[Soopafly]

First of all, this is my first post, so I would just like to say Hello to Everyone!!, and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!!

Now for my problem....I'm stuck overseas in Iceland, and I can't get a STi, not because of $$, but because of a technicality in shipping.

So I was wondering if the '05 STi was in fact coming to the US, and if so, weather or not it will be as good, or better than the '04 STi. If not I'm thinking about buying an '04 STi and putting it in storage for 11 months....I know this is pretty early to be inquiring about the '05 STi.....but I've never felt worse about something, and could really use some info. to make a decision soon!....All replys will be much apreciated!!!thx

 

[m ben]

one would suspect that an '05MY STi would be slightly more expensive MSRP-wise, but you might be able to get one at a lower actual price (below MSRP) due to demand dying down a bit.

I do not believe that there are any safety/emissions regulations changing from '04 to '05 model years, so there would not be any reason Subaru wouldn't be able to keep selling the '04 spec car for '05. I think there may be some changes for '06 due to emissions, but I'm not up to speed on future emissions rules. waiting for an '05 might provide a larger selection of colors, options or perhaps even a wagon (currently not planned anywhere, but one can always hope). there might be added resale value to having an '04 for the rarity/first year factor, but on the flip side, it's very rare that an older car of the basically same model will be more valuable than a newer one.

it seems silly to pay the payments, insurance & storage on an '04 car for 11 months until you return. if you have a dealer in mind, see if they will agree to sell you the last car they get allocated for the '04 model year, which would delay the delivery of the car as much as possible, saving you on storage/insurance.

If you already have an early spot in line at a dealer, you could swap your spot with someone lower down the list at that dealer & still be assured of getting a car in the first year. I suspect that the dealer wouldn't have any problems doing this, even if they had a big list, since they would be selling the same number of cars either way. you would have to know exactly what the dealer's allocation was for the year to know which person to swap spots with, but a helpful dealer would know this and be able to get you in touch with the person farther down the list.




Ben
high on list, might move down due to size of current fleet :-(

 

[Soopafly]

THX....m ben for the ideas. I just have a really bad feeling that if I don't get an '04 STi, something will go seriously wrong, like no '05 STi, or just a watered down version, and I'm only interested in a new car(sick of used cars and used car probs) then again I'm prolly just paranoid.

If you lose sleep over somthing like this does that=pathetic. :-?

 

[91TB78]

Soopafly,
I too, am stuck overseas in Germany. If I only had 11 months to go, I would wait. Don't worry about not being a 05 STi or Evo for that matter. If nothing else they will be better in some ways..possibly. I have about 2 years left and I am gonna ship mine. The only downside is that I am going to be spending about another $1500 out of pocket to get it shipped to me. Oh well. I will probably still get around a year and a half in Europe to use the car.
Todd

 

[Albert]

When I was on active duty certain manufactures would "divert" US spec vehicles directly to overseas location for delivery at a local dealership. Have to checked if this is an option in Germany?

 

[91TB78]

Albert,
Yeah they still do the same thing for us here in Germany. We can get BMW, Volvo, Saab, and Mini available at tax-free and at a considerable price difference. WE can also get US-spec vehicles from Toyota, Honda, Audi, VW, Chevrolet, Ford, etc. My wife and I actually bought a 2002 4Runner for a decent price w/o tax. No such luck on Subaru though.

 

[Soopafly]

Hey 91TB78, why you paying out of your pocket, wont the government pay to have it shipped, unless, of course, your not in the military. This is my problem. The military said they will only pay for shipping if I have 12 months or more left to do overseas the day the ship receives the car. Right now I have 18 months, but when the STi gets released in May I will only have 11 months so I have to pay for shipping, and to Iceland its about $3,000, possibly more.

 

[91TB78]

Hey 91TB78, why you paying out of your pocket, wont the government pay to have it shipped, unless, of course, your not in the military.

I am in the military and I have more than 12 months on station, but we used up our vehicle shipment allotment. My wife is also ADAF, but we shipped our 90 Honda Accord and my Honda F4i sportbike before I sold it. So, it looks like I am gonna pay out of pocket. I don't understand why it would cost you $3000 or more to Iceland. They quoted me around $1500+. My guess is b/c Iceland gets WAY less POV shipments than say Germany.