Which dealer in Dallas? [Archive]

bwayout

02-20-2003, 08:12 PM

Back in January, I was spending a lot of time at Freeman Mazda (- which I highly recommend to anyone here in the Dallas area that's thinking of buying any Mazda or Hyundai vehicle) deciding between the 6 and Protegé5, since my beloved black 1990 Ford Probe (that had that amazing dash design - that will live long in my memory: it was like the new G35 coupe dash, but better IMHO) met it's unfortunate demise prematurely ... Well life being what it is, I could not wait any longer for the RX-8 to come around. Plus Mazda was offering 0 down and 0% on a 5 year loan on the Protegé5.

(Earlier,) I was referred to contact George Johnson at Freeman through my membership with "AAA - New and Used Vehicle Purchasing program" (although Freeman Mazda wasn't officially on their list- and they still aren't, they had talked about a possibility of joining. These dealers have agreed to offer their best lowest price) by the head of the AAA program, Brann Carson, last summer, when I thought that the RX-8 was going to come out last fall 2002 ... I went in to Freeman Mazda to see if there was any new info that they might have had at the time that wasn't on the RX-8 forum, and actually I got an early RX-8 CD ROM presentation (a few months before they were mass-mailed out) and George gave me his last one.

Anyway, I needed a car! I was hoping for a hatchback(fastback) and something with a functional back seat (that if I needed to take my car-seated kids somewhere, I could) and my wife wouldn't mind if it had 4 doors. The only, "must have" was I wanted black cloth interior and a black exterior, automatic and maybe a rear wing and side body molding.

Since this would be a ... temporary car to hold me over until the RX-8 came out ... I didn't have a long list. On my list was (a used) Acura RSX or (no later than a 2000) Celica, or new Honda Accord EX coupe (both the RSX and Accord have standard front side airbags, alarm system and ABS brakes - which were important safety features to my wife. But I couldn't get a good deal on the Accord, so it got quickly crossed off the list), plus there was the new Mazda6 and Protegé5.

When I test drove the Mazda6 (4) and the Protegé5 (4) I liked the Protegé5 feel "behind the wheel" better and being a smaller, lighter car, the "zoom-zoom" was nicer - IMHO. The Mazda6 didn't feel that it had enough power with the 4 (although, I liked the idea of having better gas mileage and saving some money with the smaller engine), but IMHO the v6 is the way to go on the Mazda6! Still, I needed to choose a car quickly ... and not finding any used Black Celica's, RSX's or any Mazda MX3's or MX6's I made the choice to go with the Protegé5 (it already had a rear spoiler and side body molding standard). But then the Saturday I go to buy the Protegé5, suddenly 4 RSX's come on the used lot of the Acura dealer next door exactly the way I want them -minis the rear wing and side molding (who I was talking on the phone - the day before about a new RSX, we were actually talking for about a week earlier and knew that if he could not get me a great deal I was going to go with Mazda, and I was also interested if at all possible in a used one, and he never mentioned that his RSX loaner cars would be turned in to the used car lot - he wasn't trying real hard to win my business- and true or not, he wasn't coming across as honest in his dealings with me) - but it was still over $60+ a month difference and with a 5 year loan and that added up - so I went with the Protegé5 (which I actually liked the driving "feeling" better) - but my guess is that if the Mazda6 hatchback was out, that my choice would have gone that route!

So, this last February 1st, I ended up with a "Black Mica" Protegé5. As it stands now, for me, the next 2-3 years I'll be driving my Protegé5 ... than trading it in for the RX-8 ... Hey, I've been waiting for it since 1999, what's a few more years ... right?

So, I just wanted to say again that I very highly recommend my sales person George Johnson (Fleet & Credit Union Sales Manager). George made me feel at ease, like "family." I also had a "great" experience with everyone that I dealt with at FREEMAN MAZDA, here in Dallas! I had tons of detailed questions about car features, options and financing loans vs leases and George never rushed me and answered them all! After I got the car, he even offered to remove the "Freeman" plaque that was on the back above the Mazda logo (which I took him up on).

;)

This was the best price and car for my money - George offered a "no-haggle" $200 over invoice cost with no hidden fees - it was one of the best experiences I ever had in buying a new car, like when I bought my Probe, new, through an Auto Broker back in L.A. for $100 over invoice (the worst was when we bought my wife her 2000 Passat for $250 over invoice - that was a battle that I hope to never again repeat).

So please, if you're in the market for a new car, tell him I sent you (that's Joel from the RX8 forum)!

:D