Piston Slap: The Re-Stocking Fee?

by Sajeev Mehta

Updated: May 16th, 2014 Published: August 20th, 2012

Aaron writes:

Sajeev,

I currently own a 2007 WRX Wagon with a little over 100,000 miles on it. I love this car, even enough to overlook getting merely 21mpg. Anyways.

As is true with many import car owners who love too much, I started modifying the car almost as soon as I got it. It currently has a 3″ exhaust, a tune, and some miscellaneous other engine bits, with suspension components on order. The car is my current project, and I plan on keeping it for some time. There’s a slight problem though.

My problem is easy to spell: BRZ. Probably in a year or 18 months, I will give into temptation, and pull the trigger on a BRZ or FR-S (or some other cool thing that exists by then). So here’s my question (I’m getting to it, bear with me): Is it worth returning the car to stock? By the time I sell it, it will be 6 or 7 years old, and probably have north of 140,000 miles on it. The exhaust may be worth a few hundred bucks, the sway bars might be worth something, but very few other things will net any money at all. The real question is about the resale value of the car. I’d expect to get maybe 8k at best for a 140k+ mile Subaru, and that’s probably optimistic. Will the bolt-ons really push it down further?

Thanks in advance,

Aaron

Sajeev answers:

I hope there’s a good power adder for the BRZ/FR-S at that time, because you are taking a serious hit in performance from your current Subie. I haven’t had time to rant about the new RWD wonder, but since you opened that door for me…at least I’ll be brief:

2012 Subaru BRZ torque peak = 151 lb-ft @ 6000 rpm
2011 Ford Ranger Duratec I-4 torque peak = 154 lb-ft @3750 rpm
BRZ-LSX-FTW: think about it.

Well then! One way or another, the next owner of your WRX needs those stock parts. They add value and show that you aren’t a stereotypical WRX hackjob type of person. You know, one of those warranty-voiding, drive line punishing type of owner. Even if you are! But that’s not the point…

I don’t know which parts are the most valuable on the Subie forums’ classifieds section, but I’ll wager that the swaybars and the exhaust need to go up there. If you want the next owner to have the opportunity at having them, first offer it for sale with the stock parts in the cargo area. If that fails, return back to stock and offer the aftermarket parts for another $500-1000…or whatever sounds right to you. If that fails, sell as stock as possible and offer the bits to the forum.

Now if you’re just gonna trade this into a dealership or Carmax, forget everything I said: return it to stock. They always lower the value when they see non-stock stuff. Perhaps you should just give the aftermarket bits to someone so you can enjoy the better karma…why let the dealership give someone else that pleasure?

Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry.

#Modified #Resale #Stock #Subaru #TradeIn #Value #WRX

Sajeev Mehta

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2 of 55 comments

Tjh8402 on Aug 20, 2012

I get asked this question by people who are not car people all the time...whether a modified car is worth more. I'm inclined to say it depends on the modifications. Obviously dealers and Carmax will look at a car differently, but I'd guess that a Brabus or Renntech Mercedes, Lingenfelther Corvette, or Steeda/Saleen Mustang are probably worth more than an equivalent stock car (I realize Saleen was officially considered its own carmaker).

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RacerX996 on Aug 21, 2012

Taking a huge hit in performance is right. Regardless of what Subaru/Toyota/Scion say, just running the E.T. calculators shows that the WRX has a one second advantage in the quarter mile, which equates to about 10 car lengths or so at the end of 1,320 ft. Not my idea of a trade-up. That said, I saw the Scion version yesterday in real life, and it is a great looking car.

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