[KeithO]

There was an article in the printed version (I didn't see it on the website) reporting on people having their warranties voided when they go in for service and the dealer finds out that the owner has been autocrossing. The case-in-point was an Evo owner that ran the car in the local SCCA region. When he took the car in for repairs (admittedly significant), they told him that they knew he was autocrossing it (they wouldn't tell him how they knew) and that he was going to have to pay out-of-pocket for the repairs - $7k.

They also discussed the situation with Subaru where you get a year's SCCA membership with the purchase of a WRX so that you can "experience the full potential of your car".

In the grand scheme of things, I suppose this is fair, but it is something to keep in mind.

[KeithO]

soon they'll void warranty on pick-ups saying: "Sorry dude, it's not under warranty since you abused the truck... you put a load on it while driving"

Yeah, I have to believe as the "warranty wars" continue, the automaker's lawyers are going to be looking for ways to wriggle out of expensive warranty repairs. IIRC, the C5 Vette computers log highest g-force in all four axis, number of visits to the rev limiter and top speed in the car. The techs can download this as they see fit. FWIW, I talked to a guy that knew a guy who took his C5 to a lapping day and when he had the car in for some warranty work, the Service Manager came and told him that the car had been crashed according to the values stored in the computer (even through the airbags hadn't deployed). HE ended up getting the work done under warranty, but had a chat with the Service Manager...

I guess I can sit back and watch this issue as a spectator. I have never bought a new car and have never had a car with a manufacturer's warranty. ...and I don't plan to either.