Morning after and the dealer is aggressive in contacting us, trying to move the exact vehicle we want that is now again for sale. Their "MSRP plus" buyer's financing fell through so they kindly offered us the vehicle at MSRP :confuse: We thanked them but passed, they now want to special order the car for us :confuse:
I sent out emails to a few dealers late yesterday and tried Pepe Infiniti, since other posters had success dealing with them. I called them specifically and the internet manager got us numbers within fifteen minutes, look respectable and there are three vehicles coming into the Northeast within a week that match our spec, with several more in route the month after. We don't need the replacement for another 60 days, so a somewhat similar position to yours. I locked in the Dec "buy" rates (thank you again Dennis), with the deposit and depending on a change in Jan, we get the lower of the two.
Great timing, Jaxg35owner. I'm talking with the same Jax dealer about a G35 Journey, along with a dealer in Tampa and one in Atlanta. Can you tell me how much you paid over invoice not counting sales tax, tag reg. fee and $6 tire fee?
Right now, Atlantic Infiniti is at $472 over invoice not counting tax, tag and tire fee and it seems you did better. But I can't tell if you paid $35 to transfer a tag or $175 for a new one, for example??
Did they throw in any extras, oil changes anything for you??
They seem like pretty decent people to deal with so far but I was hoping to get it for $300 over invoice max, which would mean for me:
Journey at Invoice, $29,480 Performance Tire Package at Invoice, $345 Premium Package, $2155 Cargo Net at Invoice, $46 (don't care but they all have it!) Splash Guards at Invoice, $114 (don't care but they all have it!)
Total Invoice cost, $32855 Hoped for Max dealer markup over invoice, $300 Total I hope to pay $33125 plus $35 tag transfer, $6 tire fee, plus sales tax at 6%.
Thanks!
PS-Is anyone in Florida or Atlanta doing better than $300 over? (I'm including the bogus dealer fee as part of the $300 over invoice)
If anyone is looking for a G35, I would highly recommend Crossroads Infinity in Raleigh NC. I was just there and they had roughly 42 G35's in different trims and colors. I had a very pleasant buying experience and drove 3 hours to get to them.. They would have brought the car to me, but I wanted to look at them and like the Raleigh area anyway.
Just email them and tell them your best price you want to pay.. they will work with you and it was very easy. There is about a $500 dealer holdback on the G35, so even at invoice they are making money.
I can tell you that I liked the professionalism and willingness to compete for the business shown by Atlantic Infiniti of Jacksonville. For my salesman it was more difficult because I was comparing this vehicle with ES350. Apples to Orange comparison. Salesman was knowledgeable about ES350 too and helped be objectively. I am sure he was more biased toward his car but then who cares as long as I felt good about my decision. The Road demo shown by Infiniti salesman was simply best. Lexus sales on the other hand did not care much for my business. Sometime people like less pushy sales too. But for me I was ok to be contacted by infiniti sales for more and more info and follow-ups.
As far as pricing goes sales wanted to make 2% above invoice. I was always negotiating for the Out of the Door Price. When I see the Customer Order now, I see that car price is put at 35090.95 which seems to be less than invoice on Edmunds. It also shows 445.00 for dealer processing fee. I took new tag for $175 as I do not know when I will be selling my old camry (still running great!). Rest it taxes and Tire Fee as you mentioned....
If I consider Edmunds invoice is correct then I paid less than invoice. However considering that Dealer added $445 for dealership fee I paid $225 above Edmunds invoice.
In my case I initially negotiated price without tech package. Dealer had only one car and I did not like the color on that car. I then ended up with the upgrade to tech package with color of my choice. Since I did not wanted to wait for the car with my choices and dealer wanted to sale the car at that time we reached in middle to the out of door price I mentioned before. Initially I was unhappy to get the option I did not care for. But then in mix of so many things in life that is small thing IMO.
My dealer is trying to get me to take a Journey with the Tire Performance Package upgrade with 18 inch wheels (Bridgestone Potenza RE050A 225s on the front and wider 245's on the rear.)
It adds $345 at invoice price to the deal. Has this been worth it in buying the car to those of you that have it?
Pros-better tire grip and less hydroplaning in our rough Florida thunderstorms than the stock 17 inch Goodyear Eagle RS-A's.
Cons-have heard this makes for a noisy highway ride. Is this true? Also, quite expensive per tire to replace.
With this tire upgrade option on cars presently available on my color choice, I would also have to give up the wood interior upgrade.
. I locked in the Dec "buy" rates (thank you again Dennis), with the deposit and depending on a change in Jan, we get the lower of the two.
Never heard of that before - on a car lease. It is possible, but I don't think so. If they turned in lease papers with the wrong residual and MF on them IFS would not fund the lease. The only way to make it fly would be to back-date the lease to when the rates and residual matched, but that would be wrong and would make your lease shorter than it should be. It could be that the dealer knows the current rates will carry forward or they are just hoping they will and will worry about what happens next month if the rates go up when/if that happens. If you could lock in rates for a future car then everyone would do that and never buy a car off the lot. So they may have told you are locked in, but I would not trust in that - that works in home loans but not that I know of on a car lease. Not to worry, I would expect the Jan numbers would be similar to the current ones or maybe better. We are heading into the slow time or the year and I would think they would not want to do anything to slow sales.
These are summer tread tires and the dry and wet grip would be better than the normal all-season tires, but you would have no grip in ice and snow (if you live where that is an issue).
They are lower profile for better handling at the expense of a stiffer ride. Better response, but a higher possibility of bending a rim hitting a pot hole. You also can't rotate the tires since they are not the same front and rear, which means shorter tire life. And you are correct, if you check online prices there are lots of good choices in the normal size for $100 or less, in upgraded tire sizes very few choices (2 or 3?) and all are VERY expensive. Softer rubber compound means better grip but shorter life - coupled with the can't rotate factor and you could be looking for new rubber at 15k or so.
If you are not concerned about the extra performance then I would pass on the upgrade. More expense now and down the road. *I* would prefer the extra grip, but I have another car to drive in the snow (with snow tires on it) and don't drive any one car a lot of miles per year - so the tire expense does not come up as often.
if you can lock in the buyrate on a lease, I wonder if you can lock the 3.9 finance rate to by putting down a deposit. I too havent heard of this, but have not asked a dealer to do it yet. I'm having a hard time finding hte exact config I want in Houston but dont want to miss the 3.9 financing.
Dennis, if you;re a betting man, do you think the cheap money will be the same/better/worse in Jan. I dont want to rush to get a config that isn't my first choice, but also dont want to miss cheap $$. What are you thoughts here for the APRs?
"You also can't rotate the tires since they are not the same front and rear, which means shorter tire life. And you are correct, if you check online prices there are lots of good choices in the normal size for $100 or less, in upgraded tire sizes very few choices (2 or 3?) and all are VERY expensive. Softer rubber compound means better grip but shorter life - coupled with the can't rotate factor and you could be looking for new rubber at 15k or so. "
Wow, you can learn a lot here!! :surprise: I honestly have not thought of that, but I guess the same would go with the wheel/tire upgrade on teh Sport package (which Includes front 225/50WR18 front performance tires, 245/45WR18 rear performance tires) I just like the look of the sport wheels better and made that part of my "must haves". After the first set of tires wear out, I'm assuming you could put the same size tires on all 4 and be able to rotate, increasing their lifespan, correct? They are both 18", but I cant tell if they are the same width...do you if they are?
So even if you have a signed buyers agreement in place you do not get these Dec rates? This is dealer number two, that offered this, basically stating your payment will not go up but could in fact be lowered slightly. Maybe they're hedging their bets. They did provide a VIN number of the vehicle we would be taking, not certain if this makes a difference :confuse:
I'm not overly concerned with the payment changing, however I have heard of this occurring in other threads as well, when the dealer has to locate the vehicle for the buyer.
Based on the specs on the Infiniti website the width dimension of the rim itself is one inch difference between the front and rear. I wouldn't know if having the same tire size all around would allow for proper rotation, I would think the difference in rim width would impact rotation.
Is the model you're looking at awd? If so this appears, again, based on the web site details the sport option is slightly different, all season tires, same tire and rim size all around.
not AWD. Looking at the Journey with a the "sport package". Where are you seeing that level of detail on rim size? All I have been able to find is the tire size that comes in that package?
OR are you talking about the Sport Trim wheel/rim size? I'm talking about the upgraded wheels on teh Journey model that comes with the sport package option.
I don't think that would work either, if so that too would be the first I have heard of it. The promos are to get you to buy a car NOW not in a month or two, sales may be better then and they may not need to offer a promo deal to get a sale.
I have no idea, but I would think the first of the year is a slow sales time for new cars. Lack of funds after the holidays, bad weather in much of the country, or whatever the reason. A lot of folks seems to think that Dec is a good month to buy since (they think) sales a slow due to the holidays and dealers may want to make a push for year-end sales. I don't know that any of that is true or not.
They sold 6,544 sedans in Dec 06 and 4,105 in Dec 05. Coupe sales were 1,189 in Dec 06 and 2,116 in Dec 05. Jan 07 was 4,321 sedans (but this WAS a new model) and 2,425 for Jan 06. Coupe numbers for Jan 07 and 06 were 770 and 1,518.
So it looks like Jan sales are always a good bit lower then Dec sales, they one spike being Jan 07 - but that was still lower than the preceding month and not much more than Dec from 05.
AFAIK, the sports pack includes the same tires and wheels as the tire package does. For the G35x this means the same tires front and rear, for all others this means staggered wheels with different size tires and rims. G35 Journey: Split 7-spoke 18 x 7.5-inch (front), 18 x 8.5-inch (rear) aluminum-alloy wheels. 225/50R18 (front), 245/45R18 (rear) W-rated summer performance tires - G35x AWD: Split 7-spoke 18 x 7.5-inch (front and rear) aluminum-alloy wheels. 225/50R18 (front and rear) V-rated all-season tires
You are not likely to find any tires in a single size that will fit both rims properly and have your odo and speedo read properly. If you check on TireRack there are only 2 choices in these sizes - the RE050a OEM tires that are $190 each front, $206 each rear, and the all season Goodyear F1 for $175 each front and $190 each rear. In the normal 17" journey size they have 28 choices (not counting snow or track tires) ranging from $88 each and up with 4 choices under $100 each and 11 under $125.
You can do what you want, but you have been warned .
The upgrade Tire and Performance Package at $345 invoice price on the Journey gives you the exact same tires Bridestone Potenza RE050A summer performance tires that are included as standard on the Sport. The difference in car choices is that you still get the regular suspension with the Journey and not the firmer suspension of the Sport. The G35X all wheel drive version has 18 inch wheels, too, but all four have to be the same size so that's different than either the sport or journey tire 18 inch versions. Those both have wider tires on the back.
The $345 up front for the 18s is a bargain but my calculations show this could cost literally thousands more down the road during the life of the car.
I'm really on the fence about this choice. Having only two choices of tires for the 18 inch rims that probably have to be changed only at about every 15,000 miles, means for double or even triple the price fro the tires themselves, as well as tire changes twice as often!! Those limited choices, both involving big bucks almost yearly, are replacing again with stock Potenzas (Buy Again score 6.8) for $190 each front and $206 rear, or the Goodyear Eagle F1s, which everyone on Tire Rack seems to love, (Buy Again score 8.6), $175 each front, $190 rear. (Is having matched front and backs of the same brand really necessary as listed in Tire Rack?)
Keep in mind that Tire Rack's prices don't include shipping or mounting and that local dealers almost always charge more.
The irony is that the stock Goodyear Eagle RSAs that come standard on the 17 are worse for gripping for both dry and wet than the 18 inch Potenza's. On Tire Rack I don't read many good things-their Buy Again score is only 3.7 on a ten point scale! But they can be swapped out for probably about $500 total including install fees for all four with some nice $109 Kumho' Ecsta KH11s (Buy Again Score 7.9) or $92 Avon Tech M500s (Buy Again score 7.2).
I live in Florida so ice isn't a concern. Noise and grip on very wet roads during storms here are important considerations. For me, hydroplaning performance is most important since it's extremely common here where an inch of rain can fall in 15 minutes.
I went through this when buying my wife's Camry. It came with Goodyear "Integrity" tires with reviews so bad some that literally included the words "death trap" so I swapped them out the second day we had the car with the Kumhos, which have been very good indeed.
My BMW 323 ci came with super expensive Michelins as standard. The Kumhos I replaced them with are 1/3rd the price and grip much better in the wet. I like them better than the Michelins are lots of other folks do, too. Also ironic is that I took when BMW 328 off my current shopping list including the G35 and Lexus IS since the Bimmers now only come with Run Flats. Man, if you want to read some terrible reviews, a great many BMW owner HATE the run flats passionately. Try $600 up to replace a single tire. Still, I don't relish paying $300 a tire for my G35 either.
(Dennis, thanks for the great advice above. I was typing my too long message here when you posted yours so that's why some info is repetitive from your excellent, succint post.)
The F1 tires are all seasons and really can't be compared to the OEM summer tread 18" tires. Since you don't need winter performance, the OEM tires would probably be your best bet.
I agree that the price at invoice of the wheel package is a bargain for what you get - until it is time to replace the tires.
The 330i and M5 I used to have both had staggered tire sizes and w/o being able to rotate the tires (these were also directional) meant really early tire wear out.
I should have pointed out in my early post that even if you could find a single size tire that would work on both width rims, you could not rotate the WHEELS since the wider rears would not work on the front. You COULD rotate the tires by re-mounting them, but that runs into a nice chunk of change for each rotate.
No doubt the summer tread sports pack tires offer better dry grip, the rubber (all other things being equal) should also provide better wet grip. The sport fronts are the same width, but the slightly wider rears would be MORE prone to hydro \planing due to their wider width. Can't say if the 17" tires with worse rubber would do better than sport rubber that is wider or not.
You can also put on aftermarket rims and do it non-staggered. The cost of the rims is not bad, but all 18" tires seem to be quite high. Then you also have to buy or transfer the TPM sensors to the new wheels.
If you drive a lot of miles and are that concerned about the price, I would skip the sports tires. Otherwise, the 18" wheels look better and the tires should be a lot better dry and probably better wet. Of course, almost never do any of us actually need or use all the grip even the basic tires can provide....
Dennis posted the info from Infiniti.com which is where I saw this as well. If you check under packages and options for the G35 it lists these very same details.
About to purchase an 07 coupe with prem pkg, perform. tire pkg, and winter mats for $29995 + 58 doc and 10 driveaway fee. Does not include TN sales tax. Good deal?
$34,495 would be the invoice for the car w/premium and tire package and about $75 for the dealer installed mats. I think there is/was $3k is deal money on the left over coupes, so your net price is way under invoice less the dealer money.
They only gotchas I can see are the wheel and tire package issues which we have been talking about on the sedans, and the fact that the new coupe interior and features are head and shoulders better than the old coupe - and the powertrain is better as well. But if you can live with the old interior and (relatively) crummy stereo then at your drive with low fees then I would get it.
"I would shop online for prices on the extended warranty and see how they stack up to your quote."
"You probably do not need the warranty, but if you do get one be sure you ONLY get the factory backed plan."
Any suggestions or pointers on where to get online quotes for "Factory backed plans?" I just did a google search adn found a few, but can't tell which are factory backed. Or is the only way to get a factory backed warranty through the dealer?
I hesitate to ask, because I'm committed to pick up the car tomorrow, but here is what I got:
G35 with: Cargo Net Nav Pack Prem Pack splash guards freight charge for: 34163.62 + $99 dealer fee = 34,262.62 So I ended up with $101 below invoice which I though was pretty good.
I also bought: premium maintenance at: $1669 (normal price $1999) extended warranty for 7 yrs 100k miles at 1649 ('normal' price $2999)
I felt prepared to negotiate the base car price and options, but I was totally unprepared to negotiate these add on's - I hope I did ok??? I tend to desire new cars often and I though these transferable options might help with resale if needed... I tend to stick with the maintenance plans anyway and document all that I have done on schedule for resale purposes.
So my out the door price with Fulton county tax is $40k even with everything mentioned above.
Please tell me this is a good deal....????
Side note - my other car is a 2001 Boxster S and I can already feel that it will be getting jealous of the new G35 - which is actually faster! I hope I don't neglect the Boxster too much now...
I encountered some typical slimy tricks at Courtesy Infiniti in Tampa. After viewing my detailed fax offer, one saleman said he could do the deal at invoice including the dealer fee with the only additions being tax and license. The next day, the Internet Manager called and tried to jack me for more than an additional $1000, saying the $600 dealer fee and a ridiculously inflated tag fee had to be added on.
I'd skip the warranty. If you really really want it and plan on keeping the car that long, then tell them you dont want it and I bet it will come down in price quite a bit.
I also bought: premium maintenance at: $1669 (normal price $1999) extended warranty for 7 yrs 100k miles at 1649 ('normal' price $2999)
A waste of $$ according to Consumer Reports - Another common pitch respondents received was for an extended warranty. Seventy-two percent said the dealership tried to sell them one. Men got the pitch more frequently than women, yet a greater percentage of men rejected the warranty. Only 15 percent of those consumers offered an extended warranty bought the protection for the price quoted; 29 percent accepted the warranty after negotiating the cost.
In general, Consumer Reports does not recommend buying an extended warranty unless you plan to keep a trouble-prone vehicle for an extended time after the original warranty runs out. Many of the 44 percent of respondents who bought an extended warranty might have wasted hundreds of dollars that could be either saved or applied toward a vehicle with a better predicted reliability rating. If you want an extended warranty, those offered by auto manufacturers are typically better than those offered by third-party companies. Z
Yeah - I may try to get out of the warranty. I bought one on a Jeep Liberty and it paid for itself many times over, but that is a Jeep. I expect this car will have far fewer problems. I was just thinking that it might be a nice selling point if I decide to sell it in 3-4 years...
I am working with Nalley on Cobb. Good experience overall... I was told that the pricing I received was special because it was Dec 31 at 5:00pm when we agreed on numbers... I'll never really know, but what matters most is that I am going to love this car!
Actually I learned that they are ending the 2007 sales year Weds. and that's why the 2.9 financing offer extends through Jan. 2 as well. Who knows if they will extend the financing deal again. I hope so.
So I ended up with $101 below invoice which I though was pretty good.
I also bought: premium maintenance at: $1669 (normal price $1999) extended warranty for 7 yrs 100k miles at 1649 ('normal' price $2999)
I tend to desire new cars often and I though these transferable options might help with resale if needed...
You did good right up to the time you agree to pay these silly high prices for maintenance and the warranty. No wonder they could "afford" to sell you the car so cheap, they made a bunch of money off you in the F&I office.
I would ask for my money back on both these deals. I don't mind paying for an extended warranty if the price is reasonable, but $1,649 may be a "Deal" for an Infiniti warranty but it goes well beyond what I could consider reasonable. The maintenance thing I feel is a bigger rip off. If you follow the service schedule in your owner's manual a do the simple things yourself (air and cabin filters, etc) and get the oil changes done as called for, you should never spend the $1,669 you paid. In fact, of the two the maintenance deal I would consider the worst "bargain".
The fact that you are not likely to keep the car throughout the covered period and maybe not even long enough for the factory warranty to expire makes this a double bad move. You could realize more resale value if you sold the car with these added in and transferable, but only if you sell the car yourself (which few of us do these days) and in any case you are not likely to get the over $3,300 you paid back. If you invested that money wisely and paid for only the needed maintenance on your new car, your net should be a lot more than what you "might" get back when you sold your car.
Congrats on the new car, but cancel those to spendy add-ons and you will have a good deal . Hey, you asked.
I think the sales year ended on the 31st. They always carry forward the deals until Monday, Tuesday, or in this case Wednesday of the start of the next month when the month ends on/near the weekend. Just makes it easier for the dealers to sell during their busiest time of the week. Then after these deals expire they already have the prior month's sales numbers and decide on the offers for the current month. Even with this practice there can be a couple of "limbo" days after the old deals expire and before the new deals are given to the dealers.
The December sales numbers should be out today or for sure by Thursday, then I would expect the new deals to follow.
In this region of the country, and perhaps nationwide, the sales year definitely ends today Jan. 2 to coincide with the current financing offer ending today, too. Not sure why Infiniti decided to do it this way but I'm guessing it has to do with which day New Year's Day fell on.
I used this to my advantage today with a below invoice deal that will help the dealer's 2007 numbers. Details will follow, (hopefully!!!)
I think you are confusing the "deal cycle" with the "sales cycle". They publish the sales numbers monthly for the calendar month, but they run deals often that wrap around the end of the month and the start of the next month. The proceeding month's sales numbers often come out on or before the current "deal cycle" ends.
It is like in the Sunday paper - most of the sale prices in stores run from that Sunday until the following Saturday - that is the deal cycle. The month ends when it ends. Reporting-wise for the car company it really would not make much sense to cannibalize the Jan or 2008 sales to boost the Dec or 2007 sales numbers, they just let the numbers fall where they will.
Your dealer may need more units sold to boost his bonus in the current deal cycle so may have offered you a good deal, but normally those types of things are month to month. Dealers have been known to tell customers anything to get a deposit and move a car, but as long as you get a good deal then you don't really care where that gets counted . The other option would be to back-date a deal to make it appear that the car had been purchased in the preceding month, but that type of paperwork is frowned upon by many.
All the publicly traded car makers publish monthly sales numbers broken down by vehicle model (and usually type) and they included YTD and prior year figures in those as well. Regulatory agencies would have a "fit" if they counted cars sold in Jan as being sold in Dec or any other attempt to inflate one number or another.
When I am looking at leasing or buying I like to look at these releases and watch the numbers, they can be a good indicator of future incentives, rebates, etc.
2008 Journey in Garnet Ember with: Premium Package Painted Splash Guards Cargo Net
MSRP: $35,475 Edmunds "True Market Value": $34,784 Invoice: $32,510 Paid: $32,426 including all dealer fees ($84 BELOW INVOICE) (Total out the door with added on sales tax, state license fee, and state tire fee, $34,622.)
I have a signed contract from Sawgrass Infiniti near Ft. Lauderdale. Let's hope there are no last minute surprises at pickup.
Just picked up my new G35X Sport today from Pepe Infiniti in White Plains. It comes with Dunlop SP Sport Maxx A1 A/S tires in 225/50-18 size. I'll have to read the review on this rubber at Tire Rack. Nice ride and I'm happy with my decision after considering the Caddy CTS and TL Type-S. Got the Liquid Platinum with Graphite Int/Prem & Sport packages. I decided to leave off the NAV and stick with a portable GPS that I already use for business trips. It came with splash guards which I didn't order because it was traded from another dealership. I think the car looks sharper without those useless guards.
I already ordered a set of winter tires and rims from Tire Rack, Dunlop Winter Sport M3 in the narrower size 215/55-17 on cheap Sport Edition rims. I couldn't justify spending a lot of money on winter rims that are going to be exposed to salt and sand. Now, I have the ultimate snowmobile.
I worked with Anthony Grant at Pepe. He was a really nice guy!
INFINITI HIGHLIGHTS * Infiniti sales declined by 3.5 percent on a daily sales rate basis for the month, with 12,655 units sold, as compared with last December's 13,112 units. * The all-new Infiniti EX launched with 305 units sold in its first month. * The G Sedan experienced a record year in 2007, with sales of 54,015 units. * Infiniti Division's sales in 2007 reached 127,038 units, a 4.5 percent increase over 2006
Coupe sales up for 12/07 by a bunch over last year, but down for 2007 by 13%. Sedan sales dropped 31.5% for 12/07 but up 33% for the year. Most of this is due to the redesign timing - 12/06 the sedan was strong due to the new design and that carried through for totals in 2007. Probably a lot of coupe buyers opted for a new design sedan rather than the old design (and more expensive) G35 coupe. Then the new coupe arrives and coupe sales go up for the end of the year - to not enough to make up for all the early slow sales. G37 sales could have in part caused the sedan slow down as dealers started dealing on them, $500-1000 cash incentives appeared along with discounted loans (but not cheap leases).
So guesses for the January lease or loan numbers? Based on the weak December sedan sales I would say the lease and cheap loans may continue (despite the fact that the 2007 sedan sales were up 33% over 2006). Strong coupe sales for December may mean the same or less deals on coupes than December. Who knows for sure? IFS, and they will "tell" is pretty soon .
Sounds good to me! That is what I show for invoice as well - with dealer fees under invoice is a nice number. Let us know how it goes at pickup and afterwards.
It came with splash guards which I didn't order because it was traded from another dealership. I think the car looks sharper without those useless guards.
I already ordered a set of winter tires and rims from Tire Rack, Dunlop Winter Sport M3 in the narrower size 215/55-17 on cheap Sport Edition rims. I couldn't justify spending a lot of money on winter rims that are going to be exposed to salt and sand. Now, I have the ultimate snowmobile.
The cargo net and the splash guards are port of entry installed options and you just about can't find a G around here w/o them. A dealer ordered me a car to my exact specs (no splash guards) and when the car arrived it had the POE splash and net same as the others. Mounting the guards requires drilling, so no cheap and easy way to lose them. It is a shameless move on Infiniti's part to make a little extra on each car and I wish they would stop - as the car looks a lot better w/o the guards. I HAVE seen a couple w/o them .
Did you order new TPMS sensors to go with your cheap wheels? If not, you might call TR and have them fix your order. It will make your cheap package over $350 more, but I am sure what will happen if to try to drive w/o sensors. The alerts alone may drive you nuts, but there could be other, more serious, problems from driving w/o the sensors in place.
I ordered the winter tire set without TPMS. Not sure what's going to happen. I didn't order them because it said that you had to go back to the dealer to input them to the computer. I don't have time to go to the dealer. If it does wind up driving me crazy, I'll let everyone know. I'm getting the winter set on Monday and will let you know what happens when you mount wheels w/o TPMS.
The splashguards these days are useless and take away from the looks. Same thing with most spoilers, but I do like the lip spoilers on Acuras and Audis. At least I didn't get charged for them. The cargo net is somewhat useful, but normally it gets in the way more than anything else.
Does Infiniti have a basic service manual for under $100? The set from Infiniti online is $250 on CD and $300 in print. Time to look on Ebay.
The receiver on my '00 'vette failed - the same box worked the keyless entry and picked up the signals from the TPM sensors so neither worked, I could have lived for a while w/o keyless entry but the TPM alerts would drive you nuts. Every few minutes chiming and lighting up the all 4 tires had 0 psi. The car was still drivable (that goodness it didn't go into some limp-home mode) but the chiming on near constant alerts flashing up sent me straight the dealer for a warranty repair.
Maybe on the G once you acknowledge the "failure" it will shut up and leave you alone.....
Comments
I sent out emails to a few dealers late yesterday and tried Pepe Infiniti, since other posters had success dealing with them. I called them specifically and the internet manager got us numbers within fifteen minutes, look respectable and there are three vehicles coming into the Northeast within a week that match our spec, with several more in route the month after. We don't need the replacement for another 60 days, so a somewhat similar position to yours. I locked in the Dec "buy" rates (thank you again Dennis), with the deposit and depending on a change in Jan, we get the lower of the two.
Mike
Right now, Atlantic Infiniti is at $472 over invoice not counting tax, tag and tire fee and it seems you did better. But I can't tell if you paid $35 to transfer a tag or $175 for a new one, for example??
Did they throw in any extras, oil changes anything for you??
They seem like pretty decent people to deal with so far but I was hoping to get it for $300 over invoice max, which would mean for me:
Journey at Invoice, $29,480
Performance Tire Package at Invoice, $345
Premium Package, $2155
Cargo Net at Invoice, $46 (don't care but they all have it!)
Splash Guards at Invoice, $114 (don't care but they all have it!)
Total Invoice cost, $32855
Hoped for Max dealer markup over invoice, $300
Total I hope to pay $33125 plus $35 tag transfer, $6 tire fee, plus sales tax at 6%.
Thanks!
PS-Is anyone in Florida or Atlanta doing better than $300 over? (I'm including the bogus dealer fee as part of the $300 over invoice)
Just email them and tell them your best price you want to pay.. they will work with you and it was very easy. There is about a $500 dealer holdback on the G35, so even at invoice they are making money.
As far as pricing goes sales wanted to make 2% above invoice. I was always negotiating for the Out of the Door Price. When I see the Customer Order now, I see that car price is put at 35090.95 which seems to be less than invoice on Edmunds. It also shows 445.00 for dealer processing fee. I took new tag for $175 as I do not know when I will be selling my old camry (still running great!). Rest it taxes and Tire Fee as you mentioned....
If I consider Edmunds invoice is correct then I paid less than invoice. However considering that Dealer added $445 for dealership fee I paid $225 above Edmunds invoice.
In my case I initially negotiated price without tech package. Dealer had only one car and I did not like the color on that car. I then ended up with the upgrade to tech package with color of my choice. Since I did not wanted to wait for the car with my choices and dealer wanted to sale the car at that time we reached in middle to the out of door price I mentioned before. Initially I was unhappy to get the option I did not care for. But then in mix of so many things in life that is small thing IMO.
It adds $345 at invoice price to the deal. Has this been worth it in buying the car to those of you that have it?
Pros-better tire grip and less hydroplaning in our rough Florida thunderstorms than the stock 17 inch Goodyear Eagle RS-A's.
Cons-have heard this makes for a noisy highway ride. Is this true? Also, quite expensive per tire to replace.
With this tire upgrade option on cars presently available on my color choice, I would also have to give up the wood interior upgrade.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Never heard of that before - on a car lease. It is possible, but I don't think so. If they turned in lease papers with the wrong residual and MF on them IFS would not fund the lease. The only way to make it fly would be to back-date the lease to when the rates and residual matched, but that would be wrong and would make your lease shorter than it should be. It could be that the dealer knows the current rates will carry forward or they are just hoping they will and will worry about what happens next month if the rates go up when/if that happens. If you could lock in rates for a future car then everyone would do that and never buy a car off the lot. So they may have told you are locked in, but I would not trust in that - that works in home loans but not that I know of on a car lease. Not to worry, I would expect the Jan numbers would be similar to the current ones or maybe better. We are heading into the slow time or the year and I would think they would not want to do anything to slow sales.
Dennis
Congrats on the new car!
Rule #1 of G ownership: Infiniti (the car brand) has NO Y IN IT
Dennis
They are lower profile for better handling at the expense of a stiffer ride. Better response, but a higher possibility of bending a rim hitting a pot hole. You also can't rotate the tires since they are not the same front and rear, which means shorter tire life. And you are correct, if you check online prices there are lots of good choices in the normal size for $100 or less, in upgraded tire sizes very few choices (2 or 3?) and all are VERY expensive. Softer rubber compound means better grip but shorter life - coupled with the can't rotate factor and you could be looking for new rubber at 15k or so.
If you are not concerned about the extra performance then I would pass on the upgrade. More expense now and down the road. *I* would prefer the extra grip, but I have another car to drive in the snow (with snow tires on it) and don't drive any one car a lot of miles per year - so the tire expense does not come up as often.
Dennis
Dennis, if you;re a betting man, do you think the cheap money will be the same/better/worse in Jan. I dont want to rush to get a config that isn't my first choice, but also dont want to miss cheap $$. What are you thoughts here for the APRs?
Wow, you can learn a lot here!! :surprise: I honestly have not thought of that, but I guess the same would go with the wheel/tire upgrade on teh Sport package (which Includes front 225/50WR18 front performance tires, 245/45WR18 rear performance tires) I just like the look of the sport wheels better and made that part of my "must haves". After the first set of tires wear out, I'm assuming you could put the same size tires on all 4 and be able to rotate, increasing their lifespan, correct? They are both 18", but I cant tell if they are the same width...do you if they are?
I'm not overly concerned with the payment changing, however I have heard of this occurring in other threads as well, when the dealer has to locate the vehicle for the buyer.
Hmmmm
Is the model you're looking at awd? If so this appears, again, based on the web site details the sport option is slightly different, all season tires, same tire and rim size all around.
OR are you talking about the Sport Trim wheel/rim size? I'm talking about the upgraded wheels on teh Journey model that comes with the sport package option.
Any difference?
I have no idea, but I would think the first of the year is a slow sales time for new cars. Lack of funds after the holidays, bad weather in much of the country, or whatever the reason. A lot of folks seems to think that Dec is a good month to buy since (they think) sales a slow due to the holidays and dealers may want to make a push for year-end sales. I don't know that any of that is true or not.
They sold 6,544 sedans in Dec 06 and 4,105 in Dec 05. Coupe sales were 1,189 in Dec 06 and 2,116 in Dec 05. Jan 07 was 4,321 sedans (but this WAS a new model) and 2,425 for Jan 06. Coupe numbers for Jan 07 and 06 were 770 and
1,518.
So it looks like Jan sales are always a good bit lower then Dec sales, they one spike being Jan 07 - but that was still lower than the preceding month and not much more than Dec from 05.
Dennis
G35 Journey: Split 7-spoke 18 x 7.5-inch (front), 18 x 8.5-inch (rear) aluminum-alloy wheels. 225/50R18 (front), 245/45R18 (rear) W-rated summer performance tires
- G35x AWD: Split 7-spoke 18 x 7.5-inch (front and rear) aluminum-alloy wheels. 225/50R18 (front and rear) V-rated all-season tires
You are not likely to find any tires in a single size that will fit both rims properly and have your odo and speedo read properly. If you check on TireRack there are only 2 choices in these sizes - the RE050a OEM tires that are $190 each front, $206 each rear, and the all season Goodyear F1 for $175 each front and $190 each rear. In the normal 17" journey size they have 28 choices (not counting snow or track tires) ranging from $88 each and up with 4 choices under $100 each and 11 under $125.
You can do what you want, but you have been warned
Dennis
The $345 up front for the 18s is a bargain but my calculations show this could cost literally thousands more down the road during the life of the car.
I'm really on the fence about this choice. Having only two choices of tires for the 18 inch rims that probably have to be changed only at about every 15,000 miles, means for double or even triple the price fro the tires themselves, as well as tire changes twice as often!! Those limited choices, both involving big bucks almost yearly, are replacing again with stock Potenzas (Buy Again score 6.8) for $190 each front and $206 rear, or the Goodyear Eagle F1s, which everyone on Tire Rack seems to love, (Buy Again score 8.6), $175 each front, $190 rear. (Is having matched front and backs of the same brand really necessary as listed in Tire Rack?)
Keep in mind that Tire Rack's prices don't include shipping or mounting and that local dealers almost always charge more.
The irony is that the stock Goodyear Eagle RSAs that come standard on the 17 are worse for gripping for both dry and wet than the 18 inch Potenza's. On Tire Rack I don't read many good things-their Buy Again score is only 3.7 on a ten point scale! But they can be swapped out for probably about $500 total including install fees for all four with some nice $109 Kumho' Ecsta KH11s (Buy Again Score 7.9) or $92 Avon Tech M500s (Buy Again score 7.2).
I live in Florida so ice isn't a concern. Noise and grip on very wet roads during storms here are important considerations. For me, hydroplaning performance is most important since it's extremely common here where an inch of rain can fall in 15 minutes.
I went through this when buying my wife's Camry. It came with Goodyear "Integrity" tires with reviews so bad some that literally included the words "death trap" so I swapped them out the second day we had the car with the Kumhos, which have been very good indeed.
My BMW 323 ci came with super expensive Michelins as standard. The Kumhos I replaced them with are 1/3rd the price and grip much better in the wet. I like them better than the Michelins are lots of other folks do, too. Also ironic is that I took when BMW 328 off my current shopping list including the G35 and Lexus IS since the Bimmers now only come with Run Flats. Man, if you want to read some terrible reviews, a great many BMW owner HATE the run flats passionately. Try $600 up to replace a single tire. Still, I don't relish paying $300 a tire for my G35 either.
(Dennis, thanks for the great advice above. I was typing my too long message here when you posted yours so that's why some info is repetitive from your excellent, succint post.)
I agree that the price at invoice of the wheel package is a bargain for what you get - until it is time to replace the tires.
The 330i and M5 I used to have both had staggered tire sizes and w/o being able to rotate the tires (these were also directional) meant really early tire wear out.
I should have pointed out in my early post that even if you could find a single size tire that would work on both width rims, you could not rotate the WHEELS since the wider rears would not work on the front. You COULD rotate the tires by re-mounting them, but that runs into a nice chunk of change for each rotate.
No doubt the summer tread sports pack tires offer better dry grip, the rubber (all other things being equal) should also provide better wet grip. The sport fronts are the same width, but the slightly wider rears would be MORE prone to hydro \planing due to their wider width. Can't say if the 17" tires with worse rubber would do better than sport rubber that is wider or not.
You can also put on aftermarket rims and do it non-staggered. The cost of the rims is not bad, but all 18" tires seem to be quite high. Then you also have to buy or transfer the TPM sensors to the new wheels.
If you drive a lot of miles and are that concerned about the price, I would skip the sports tires. Otherwise, the 18" wheels look better and the tires should be a lot better dry and probably better wet. Of course, almost never do any of us actually need or use all the grip even the basic tires can provide....
Dennis
http://www.infiniti.com/g_sedan/packages.html
They only gotchas I can see are the wheel and tire package issues which we have been talking about on the sedans, and the fact that the new coupe interior and features are head and shoulders better than the old coupe - and the powertrain is better as well. But if you can live with the old interior and (relatively) crummy stereo then at your drive with low fees then I would get it.
Dennis
I actually like the Bose on my '05 coupe better than the Bose on the '08 Sedan. Driver’s Audio Stage is useless IMO.
"You probably do not need the warranty, but if you do get one be sure you ONLY get the factory backed plan."
Any suggestions or pointers on where to get online quotes for "Factory backed plans?" I just did a google search adn found a few, but can't tell which are factory backed. Or is the only way to get a factory backed warranty through the dealer?
Thanks.
Invoice was 32,741 (according to Edmunds)
=====
I paid 32,963 w/ the wheel locks and nitrogen (whatever that means on the tires)
I got 3.9 finance.
Grubbs Infiniti in euless TX (DFW) Sewell was just as competitive.
No useless fees in and out in 1.5 hrs, and was easy ....
What do you think good??
G35 with:
Cargo Net
Nav Pack
Prem Pack
splash guards
freight charge
for: 34163.62 + $99 dealer fee = 34,262.62
So I ended up with $101 below invoice which I though was pretty good.
I also bought:
premium maintenance at: $1669 (normal price $1999)
extended warranty for 7 yrs 100k miles at 1649 ('normal' price $2999)
I felt prepared to negotiate the base car price and options, but I was totally unprepared to negotiate these add on's - I hope I did ok???
I tend to desire new cars often and I though these transferable options might help with resale if needed... I tend to stick with the maintenance plans anyway and document all that I have done on schedule for resale purposes.
So my out the door price with Fulton county tax is $40k even with everything mentioned above.
Please tell me this is a good deal....????
Side note - my other car is a 2001 Boxster S and I can already feel that it will be getting jealous of the new G35 - which is actually faster! I hope I don't neglect the Boxster too much now...
What a bunch of low class sleezeballs.
premium maintenance at: $1669 (normal price $1999)
extended warranty for 7 yrs 100k miles at 1649 ('normal' price $2999)
A waste of $$ according to Consumer Reports - Another common pitch respondents received was for an extended warranty. Seventy-two percent said the dealership tried to sell them one. Men got the pitch more frequently than women, yet a greater percentage of men rejected the warranty. Only 15 percent of those consumers offered an extended warranty bought the protection for the price quoted; 29 percent accepted the warranty after negotiating the cost.
In general, Consumer Reports does not recommend buying an extended warranty unless you plan to keep a trouble-prone vehicle for an extended time after the original warranty runs out. Many of the 44 percent of respondents who bought an extended warranty might have wasted hundreds of dollars that could be either saved or applied toward a vehicle with a better predicted reliability rating. If you want an extended warranty, those offered by auto manufacturers are typically better than those offered by third-party companies.
Z
I also bought:
premium maintenance at: $1669 (normal price $1999)
extended warranty for 7 yrs 100k miles at 1649 ('normal' price $2999)
I tend to desire new cars often and I though these transferable options might help with resale if needed...
You did good right up to the time you agree to pay these silly high prices for maintenance and the warranty. No wonder they could "afford" to sell you the car so cheap, they made a bunch of money off you in the F&I office.
I would ask for my money back on both these deals. I don't mind paying for an extended warranty if the price is reasonable, but $1,649 may be a "Deal" for an Infiniti warranty but it goes well beyond what I could consider reasonable. The maintenance thing I feel is a bigger rip off. If you follow the service schedule in your owner's manual a do the simple things yourself (air and cabin filters, etc) and get the oil changes done as called for, you should never spend the $1,669 you paid. In fact, of the two the maintenance deal I would consider the worst "bargain".
The fact that you are not likely to keep the car throughout the covered period and maybe not even long enough for the factory warranty to expire makes this a double bad move. You could realize more resale value if you sold the car with these added in and transferable, but only if you sell the car yourself (which few of us do these days) and in any case you are not likely to get the over $3,300 you paid back. If you invested that money wisely and paid for only the needed maintenance on your new car, your net should be a lot more than what you "might" get back when you sold your car.
Congrats on the new car, but cancel those to spendy add-ons and you will have a good deal
Dennis
The December sales numbers should be out today or for sure by Thursday, then I would expect the new deals to follow.
Dennis
premium maintenance at: $1669 (normal price $1999)
extended warranty for 7 yrs 100k miles at 1649 ('normal' price $2999)"
Good price on the car... however you got RAPED in finance....enjoy your car!
I used this to my advantage today with a below invoice deal that will help the dealer's 2007 numbers. Details will follow, (hopefully!!!)
It is like in the Sunday paper - most of the sale prices in stores run from that Sunday until the following Saturday - that is the deal cycle. The month ends when it ends. Reporting-wise for the car company it really would not make much sense to cannibalize the Jan or 2008 sales to boost the Dec or 2007 sales numbers, they just let the numbers fall where they will.
Your dealer may need more units sold to boost his bonus in the current deal cycle so may have offered you a good deal, but normally those types of things are month to month. Dealers have been known to tell customers anything to get a deposit and move a car, but as long as you get a good deal then you don't really care where that gets counted
All the publicly traded car makers publish monthly sales numbers broken down by vehicle model (and usually type) and they included YTD and prior year figures in those as well. Regulatory agencies would have a "fit" if they counted cars sold in Jan as being sold in Dec or any other attempt to inflate one number or another.
When I am looking at leasing or buying I like to look at these releases and watch the numbers, they can be a good indicator of future incentives, rebates, etc.
Dennis
Premium Package
Painted Splash Guards
Cargo Net
MSRP: $35,475
Edmunds "True Market Value": $34,784
Invoice: $32,510
Paid: $32,426 including all dealer fees ($84 BELOW INVOICE)
(Total out the door with added on sales tax, state license fee, and state tire fee, $34,622.)
I have a signed contract from Sawgrass Infiniti near Ft. Lauderdale. Let's hope there are no last minute surprises at pickup.
I already ordered a set of winter tires and rims from Tire Rack, Dunlop Winter Sport M3 in the narrower size 215/55-17 on cheap Sport Edition rims. I couldn't justify spending a lot of money on winter rims that are going to be exposed to salt and sand. Now, I have the ultimate snowmobile.
I worked with Anthony Grant at Pepe. He was a really nice guy!
* Infiniti sales declined by 3.5 percent on a daily sales rate basis for
the month, with 12,655 units sold, as compared with last December's
13,112 units.
* The all-new Infiniti EX launched with 305 units sold in its first
month.
* The G Sedan experienced a record year in 2007, with sales of 54,015
units.
* Infiniti Division's sales in 2007 reached 127,038 units, a 4.5 percent
increase over 2006
Infiniti Division
12/07 12/06 % chg 2007 2006 % chg
Total 12,655 13,112 -3.5 127,038 121,146 4.5
G Sedan 4,483 6,544 -31.5 54,015 40,346 33.4
G Coupe 2,075 1,189 74.5 17,794 20,395 -13.0
.
Coupe sales up for 12/07 by a bunch over last year, but down for 2007 by 13%. Sedan sales dropped 31.5% for 12/07 but up 33% for the year. Most of this is due to the redesign timing - 12/06 the sedan was strong due to the new design and that carried through for totals in 2007. Probably a lot of coupe buyers opted for a new design sedan rather than the old design (and more expensive) G35 coupe. Then the new coupe arrives and coupe sales go up for the end of the year - to not enough to make up for all the early slow sales. G37 sales could have in part caused the sedan slow down as dealers started dealing on them, $500-1000 cash incentives appeared along with discounted loans (but not cheap leases).
So guesses for the January lease or loan numbers? Based on the weak December sedan sales I would say the lease and cheap loans may continue (despite the fact that the 2007 sedan sales were up 33% over 2006). Strong coupe sales for December may mean the same or less deals on coupes than December. Who knows for sure? IFS, and they will "tell" is pretty soon
Dennis
Dennis
I already ordered a set of winter tires and rims from Tire Rack, Dunlop Winter Sport M3 in the narrower size 215/55-17 on cheap Sport Edition rims. I couldn't justify spending a lot of money on winter rims that are going to be exposed to salt and sand. Now, I have the ultimate snowmobile.
The cargo net and the splash guards are port of entry installed options and you just about can't find a G around here w/o them. A dealer ordered me a car to my exact specs (no splash guards) and when the car arrived it had the POE splash and net same as the others. Mounting the guards requires drilling, so no cheap and easy way to lose them. It is a shameless move on Infiniti's part to make a little extra on each car and I wish they would stop - as the car looks a lot better w/o the guards. I HAVE seen a couple w/o them
Did you order new TPMS sensors to go with your cheap wheels? If not, you might call TR and have them fix your order. It will make your cheap package over $350 more, but I am sure what will happen if to try to drive w/o sensors. The alerts alone may drive you nuts, but there could be other, more serious, problems from driving w/o the sensors in place.
Dennis
The splashguards these days are useless and take away from the looks. Same thing with most spoilers, but I do like the lip spoilers on Acuras and Audis. At least I didn't get charged for them. The cargo net is somewhat useful, but normally it gets in the way more than anything else.
Does Infiniti have a basic service manual for under $100? The set from Infiniti online is $250 on CD and $300 in print. Time to look on Ebay.
Maybe on the G once you acknowledge the "failure" it will shut up and leave you alone.....
Dennis