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As for the yellow car, I would look for another color if I was you. If you can find a blue or green, I'd pick those. Both are more unique with the RX-8 but in a positive way. The yellow is bordering on obnoxious and might be difficult to resale since it's usually not popular with a lot of people. A certain yellow works with certain cars, but the yellow RX-8 is blinding. Silver and gray are also nice but black is hard to keep clean as you probably experienced with your past cars.
As far as the transaction, I would suggest doing your research (TMV here, etc.), decide what you are willing to pay, and offer that. If you start asking a dealer how much above cost he wants to make, things can get confusing. Nowhere is the KISS principal more important than at the car dealership.
As far as the color, my advice is get whatever you want. If yellow does it for you, then buy the yellow. You are spending a huge amount of $$ on this car, and you should get exactly what makes you happy. Yellow is a polarizing color (some love it, some hate it) but on specialty cars like an RX-8, bold colors are common. There are many yellow Vettes running around.
As an old RX-7 owner (that baby even had a choke!) I say don't worry about the rotary engine. Never had any problems with my '82, and this generation is probably much, much better.
You won't regret buying one.
As for color, the Corvette is a different style of vehicle so the yellow looks good on it due to it being lower to the ground and greater width. Plus, it's a different shade of yellow. It isn't a lemon yellow like the RX-8. Since sweetc230 was concerned with resale value, it's important to take an alternative color into consideration. Why get a car that either some hate it or some love it when you can get a car color that not only you love but most others do as well?
Which brings me to my point, which is, an RX-8 isn't likely to hold its value very well in any event. Rotary engines seem risky to many people, and they won't touch them. So, I wouldn't sweat the color so much on resale. That won't be the deal maker or breaker so much as the engine.
As far as the negotiation, at one time I was pretty much with you, but these days, as I get a little older and less patient, I am not so much concerned about leaving a few bucks on the table if I can get out of the dealership with my car a couple of hours faster. Plus, there are some dealerships where you simply must go through a sales rep, either on the floor or through the internet. You can't always dictate how a dealership wants to run its business.
Sometimes you can fairly accurately get a good resale picture with cars that have a track record (like an Accord or Camry). While earlier RX vehicles held their value very well, the RX8 is new to the market. I've conferred with the "trade-in value" guru here at Edmunds(rroyce) several months ago about this very issue. He believes they will hold their value very well. Leasing companies are pegging the values after a 4 year lease a little better than 50% ($14k-$17k, give or take and depending on options), which is quite good. But, until there are a multitude of them on the used market, it will be hard to tell. Aside from e-bay, I've yet to see any on the used market. As others have stated, all the colors look good. I'd bet that yellow is the least favorite among current owners, however. All the colors are nice. The red and nordic green actually have gold metal flake in the paint. My winning blue has the silver metal flake as do the titanium and silver. I've never looked closely at the yellow, but I don't get the impression it has any sort of metal flake in it, if that matters.
Ask 5 different people how they negotiate for a car and you'll probably get 5 different answers. Make the deal you feel comfortable with.
'05 chsnges? Doubt there will be much. Rumor of offering white as a color....maybe offering a MAzdaspeed version, perhaps auto HVAC, but that's about it. My guess is that there will be a price increase, too.
My version of being direct is to make what I consider my best offer right away.
Yours is to find out what the dealer wants for his car right away. I think we are doing the same thing in different ways.
Just wish I could make an offer on an RX-8. Sadly, a sports car, even one as good as the 8, won't work for me right now. To those of you buying one, my color is green - for envy :<)
In response to the haggling issue, I kind of enjoy the negotiating aspect of car buying. I certainly wouldn't go in there and put 4% over invoice on the table and say take it or leave it. I'll probably start at invoice and hopefully end up no higher than 4%. As far as how much the dealership wants to make on their vehicles, I just not too concerned with that. I am a believer in going in at the end of the month/quarter on a rainy day around 11am and trying to get them to close the deal under a little pressure and on a slow day. I'll keep you guys informed about my decision.
That makes me think of some ads I've seen in the paper. I love the screamer ads where the fine print says the ad price includes both "customer loyalty rebate" and "conquest rebate." LOL
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
·1 March 3, 2004 through July 5, 2004
Vehicles must be sold and delivered within this program period to be eligible.
Eligible Vehicles/Cash Incentive:
·1 All new and unused 2004 and 2005 Mazdas: $ 1,000 customer cash bonus.
Eligible Customers:
·1 The $1,000 conquest can be transferred within the household. The Mazda Credit pre-approval cannot be transferred, and is only valid for the person named on the certificate.
Proof of Eligibility:
At least one set of qualifying documents is required for redemption per purchase/lease. Acceptable proof for eligibility is original direct mail certificate (copies will not be accepted).
If conquest offer is transferred within the household, proof of residence is required.
Ineligible Vehicles:
·1 RDR type F (Fleet)
·2 Vehicles intended for export,
·3 Brokered units.
·4 Units acquired at auction
·5 All vehicles originally ordered by or shipped to non-United States dealers.
·6 Rental service units
·7 2002 & 2003 MY Vehicles
Restrictions/Other Rules:
·1 Mazda reserves the right to cancel, amend, or revoke the program at any time without written notice.
·2 The customer is not required to finance or lease through Mazda Credit to be eligible for the $1,000 conquest incentive
·3 There is a limit of one Competitive Lease Conquest direct mail certificate per customer, per vehicle.
·4 If vehicle is specially ordered, the customer must take delivery by July 5, 2004. Vehicles delivered after July 5, 2004 are not eligible for the incentive (no order protection).
·5 US residency restrictions apply/ultimate consumer must live in the United States.
First question...what's a residency restriction?
2nd....why is their such a restriction?
Just curious....
In regards to your question, that particular incentive is ONLY by
direct mail to pre-determined participation. Unfortunately, we can not
add you to this mailing list.
Just my .02
I got one of the ones from the first batch that hit U.S. shores. I don't know how long it would take to order one from Hiroshima.
They are starting to get a little scarce again around my 'burg since Spring is here. This past winter, I saw 6-10 on the lot at my dealer. For the last month or so, that number has dwindled to about 2 or 3.
As you've probably read, the RX8 has been picked by just about every trade rag (and here at Edmunds) as the best of the bunch when compared to the 350Z/G35c/Cobra.
You can't go wrong no matter how you get yours equipped.
My only "nit" is it's hard to locate the remote trunk opener on the right side of the dash. In all honesty, that's it.
I paid 26,211 (plus tax and the $120 title fee) because it was an in-stock vehicle. The internet sales manager was a very honest and A+ salesperson.
Please let us know your impressions once you've had a chance to live with it for a while.
I don't expect this to be the case a month from now as most dealers are swinging into the sports car season when all these models become more in demand.
Most surprizing is the deals on Corvettes. I've never seen those kinds of deals ever on those cars. With the new Vette about to be released, The C5 (which I like a lot), would be mighty tempting if I was in the market. I wouldn't remotely consider getting rid of my RX8, though.
The past few months with the reasonable weather has produced a huge increase in RX-8 sales. Our selling prices have jumped with the increased demand also.
The RX8 has been neck and neck with 350Z sales since its introduction.
Judging by buckeye3d's invoice purchase price in Ohio, the RX-8s are not selling so well that dealers don't have to discount it. To be fair to the 350Z, I've seen a lot more of those on the road (or parked) than I have RX-8s...at least in my area (even though the RX-8 is a better vehicle). However, I did see a nice blue one this weekend for the first time. It will be interesting to see the bottom line when Mazda comes out with the 2005 version of the RX-8 so you can get a better idea about the direction they are headed.
I don't think mazda is planning on building 30K RX-8's for the US market....I believe the US number was around 18K units for 2004. Jan-April they have sold 8234.
Anyway, maybe 30K was North America. I saw the number in a few articles but they never specfied. However, the number you state is 8,234 just in one quarter. Is that U.S. sales? That sure seems like an annual production of 30K vehicles if it is.
- Grand Touring Package
- Appearance Package
- Rear Spolier
- 36 month lease
- 12,000 miles per year
- $0 down
What do you think would be a fair monthly payment?
I almost made a similar decision trying to lease a car a few years ago. (Ended up financing it and the VW turned out to be a lemon anyway.) Car_man over at the Leasing Questions board usually recommends putting $0 down on a lease if possible. Check out that thread if you have time. There is a wealth of great info over there.
Did you trade in your Olds? How much did they give you for it? Did you have a payoff on it?
Not trying to be nosy, but why did they turn you down.
This deal "smells" funny. I know that there are dealers who do some wierd financials, but this borders on ridiculous, unless there are some factors here we don't know about.
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The RX8 is the fresh new face and, as such, wooed the editors of the enthusiast mags who immediately dumped the Z which had been their previous darling. When the 300HP Mustang GT comes out this fall it'll become the media darling and get all the attention. I guarantee those willing to wait until the end of the year will be able to get a pretty good deal on an RX8.
That said, all sports cars tend to harder to dicker over with a dealer because they tend to be limited production, high interest cars. You'll never be able to get some super deal like your dad does on his Impala. 8^)
As well reviewed as the Accord has been, you can buy one near invoice because of supply/demand. As you said, there are a lot more Impalas (and Accords) being produced than either the 350Z/G35c or RX8s.
Regarding your Mustang annalogy, I don't know if they'll be the "hit" you predict. Surely, they'll get some initial boost in sales because it taps into the current nostalgic styling craze. But, like the now defunct "nostalgic" Thunderbird, it has some serious shortcomings....not the least of, it doesn't have an independent rear suspension.....a fault that I think will be a big blunder on Ford's part. It'll sell for at or above MSRP for a few months until Ford cranks up the production volume, but it will eventually fall prey to the "Big 3s" scheme of rebates in pretty short order. The reason Ford has had success with the Mustang is that you can get a fairly "hot" GT model for the price of some pretty mundane cars.
All cars have shortcomings as no car manufacturer has ever made the perfect car. I think what caused the trade rags, including Edmunds, to fall all over themselves with the RX8 over the 350Z, was the mere fact that the RX8 proved the 350Z to be a "1-trick pony". Yes, it had great acceleration and, at least on paper, looked to handle well. But when all was said and done, the RX8 proved you could have speed, handling, great build quality, high quality materials, also.
My RX8 is a year old this month. I still find it's blend of all the above attributes intoxicating every time I drive it. Plus, there isn't another car, short of a super car, that offers the visceral thrill you get with the 9K RPM RENESIS (OK, add-in carliker's S2000 to that list).
Just a casual observation, but I see more 350Zs on the used lots than I do on the road.