New to me 08 WRX

[Insomnihacks]

I do realize that there are much more powerful cars that have been featured in this forum. As I don't exactly have that sort of operating capital I've stayed a bit conservative and went with this 08 WRX. The price was right and since we do experience our fair share of snow here (80 Miles NW of Reno, NV) I chose to go with this car. AWD definitely does help here.

Downside of course is the issues regarding the forced paint change in 08 from the EPA. Paint can chip easy and cause major headaches. I'll end up getting a carbon fiber hood. It'll at least offset the weight gain from the subwoofer installation. I'm not going to mod the hell out of it as it is my daily driver. I wanted something that had better gas mileage than my Montero Sport and had decent enough power for my purposes.

Nonetheless here are a couple of pictures. First one being the day I picked it up. Second being when I got the back windows tinted. I would have loved to have gotten all of them tinted but I don't exactly want to taunt the CHP.

*Note - The salesman parked it in the handicapped spot while I was transferring my belongings to the new car lol. I had nothing to do with that. My family for some reason pointed that out first instead of the fact I cleaned up my credit enough to get a halfway decent vehicle! Hahaha.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Congrats. I hate you

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

Looks like a sleeper from the side. Always wanted a cute little wrx for my own.

 

[Plugers]

Nice looking car.

 

[chin311]

Sweet pickup, love white cars too.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Sweet pickup, love white cars too.

Racist

 

[NutBucket]

Downside of course is the issues regarding the forced paint change in 08 from the EPA. Paint can chip easy and cause major headaches.

Subaru paint has been "thin" since at least '02. It'll chip if you look at it wrong.

 

[RearAdmiral]

How much more were any 09s? Subaru paint is hilariously bad, it sucks.

 

[foghorn67]

I love the non-STI's. And that does look good in white.
I'm a bit jealous. I was keeping my eye out for one after my car was totaled. But I didn't see any on my radar.
Bought a boring car instead.

Congrats!

 

[PricklyPete]

Congrats!

 

[Insomnihacks]

Thank you all very much for the kind words. I've been seeing more and more regarding the paint issues with these. Though it's more than frustrating, considering my dad has a 30 year old vehicle with stronger paint, I'm still happy with my purchase.

I got the stereo installed on the same day as the tint. I'll have to post a picture of that later on today when I get time. I ended up going with the Pioneer AVH-P1400DVD. It's their lowest end of the Pioneer Double Din series. It doesn't have bluetooth although you can add an adapter after the fact (Same thing goes for Navigation). It doesn't bother me that much and it was only around $250 from amazon.

I've usually installed my own stereos but I left this one to the pro's. The only downside was that not all of my steering wheel controls work. Argh. The volume buttons work but the "next" buttons do not and the mute button doesn't either. I think it could have been the adapter that was used. I didn't realize it until halfway back to my house. I'll have to contact them and ask them to fix it.

I traded in my 00 Montero Sport with 20% interest on it for this at 5.8% interest. The credit road is a long one but if you know how to play the game you can win. It's a matter of knowing your rights as a consumer. I went from a 480 a year ago up to the low 700's. All in all I'm one happy dude. My girlfriend likes the stereo because it "changes colors". She's funny.

Oh! Forgot to mention my insurance only went up $2 per month. I love USAA lol.

 

[Insomnihacks]

How much more were any 09s? Subaru paint is hilariously bad, it sucks.

I couldn't find any 09's within my area unfortunately. I think that was the year they went to a 265hp engine as opposed to the 225hp engine. The prices on these are still a bit up there used. They wanted $20k for mine. I haggled them down to $17k but then added the warranty. It gave a little push to the finance department to drop the interest rate to 5.8%

Yeah the paint on these things are a joke. But, mine really only has issues on the hood / scoop. I'll be looking at a carbon fiber hood anyways.

I do love the color though of the rest of the car. Satin Pearl White.

 

[NutBucket]

SWP is awesome. My wife regrets not getting a white WRX years ago.

 

[CraigRT]

Congrats dude.
I agree with the others. White is the best. I've owned numerous white cars and given the choice it's all I buy.

 

[exar333]

Very nice! I Love my '11 WRX.

 

[RearAdmiral]

I couldn't find any 09's within my area unfortunately. I think that was the year they went to a 265hp engine as opposed to the 225hp engine. The prices on these are still a bit up there used. They wanted $20k for mine. I haggled them down to $17k but then added the warranty. It gave a little push to the finance department to drop the interest rate to 5.8%

Yeah the paint on these things are a joke. But, mine really only has issues on the hood / scoop. I'll be looking at a carbon fiber hood anyways.

I do love the color though of the rest of the car. Satin Pearl White.

That and better suspension I think. Congrats on the car though!

 

[T2urtle]

normally when i read 5.8% interest i say bad deal. But i picked up 20% on old car and bad credit. Its not a bad deal.

https://www.penfed.org/homepage.aspx has 1.9% online auto loans, if you were tempted to try it.

NICE looking WRX. I'm not up to date on the M.Y. changes on that gen. Just the bugeye ones. I might be looking to grab a 2012 MY hatch in 3 years.

 

[Insomnihacks]

normally when i read 5.8% interest i say bad deal. But i picked up 20% on old car and bad credit. Its not a bad deal.

https://www.penfed.org/homepage.aspx has 1.9% online auto loans, if you were tempted to try it.

NICE looking WRX. I'm not up to date on the M.Y. changes on that gen. Just the bugeye ones. I might be looking to grab a 2012 MY hatch in 3 years.

I should have elaborated on the credit score. My Auto-Enhanced fico score was over 700. I was approved through my credit union as well but they only finance vehicles within California. They wanted to give me 6.38%. I didn't want to drive down to Chico and the local dealerships here didn't have what I wanted.

I had two baddies on my report. A civil judgment that was paid off and student loans that were rehabbed that showed 120 days late. Although Wells Fargo made good on their deal to remove the lates, ACS (Wells Fargo contracted to them for the servicing portion) still hasn't and my attempts at a goodwill adjustment were futile. I'm still going to try though.

So with that said I am looking forward to refinancing in a year or so. It all depends on when I can get these two baddies removed. I'm quite resourceful when it comes to that. If you don't understand what PFD, FCRA, FDCPA, DV, or those terms mean, then get to reading. That is if you have credit issues. My judgment can be removed through getting a motion to vacate but it has to be started by the creditor that was granted the judgment. I'll be offering to pay the filing fees associated with it and going from there.

Remember, I had a home foreclosure and two repossessed cars before I was legally allowed to drink. That was of course years ago but I learned a great deal in the process. It was a very hard lesson learned but I value credit much more now than I ever did.

I think it should be a requirement of High School Economics to teach the value of credit and what can happen if you mess up. Although everyone's situation is different (Medical, Military Deployment, etc.), not every 18 year old is financially savvy.

So after all of my endless babbling, I definitely love 5.8% over 20% any day of the week. I'll bide my time until I raise my score and get lower CC utilization and DTI to go for a refinance

 

[ballmode]

As much as I want the newer 08+ WRX to replace the one I got, I think its a downgrade other than a quieter interior.

The car doesn't have a Viscous LSD in the rear it's electronic I believe.

08 models are the softest suspension wise and I think they have the worst looking wheels. I think they went 235 rubber from 09 or 10+, does yours wear 225?

still 5x100 hubs