Dealerships in the Denver area
 

I was just curious which dealerships people got their 8's from and the experience they had with them. I am planning purchasing an 8, when I get back from Iraq, and want to have the MS body kit installed on it as well. I know there are at least 3 MS dealers in the Denver area. I have already talked to 2 of them on different occasions (the one on Arapahoe and the one on Havana) and have not gotten very good responses from them. The one on Havana are just full of jerks, and the one on Arapahoe wanted some insane price (over $40k I believe) for the white MS they had parked out front, and would not budge on the price. So far I am unhappy with the dealers I have come across.

That sucks. I bought mine from Burt Mazda which I think is off of Arapahoe, but the lady that helped me there no longer works there. I remember the MS car that was there and if it was the same one they were the same way with me about it no budging at all. I had an ok buying experience there, from what I can tell the McDonald Mazda dealership would probably be your best bet I don't know of any others except for Sil-Terhar and I would strongly argue that you dont go there for an 8.

I worked for Mazda of Lakewood for about a month, they are nice people. Just a small "ma & pa" feel to it.

I also know that RMRX8C (Rocky Mountain RX8 Club) has used Longmont Mazda dealership twice for the annual meets and both went over well as far as I know. Omicron or Doccable would know more about Longmont. I think that is where Omi baught his, and Doccable baught his in Colorado Springs. Same dealership I did. Bob Penkhus, which I wouldn't necessarilly recommend.

Now don't quote me on where they baught their 8's, my head hurts just thinking that much, but Lakewood and Longmont are the two best as far as my knowledge in the Colorado area.

Side Note: Lakewood always seems to be cheaper to do the routine maintence and repairs with too. They were 150 dollars less than Bob Penkhus on the 30K service.

Thanks for the input, fortunately I have to wait till next year (on a contract overseas currently) before I get it, and since I will be buying it outright, I will have alot more leverage when dealing with the people.

I purchased mine from Penkhus in the Springs, I had no problems with them, it was an internet sale. What I found good about Penkhus was that they were better on price than anyone else, and they delivered the car to me, (250 miles one way). I did notice after my purchase that they put a limit on the distance...hmmm....:D I currently use Spradley-Barr in Ft. Collins for service work, and again no problems. I wouldn't buy from them, but good service. I won't speak for Omi, but I do know he bought his from Lakewood. I'm sure when he gets a chance, he'll post on this.
Good luck!

Dealership in Denver
 

Hello all! I bought mine at McDonalds. One of the worst buying experiences of my life!! One example is the salesman said he was going to get the "finance officer" and went to lunch. Turned out he left a note with the receptionest and the officer didn't get it. Sat for an hour before they located either one. I do my service at Spradly Barr and they are ok in that respect. Sure do love my RX8 !! I am in Evans, anybody close? Thanks David

Like doccable, I bought mine from Penkhus in C. Springs. It was an internet sale, but I drove down to finalize the deal. The Internet Sales Manager, Bruce Leiva, was great to work with and I recommend the dealership.

I live near Boulder, and I get the car serviced by John Elway Mazda on 104th. They have done a great job, and I have no complaints. However, I'm not certain they can get MS parts.

AVOID GATEWAY MAZDA at all costs! If you have to go there DO NOT work with Nathaniel. I had the worst experience of my life as far as car buying goes.
I called ahead and made an appointment to test drive an RX-8 Shinka. When I got there they wouldn't let me test drive without a credit check (understandable to a degree). So I let them do it. It took an HOUR. Then the salesman Nathaniel comes back in several times because he forgot some papers. Finally he appears with option A and option B. They are just 60 months and various dollar amounts. I explain that I came to test drive and am not about to talk numbers without first driving the car. He listens and then says, "Well which option do you like". I tried to explain several more times but the same scenario reoccured. Eventually I was so tired of the whole thing that I told him to forget it and I got up to leave. He follwed us to the door trying to convince us the credit check wasn't done yet and some other nonsense. Then the Manager sees this and actually took an interest. By this time I was so pissed off it really didn't matter anyway as my wife had already given up and was sitting in my car. I talked to the manager and set up another appointment the next day to try it again. When the manager walked away, the salesman tells me, "Now do you understand" Way to piss me off even more. Needless to say I went the next day to another dealership, Sil-Terhar in Broomfield. I had a great experience, got the test drive, bought the showroom car and am getting all the options that I wanted added on next week.
To top it all off though, Gateway Mazda offered me $250 dollars for my trade in and treated me like a child. I will never go back there. I would recommend Sil-terhar however. Great place so far.

I bought from Burt on Arapahoe Road. Unlike igotanacho's experience, they were definitely willing to negotiate with me (I got my Rx-8 for $300 under invoice, which is about $3,500 under MSRP / list). It was a good buying experience, and I have been very pleased with the service so far, too.

I just wish that Sill-Terhar would have been willing to negotiate...but with only a handful in Colorado, I understand

Originally, I was going to buy mine from Sil-Terhar, but they didn't seem "interested" in selling me a car. I asked for the price and they gave me the runaround.

I'm afraid to take my car to them for service!

JIV I think i must have done something in my last post for you to misinterpret it. I also bought mine from Burt on Arapahoe but through the Internet sales rep. I was just saying that on the Mazdaspeed version that they wanted like more than 40k for that they would not negotiate with me. Sorry for the misunderstanding I also got a very good deal on mine. Sorry for the confusion JIV

I had been working with Gateway because their finance guy, Boston seemed to be pretty up front. I was sort of ignoring the sales guys. Then I went in there because I thought I was ready to buy and they told me they couldn't get the car I wanted, I had to buy the one on their lot. The salesdroid was some european guy--a real asshole--he tried to make me feel like an idiot and made a rude comment to me as I walked out. I went to Lakewood and they were pretty nice, but were also unable to get the car I wanted. Sil-Terhar was the same deal, except some punk kid kept telling me I wanted a Shinka, which was about $8k more than the one I got and has a lot of options I do not want.

So I ended up buying the car at Independence Mazda in Kansas City (my hometown, so I wasn't opposed to going out there to get it.) They did everything over the internet and quickly figured out that I was going to shop around so they gave me the best possible deal right away. They even had somebody go up to Omaha and get the car I wanted (Blue base model) and sold it to me at Invoice. I got the lease and they gave me the best rates you can get from Mazda, so I was happy about that. I had a little surprise when I registered the car in Broomfield, but other than that it was a good buying experience.

I had the same bad experiences with Gateway, Lakewood, and Sil-Terhar. Elway had a red RX-8, and they were really nice, but it was an automatic with the X-Men wing. That's why I went down to Penkhus. Enjoy your new 8!

Bought mine from McDonald in Lakewood. Great experience. The salesman (kid) was about as up front and honest as a car sales man could be. I knew he (and the dealership) needed to put money in their pocket and everyone I worked with was honest about it. I ended up about 6500 below retail (never did look to see what invoice was). I was happy with the deal then and still am. The kid no longer works there, but it sure sounds to me like the individual salesman makes all the difference. I won't take it to anyone for service (unless its WAY beyond my ability) so I can't comment on the service department. Burt on Araphaoe blew me off without a second glance.
Hey, what better Valentine's gift can you buy yourself but a brand new 8?! Climbing into it after a rough day at work makes it all better (usually). Good Luck.

I bought mine at Spradley-Barr in Fort Collins. (Any reference to “I” would include my wife who has a particular interest in picking on car salesmen. It’s a tag team that makes me glad I am not in the sales business). I knew which color and options I wanted and through MNAO inventory lookup, I found that Spradley had one on the lot. Actually the car had been on the lot for several months, is my guess (Lightning Yellow GT with 200+ miles). The sales guy was young and inexperienced, but had a good ‘firm’ handshake. Looking at the wall, I noticed that he wasn’t listed on any of the awards plaques, so I assumed that he was the new kid on the block. I had a great test drive and informed the young gun that I liked the car, but I was not going to pay invoice for an ’04 car that was gathering dust with more then an average number of ‘new’ car miles, while the ‘05’s and limited edition Shinka were now on the lots. I told him that I was already approved through my credit union and that I was ready to make a deal on the car, otherwise I would go elsewhere. I told him that I seen several Shinka’s that I would consider and a Blue that was very appealing or even a Red that had caught my eye. I told him that I knew what their cost was and the price of all the options and because the car was not new and had several miles on it, I would not pay anything near the asking price. Next, came the sales manager with the boo-hoo story that he could not let the car go for anything less then invoice plus a little extra to cover costs. (They even went so far as to go “upstairs” and retrieve the invoice sheet on that particular car, which is something that they never do… cough, cough). I made him a ridiculous low offer and sat back and listened to all the ‘hungry children’ stories. He would rather sell it to another dealer before he let it go at cost. (Now don’t even think to convince me that there is no cost associated with that process). The negotiation immediately came to an end and the manager walked away. The ‘young gun’ that I was dealing with walked with me back to the door and as I went to shake his hand, it was like swinging a cold, wet limp noodle.

A month went by and the car was still on the lot with the same amount of miles as when I last left it. The Mazda Rebate program had now shifted from Mazda Credit Corp to ‘Dealers Incentive’ and MNAO no longer listing ‘04 models in inventory lookup. I had looked at inventory throughout the USA and was willing to take a drive. The missus was willing to give it one last try and told me to stay outside while she made a final offer. Both parties made some accords and an agreement was reached. The dealer did not make invoice (if that it to be believed) while a minor victory was envisioned in the buyers eye. I noticed that the salesman now had an achievement plaque on his desk, so he must have completed some measure of training. I am not picking on the salesman as he was caught in the middle of some serious flack. In fact he is to be commended for hanging in there, (not that he had a choice). The deal was inked and I shook the hand of the salesman with a ‘Franklin’. He in turn took great care to insure that the car was cleaned up. I even had him drive it to a nearby detailer to have the windows tinted and a clear bra installed before I picked it up. I haven’t been back to that dealer since, so I can’t comment any further.

So far, all maintenance work has been done in Longmont. It’s a small shop and I get the feeling that my car will get mixed up with anything else. The Service Manager knows many of the local owners and it has been a pleasure to chat with him. I haven’t seen an ‘8’ on the lot yet, but service seems to know what they are doing and have been very accommodating so far. I will definitely be going to Longmont for the recall work.

I was originally going to buy from Spradley-Barr, but after they refused to negotiate the price, ("Sorry - can't take anything below list" - Oct 03), I went home, jumped on the web, found Penkhus, who ended up selling me my 8 for about $3k off the list price. The best part though, is that I go back to Spradley for service. I've had no problems with the service people there. My choices are just a bit limited, either them or Dineen in Cheyenne.
My thoughts on Dineen?
There's an old saying... "If ya can't say sumthin' nice..." <-- this after both attempting to buy a car from them, and getting my 8 serviced by them - once.



Oh, screw it.


Avoid Dineen Mazda, (Cheyenne) simply on the basis of sheer incompetency, both on the sales and service side of things. Everytime I've been there, they treated me as if they were doing me a favor by even giving me the time of day. I tried to get an oil change on a spur-of-the-moment-I'm-in-Cheyenne kind of thing - no. Nothing doing. You'll need an appointment, the first opening we've got is two weeks from next Thursday. I did actually make an appointment with these pinheads once, it was two hours past the promised time before it was ready. A simple oil change. On the sales side... I spoke to the owner; not once, but twice... if ever there was a dealership that should lose their franchise... not lose it so much; but should return it to Mazda - with many apologies.

While I have never purchased a car from Mazda of Longmont, I have always had great service. Rich (Service Manager) doesn't B.S. you. He knows the cars inside and out (at least my Miata). Haven't had the 8 there. They don't hold the car for long, and they are reasonable. I would highly recommend them for Service.

I have looked at cars at Spradley-Barr. I test drove a Miata one time and they just tossed me the keys and said have fun. No salesperson went with me.
I went another time to test an RX-8 and the salesman was a "know it all" with a "my handshake has to be stronger than yours" handshake. He drove the 8 off the lot as a "policy" and than told me how much they loved to get them out on test drives to give them an excuse to drive them. Real Mature.

At least the concensus on Gateway is the same...BLEH

Well I will probably will have to "play" some games with they dealers that are not so good. I plan on making a couple day adventure of purchasing my car. I will basically go in and negotiate a price in several dealerships for the car I want and the losers that were jerks will see me later that day with a fully paid in cash for Rx8 and a sale they lost out the window. I have the S-Plan available to me so I am going to try to negotiate a price a little lower than that haha, and if I can not get that well I will go the S-Plan route!

I live in Longmont, but bought my RX-8 at Mazda of Lakewood (on Colfax Ave). I did all my negotiating by phone and email ahead of time, but when I walked into the dealership to pickup the car, I was blown away by how nice they were. I think having already finished the negotiating ahead of time enhanced that perception, but I really did feel that even if you walked in off the street, your experience would be different there from the typical dealer.

I haven't had the car very long, so if anything changes, I'll report back. But for now, I give Mazda of Lakewood high marks. If you contact them, ask for Dana Wright (the "internet manager" with ability to quote good prices), and inform him you're shopping around and you've heard good things about his dealership, and you want his best price up front, with no hassle.

Having said that, I'll probably do service in Longmont since that's where I live. I also have done a lot of service (on a Protege) at John Elway Mazda (on Federal), and I've always thought they did good work. I've test-driven cars there, but their no-haggle policy makes it difficult to negotiate price like you can at regular dealers, so I've never ended up buying there.

I bought my 8 at gateway mazda also. Worst experience with a dealership that I have ever had. First of all I drove clear over from grand junction (4 hours) to look at an 8 that they told me on the phone they supposedly had on the lot but never really did. Then I had them add appearance items on the car I did buy. They come with a template for the holes to be drilled and they still screwed it up. After all of this all I got was the runaround from everyone at the dealership and nothing was ever fixed. I definitely would not reccommened them to anyone.