I will get delivery of an RX-8 MT6 GT in the week of May 17.

The car has been sitting in the dealer's lot for about three-four months.

What should I check upon delivery ?

Which questions should I ask to be sure that the long stay in the lot did not damage any systems ?

Other comments, suggestions.

Thanks

 

When I picked up mine, it had about 40 km on it already. I was a tad worried, but the sales guy assured me that it accumlates that much when they perform the PDI. You should check that too.. make sure nobody has "test" driven your car.

Give it a thorough inspection (interior and exterior). Check that they did the air-bag recall and that they flashed it with the latest ECU calibration (M-flash). Also check that the storage compartment damper isn't broken (they broke mine doing the recall, and weren't aware of it).

I asked what motor oil they filled mine up with.. just so that I don't end up mixing brands.

I noticed also that the brake discs accumulated some rust from sitting. It's supposedly normal.

Hope that helps.

 

Make sure your motor oil is at an adequate level. Full tank of gas.

 

THE PAINT!!! I got a black 8 with a large scratch in it. Does the paint really suck that bad???

 

No it doesn't!! You should've returned it and got another one!

 

All sounds like good advice but I have to ask where the 40km came from? Mine was ordered and when I took delivery it had 2.5 miles on it from the port and the dealer put 5 miles on doing their PDI. So my total was 7.5 miles which isn't close to 40km if memory serves.

 

mine had exactly 7 miles on it too

 

make sure you get all the pedals right... i realized a few months too late that they didn't give me an aluminum accelerator pedal, either that or someone's real quick with with the look-over-there.

I'm sure this advice is generally applicable... make a list and check it twice

 

When I picked up my car the dealer had in the pre-service bay, all ready to go. I had a list of things to check ie body/lights radio/cd/pwr equipment etc. Get a copy of the owner manual off the web and go over it, if you have any questions the dealer answer them. I took a good 30 minutes to go over the RX-8 with a fine tooth comb. All was fine. Sales person was getting anxious...no check untill I was happy.

My dealer had a Pre-Delivery Checklist the tech had performed & was signed. Ask to see it when you go to pick it up, if they don't have it with the date & signature tell them to do it again.

I would also ask if the body needed anything done to it due to shipping damage. I saw a local Mazda dealer(not where I bought) performing paint touch up outside on a windy day in early April on a couple of spanking new Mazda 6's......I was not impressed....and would not have wanted either of them to be my new baby.

 

the 40km?

Lousy sales guy probably lied to me about the PDI.

Not sure, but they could also have driven it from port (which is about ~30km). Again, I'm hoping.

When I bought the car, it still had all the plastic wrap in the interior... so it doesn't sound like a test driven model.

They assured me of that.. they wouldn't even let me test drive until I signed a sales agreement.

Who's to know? I tried to get a small discount, but no way they would budge.

 

It didn't have the protection on the exterior? They usually load up the cars on a semi to bring them in from port. That way they don't get have extra mileage or risk getting rock chips on the way in.

 

I don't know.. it'd been sitting on the lot for quite some time apparently.

 

Thank you very much for all the very helpful comments.

I will have a complete list of things to check next week.

I hope that the salesperson will not be too overwhelmed.

I will keep you informed.

 

halfon: you will get a checklist (completed or not) which you have to sign off on before accepting delivery. My salesman didn't have it done when I got there and we went over the car (to my satisfaction) point for point on the checklist, as well as my own looking over of the car. He also sat with me and explained everything about the car (technically it's in the survey later) which can be informative if you haven't read the whole manual.
Plus in the time he/she is explaining this (and you already know it) that's when you can zone out and check out your own (in your mind) checklist.

 

Following your advice I went to Burlington Mazda and spoke with the service department. They were not aware that the car had been sitting there for months and were not going to do anything about it.

Thus, I sent this e-mail to my salesperson. I think that this e-mail mentions all the points.

I came today and spoke with the service department.

They did the PDI when the car came in months ago. Thus, you need to give them a work order to check the oil, check all the recalls and to flash it with the latest ECU calibration (M-flash).

They might need to do some PDI again since the car has been sitting for a while.

Also I assume that nobody has driven it. According to other owners that received delivery, there should not be more than 10
km on the odometer.

When I get the car I expect to see the Pre-Delivery Checklist the tech had performed and was signed including the work order that will be done this week, as for above.

Please confirm that this will be done before I see you next week.