Drove and made an offer on a LGT

Picked the last day of Sept to make my move. wanted to trade my '02 WRX sedan, WRB pearl, 5spd, 32K mi, security, carbon trim, sub, guages for a silver LGT sedan. LGT was a silver sedan, 5spd, short throw shift, sub, dim mirror and upgrade security and a rear spoier (which i do not like) $27,898 MSRP. i drove the LGT and had some observations, much more low end torque and a better first gear ratio (I beleive) made for much better dead stop starts with the A/C on. the LGT still has what i consider a shudder during acceleration but not as much as the WRX. Didnt like the sub being installed under the drivers seat in lieu of the passenger as on the WRX. cup holders seemed wobbly with a 20oz bottle. didnt try a 12 oz can, so tired of making my drink selections based on a 12oz can in the WRX LGT gauges are excellent. seats felt just as good as the WRX in my brief 20 minute test drive with the salesman yacking in my ear. LGT stereo still the same ol same ol subie standard of average quality. LGT sedan Trunk space is no larger than the WRX (.4 cu ft), very disappointing, and i dont want a wagon. didnt notice any major body roll but didnt throw it into any corners, a quick full throttle blast up to 5000RPM or so indicated the excellent power we all know about. ended up about $1500 apart on the difference between the two cars from what i was going to pay and what the dealer wanted, i stood my ground so no deal was struck. this wasnt the dealer i bought my WRX from and i had never tried to deal with this dealer before, i much prefer my original dealer (unaccompanied test drive, no ridiculous first offer by dealer) but they didnt have any non limited GT's in stock. this is just my breif observations and i probaly didnt tell anyone anything they didnt already know (unlike the saleman who knew little, i am used to uniformed sales staff that no much less then i about their product but it still amazes and irritates me)

Just call the dealer back and talk to a sales manager. You should be able to get the car within $500 of invoice price.

Try edmunds.com and ask for internet price quotes from several dealers. Give it a couple weeks and let them compete for your business. At or below invoice looks to be do-able. Good luck!

I had the upgraded stereo in my 04 WRX, and the stereo in the Legacy is considerably better. It's cleaner and can go louder without distortion, I think it's amplified better than the WRX stereo was.

Make sure you look at the Guaranteed Trade-in Program on your WRX. On the [url]www.subaru.com[/url] website, it is listed in the bottom left corner or check out: [url]http://www.subaru.com/gtp/gtpWhatis.jsp[/url] This gives you a very good no-haggle trade-in price on your WRX. I got my Outback XT at invoice with a 17, 200 trade in for my '03 WRX. Add in 3 years free maintenance, $500 free SubaruBucks (part of GTP program) and 2.9% financing, and it is a very good haggle-free price. Should be easy to find a dealer willing to sell at invoice using the internet. Good Luck.

[quote name='Driver72']Just call the dealer back and talk to a sales manager. You should be able to get the car within $500 of invoice price.[/quote] If they aren't going to work within $500 of the invoice go elsewhere. Anything over $500 above invoice, you've been ripped off. I hated the spoiler at first, ask anyone here, I really detested it. After a month of owning my car, I really like it now. I saw a spoilerless LGT in the same color as mine yesterday, and I didn't like the look of the car spoilerless anymore. I have a regal blue LGT. Goodluck with your purschase. If the place you bought your last Subaru was good, then go there. Don't deal with a crappy dealership. - Mike

[quote name='boris']Make sure you look at the Guaranteed Trade-in Program on your WRX. On the [url]www.subaru.com[/url] website, it is listed in the bottom left corner or check out: [url]http://www.subaru.com/gtp/gtpWhatis.jsp[/url] This gives you a very good no-haggle trade-in price on your WRX. I got my Outback XT at invoice with a 17, 200 trade in for my '03 WRX. Add in 3 years free maintenance, $500 free SubaruBucks (part of GTP program) and 2.9% financing, and it is a very good haggle-free price. Should be easy to find a dealer willing to sell at invoice using the internet. Good Luck.[/quote] I used the GTP program, and got $16,350 or so for my 03 wrx that had over 46,000 miles. I paid $26,225 for an 05 Legacy GT Limited sedan, and used the positive equity from my trade as a down payment. The GTP program is exceptional.

Trust me I had the Sales Mgr attention as we negoiated all the way to the parking lot, him standing outside my car, me in it with the motor running. Glad to hear the stereo is better than the WRX, didnt have enough alone seat time to make this comparison. The Guaranteed Trade-in Program for a '02 WRX Sedan in my case with 32Kmi, well optioned (sub, carbon fiber trim, security, guages) at $15,100 isnt a good deal, we were well above that at the dealer but glad to hear it works for others. I was there to get a great deal and was only was offered a fair deal. I will drive the WRX (still very happy with it) for a while and try again at another low volume sales period.

I used the GTP program to trade my 02 WRX for an 05LGT Ltd. Got 15,200 for the WRX (52K miles) and bought the LGT Ltd for $100 over invoice...plus got the $25 for the test drive plus the $500 SubaruBucks that I'll use for a short throw shifter. IMHO, it is a pretty good time to do the trade if you are inclined to do it. BTW, the stereo is AWESOME - not sure if it is different in the Ltd or not. I pulled thousands of dollars in aftermarket audio equipment out of my WRX and only ended up using my sub and one amp and left everything else as is in the LGT Ltd. The guy who owns the audio business I deal with (whose ear I trust and who has done alot of work for me) could not believe how good the stock system sounded. He advised me NOT to use my head unit, tweeters, 4 other speakers because the stock system sounded so good. The night before I went to see him (he had already removed all my equipment from the WRX and had blocked out a day to install it all in the LGT), I listened to all of my favorite CDs on the stock system. I could not hear any differences between it and what I had in the WRX...in fact, the LGT stock sound sounded slightly better. I was relieved when the audio business owner confirmed my impression. He could have made a pretty penny reinstalling equipment taken out of my WRX. Instead, he confirmed my impression of him - honest. In fact, he loved the interior of the LGT Ltd. and told me the installers (who he said are very critical) were very complimentary of the build quality of the vehicle. He said Subaru paid alot of attention to detail with this car. I love the sound - best I've had in any vehicle - and I've paid lots of money over many years and cars to build good quality sound systems in the cars I've owned. This was completely unexpected and quite a surprise. I ripped ALL the stock audio equipment out of my WRX and just expected to do the same with the LGT. No need. Enjoy.

Now if we could just add an iPod, or XM to it.

[quote name='emlevins']He advised me NOT to use my head unit[/quote] Even so, did your guy figure out some way to actually install an aftermarket head unit in there??? :?:

for that matter, how did he get your sub and amp in there?

[quote name='emlevins'] BTW, the stereo is AWESOME - not sure if it is different in the Ltd or not. [/quote] How'd you get the McIntosh stereo in the US? :P The stock stereo not bad but it leaves much to be desired...

[quote name='bemani'][quote name='emlevins']He advised me NOT to use my head unit[/quote] Even so, did your guy figure out some way to actually install an aftermarket head unit in there??? :?:[/quote] No...he did not address installation of an aftermarket head unit. I did not in any way want to mess up the look of the center stack and I prefer the stock 6 disk changer rather than the single play CD player in my other head unit.

[quote name='plunk10']for that matter, how did he get your sub and amp in there?[/quote] The sub is a bass tube unit and is installed in the trunk alongside the amp that is running it. I can probably send along a picture of the install if you would like to see. It is very neatly done.

[quote name='Th3Franz'][quote name='emlevins'] BTW, the stereo is AWESOME - not sure if it is different in the Ltd or not. [/quote] How'd you get the McIntosh stereo in the US? :P The stock stereo not bad but it leaves much to be desired...[/quote] What is the McIntosh stereo? Are the audio systems in all LGTs the same (aside from the sub accessory)?

[quote name='emlevins']BTW, the stereo is AWESOME - not sure if it is different in the Ltd or not. I pulled thousands of dollars in aftermarket audio equipment out of my WRX and only ended up using my sub and one amp and left everything else as is in the LGT Ltd. The guy who owns the audio business I deal with (whose ear I trust and who has done alot of work for me) could not believe how good the stock system sounded. He advised me NOT to use my head unit, tweeters, 4 other speakers because the stock system sounded so good. The night before I went to see him (he had already removed all my equipment from the WRX and had blocked out a day to install it all in the LGT), I listened to all of my favorite CDs on the stock system. I could not hear any differences between it and what I had in the WRX...in fact, the LGT stock sound sounded slightly better. I was relieved when the audio business owner confirmed my impression. He could have made a pretty penny reinstalling equipment taken out of my WRX. Instead, he confirmed my impression of him - honest. In fact, he loved the interior of the LGT Ltd. and told me the installers (who he said are very critical) were very complimentary of the build quality of the vehicle. He said Subaru paid alot of attention to detail with this car. I love the sound - best I've had in any vehicle - and I've paid lots of money over many years and cars to build good quality sound systems in the cars I've owned. This was completely unexpected and quite a surprise. I ripped ALL the stock audio equipment out of my WRX and just expected to do the same with the LGT. No need. Enjoy.[/quote] Blasphemer! In case you haven't read, the stock system in the GT is terrible. You'll go deaf just listening to it, it's so bad. Now, if we had that fancy JDM McIntosh setup with all the speakers, everything would be peachy. :lol: I'm with you on the stock system. Sounds great, no worries. Kevin

[quote name='IwannaSportSedan']Now if we could just add an iPod, or XM to it.[/quote] Actually, I had an XM unit with car adapter in my WRX that I was going to install in the LGT. However, it would have had to sit on the dash because there was no other really good place to install it (too big). So...the dealer sold me another XM radio (XM Commander...very small unit which fits perfectly in the flip up storage area just below the dash in the center stack - so it is completely hidden). Unfortunately, it has to be hooked through the FM radio with a modulator (my installer tells me there is no choice because the stock unit does not have an aux input) - my other unit was hooked directly to my previous head unit via an aux input and the sound was MUCH better that way than it is now - it was a sacrifice made for asthetics). CDs sound ten times better than the XM radio now (they sounded about equal in my WRX)...but I listen to alot of talk radio on XM and not as much music so I figure I can live with it until some other solution comes along. My wife has the other XM radio in her car and is thrilled.

[quote name='emlevins'][quote name='Th3Franz'][quote name='emlevins'] BTW, the stereo is AWESOME - not sure if it is different in the Ltd or not. [/quote] How'd you get the McIntosh stereo in the US? :P The stock stereo not bad but it leaves much to be desired...[/quote] What is the McIntosh stereo? Are the audio systems in all LGTs the same (aside from the sub accessory)?[/quote] The McIntosh is a suped up stereo in Japan, Europe, and Australia, if I remember correctly. It consists of more power and better and more speakers. The audio systems in all of the US LGTs are the same to my knowledge, except for the mentioned "sub" acessory, though I would hardly call it that in all honesty. (Yeah I'm getting pickier and pickier when it comes to audio, and my wallet is starting to show that.. :X )

[quote name='"emlevins"'][quote name='IwannaSportSedan']Now if we could just add an iPod, or XM to it.[/quote] I'm told (in another thread) that there is a solution to this (i.e. adding an iPod or XM wthout an FM Modulator)...check the sticky in the "interior" forum.