Dealerships in Northern VA
 

Hey all,
Just moved to the area and am looking for a reputable dealership to listen to the gear whine and (louder than ever) thrust bearing noise.

I'm in Stafford/Quantico vicinity.

I'm also game for meeting up with other RX-8 owners(I've seen a few on Garrisonville Rd), sharing mod info and such.

I'll bring the beer!!!!
Dave

Hey Dave,
Welcome to the area. You can meet other RX-8 owners at our next monthly meeting .... it's in Tyson's Corner in Fairfax County. See http://www.mscw.com for more info.

rx8cited

Dave,

I would 100% suggest you visit Rosenthal Nissan/Mazda in Tysons Corner right on route 7. They seem to be one of the top names that comes up when it comes to the RX-8.

I shopped all the dealerships in the area when I bought my 8 a couple months back...from warenton to alexandria and even up to gaithersburg, MD. No other dealership came close to the level of knowledge and customer service that I experienced at Rosenthal. Excellent Service Managers too....I'd reccomend talking to Steve Miller (Assistant Service Manager for the Orange Team).

PM me if you would like his direct line number

-PC-

PS. BTW...Like the color choice.....havent seen another blue in the area yet!

Bad Experience at Brown's Mazda Service Department, Alexandria
 

I'm also new to the NOVA/DC area. I just made a mistake by going to the closest dealership to my home -- Brown's Mazda in Alexandria -- for some service adjustments. These were real minor issues, like having the computer flashed/updated and replacing the defroster button -- mine broke like so many others have. I'm not going to relate the sordid details here, but, suffice to say, they've gone to the bottom of my list of service departments I'd consult in the future. I'll be taking the extra time and going out to Rosenthal -- I should've heeded everyone's advice and gone there in the first place. Oh well...

good to know.
I appreciate everyone's replies.
Gonna go to Rosenthal when I get the chance.
Thanks
David

If you're headed to Rosenthal in Tyson's, may I also recommend Michael Allen as an excellent salesman of you're looking to buy. No pressure, no haggling, very honest and straightforward. He said he'd give anyone else I sent in the same price that I got (400 over invoice on an '05), although with a little work you might be able to drop that even further. PM me if you want details and his number.

^ wow 400 over invoice on an '05??

not too shabby....I paid invoice for my '04 a couple months back from rosenthal....prob cause they bought it off another dealer out of state....couldn't find what I wanted anywhere in the area!

DEFINITELY, check out Rosenthal, and Arlington Mazda (also Rosenthal , but they dropped the Rosenthal and just call themselves Arlington Mazda). Those guys know their stuff. I bought mine there- after going to Browns. Some 19 year old kid tried to sell me an 8 saying "the 2005 one will have different bumpers, slightly curved". I laughed in his face and left. I've never had a good experience with Browns, even when I was shopping for my civic 8 years ago.

I baught my car at browns back in Aug. of 2003. Haven't really delt with them other than buying the car which took abotu 10 min.'s :) I did try and have some work done (while i was on leave) b/c of my check oil light kept coming on...the service department treated me like i was an idiot (by their tone)..and the one guy looked at me like he wanted to fight. Hmm odd i don't liek feeling hostility when i go into fix my car. They said the only way they woudl fix it is if they could reinact teh same conditions tha tmade it coem on to see what the problem is. Umm okay it only comes on after driving 200+ miles at 70 miles an hour..it comes on but when i check the oil it is fine. Well i'm not gonna let the dealership joyride my car all over 95...so i went back down to savannah ga..and the dealership there (who are idiots..but nice ones at least) ordered me a new oil pan right away and i had it installed the next week. After they took it out they told me that the sensor in the oil pan was broken..and theirfore would send false errors under certain conditions.

Needless to say when i move back i am soo not gong to have any service down at Browns.....ahh okay enough of that rant i think i'm down now :p

Hey there you may of seen me on Garrisonville Rd. (610). I own a yellow one, I believe it's the only yellow one down there so shouldn't be hard to spot out. I've only seen a few others, I think two blue's (one being yours most likely), a few black and one or two red's. Anyway, I'm sure I'll see you around soon!!!

hey Kit! long time no see! how have you been!! how's the family doing!

I am *this* close from following you from being a Protege owner to a RX-8 owner! hopefully this Saturday!

oh yeah, back on topic, I guess the service dept at Rosenthal Tysons isn't too bad, but the sales and financing dept SUCKED when I bought my Protege there back in 2000.

Brown's Fairfax Mazda and Arlington Mazda are ok in my experience, nothing really stands out, but nothing bad either...

Hey there Hank, no kidding long time! Hope all is well with you. That's great to hear you're finally close to getting the 8! I remember over on the protege boards when you were saying I WILL be getting one soon! Well hope it goes as planned!

Oh as far as dealerships I've really only dealt with one and that's Malloy Mazda/Kia off of Rt. 1 but that's because I deal with only one salesman there that I've now bought 3 cars from (two protege's and the 8). He's always gave me good deals but not much good to say about the service dept. They kinda suck.

I bought from Darcars Mazda of Silver Spring MD and while I got a terrific price, the service was absolutely horrible. I personally would not repeat (even if I had to pay more).

The dealer closer to my house is Brown's Mazda of Fairfax, and while I can't speak one way or the other for their sales... I get me car serviced there, and I really have been happy with Mike Taitt and the gang. I would buy there if I had to do it all over again.

---Dave

^I dealt with Mike Taitt at Brown's Fairfax too when I took my FC in for some service. Very upfront about what needs to be done, how much things cost, etc...

I first wanted to purchase an RX-8 and went to Bill Britt Mazda in Fredericksburg for a test drive. From the beginning I could tell the salesman I dealt with had no clue what he was talking about. He even discouraged me from going with a nav system and GT package, as they "weren't worth the money." I figured I could at least use this as an opportunity for a test drive, but throughout the drive he preached to me about his Christian conservatism and how it helped him through his divorce. Gimme a break. I still loved the car and decided I wanted to purchase one, but the sales manager (a retired Marine) struck up a conversation with me and outright asked if I could even afford the car as a Marine officer. I walked out never to talk to them again.

I then went to Rosenthal and bought my RX-8. I ended up paying invoice price (after a recent grad rebate) and the manager Hamid has always taken good care of me, especially the times when my XM was late for installation by 2 months. Rosenthal sales was good, service/installation was abhorrent. Whoever said in this post that Steve Miller was reliable must be related to the guy, because he is the most incompetent employee in the department. Want warranty work done? Expect to wait weeks and weeks and when you finally do get an appointment, he will conveniently have forgotten to order the parts. I asked Bill (one of the dept's managers) for a change of service teams and am now on the Silver Team, and it has gone well so far. Long story short, stay away from Orange Team unless you enjoy waiting forever to get work done and driving a rental Ford Focus loaner instead of your 8.

That's funny, my only complaints were with Hamid. I always found him to tell me half-truths and was never up-front about anything. He wouldn't let me order an '05 until I turned down half a dozen offers on '04s, which weren't that great of offers to begin with. My salesman was great, but whenever he said "let me go talk to Hamid" I inwardly groaned, knowing whatever I was asking was going to take longer or be that much more painful.

Thanks for everyone's help.
Last week I made the haul up to Rosenthals for a scheduled matinence and a few other things. Steve Miller ( I forget which team) took great care of me, didn't give me the run around, and offered a rental, hands down, when I have to have my tranny looked at in the near future.
Overall experience, except for the nosy nissan salesmen who wouldn't leave me alone while I was waiting, checking out the Z and G 35, it felt like I was at my homely dealership back home in Michigan.
Hope to see some of you around 610 and the Stafford area. I'm the blue one with the DOD stickers, clear corners, and a dent on the driver's side panel(damn holigan in VA beach did that).
Thanks again
Dave