Snowbird sleigh search ends with nearly new Subaru
Every car has a story. The tough part is finding the previous owners to tell it.
Museums are full of cars “with provenance,’’ a history detailing their ownership often going back a century (or more).
In comparison, our tale today barely constitutes a short story. It’s about the 2015 Subaru Legacy Limited that Mrs. G now owns jointly with a finance company.
We bought the car on Jan. 25 in Fort Myers, Fla.
Here’s how the car and we wound up together.
Checking the Legacy’s Carfax report, we learned it was purchased in Columbus, Ohio, last Aug. 6. The next notation was that the Legacy was taken in trade at Fort Myers Jaguar Land Rover in October with 2,875 miles on the odometer.
Obviously, the car had to get from Point A to Point B. If it were driven, that would account for most of that mileage.
If you’re like me, you’d surmise that someone bought the car, drove it to Florida, and then decided they needed something more luxurious to keep up with the neighbors. It turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong. So much for reading between the lines of a Carfax report. The real story always is better.
Thanks to the folks at Planet Subaru in Hanover (actually owner Jeff Morrill) and Jaguar Land Rover in Fort Myers, we got in touch with the original owner—Joseph Lambuca of Westerville, Ohio, and Fort Myers.
He told us what actually happened before we found the car listed on CarGurus.com. But more about that later.
PRACTICALLY NEW: Once we unraveled the mystery of our Subaru’s provenance, we appreciated all the more its many safety and technology options.
Side note: In searching for vehicles, I came to like this site’s rating of dealer listings with green, orange, and red arrows (great deal, good deal, fair deal, high price, and overpriced). It also lists how long the car has been on the dealer’s lot.
Our Legacy had been on the lot for 66 days, despite its low mileage. The CarGurus listing had a green great deal arrow next to it and notations that the price had been dropped significantly several times.
It was about to be sent to auction, according to dealership rules that limit the time a car can stay in inventory.
The explanation for its slow sale is simple. Subarus, which sell extremely well back North, aren’t real hot items in southwest Florida. You DO see a lot of Foresters, Outbacks, and XV Crosstreks on the roads here, but almost all have plates from elsewhere along with a Snowbird at the wheel.
Besides the price and mileage, this Legacy’s equipment was a draw for us. It had Package 23, a $2,990 option group that added a power moonroof, keyless entry with pushbutton starting, navigation, voice controls, and Subaru’s Eyesight Driver-Assist System. Mrs. G wanted the navigation; I wanted the safety suite.
Story continues after gallery
Subaru Legacy and other Top Safety Pick+ winners for 2016
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The Eyesight package provides pre-collision braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, lane sway warning, and a pre-collision throttle management system.
In addition, the Limited model already comes with a rearview camera, cross-traffic alert, blind-spot detection, and lane-change assist.
We’ve had the privilege of driving a number of vehicles with some or all of these systems as they’ve come to market and we had put them on our list of what to include in our next car purchase, along with some of the other cars that have earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Pick+ rating.
Among the cars we considered: Honda Civic and Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, Lexus Ct 200h, Mazda3, and Toyota Camry.
We contacted a number of dealerships in Florida to ask about particular cars. It’s a generalization, but the response of their internet or call center folks usually was too intense for me with high pressure to make an appointment to meet so-and-so on their sales staff. Several times I said, “If just calling results in such high pressure, what’s it going to be like if I walk into the showroom?’’
Debra Conroy, the voice of Ft. Myers Jaguar Land Rover, was notably different. On one hand, she was having a chatty conversation with us; on the other, she surely was analyzing our needs versus the car’s features. She asked if she could double-check the car’s equipment and call us back.
To shorten what’s becoming an interminably long story, she decided we were a match and put us in touch with four transplanted New Englanders—salesman Vin Ciulla (Worcester), GM Brian Del Negro, sales manager Nick Del Negro (they’re brothers), and finance guru Morgan Kin.
Closing the deal was ridiculously easy amid the homecoming chitchat. There simply was no room to negotiate.
When I spoke with previous owner Lambuca later, he asked, “What did you pay for the car?’’ It had an original sticker price of $31,945.
“$24,998. They said it was basically what they had [$24,788] in the car,’’ was my response.
“You got a good deal. I think they allowed me more than that on the trade,’’ he said.
“What did you buy, a new Land Rover?’’
“No. A Nissan Rogue. We’d bought a new place in Fort Myers and every time I went out with my wife to buy stuff for it, the boxes wouldn’t fit in the Subaru.’’
Normally, our story would end here, but car stories keep adding chapters.
“Did you enjoy driving the Subaru down from Ohio?’’
“Drive? We shipped it.’’
“What will you drive when you get home?’’
“That’s no problem. I’ve got a dozen or more cars there—Mercedes, Maserati, Jaguar, pickup trucks, T-Birds.’’
“Did you trade one in on the Subaru?’’
“That might have been my mistake. I traded a 2007 Corvette Indy Pace Car edition.’’
“Why’d you buy a Legacy?’’
“My son had one that he drove for about 300,000 miles.’’
“So … do you have any plans to buy another car down here?’’
“My next car will be a Ferrari, if I can find the right one.’’
That, of course, led to more questions.
Lambuca is a first-generation Italian immigrant. He learned high quality auto body repair in Genoa, Italy, then honed his skills at two shops in the United States before opening (and growing) his successful IBS shop in Ohio.
IBS, by the way, stands for Italian Body Shop, which his son Rocco is running.
This Legacy’s legacy is in our hands now.
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