I stopped by my dealer in Bedford Hills, NY and told me a couple things:

1) cars have definitely reached port. He got to go look and sit in one, but was not allowed to drive. The guy running the place there said no way - customers will get to drive it before any dealer managers do.

2) All the cars are being held until they go with their 'launch'. He was estimating that the car might be available anywhere between 7/9 and 7/18.

3) The option list was initially sent to dealers, but then revoked. He said he no longer knows what will be available and at what cost. He did tell me that he would call as soon as they have their option list and what I might be able to have added at port.

4) He mentioned that in addition to the book, we should also be receiving a die-cast metal model of the car

5) Good news for me: he said the only thing that's been added is the spare tire kit. I'm not sure if he's throwing it in, but the impression I got was that he was telling me that Mazda was adding it in. He said it just used to be a can of fix-a-flat, but that now it's getting the spare tire kit and that he's not going to charge me more for it.

Anyway, I think that's it. Since the dealer is less than an hour north of the city, I was hoping for a shot at the first post of a U.S. owned Rx-8. My dealer may cooperate with me, but with all you fanatics, I doubt I have a chance.

If what you're saying about the spare tire is true.... then I won't have to have it port installed b/c they are already giving it to me?

I should mention that I was going to call my dealer in a day or two to order it... but now... hmmmm....

Good news indeed.

I would not get my hopes up until the VIN status has changed to "In Port".

Fubar checked my VIN JM1FE17N740100606 VIN as Status 20 - In Transit this afternoon 6/23/03. My ports are POE JX - PORT JACKSONVILLE, F IP JX - PORT JACKSONVILLE, F.

Believe me, I hope I'm wrong and they are "In Port"

I have no idea what officially is being done with the spare tire kit. My dealer never told or asked me about having any port options installed.

He had just mentioned that the tire kit got added and that he's not going to charge me any more for it. I got a sense that the dealer was just trying to honor the original price (retail) for the car back in January. He seemed especially accomodating since he knows we've been waiting for a long time.

You may want to check with your dealer about the spare tire, but I don't know that you can necessarily force him to throw in the kit.

I called my dealer and he told me that this was the second time that I asked about the spare tire kit (lol) and that he already DID add it to my order. DUH! :eek:

Just got off the phone with my regional district sales manager (Pennsylvania) and he said the boat in California has cars for the west and south and no cars for the east. Even though I preordered on January 10, I FINALLY got a VIN and a build date. Scheduled to depart Japan on 6/27. Arrival "TBD". Still got no good reason for why my car's not on the first boat or two.

I was just told by my dealer my car is at the Jacksonville port and is expected at the dealership between june 30th and july 4th. He did mention that they would take the first 3 cars and use them
for the launch. Getting any information out of my dealer has been
painfull so I dont know how much of this is true. Oh yeah im in miami florida.

Originally posted by LesPaul
Scheduled to depart Japan on 6/27.
Did you get this from your regional sales manager, too, or somewhere else?

Originally posted by Bridged13B
I was just told by my dealer my car is at the Jacksonville port and is expected at the dealership between june 30th and july 4th. He did mention that they would take the first 3 cars and use them
for the launch. Getting any information out of my dealer has been
painfull so I dont know how much of this is true. Oh yeah im in miami florida.

What dealer did you order from? I wish I could get my car by July 4th but I have a feeling I wont see it till the following week.

Mazda of Kendall