amacrx8

A LONG time ago, I was seriously considering getting an RX8. But I graduated from college, and after seeing what my commute would be like in the Washington DC Metro Area was like, I thought I better just get a comfortable highway cruiser.

Enter 2006 Jaguar XJ. Now I love this car. It may not be a blast to drive like the RX8, but it is very luxurious, very beautiful, and pretty fast. But it is damn expensive to operate, and I live under constant fear of a catastrophic (or even a small) mechanical failure, all of which cost enormous amounts of money to repair. Luckily I have mostly been spared of problems. I bought it last November (2010) and have driven it about 10k miles.

Gas prices started going up. The reality (cost) of owning a Jaguar started to get to me. So I decided to do something about it. In March 2011, I started looking at commuter cars. After a quick search, I ended up leasing a 2011 Honda Insight base and got a steal of a deal--$205/month with zero down and 15k miles/month. At the time, the prices were incredibly low (one day before the Japan tsunami).

This helped considerably with my monthly budget. But it's not enough. I can do better. So I started looking at a car to replace both my Jaguar and Insight.

So here I am. Just some background, I had a '94 Miata for about 3 years between 2006 and 2009. It was a blast to drive, but it was very small and impractical. It was also rattly and had a lot of NVH.

Yesterday I test drove a new 2012 Mustang V6 with performance package. What a beast that car is! I was certain I wanted it. But then last night I started thinking. Did that car really make me happy? Could I live with it long term? It was fast as heck, sure, but the engine sounded so coarse and raspy to me. And the handling? Sure it felt more taught than I imagined it to be, but I didn't feel the urge to throw it around corners. But the price!! It's so inexpensive! For just a little bit over $21k (+ tax, etc.) I can have this car.

And then I realized that I don't think I smiled once during the entire test drive. (And there were two test drives-- for a total of about an hour of driving!) Then I started remembering of when I went to Zoom Zoom Live in 2006. I remember driving a Mazda RX8 for the first time around a "high speed" track made with cones. I remember revving the engine all the way up to redline, and the engine being so buttery smooth all the way up there. I also remember the handling feeling so fluid, like I was dancing with the car. Much like I felt in my (future) Miata that I bought shortly thereafter. But even after I had the Miata, I knew there was a strong desire to get an RX8 one day--it just wasn't in the cards for me.

Fast forward to today. I find myself really wanting a new RX8 (used is a TERRIBLE deal right now). Now I know they have stopped making the RX8, but there are a few left at dealerships, so I would like to have one transferred. But there is the terrible little problem of price. The price for an RX8 is just too expensive for what it is! According to ZAG, I can get a new Mazda RX8 sport for about $24,300 or something like that. Is it just me or does this seem really high for a car that was probably Mazda's worst selling car of all time? Then again, they do have 0% financing, but that can only do so much when the normal financing rates are around 3%.

So I am at a crossroads. Do I get the Mustang V6 which I know will probably not be well suited for me for a price of about $22k (estimated considering what I expect for my trade-ins), or do I get a Mazda RX8 for $24k+??

Or does anyone know what the real world selling prices for RX8s are right now? I want to get one cheap! If I could get one for $21-22k I would buy it immediately!

Thanks for reading!

gwilliams6

Ypur best value is a 2008-2011 Used RX8 with low mileage and still under original Mazda warranty, or with a Mazda certified used car warranty. They can be had for $18,000-$21,000. You dp not need to pay new car prices. The S2 version RX8 2009-2011 is virtually an unchanged model. And you should get a grand touring model, NOT a sport. The GT models have the DSC and other upgrades, and will be worth much more , and could make or break a deal if you ever want to sell the car later.

I know used car financing is usually more costly, but look around at dealerships and the online car sites and I think you will find some used and/or leftover bargains. Once you have found a few good choices, come back here and share the info and many folks here can give you good advice on whether it is a good deal.

RogueTadhg

Not virtually unchanged model. There's a lot of differences between S1 and S2, mechanical as well as body changes.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-ii-diy-161/%2A%2Astop%2A%2A-please-read-before-posting-what-series-ii-rx-8-a-221327/

amacrx8

I dunno. Have you looked lately? I just test drove a 2009 RX8 GT with 14k miles (manual) which I loved, but it was like $23,998 + TTT. That price seems very typical of what I've been finding on AutoTrader. And usually at that price they have even more miles!

Hell, just to get to $18k you're talking '05-'06 with over 50k miles.

Mr.ThunderMakeR

Used is always a better deal. Shop around for financing. For example my credit union is offering 2.5% financing on both used and new cars. Can't beat that.

jasonrxeight

look for used.
I bought my 2009 R3 had 5k miles for 22k last year.

amacrx8

Again, please check prices TODAY! Prices this year are completely jacked up. One year ago you could still get a good deal on used cars. Today, not so much. The reason for this is nobody leased in 2008, and so there are not many lease trade-ins. The economy is bad, so people are buying used cars. To add more sh*t to the pile, the tsunami completely wiped out Japanese car production for a few months.

Sorry to sound so pissy, but I'm a little bit upset because my trade-in just got a really bad appraisal at Carmax and on Autotrader.com!!!!

kiker14

can you explain why you think used is a terrible deal right now?

kiker14

my post was one min late it looks like - but i would argue that used is still the way to go, if you are trying to save money. These cars depreciate very quickly which means that used you will get much more for your money.

trade-in value is crap because everybody is selling their cars, nobody is buying. you have a lot of purchasing power, new or used.

jasonrxeight

I do agree car prices have gone up this year. I am having hard time to find a good deal now.

pistonhater

I think gwilliams was referring to the fact that there are not a lot of significant changes between 2009-2011 models "themselves." They did drop the Touring model, added the R3, etc.; but the mechanical/appearance changes that started in 2009 remained basically the same until 2011.

It seems to go in cycles. I looked at autotrader, cars.com, and other websites for many months until I found the car I wanted for the price I wanted. Many times you'll see the same car with different prices form month to month if it hasn't sold.

The GT seems to hold its value better.

Time to find a couple of cars that you like and begin the hunting process. Nothing more exciting that calling 5-6 dealers and see which one will meet your needs/expectations.

Remember, the RX-8 is not a car on high demand. You have more room to negotiate than with other cars.

I bet you could get that 09 GT for 20K

amacrx8

Look at any used car in the last 3 years for sale. With the exception of higher priced cars ($40k+), the prices are NEVER more than a few thousand off what you could get a new one for today. Case in point, the 2009 RX8 GT I test drove. The price is $23998, but I could get a new one for $28830 according to ZAG. True that is $4832 under the price of the new one, but it's already out of B2B warranty (if it were bought in late 2008, the warranty is pretty much done). There are also only 2 years or so left on the powertrain warranty ('09s don't come with the extended engine warranty, do they?).

It used to be that you saw that level of depreciation as soon as you walked off the lot!

The RX-8 is not really the best example of this, though, as it is a very unpopular car in general and has low resale value.

However, now that I think about it, I should probably buy used. The reason for this is there is a much bigger margin with used cars than with new cars. Meaning, a dealer is probably much more willing to work with me on my trade-in if I'm buying used rather than new. Unfortunately, Carmax is not one of those dealers!

I wish I could find more used RX-8s in my price range! (Low $20ks, maybe upper $10ks).

xexok

The 09+ cars do have the extended engine warranty. Just keep looking, you will find a good deal eventually. Check places you would never consider like a lotus dealership near me has a back lot with cars that are not lotus brand that they do not display, that is where I picked up my rx8.

Also buy what you want if heated and electric seats, possible nav system, dsc and tcs, etc are not wanted or needed by you then go for a lower model. Lots of people get in their cars and turn the dsc and tcs off when they drive because they do not like it. I have never had any issues in hard rain or any other weather or situation where they may come in handy and I have an 09 sport without either of them. Personally I prefer the cloth seats over leather as well since I live in vegas. The only thing I would have liked to have in mine is the bluetooth link for phones.

Myardor

iTrader: (7)

Are you sure you got this>>>got a steal of a deal--$205/month with zero down and 15k miles/month.
Most ppl do 12K miles/year.
That;s a lot of gas monies per month.
15k miles divided by 15 miles per gallon is about $1000 gas money per month.
Even if you could get 30 miles per gallon, that is still $500 per month of gas monies

gwilliams6

You misread my post, I meant that the S2 2009-2011 RX8s were virtually the same, NOT that the S1 was the same as the S2.

K1NeT1C USMC

buy mine 15500 53000 miles i live in fairfax county =)

MS Addict

iTrader: (1)

...What?

Hell, to make it easy, I'll go with 12k mi.

A thousand miles a month. Divided by, roughly 17 mpg.

That comes to just under 59 gallons.

Multiply that times , we'll assume the cost of gas, $4.00, again, just making life easy.

$236, roughly, per month in gas.

What in the WORLD would you do to drive 15,000 miles a month?

I drive a CDL truck. Sure, I can spend more than a thousand dollars in gas(Not my money, mind you), but I don't even come close to 15,000 miles a month. But, diesel trucks like that don't get anywhere NEAR good gas mileage, I think the truck averages between 6-8mpg. I just have a near-hundred gallon tank, which is a fortune to fill up.

Anyway, my point is, you're not spending a thousand dollars in gas a month. I came up with that number, at 12k mi a year, so between that to 15k would probably be between $200-300 a month, more or less, depending on the cost of gas, and whether you drive more highway, or city.

Ultimately, here's my fuelly. The past month did involve some autocrosses, and a trip to TOTD, thus a decent number of tanks of gas not counting, since they weren't true fill ups. But roughly 17mpg is what I've been getting, with highway more, and city/track days less.

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/asimplerx8/rx8

I've also put a total of 8,000 miles on mine, however, since about March 28th.


Edit:
Also, as far as used ones go, I got my 2004 GT with 36k mi, with the extended engine warranty, and had bumper to bumper(Already expired though), for $13k, from Pearson Mazda.

If you're local to them, I'd recommend going to them, they're great as far as service. And I was there the other day, and they had quite a number of Rx8's sitting around. They probably haven't been inspected and such to be sold yet, but it seems like as soon as it goes through the shop, about two days later, it's sold. So they are going through them, but they had a ton of S1 GT's on the lot.

Also, a brand new VR 2011 R3, for 0% for 60-months.

Do want, hard. But it's still at the full sticker price.

v3rlon

I am getting about 21.8 mpg (also bear in mind that this is premium). This is almost exactly the same real world number Road and Track produced for that Mustang V6.

Don't get me wrong, I love Mustangs and have owned a pair of GTs (89, and 2000). The handling package is nice, but it is a different car than the RX8. Solid axel in the back of the 'Stang is better for 1/4 mile runs, but not as useful when there are curves on the track.

Ok, lets assume you meant 15k miles per YEAR, not month and about 1250 miles per month.

Honda Insight at 42mpg = 29.8 gallons of regular at $3.70 = $110/month.
RX8 at 22mpg = 56.8 gallons of premium at $4.10 = $232/month
V6 Stang at 22mpg = 56.8 gallons or regular at $3.70 = $210/month

I was cringing at the premium gas too (having driven an XJ8L for a few years myself), but the $22 a month just isn't that much. Well, it is a little less here since our gas prices are lower in Texas.

So, it will hurt compared to the Insight, but you probably won't notice against the Mustang.

Now, you drive the car hard and it WILL break sometimes and it WILL get expensive. That will always be true, but at least you wont be hearing about "Luxury Vehicle Select Service" (i.e. we aren't doing a damned thing different, or using more expensive anything...we're just charging more because you have a nice car and we believe you can afford it) charges like you entertain with the Jag.

While shopping for the 2010 I bought at the end of July, I had a dealership ready to part with a brand new 2011 (base model) for $24,000. I did not go back and forth with them and the shop where I got the 2010, so I probably could have gotten a bit more off of that for the new one. If you shop hard and have a couple of dealers competing with each other (and not owned by the same parent company), you can make some headway.

You can also fight dirty with the "I heard Mazda quit making these..." line if you are so inclined.

While some people like DSC, I am not a fan of traction control. I know when the tires are spinning and I know what to do about it. Of course, it doesn't really snow down here. Your choices may be different.

devtec

iTrader: (1)

You can also look for a used private party sale. I just bought my great condition '07 GT with 41k miles and certified used warranty in March for $14,750.

amacrx8

Well I ended up getting a Mustang V6 with the performance package. I still really wanted the RX8, but it was hard to turn down the deal I got as I was having trouble trading in the Jag at a lot of dealerships because of its accident history.

On today's commute I got about 25.5 mpg, which is good and is a number I don't think I could ever achieve with the RX8, and the Mustang uses regular fuel.

I will definitely be interested in Mazda's next rotary sports car. Thanks for all the help, guys!

amacrx8

Sorry, it was a typo! I would probably die if I did 15k miles a month. It was 15k miles a year.

Roaddemon

Discontinued rx8 production may increase used price as availability disminishes. True sport car enthusiasts will always covet a car like the rotary rx8. buy now or pay more later when these cars are hard to find. Old sportscars have a tendency to hold more value as they age, depending on condition.

MS Addict

iTrader: (1)

Okay, good, haha.

Anyone who drives 15k mi a month, wouldn't have a life. You figure, roughly 500mi a day, without weekends off. Jesus... Even if you bought an Rx8, you'd never, ever, have time to enjoy it at that rate.

I mean, I've done 50k mi in about 8 or 9 months, and that was rough. Ah, the things we do for women sometimes...

Anywho, sorry for going off. Rough week is rough.

pistonhater

What!!! Are you serious!!!

Seriously, glad you found a car that met your goals and expectations. I like Mustangs and Corvettes too. Haters are going to hate. So just enjoy your new sports car and get the best out of it.

The only thing is that - if I was the one going for a mustang - I would bite the bullet and go all the way with the V8

Chibana

Me, too, but at least the V6 is a respectable option as of the 2011 model year. I will miss being able to laugh and point at V6 Mustang drivers (if they're driving a 2011+). That old V6 was only good for a boat anchor.