Dealers in DC area
 

I'm looking into buying this month. Any suggestions for dealers and good deals in the DC area? Thanks.

Don't know what deals they're offering at the moment (I ordered in Jan. and took delivery July 21 as they were rolling out of port), but I was well treated by Abed at (Rosenthal) Arlington Mazda, Glebe Rd. My suggestion is go to their web site and inquire on a particular RX8. This qualifies you as an "Internet" customer and they will then offer the "Internet" price on any car you ask about when you show up. Abed was, at least in July, their "Internet" salesman and I found him very responsive.

I had a good experience with Spence also at Arlington Mazda on Glebe Road. I ended up getting my car from a dealer in Maryland because they had the color/options/etc I wanted and wouldn't trade it to Arlington, but Spence was really nice about it. Rosenthal Mazda at Tysons is bigger, but they tried to steer me to the cars they had, not the one I wanted. Brown's didn't have a very good selection back in October when I was looking. The internet thing is a good idea.

Thanks for the tips shebam and Positron. I was at Arlington Mazda today and they seem to be reasonable. I'll try the Internet approach.

Position: Why didn't you trade in to Arlington, was their value lower?

I ended up not using Arlington Mazda because they didn't have the color and options I wanted and the dealer in Maryland that did have it refused to send it to Arlington. I didn't want to special order what I wanted and wait 90 days for it to maybe show up, so I went to the dealer in Maryland and bought it there. Both dealerships were at the exact same price for the car and trade (I tried to get one to go lower, but back in October nobody was budging). I do intend to use Arlington Mazda for my service (I even registered with their service department.) Interestingly, Rosenthal Mazda at Tysons is cheaper for parts than Arlington and seems to have a much better inventory. Rosenthal is just a bit more than Trussville but since I don't have to pay shipping from Rosenthal they are very competitive (I got my front and rear rotary accents that way). Hope this helps.

I purchased mine in November, I emailed every dealer within 150 miles of DC. Darcars in silver spring had over a dozen units just sitting there and knocked about a grand off invoice on one that had had 250 miles on it. Nobody else would deal short of 'beat another verified deal by $100' (which amounted to $200 off MSRP). I eventually got my RX-8 for ~$600 over invoice from Lancaster Mazda in Pennsylvania.

Flugue,
I got mine from Brown's Mazda in Alexandria, US1 South. That's also where MSCW has tech sessions every few months. I have been pleased with the service so far.

Don't know if it is still there but they have/had a Red RX-8 for about $22K. But it is not perfect, selling as is. A tree impacted the front end on a test drive. :( About $4K in damage but it still runs. :D

TreknMazda: I went to Brown's Mazda a couple of weeks ago and the seemed reasonable.

Does anybody have a of what kind of discounts people are getting in this area?

Arlington Mazda has about 50 in stock! I saw them in their lot. Probably invoice pricing is feasible.

I'm going in to Arlington Mazda tomorrow morning for my first oil change and check up. I'll let you know how it goes. I intend to ask lots of questions.

Positron: how was your visit to the dealer?

Fluque - As a matter of fact I just got back from Arlington Mazda a short while ago. I had the oil changed and they did the first time service check over. The oil change cost $29.63 which included the filter, gasket and oil (and yes, it was 5w-20). Their Mazda Full Circle Inspection found no problems. It took about 45 minutes.

While there, I asked about the oil pan replacement and the service rep said if I wasn't seeing the oil light come on while driving, they would rather not "fix what ain't broke" unless I insisted.

He did say that they had seen 4 or 5 cars over the past month or so for flooding, but as long as the car is properly warmed up before shutting it down there shouldn't be a problem. That has been my experience. I always wait for the temp gauge to move at least past the 2nd mark before shutting down.

I was satisfied with the service at Arlingotn Mazda and probably will continue to use them for service (mostly because of convenience - 2 miles from home). Rosenthal Mazda at Tysons is a much larger operation and is fancier, but it is not as easy to get to. We will see what happens in the future. (I do use Rosenthal for parts though.)

Hope that helps.

that's good news. I'm heading out to Mazda Arlington to talk to the sales manager. Lets see what discounts I get.

On a different subject. Is there a good place in Arlington or N. Va. to wash the 8?

Fluque - A good car wash is tougher. There is the brushless one in McLean (on Old Dominion just outside Chain Bridge Rd). There is a nifty one at Tysons at the intersection of 7 and 123 on 7. They have guys in raincoats in the tunnel who wash the car by hand. There is another brushless on Glebe Rd just North of Rt 50. I really hate to use a car wash on my car, but in this weather there is little alternative.

BTW, when you talk to the sales manager at Arlington Mazda ask him about flooding/cold starting and summer only tires if your salesman didn't mention these up front. Just curious to see what happens.

If you don't mind the drive, you can check out via the internet the price and stock at Fitzgerald in Frederick, MD - they have several hundred to over a thousand off the sticker on the few units they have in. Positron - assuming your first oil change just happened and it's at around 3-5K miles, you probably are over the VIN range for the oil pan recall anyway. I'm in the first 500 VINs that came to these shores,have only ever seen the light one time and don't consider mine a candidate for the change.

I can't suggest Gaithersburg Mazda strenuously enough.

They have 22 RX-8s on the lot right now and I got a price under MSRP back in October when they only had 11.
I'm sure they are practically giving them away at this point.

positron: Thanks for the car wash info.

At Arlington Mazda I asked the sales woman about flooding and she didn't know ANYTHING about it, by that I mean she doesn't seem to know what that is! I also asked the sales manager about winter tires and he says he has not heard of that. They are either playing dum or don't have a clue (I don't know what's worse.....). In terms of price they want 1000 over invoice. Not good enough I think.

I'm going to try Fitzgerald and Gaithersburg. I'll let you know how it goes.

I went to Rosenthal for my 8. I went there because they were the only one to have the color and options I wanted. My salesman was Micheal Allen and he was real pleasant and professional. Just tell him Ronnie sent you. With Micheal if he don't know the answer he will find out or point you to someone who does.

Hi,

Can someone please post the email address of the internet sales manager at Gaithersburg Mazda?

What would be a good price these days in VA/MD/DC area for GT equipped car? By 'price' i mean final price including tax/tag/destination. Don't you think $29,500 is too much for a GT (before tax/tag)these days considering winter/snow/end of month?

How much tax did you pay? Was it 3.0%, 3.17% or 3.2%?
Which one is the correct figure?

Uh, tax in MD is 5%.

Tag fee is $140. Title is another $20. Those are MVA prices, I'm sure the dealer charges a "document" fee on top of that for the leg-work.

I bought mine from Steve Young there on the floor.

Maniac,
sorry about a dumb question but whats 'MVA' ?
did you pay 5% tax before or after tag/title/document fees?

BTW, 'document' fee = B.S FEE

Shebam,
do you have Abed's direct email address by any chance?

Thanks.

MVA = Motor Vehicle Administration = DMV = Department of Motor Vehicles

Which he won't pay if the car is titled in VA.

Quote:

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I'm sure the dealer charges a "document" fee

I bought mine from Steve Young there on the floor.

---

Gaithersburg Mazda charges a $99 BS fee, but like everything else, it's negotiable. They also negotiated price with destination as another tacked on fee, which I think is kind of sleazy (aside from those things and the F&I guy pitching life insurance pretty hard, though, it was a very plesant dealership experience).

I bought mine from Telly Washington off the floor. His card says that he's the Internet Sales Manager.

Yeah, I don't sweat all the tacked on fees and such. I would rather they make their profit there anyway - no sales tax on the fees.

I decided how much I was going to pay before I walked in and let Steve know I wasn't going to negotiate. He could do whatever he wanted with the fees and invoice and whatever.
I already had a check in hand, cut for the price I was willing to pay and that was that.

P.S. - I didn't really let him "know" I wasn't going to negotiate. I came in with a really lowball offer and acted like I was a hard-boiled nut.
I then let him "work his magic" on me as he gradually massaged the price down to what I had originally decided to pay in the first place - a figure somewhat higher than my ridiculous offer.

Void

In VA the taxes end up being 3.2%. 3% is VA DMV and .2% is Dealer's Business License Tax.

I ordered in January and picked up my car from the first shipment in Baltimore. Congressional Mazda on Rockville Pike was very good about it. Didn't even charge my credit card for a deposit, and stucik to MSRP, which was the right price for pre-orders. My salesman, Didier Milongo, is capable, honest and a nice guy. He greets me and talks about how things are going whenever I'm at the dealership.
The service people are friendly and try hard, although I don't think they are the best rotary experts around. They replaced my oil pan without complaint, and volunteered at the first oil change that they thought my oil pump was leaking, and replaced it on warranty.

I had a good buying experience with Congressional. I used the CarBargains service (www.carbargains.org). Congressional's bid was very competitive, and I was treated professionally and respectfully by everyone involved.

I bought from Congressional as well. I found the sales manager, the finance guy, and the technical staff to be solid.

I've had one warranty issue (one of the plastic circles in front of the dashboard display came direct from the factory - or the boat, as the case may be - complete with a two-inch long crack)... they ordered the part, installed it, looks good as can be now.

I was the second person to purchase an RX8 from Congressional back in July. The third was the sales manager. His car came in on the same truck as mine.

The sales manager was a nice guy and really kept the BS to a minimum. On the otherhand, the sales guys were generally clueless about the car, again this was back in July.

Over the six months between when I ordered the car and when I received it, the Mazda Sales Managers changed three times. Actually, there were only two Managers. The first one I dealt with left and then came back. This was a bit unnerving.

Overall, it was a good purchasing experience I had with them. One stupid minor irritation, I was buying a Red RX8 and I wanted new Maryland Agr. plates for the car (they match the car's color). Congressional refused to do the paperwork (one crappy simple form). I don't understand it since it would have been very simple for them to do.

Congressional glitch
 

K Worfman reminded me of a deficiency in Congressional's service. BTW, he said he was the seond to order, and on the first delivery truck. Mine was on the same truck; it was the first ordered. He also mentioned that one car was for the sales manager. When it arrived, the owner grabbed it, but later let the sales manager have it back.
Ccngressional did the paperwork for my DC tags, but didn't arrange for an essential part of the deal, the neighborhood parking permit. When I complained -- it meant an extra trip to DMV -- they said they had never done it, even though their agent was at DMV putting in the other papers. I urged them to change that policy. If you ask them before sealing the deal, they might be more likely to pay attention.

I just bought my RX-8 Wednesday from Gaithersburg Mazda, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. They were very helpful and accommodating from start to finish, even to the point of driving my trade-in down to Carmax for me when they couldn't match their offer for it. These guys went above and beyond, and I will definitely go back if I buy another Mazda. I worked with Telly Washington; ask for him and tell him Kevin sent you. Telly is no longer the internet sales guy there, though.

I also recommend talking to Judy Palmore, who is the internet sales associate at Rosenthal Mazda in Vienna. I never met her in person, but she responded to my quote request promptly with a few questions, followed by a good offer (28,200 for AT w/ GT package, including 2 years' oil changes but not freight).

Finally I bought from Browns Mazda in Alexandria, service was pretty good and they made a great offer on my trade in.
Don't mistake them with the sister store, Brown's in Fair Fax. They tried to push the sale and got upset when I walked out the door.
At Alexandria, I dealt with Chris the internet sales manager. I also exchanged emails with Judy at Rosenthal, she matched the offer I had and would have bought from her too.

I just had to share this. Today I got a check from Gaithersburg Mazda in the amount of $37.45 for - get this - "overpayment for tags"! And here I was expecting them to treat the "tag/title" fee as a non-negotiable profit boost like everybody else. These guys just keep giving me reasons to like doing business with them. Here's hoping the trend continues when I start going in for service.

Heh. I got the same thing from them a few weeks ago. I thought it was a fluke.

I got two checks from Rosenthal in Arlington. Mine was a refund of taxes or something for a total of $9. I thought it was a bit strange, and now I'm wondering if this is a trick of some sort. You know, overcharge you on fees up front, and then give a small refund check to make it look like they're fair and honest. I don't know that for sure, but it seems suspicious.

I purchased mine from Rich Morton in Pasadena. About three weeks after picking it up .... got a check for "excess tag and title fees"
Two visits for service so far .:) ... loaners ready to go each time.
Small dealership with folks who take care of the customer
Doug Morton was excellent.