I'd rather put this here than the dealership forum, but feel free to move it if need be. For those in colorado, which dealership did you buy from?

Omicron, i know you went to Mazda of Lakewood. I'm currently working with Ray Green on trying to find my Base Model Black RX-8. However, he doesn't seem too familiar with the accessories I want. (Mazdaspeed Body Kit and Interior Night Lights)

Just wondering if anyone could recommend other dealerships in the colorado area? Preferably ones that know what a mazdaspeed body kit is. :)

If I were you, I'd focus on getting the base '8 you want, then order the Mazdaspeed body kit from Trussville or Rosenthal Mazda here in the vendors section. Most dealerships won't be able to get the car that way... that's more of a parts department kinda thing.

As for finding your car, doing a vehicle search shows John Elway has one on N. Federal Blvd for $26720 sticker. Comes with nothin but a cargo net, not even the sport package. Here (http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/vlSelectVehicle.action?exterior=ALL&year=2004&interiorCode=F6&vehicleCode=RX8&tranCode=T9&distance=150&vtype=NEW&imageLocation=rx8%2Fimages%2Fphotographs%2Fpho_bui _rx8_ext_red_your.gif&interior=ALL&isFromDealer=false&totalVehicles=7&city=&trans=ALL&incentives=&msrp=27%2C880&trim=&start=1&zip=80501&isCPOSearch=false&sort=distance&vin=JM1FE173340117093&foundVins=JM1FE173340117093%2CJM1FE173540116639%2C JM1FE173640121414%2CJM1FE173240134483%2CJM1FE17364 0124717%2CJM1FE173740104931%2CJM1FE173440116955&modelTrimName=RX-8&dealerId=&state=&engineCode=ER&name=RX-8&exteriorCode=A3F&vehicleIndex=0&dealerName=&isComplete=false&engine=ALL) is the link.

Other than that one, I find John Elway also has one with a sport package and nav for $29780, Gateway has one with the touring package only for $29480, Burt has one with the sport package and spare tire kit for $28275, Penkhus has one with the sport package, appearance and rotary accent packages and 6 CD changer for $29489 and another one with sport package, rotary accent package, and front/rear splash guards for $28089, and finally, Dale Spradley Mazda in Pueblo has one with the sport package, Nav, Appearance and Rotary accent packages, 6 CD changer, and the rear wing spoiler for $31744.

Ain't the intenet wonderful? ;) I got all these off of the "Search Inventory" tool on Mazda's website found here (http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/vlStart.action?fromTool=cfg). This inventory is always a bit out of date, as cars get sold and it takes a couple of weeks to update, and also they show on the dealer's inventory long before they arrive from Japan, but it at least gives you a starting point. Go to Ray armed with this info and he'll get you the car - or you can walk. He will always try to sell you what's in HIS inventory, of course, but will rarely let a sale walk because he doesn't want to hassle with the paperwork of getting the car transfered to his inventory. If he won't do it, let me know and I'll call the owner of the dealership for you and that'll solve the problem. :D

Hope this helps!

I got mine from Bob Penkhus in Colorado Springs, via the internet, Bruce treated me quite well, and gave me the best pricing by far of any dealership between Cheyenne and Denver. I am probably going back to them for my wifes car. Oh yea, and he delivered it to me. :D
Just my $0.02. :)
-Doccable

Omicron, I did the search a while ago and found some of the cars you listed..but I'm very picky about what I want, and am not willing to budge at all.

As for ordering it with the body kit and interior night lights, that's just so I can finance the entire thing into one lump sum instead of getting a loan for the car and putting the accessories on my visa...

doccable, i tried getting one from Bob Penkhus but Bruce didn't know what any of the accessories i wanted were nor did he think they really existed...haha..

i'll keep looking but, thanks for all your input guys..maybe i'll have my 8 before the meet and be able to go!

You could probably have your dealership's parts department order the Mazdaspeed stuff from Rosenthal or Trussville, then include it, and installation, with the purchase price of your car. Just a thought. Be sure to let us know what you do! :)

i'm trying to get them to order from them, but Bob Penkhus said "no, it's ok. we can order it ourselves." the problem with that is they charge 1000 bucks more for the kit. i'm gonna try to work the system to get me a fair price on the car...if i can't, i'll send you a pm and maybe you can use your connections to help me out!

Sounds like a plan. ;)

Originally posted by doccable
I got mine from Bob Penkhus in Colorado Springs, via the internet, Bruce treated me quite well, and gave me the best pricing by far of any dealership between Cheyenne and Denver. I am probably going back to them for my wifes car. Oh yea, and he delivered it to me. :D
Just my $0.02. :)
-Doccable

Hey, that dealer is near me.. did you just work with them
through the internet and then picked up your vehicle, or
did you talk with a salesman? heard hit or miss about them.

Doccable, while I was waiting for my red RX8 to arrive at penkus, I saw your car show up and sit on the lot for a few days with a sold tag on it, I am pretty sure it had to be yours since it was the only one I saw go through there with the apearance package and spoiler. My experience with Penkus was so so....The only complaint I had was that there is a serious lack of communication within that dealership and the salespeople are not trained well. I contacted Mazda about it and got all the hoo ha we're sorry jargon and that was the end of it... I kind of want to be mad at them for some of the things they did (long story, can cut and paste letter to mazda, if anyones interested let me know) but I guess that's just the way it goes with car salespeople, they'll never change.

anubis email me and I give you some details on penkus exprerience and maybe save you a little headache. All in all I would probably buy from them again, but I now am now more educated and know what to ask beforehand. Anubis If you head down there ask for Joe Daino (salesman) tell him Ben Fox recommened him because I have put him through a rigourous sales process and he can now handle any customer that comes through the door. :)

We'll I guess I have to write about my issues with Penkus at this point as your all probably wondering what the heck went on....It really was a miscomunication between me the sales manager and the salesman.....I went in january and put down a deposit of $500 to order a new loaded RX8 (every option you could possibly get with except for the trunk organizer)... I thought that I would be getting a car off the assembly line built specifically for me, and was allowed to believe this by the sales manager (Nancy) telling them that I was in no hurry to get the car and they said it could take up to 3 months, no problem I said...she said fine and then said she would place the order for the vehicle the next day to Mazda. this was Jan 7th 04.....Feb. 27 they say hey your cars here come get it, I say woohoo....head down there to pick it up and for some reason it is missing one the options I asked for, no problem the dealership says they order it and install it later. I agree give then another $6000 cash and close the deal. Then when I get home I see the production date on the door jamb is 11/03, how did the car get built before I ordered it. I contact mazda and they track the vin and say the cars been in the U.S. since 12/15/03....hmmmm.... if the cars been here then they never ordered it from japan.....and if that's the case that explains why one of the options was missing.....and the hardest part for me to swallow is that let's say I would have agreed to take this car that was close to what I wanted but not exactly, then why did I have to wait over 6 weeks for it if it was already in the U.S.?......then they say they won't install the missing option and I would have to pay for it when they wrote up a "We Owe" sheet on it when we closed the deal. I may be a little more picky than the average human and pretty anal about things and everyone reading this may be thinking that right now. but I always had this notion of getting a brand new car built just for me right off the assembly line from beginning to end....just something that would make you feel a little special for dropping $35k+ over the next 5 years for. Dashed becuase someone didn't tell me that they were going to wait to the last minute to find me a car that was close to what I wanted and already built sitting around somewhere in the U.S. for 3 months. I am also getting thank you letters and touch up Paint from Mazda north america for a grey Mazda 6,(contacted mazda n.a. and they said they'd get me the right touch paint and welcome package for my red RX8 in 6 weeks, puh!) And one last item...they charged me too much sales tax. like $1200 too much.....they corrected the problem but I had to go back down to the dealership and redo the paperwork.

Like I stated earlier, I would do business with them again, but I now know what to look for and what questions to ask etc.... so I hope this will help someone else's buying experience beforehand if they happen to be ordering one from the factory.

Wow, quite the diatribe. ;) You might consider breaking this kind of thing down into a few paragraphs so our eyes don't cross as we read... :D

As for the thing with the dealership, it sounds to me like they either got one off of another dealer's lot, or possibly got one of the cars coming to them as part of their "allotment" modified to meet your needs. The end result of you getting the car you wanted was the same, but it seems they "misrepresented the truth" to you. This may have been on purpose, and it may have been out of sheer ignorance about how Mazda was going to handle distribution of the new models like the 6 and the RX-8.

(By the way, I also have a 6S and an RX-8, as do a few other forum members here. :))

At any rate, welcome to the Mountain forum, and RX8Club.com in general. Glad to see ya here!

So has anyone talked to you about the local Rocky Mountain RX-8 Club yet? :D

No mention of the Rocky mountain club....do you guys do any track days at second creek or pueblo? I race here in CO and see the miata clubs there quite often practicing, and I have a good friend who races miatas pretty successfully locally. I am anxious to test the limits of my car in the proper environment of a race track.

Hey Fox Performance, thanks for the info! When I'm ready to go
Ill take you up on the email! Since I can get a discount on Splan,
I cant take anything lightly! I got taken on my present deal on a Suzuki Aerio, and like you said, opened my eyes wide open. I
have no problem driving to Littleton where Omicron got his if they
treat me right or any Co dealer for that matter (excuse to drive) So at the moment paying as much as I can to get
out of my current deal, and learning more about the 8 as I can.
Heck, I havent even taken a test drive yet, and I haven't been
excited about a car since my old Miata Jade!

Originally posted by FoxPerformance
No mention of the Rocky mountain club....do you guys do any track days at second creek or pueblo? I race here in CO and see the miata clubs there quite often practicing, and I have a good friend who races miatas pretty successfully locally. I am anxious to test the limits of my car in the proper environment of a race track. We'll have our first track day on June 6th, which is the second day of our main Rocky Mountain RX-8 Club meet, June 5th and 6th. :D If you'd like to participate in this and other club activities, just send us an email with your real name, phone number, screen name here, and tell us about your RX-8... and you're in! Right now there's no dues, altho that will be changing. Our email address is in my sig block, as is our current website.

We'd love to have you!

Originally posted by Anubis Rising
Hey Fox Performance, thanks for the info! When I'm ready to go
Ill take you up on the email! Since I can get a discount on Splan,
I cant take anything lightly! I got taken on my present deal on a Suzuki Aerio, and like you said, opened my eyes wide open. I
have no problem driving to Littleton where Omicron got his if they
treat me right or any Co dealer for that matter (excuse to drive) So at the moment paying as much as I can to get
out of my current deal, and learning more about the 8 as I can.
Heck, I havent even taken a test drive yet, and I haven't been
excited about a car since my old Miata Jade! We'd love to have you in the club too, Anubis - whether you've got an '8 or not. :D Instructions above.

And Mazda of Lakewood has been great... I feel comfortable recommending them. I now know the owner pretty well too, so if you have any problems, we can "address" them. ;)

Thanks Omicron, thought I had to have a "8"! :) I sure will be
envious of all of you that have one! And you got a deal when I'm
ready to get my goddess!

You're on. :D Or, you can join us now.

I purchased my car on the s plan as well and it pretty much cuts to the chase, because there is only one set price for the s plan and the dealer is not allowed to deviate from it, so it doesn't really matter where you get the car from (I checked other dealerships) the price will be the same, a very nice savings I have to say....

Like I stated mine was a special circumstance and there was miscomunication with them...but I'd by a car from them again now....especially after they corrected their own mistake on the sales tax, which they way overcharged me for....when they could have done nothing and I would have never known the better.....

I live out of city limits 3.9 % tax rate, and they charged me inner city tax 6.4% plus state tax....and I honestly am pretty much a bean counter but I had never purchased a new car, and did not know that if I lived out of city limits then I didn't have to pay the city tax.

If you want they will let you have an RX8 overnight to test drive, they let me take one for the weekend and that pretty much sold the car on me....

Joe Daino offered me it and at first I was hesitant but then said what the H*** if there offering why not.

not sure what they have in stock right now or what your looking for but they had quite a few to choose from.

Take it easy

ben

Nice, Ben. I too bought my car on the S-Plan... sorta. Turns out the dealerships don't "have" to honor it, and when I bought my car in October, the '8 was so new I was lucky to find anyone who would sell it below MSRP, to say nothing of the S-Plan. But they split the difference with me, so I still saved ~$1500 off MSRP.

are you sure they don't have to honor it?....I was under the assumption that if they didn't it would be discriminating.

I'd have to say that there was no way there were going to turn me away considering most of the dealerships I went to in Jan when I started looking, all had no less than 15 cars on the lots and we're probably ready to make a deal no matter what.

oh by the way I signed in on your guest book on your web site

Originally posted by FoxPerformance
are you sure they don't have to honor it?....I was under the assumption that if they didn't it would be discriminating.

I'd have to say that there was no way there were going to turn me away considering most of the dealerships I went to in Jan when I started looking, all had no less than 15 cars on the lots and we're probably ready to make a deal no matter what. Yup. I checked with Mazda corporate when I initially had a hard time finding someone to honor it, and they told me it's "dealer discretion." But you're right, with 15+ RX-8s sitting on the lots now, they'd be crazy to NOT honor it. Timing is everything.

Oh, and you're all signed up for the club too. :D Welcome!

Thanks Omicron, you beat me to it. The Dealership doesnt
have to accept your Splan, so definitely looking for a good
dealer with solid maintanance history, and customer service.

After I get my 8 plan to have it for a loong time unless the 7
comes out.. but that depends!

Well so far, I've got nothing but good things to say about Mazda of Lakewood in all the areas you mention.

Omi, how are the guys are Lakewood with negotiating? I'm having a hard time with Penkhus...doesn't look like they're willing to go invoice or 200 bucks over. Do you think that price is attainable for a bone stock RX-8 at Lakewood?

Dunno, they don't make much at invoice, and so they don't usually want to sell them that way. Do you qualify for the S-Plan per chance? That'll get you invoice price, and no negotiating... be be prepared to get raped on your trade.

Last I was there to get the "L" reflash done and recalls, they had ~18 RX-8s on the lot in all colors. Didn't notice what packages tho. If they're still there (they were talking about shipping some off the lot) that puts you in a good negotiating position.

What you could try is to call Carol, the owner, at 720-449-9900 and discuss it with her. Be sure to mention the Rocky Mountain RX8 Club, it should help.

Omicron - now they have ~17 at Mazda of Lakewood. ;)

I went there last week to see if they had any of the RX-8 car covers in stock... they didn't, so I didn't get to see how durable they were. But anyway, at $250 a pop, the car cover had better wax my car and change the oil, too!

Anyway, Arcane - it's been a couple of weeks since your post, so I don't know if you've bought somewhere else - but here's my current take on the folks at Mazda of Lakewood (where I got my Red 8 on 3/25/04): they are nice enough to deal with - I dealt with Hart. No pressure, other than the usual "well, can I write it up?" I'd like to think that they sensed that I knew a little about what I was talking about, and that if they tried the pressure tactic, I would have said "thank you very little" and gone somewhere else. I wish they had been a little more knowledgeable about the options and gizmos - but frankly, there's so many of them on these babies I won't hold it against the salespeople. I got about invoice + $500 (which was after I got them to knock off a couple grand from sticker). But that was for a fully-loaded 8, and there is less room to work with a bare-bones model.

Frankly, I only focused on the red 8's - of which there are now 3 on the lot. One of those was a base model at about $26,500. They had a Yellow, a Blue, a Green, and at least 6 TiG or Silver versions.

Look on their website ( http://www.mazdaoflakewood.com/en_US/ ) for what they have in stock. Right now they list 15 RX-8s - and they took mine off their site, so it looks like they keep it reasonably well updated.

Good luck - and let us know what you do!

I am a new member here and from the springs also..I have a black RX8 but i bought it used and it cam out of Cali. Penkus is the only dealer in the springs i know of but there may be one in pueblo. Just wanted to give a quick post to say hi and glad and suprised to see as many CO members.

:)

Hey, WELCOME, COspringsRX8!!! Not only do we have quite a few CO owners, but as you've probably already seen, we've also got a pretty active Rocky Mountain RX-8 Club going too! Check out our website at http://RockyMountainRX8.com , and also note that we're having a pretty good size RX-8 meet coming up this June 5th and 6th in Denver. Folks coming from CO, UT, NM, WY, AZ, and NE so far... should be quite an event. If you'd like to join us, just drop us an email at info@rockymountainrx8.com with your real name, email addy, phone number, and color of your '8 and we'll get you on our club roster and mailing list.

Again, welcome... nice ta see ya here! :D

I use to live in the Springs! lol, though like 6 years ago :(

WELCOME :D:D:D

kind of funny i think i need to go back to the dealership and get a manual rx8, i just finished reading a post that prety much says my automatic sucks for upgrades..but at the time i bought it used and it was the only one they had

:(

Hey guys, I would be MORE than happy to get you a personal referral and the best deal from my guys at Mazda.

I shopped around from Sil-TerHar to Elway and back across the metro area (EVEN CHEYENNE, FT COLLINS, AND CO. SPGS) until I landed at the best dealership I could find. I paid nearly outright for my car and if I am going to spend that kind of cash, I better as hell get the best guys around...

I can't get you an S or E plan PIN#, but lets save you a few grand on the deal. Heck, who can't save money these days?

Originally posted by DrFoster
Hey guys, I would be MORE than happy to get you a personal referral and the best deal from my guys at Mazda.

I shopped around from Sil-TerHar to Elway and back across the metro area (EVEN CHEYENNE, FT COLLINS, AND CO. SPGS) until I landed at the best dealership I could find. I paid nearly outright for my car and if I am going to spend that kind of cash, I better as hell get the best guys around...

I can't get you an S or E plan PIN#, but lets save you a few grand on the deal. Heck, who can't save money these days? Welcome! :D

Ok, so I give up... WHO did you get your car from? You seem to have neglected to mention that. ;)

Geez, sorry! From Mc Donald Auto Group. Great bunch of guys, and like I said, I did about 4 moths of shopping around. I have gripes about the other dealers, but not even one from them!

Talk to Tom Stratton in the Internet / Fleet Sales Dept. Mention I sent you over - Robert Foster

Tom Karros Jr. is the finance Manager over there and a RX-8 pilot too. No BS and hassle over there to deal with from these two.

Interesting...

FWIW last time I did the "call around" thing Sil-Terhar and McDonald were the two dealerships that told me up front that they do not honor S-Plan on the RX-8...

That's a load. Talk to Tom Sletton or the owner's son Tom Junior.

Originally posted by BillK
Interesting...

FWIW last time I did the "call around" thing Sil-Terhar and McDonald were the two dealerships that told me up front that they do not honor S-Plan on the RX-8... Yeah, they tried to tell me that too back when I bought my '8 in October of last year. Turns out it is "dealer discretion" to honor it or not, and they're not likely to on a new, hot-selling car. I found a dealership who was willing to partially honor it, so they got my business: Mazda of Lakewood. Saved about $1500 off MSRP with it.

Mine was around $26k Fully Loaded with nav, tint, clear bra, rotary accents, and on and on, blah blah. Full discounts, no delivery and no dealer fees.

I honestly feel real bad for you guys that fell into the classic car dealer routine of "hot selling car - no deals".... They make tons off of your trade, and even with E plan there is still a bunch of dealer hold-back on the car. ($1500 or so) The dealer shouldn't resort to that straight BULLSHIT line, he is still moving a car and that is how his annual bonus is based, on units delivered, not cash made.

If the dealer doesn't treat you as good as if you didn't even haggle down the price, you need to walk away. You, the customer, should be the #1 guy in the world for the 45 minutes it takes to buy the car.

Never buy into the "Oh, you're E plan..." dismal sounding droll from the manager, while you then go from fast, great, no apathy car buyer, to waiting for over 3 hours, and now you're getting the "special treatment" like some mutt and they're in no hurry to do anything with you.

A quick call to Julie at Mazda, and she verified it, "S or E have to be honored, no matter the car, and if they just gave you a pricebreak on it, your pin # went to another deal to make a ton of cash on a car that carries more mark-up." "You need to find another dealer, and don't bring your trade with you, sell it in the paper."

She sees it all of the time, she told me. They're not as "attached" to just the customer who received it as they make it sound at Ford/Jag/Volvo/Mazda/Aston Martin. In Fact, they're quite "transferrable" to just about anyone.

Like I said, I feel bad for you, and it's a shame in today's modern world, we need to revert to basic scams and word play to make money. That sucks. If I found out that I got robbed for 7K on a car deal, I'd drive the f ucker through the front doors of the dealership!

:( ...sniff...sniff... now I'm depressed. :(

Nah! this car was worth it, and for the time that I bought it, I got a better deal than just about everyone. :D

You make good points, but no use crying over spilt milk.

BTW Doc, you planning on joining up with our little club, and/or coming to our meet?

a: Yes! Sent you a PM - need to know dues too. Can I have a cool Rotary Club decal? LOL

b: Yes, will see you at Mc D's!

Originally posted by Omicron
Yeah, they tried to tell me that too back when I bought my '8 in October of last year. Turns out it is "dealer discretion" to honor it or not, and they're not likely to on a new, hot-selling car. I found a dealership who was willing to partially honor it, so they got my business: Mazda of Lakewood. Saved about $1500 off MSRP with it.
No problem; John Elway Mazda, for one, now honors S-Plan on the 8 so it's not an issue... :cool:

I'm picking my RX-8 up at 1pm today, Wahoo... or should that be Zoom-Zoom? Since I can't concentrate on work, I thought this would be a good time to join the club.

I ended up going through a broker, though I had a bit of an adventure prior to making that decision.

So here's the melodrama: I requested quotes through a couple online services (Autobytel, etc.) and received a call almost immediately from Ray Green at John Elway. He seemed great at first, not pressuring me and seeming to be knowlegeable about the car. A couple days later, it turned out he didn't have the car I was looking for, about which I was very specific. He had been misleading me about the cars he had on the lot and the prices he could offer them for. In retrospect, I should have asked for the VIN and verified the options against their website. I figured I could trust him on his inventory at least, if not his prices.

After telling him on the phone and through e-mail how poorly I thought I had been treated, I never heard from him again. I was contacted by the general manager, Mike Fitzpatrick, but he made no mention of my experience with Ray. He was slow in getting back to me, so I got fed up with playing phone-tag and just left him a voicemail telling him how dissatisfied I was with his dealership. I never heard back from him after that.

Having no patience left for dealers, I decided to pay the broker fee with someone I had dealt with previously. I didn't get a smokin' deal, but it was much less of a hassle and got 3.85% financing through him, which I thought was pretty good.

So, would you say I was naive? Am I blowing things out of proportion? All I know is I still feel dirty. :o I'm sure I'll feel much better in a few hours. :cool:

Had I had found this forum a little earlier, I would have saved myself a ton of brain damage.

Sunlight Silver, MT, Sport package, Spoiler, Rotary accents

No way Rosco, you totally did the right thing. There are too many dealerships to choose from, with too large of an inventory, to put up with crap from one of them. I've bought many cars over the years from brokers (not this one tho) and they are good to deal with. And it's ok if you didn't get the bestest deal out there... this car is worth FAR more than even the highest MSRP. It's a $40K car selling for ~$30K, IMHO.

So, WELCOME! Hope to see ya a lot here. Be sure to sign up on our local (Rocky Mountain) club website - link is in my sig - and join up with us! I posted details in the other thread you jumped into here in the forum.

Man, you're gonna LOVE this car! I can sure understand why you're distracted... I was like that for a coupla MONTHS before my car came in. Still am, to some degree. :D

I have dealt with mike and ray... I'm sorry for you...

Please guys, in the future, try to drop me a line on my cell if I can try to get you a good car deal without all of that bs. I don't get anything out of it, except for the thought it was one less consumer getting slammed straight into the tailpipe.

Dr Foster
720-434-6852

Well, my wife is saying she wants one of her own now (I think she's only half kidding), so who knows, we may be calling you Dr Foster. Had I only known about you and this site two weeks ago. Oh, well... life is good after emtying 3/4 of a tank on the first half day.