Hi all,

I also posted on the "purchase forum" but I'd thought I'd post on the regional forum as well.

I'm looking to get the 8 in the next week or so. The dealers around here can't seem to locate the color combination and options that I requested (silver or black with red/black interior with GT and Nav). One dealer said that the red/black interior isn't very popular (maybe true)...and another went far as to say that Mazda isn't making anymore this year due to the factory fire (that CAN'T be true).

As far as quotes from local dealers I feel like I'm getting dicked around. Spoke to a dealer and he quoted me a price for 05 6spd GT with Nav, 6 disc, appreance/spoiler for 32541. When I asked if there was wiggle room, he said "no". How much wiggle room are there on prices around Seattle? I also did consider getting an 04...29600 with similar options....I'm thinking I should be able to get the 05 with the above features minus the appreance/spoiler, or is that just a pipe dream?

any help you guys can provide, I'd really appreciate it.

thanks

 

You might try Lee Johnson Mazda in Kirkland, Wa. Dealing with their internet sales department is much better than going through the staight sales process. (Tom Thoensen (sr and jr))

University Mazda was about $900-$1000 over the price I got from LJ, though I've since gone to U Mazda for my service.

As for whether Mazda will manufacture any more "05's," I suspect that's just sales talk to get you to commit to a car on the lot. On the other hand, the combination of unsold '04's and the factory fire has probably put at least a temporary bottleneck in availability, especially if you're loooking for a specific color/interior/option combination.

For availability, use carsdirect.com, vehix.com, and kbb.com. Also check www.autotrader.com. Among them, and by checking the individual dealers' websites you should be able to get an idea of what cars are available.

 

Buying from Tom Sr at LJ was great for me. I e-mailed from Vegas, told him what I wanted and when. It took some doing on his part to get the car, but he did, and on time. (I put the time limit on him, rather than the other way 'round). If there's a car that meets your specs, he'll find it.

 

University Mazda all the way!!! They are the oldest Mazda dealer in the country. They will not "dick" you around, they don't want to hurt thier reputation. They're techs are supposed to be the best in the area if you need service too.

Talk to John Kiernan in the internet sales department, tell him Jess from Puyallup sent you, and he'll help you out (I bought two RX-8s from him!)

I told them the exact options I wanted, they didn't have the car on thier lot, but they got it there the next day.

Good luck!

 

dude when i get my rx8 sold to subaru of puyallup, talk to them. mine is fully loaded without nav and its winning blue with chrome 18's. i also have a B&B exhaust and K&N typhoon. its also an automatic LOL! just in case u are interested!

 

I got my rx8 yesterday from Lee Johnson. The sales guy didn't have to do much, I was looking at rx8's, he walked up and said "So what're you looking for today?" and I responded with "Titanium Grey, 6 speed, RX-8, base model."

Had one in stock and now I'm the owner of it. I opted for the Base model instead of the GT package because I didn't want most the crap it came with, plus all that extra junk does is add weight. Weigh = enemy

 

I'll second the vote for University Mazda!

I purchased my new 8 from them two weeks ago. Their staff was helpful, knowledgeable and there was absolutely no haggling over price. I drove up from Vancouver because I couldn't find a dealer in the Portland area that I liked. It was very apparent as to why they’re the oldest Mazda dealer in the country.

University Mazda - Accept no substitute.

 

Another potential 8 owner - we are going to need to start our own club one day...

 

I've been reading about some of the things to check off in terms of buying an 04.

Is there anything I should look out for other than the build date being April 04 or later?

Going to visit couple of dealers tonight. thanks for all of the suggestions!!!

Hopfully I'll be driving home in the 8 tonight! wish me luck!

 

I would recommend contacting the Internet/fleet guy at the dealerships you are interested in. It's practically no work to get quotes from 3-4 dealers to compare and play off against. Via email, you're in complete control of the negotiations, not in their showroom/office with a shiny RX-8 to lust after. They're counting on your desire to *HAVE THAT CAR RIGHT NOW* to squeeze more money out of you. Save the lust for after you close the deal.

I will also third the vote for University Mazda. I worked it completely through email with John and it went very smoothly. I got the exact car I wanted at the price I wanted.

Good luck and good hunting!

 

That's what I'm saying! John is the man ....not the most outgoing personality, but he gets the job done and doesn't leave you wondering if you just got taken.

 

Two things--If you buy from Lee Johnson (or, indeed, anyone, but I know that Lee Johnson tries it), absolutely refuse to pay the B&O tax. This is their tax to pay; when we bought our RX-8 from them, they added it on to the invoice (and added sales tax to that ). I knew better, and demanded that they take it off, which they did. It'll be about $150. Second, you can get a pretty good idea of the local inventory off the Mazde USA website. When we were looking, I just told the locater thing how far I was willing to drive, and it gave me the RX-8 inventory of all Mazda dealers in that radius. We located the car we wanted at a dealer in Renton, and Lee Johnson got it for us. Good luck; it's not a fun process, but this seems to be a good time to be buying one (especially a leftover new 2004).

 

I went to the Auburn dealership last night. They somehow had the exact car that I was looking for. When I had called on the phone earlier the sales guy said the car had less than 20 miles on it. When I got there it had 40. Not a big deal but it was 20 more miles than I had expected. 20 miles in a day? Must have been busy test driving it. anyways, when I asked to test drive it, they were unable to start the car. I initially thought it was flooded but the guy claimed no while depressing the accelerator and doing the 10 second key thing...then he says it must be the battery.

He gets out and gets a battery and jumper cables. I told him at this point, lets drive a different car, he says we can do that but proceeds to jump starting the car. Not sure how much experience he has had jump starting but he clamped the cables backwards and boy did the sparks fly...he did this about 3-4 times when he realized that he got it backwards. during this time, I just walked way from it fearing the battery exploding.... I went back to my car and left the dealership since he just ignored my request to drive a different car. One of the other sales person ignored my request too. He called back about 5 minutes later to tell me that he got the car started. I replied back "Are you done ruining the electronics of the car yet?" Then hung up the phone on me when I told him I wouldn't be back that night. All in all it was a big waste of time for me.

Also, that car never showed up on my inventory search nor the searches done by other dealers. I'm assuming that hiding inventory is a common thing done by dealers? When I gave the VIN to John at U Mazda, their results came up as SOLD hence they were unable to locate the vehicle.

All I have to say is that I will NEVER go back to that Auburn dealership again for anything.

 

Yes! Yes! Forgot to mention this. It's been covered in other threads but it bears noting. LJ may well be alone in this swarmy practice. Don't pay the tax!

 

While we ended up buying from Auburn Valley, we had a similar problem with them. When we were shopping around we stopped in at Auburn, after checking out University, and sure enough they had just what we were looking for sitting in a far corner of the lot. Went to take a test drive and the battery was dead. Once they got the car started we found out that the fuse for the stereo was blown. While we were sitting, talking about the stereo I noticed a strange sound from the clutch when it was let out in neutral (which I’ve found out was “normal” after having their service department and Milam’s check it out). Anyway, they gave me a great price that I couldn’t pass it up, and we haven’t had a problem with the car since we bought it. I get all our services done at Milam, the service department at Auburn told us the car had been flashed, but it hadn’t. This is my two cents from the dealers we talk to.
Auburn: Poor sales/service, great price
Sound: Too high pressure
University: great sales team, answered all our questions and even found us an 05 with everthing we wanted, but the price was a little high and wasn’t going to be in for about a month
Milam: ok sales team/very helpful service dept.
Russ Dunmir: weak sale/decent sevice, we had our Miata in their shop a few times when we first moved to WA

For what its worth I’m talking to the guys at University about a MS miata I want to buy when I get home in the summer and they have been extremely helpful so far.