Which dealership?

[Tide]

Seems like the top two are Santa Cruz and Carlsen in the bay area. I bought my WRX at Carlsen and am still impressed with their service.

[Gumby]

I'm happy with Santa Cruz, can't be anything wrong with any dealership that offers you $1500 under msrp right off the bat. The service dept is a winner, they follow a more comprehensive maintenance schedule than the owners manual suggests. I'm going to hit them up for a test drive in an STi one of these days, they always seem to have at least 3 on their lot at any one time.

[Tide]

Unless of course I get a great deal from, say, a Texas dealership. :)

[P2x]

I bought my WRX through Steven's Creek Subaru... never again.

I heard good things about the Santa Cruz dealership so I'm gonna go through them.

[lucyninja]

Gumby,

Have you been over at Santa Cruz Subaru any time recently?
I'm interested in a GT Ltd 5sp. A great excuse to
head over the hill. Thanks :!:

[Ken S]

I bought my LGT Ltd wagon at Santa Cruz. At the time I placed my order (back in late May), Carlsen was not discounting very much.

Just pick up the phone or email Sandy (Sales Manager there) and he'll let you know right away what he has and a price. You can do it all over the phone if you'd like.

The other nice thing about Santa Cruz is that they try to make up for the fact that they are far away from most Bay Area owners by having their service department open on weekends. They also loan out Subarus for the same price you would pay for a Geo Metro from Enterprise.

Ken

[blanston]

i've heard plenty of bad stories from i-club about stevens creek subaru in san jose. i went down there last week to draw my own conclusion.
i've never been so poorly treated in ANY car dealer in my life. no one should waste their time in this dealership and as i said to them before i left the dealership i will tell as many people i know not to step foot into stevens creek subaru: to which one of the managers mohammed reacted; "yeah, yeah, sure..." his disregard for customer service is an embarassment to SOA. tell a friend

[bossies1]

I bought my Legacy wagon from Nick at S.C.Subaru, and couldn't be happier. No pressure, good pricing and good service.

[DAP]

service department open on weekends.

Good to know. I bought my car at Livermore, Santa Cruz did not have a white sedan at the time. I havn't had any trouble with Livermore, but the most they will do on weekends is an oil change. Never been to Santa Cruz, but it is about the same distance from where I live.
Stevens Creek is closer, but I won't go there...

[Myogi_Nightkid]

Stevens Creek Subaru has the worst customer service ever. Me and my friend went to check out the STi when it just came out. At the time, my friend drives a 1998 mitsubishi mirage and we rode in it cause he's thinking of trading it in for the STi.

No one even bothered to greet us. So we just helped ourselves looking for the STi. We checked it out and this one dealer guy approaches us and goes, "The only option on that car are the Gold Rims". I go, "You mean the BBS ones?". He goes, "What are you talking about!!? I'm only telling you what is the option for that car just in case you are really getting it!".

Then my friend got pissed and we decided to check out other lots. He ended up getting an Audi A4 1.8T with UltraSport Package on the same day.

After an hour and a half of getting a very good deal done, we went back to Steven's Creek Subaru with his brand spanking new Audi A4. Right when we came out, the same guy that gave us the "Gold Rim Option" crap came rushing to greet us.

Before he can even blurt out a "Hello", I go, "Hey! Remember us? Oh right! You just dissed us about an hour and a half ago". Oh his reaction was priceless. So we ignored him and went to check out the STi one more time and left. Bastards.

[Stef]

S.C.Subaru

uh, S.C. = Stevens Creek, or Santa Cruz? heh

[mattm]

I had a very good experience with Ron Price Subaru in South San Francisco. Don't actually have the car yet, but it's on order and I have the price in writing. The salesman I dealt with was pretty knowledgeable and very low-key, no high pressure sales B.S. Their initial price offer was disappointing, but when I got a very good offer from Santa Cruz through a web site service, Ron Price matched it within a few minutes and without trying to haggle. (Might have been because it was the last day of the month, I don't know.) Also, I visited twice before going back the third time to buy, and the first two times he didn't pull any of the annoying car dealer tricks to try to keep me from leaving, just gave me his card and said hope to hear from you.

I've had lots of bad experiences at car dealership in my life, and I must say it was easy, in fact almost pleasant, working with the salesman at Ron Price.

Looking forward to the delivery of my car in 3-5 weeks! They told me 6-8 weeks from order to delivery -- has anyone else ordered a 2005 Legacy, and how long did it actually take?

-Matt

[*Jedimaster*]

You have to take the one with the best reputation and remember that they're all out to ream you hard. They all suck in one way or another, they're all evil and they all forget about you once the sale is made.

[turingmachine]

I picked up my Silver GT Wagon last Saturday from Subaru of Santa Cruz, and I must say that, aside from the hassle of heading over the hill, it was honestly the easiest and most stress-free car purchasing experience I've had.

After getting d!cked around by Stephen's Creek for a bit (they even let me redline the test-drive car, the morons -- anyway) I decided to talk to the folks in Santa Cruz. They didn't have anything I wanted in stock (this was back in August), so they told me I would have to order from the factory. When they offered me a whopping $4 over invoice with the options I wanted, I put down a deposit and have been very satisfied with their service ever since.

Now, if only I can get the car over 1000 miles, I can stop driving like a gramps...

[Gumby]

Glad you had a good experience at Santa Cruz turningmachine, will you be coming over the hill for service also?

[warnoldscu]

I bought my leg in Reno, but I go to school at SCU, so I went to the Steven's Creek one because I'm missing a small clip on one of the plastic engine covers. The first time they couldn't help me and told me I'd have to pay for it (though it's not my fault it's missing) and the second time was about 2 or 3 weeks ago and I waited for about a half hour just to talk to someone to order it and I still haven't heard from them! I'm off to Santa Cruz next time.

[turingmachine]

Glad you had a good experience at Santa Cruz turningmachine, will you be coming over the hill for service also?

Yes, indeed. It's nice that they've got weekend service hours, which makes it all the more convenient for me. Besides, the folks at Santa Cruz were great to deal with, and I think the exemplary service I received deserves my continued business.

What's nice is that they will not only drop you off and pick you up anywhere in the county while your car gets serviced, but all I really have to do is slap my mountain bike on a roof-rack and pedal on down to hang out at the beach for a few hours. What on earth could be wrong with that?

[Gumby]

Yes the dealership has a great location being close to downtown as well as beaches. The service advisors, Bruce and Mark are also great guys. They will also give you a free loaner car if you need it, great opportunity to ride around in a Baha for a few hours and notice how many looks you get.

[hotrodwagon]

I've been a customer of Carlsen for the past 7 years. I found the exact car I wanted at both Carlsen and Santa Cruz. Like others have said, SC was really friendly and gave me their best price over the phone. I worked with Greg at Carlsen (also friendly and no-pressure) and he matched the price to keep my business there. Santa Cruz gives you free oil changes for the 1st 30,000 miles, and both dealers give 10% off of parts.