am anxious to hear the performance numbers on this new car.

If they can handle an extra dose of ugly, more power to them. If I had an MS3, I would stand pat. I'd like to hope most MS3 owners are more fiscally responsible than that, but based on the number of " MS3 for sale" threads I see, it's a toss-up.

 

[SuperStretch18]

Take-away lesson for the day: Never buy a new model in the first year of production. The first production run is the most likely to have recalls and manufacturing issues. Second year out, the bugs are worked out and they get their act together. And apparently on rare occassions, the manufacturer decides to just plain make the product 10x better!

Yeah, the early adopters got screwed, but they always get screwed. Think about how the people who bought $20,000 plasma screens when they first came out must feel seeing $1,000 LCD's on the market...

 

[happy and angry]

Totally a ripoff. Similar to what apple did to it's iphone customers with the price drop.

I know I'd feel completely snookered if I was an 08 owner. They should do some kind of buy-back program or factor covered reflash for more power on the old car. Something to compensate a little. Shame that they can't give ethe early adopters upgraded suspension too.

Early adopters of anything always get shafted. I bought a 40" flatscreen last year and now TVs with better features and more features cost less than what I paid. I don't feel ripped off, because that's just how s*** works.

There is a certain amount of inertia in companies and their decision making. Once they resolved to release an '08 WRX to American markets, despite how it stacked up against competition, they might not have felt it was fiscally feasible to stop production of the car. It takes time to retool factories, etc. It's frustrating for owners, but you can always tell yourself "If I don't buy this now and wait a year or two something better will come along." I could have held off on buying the 'speed3 and told myself to wait for the Euro Focus to finally make it to NA markets so I could grab the 300 hp model. But then I'd have had to say "I could wait another year or two and see what the competition does." You can always tell yourself something better is coming along and never commit to buying something now if you try hard enough.

I mean, I feel sorta bad for '08 WRX owners, but Subaru doesn't owe them anything.

 

[Donas64]

I think the thing that stinks about the subaru thing is that with TV's you expect that sort of thing, heck even the iphone just got a price drop.

With the car, it's like they released a Half Baked product and through it would sell on name alone, then the competition came out and they realized: oh crap, we're going to get KILLED.

Why not just do this from the get go. It's not like they didn't see the MS3 and Caliber SRT with over 260hp already out there.


It just reeks of bean-counting and cockiness.

It would be like honda releasing a turbocharged SI after the fact. Like they didn't know their car was way underpowered already.

You're right, Subaru doesn't owe them anything, but this will most certainly lose them some loyal fans.

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

I dont think they sold anything half baked...the 08 had the engine that they've been putting in the WRX since we got it....

and Cars are definitely just like buying TVs...theres always going to be bigger and better the next year, thats the price you pay and what you have to look at when buying something like that...

I think the thing that stinks about the subaru thing is that with TV's you expect that sort of thing, heck even the iphone just got a price drop.

With the car, it's like they released a Half Baked product and through it would sell on name alone, then the competition came out and they realized: oh crap, we're going to get KILLED.

Why not just do this from the get go. It's not like they didn't see the MS3 and Caliber SRT with over 260hp already out there.


It just reeks of bean-counting and cockiness.

It would be like honda releasing a turbocharged SI after the fact. Like they didn't know their car was way underpowered already.

 

[happy and angry]

I think the thing that stinks about the subaru thing is that with TV's you expect that sort of thing, heck even the iphone just got a price drop.

With the car, it's like they released a Half Baked product and through it would sell on name alone, then the competition came out and they realized: oh crap, we're going to get KILLED.

Why not just do this from the get go. It's not like they didn't see the MS3 and Caliber SRT with over 260hp already out there.

It just reeks of bean-counting and cockiness.

It would be like honda releasing a turbocharged SI after the fact. Like they didn't know their car was way underpowered already.

You're right, Subaru doesn't owe them anything, but this will most certainly lose them some loyal fans.

You don't expect this with cars? Our $22,000 car is faster than a late 80's Corvette ZR-1, for example.

Like I said though, there is a certain amount of inertia in decision making. There is a reason why it often takes years for a company to do a proper redesign of a car, and why it takes years for models to make it to production. Subaru obviously felt maintaining the old WRX numbers would be sufficient, for whatever reason. They were wrong, but by the time they realized it, it would have been more costly to cancel all the "ALL NEW WRX" advertising, cancel shipments, stop sales, etc etc etc that they would have had to do to really correct the "mistake."

 

[Hyun]

Well certainly with TVs you dont think about resale value or the cost of insurance. They will be stuck with paying WRX premium even though now it is considered 2.5gt with stick. They will take some hit on resale value.

People say such is life deal with it but how many of these people actually owns 08 wrx? Remember how people got butt hurt when mazda made some changes to 8.5? Yeah it sucks when it happens to YOU.

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

yeah but you cant assume that the general consensus is that people are pissed off at it....I;ve been reading over at NASIOC and it seems that some are pissed and others are quite content with their 08's (dunno)

 

[Hyun]

more like trying to justify their purchase by saying "im gonna change those parts anyways"
People loves to justify their s*** to make themselve feel better about their purchase.

But i do agree with you evilmonkey and happy to some extent.

 

[happy and angry]

I'm not upset about there being updates to my car for '08.5. I have an '07, and while it might have been nice to have MP3 CD capability and different fabric, I can't really complain. Even if the '08.5 had received a bump in power and a magical steering column that sucked my dick while I drove, I'd not care. I'm happy with my car. I expect things I buy to be dated a year or two later.

 

[Hyun]

yeah. I guess im just too generalizing things now... excuse me.

 

[Donas64]

Well certainly with TVs you dont think about resale value or the cost of insurance. They will be stuck with paying WRX premium even though now it is considered 2.5gt with stick. They will take some hit on resale value.

People say such is life deal with it but how many of these people actually owns 08 wrx? Remember how people got butt hurt when mazda made some changes to 8.5? Yeah it sucks when it happens to YOU.

Thats my point. It's easy for folks to say its no big deal when it happens to someone else.

I guarantee is mazda released an updated 2009 MS3 with AWD and NO PRICE HIKE, the outcry on these forums would be nuts.

The kick in the groin is that they left the price the same. Its not illegal, it just irks your loyal fan base.

I agree that I expect things to get dated a year or too later, but the principal of the thing is: THIS IS THE WRX SUBARU SHOULD HAVE RELEASED FROM THE GET GO! THEY MESSED UP, their fans know they messed up, the competitiors jumped at the fact they messed up, they got clobbered in the reviews because they messed up. It was just a big step back (apart from nicer interior) from the image of the old WRX.

There is nothing that stopped them from making the WRX like this when it came out. Not even price because......The price stayed the same. Its just a massive case of "What were they thinking?"


besides, if I bought a $2000 TV and a nicer one comes out. in a few months for $2500 or 3 grand, I can sell my older one for $1500 or so to someone who doesn't want to pay full price and put that cash to another TV. TV's are relatively cheap. Cars are not.

Who is going to want to touch a used WRX with only 230hp and pasta suspension thats only a year old when they can go out and get the brand new shiny model that costs the same as the old one.

I agree with you guys though, the customers got what they paid for.

 

[happy and angry]

Who is going to want to touch a used WRX with only 230hp and pasta suspension thats only a year old when they can go out and get the brand new shiny model that costs the same as the old one.

People who can't pay for a new one. People who want a more supple ride (which was why the '08 WRX was more soft - mainstream appeal). People who want slightly better fuel economy.

Lots of people.