You guys that pre-ordered, when are you planning to apply for a loan and have any of you already applied. I'm thinking of applying for a loan as soon as I can get the VIN number, and pay my remaining balance, just to get it out of the way. I'd rather do it now then wait for it to come in and have to wait for approval or deal with any suprises on my credit report.

When do you expect to get the VIN? I was thinking of applying online for a loan, prior to the car getting here, but I'm not sure how that works, because I,ve never done that before.

Most loan approvals are good for only 30 days and the bank isn't going to send money for a car that does not exist, or that is not scheduled with a delivery date! At least I do no think they will.

Go to www.myfico.com to see your credit score and learn about your credit report and lending.

I'm waiting until I have an estimated arrival date then get a pre-approval. I am hoping that Mazda has special financing for us. I know ha ha wishful thinking ;)

i'm planning on checking out a few lenders maybe in early may or so to see interest rates, at which point i'll probably try and get a draft and bring it to the dealer, if they can beat it the interest rate then great if not, go with the bank or other lender =p

lendingtree.com offers auto loans as well. For those looking to shop for interest rates, you may want to give this a go. Also just in case there is someone on the internet who does know about it, peoplefirst.com (capital one) offers preappoved loans that are then backed up with a blank check. You can take the blank to the dealer with you and when your ready just fill in the price. The check will be marked with the max dollar figure you can spend.

Also I checked with ford/mazda today, and they do not offer any employee discounts on this car :( As some of you may know, lots of big corps have agreements with FMC for preselected prices on cars. Every mazda is available to me at FMC employee price + 5%, but not the RX8. Oh well.

zilch321
This discount is called the A plan for employees and X plan for corps. We have it at work and I was hoping I would get a RX-8 with the X plan. Typical savings is pretty substantial. Basically I was hoping to get the GT for the GS price :) But no go, no discount on the 8.

Maybe I'll get a 6 that might have a nice discount. Although I'm not purchasing a car till next may so maybe by then the 8 will be available with this plan.