Just left the dealer...having lunch and considering...

Keep looking?

BTW my local dealer offered a 2010 (new) R3 for $27,750. Wrong color, though.

 

Not too bad, one of our local guys got one with 9,000 miles in perfect condition for 20,000.00 recently.

 

Mine was a 2010 with 4500mi for roughly $22.5k

Might be able to push them a little lower but it's not too bad

 

There is one at Roger Beasley in Austin for 22K with 7500 miles 2009 GT .... Selling as a new vehicle. I guess was a demo.

Thought about getting that instead of the 2004 I just purchased for $9K.

 

Not a bad price, 20k would seal the deal i think

 

I just picked up a 2008 8 Grand Touring with everything but Nav - 6,831 miles, purchased in November of 08 for 20k.

I didn't think it was a bad deal...and has warranty.

Your pricing seems good...just depends on options...

 

Thanks for the replies!

I had driven up to Fredericksburg VA to look at that R3 in the morning, from Raleigh. After writing that first post and while I was having lunch, I called a Mazda dealer in Norfolk, VA that had a nearly identical R3 with 21k miles, listed for $1000 more. I ended up talking to the general manager - I told him about the car I was looking at in Fredericksburg and the price we had arrived at ($21.9k). I asked him if he would make it worth my time to drive 3 hours to see their car. He knocked theirs down from $24k to $20.5k. So I drove out to take a look. It was in great shape and had the original wheels (which I prefer to the bling wheels on the first car). More miles, but $1500 less.

Drove it home last night.

 

Woo Hoo congrats! Awesome color, its actually going to become very rare as the newest R3's dont come in the blue anymore

 

Definitely a better choice if the other one had different wheels.

 

Yup, considering those R3 wheels go for like 1500 a pop from mazda

 

The R3's don't come out at all anymore in da USA

 

agreed! Good find, congrats!

 

Beautiful Car. Congrats. What are your driving impressions of your new car ?

 

You should of mentioned the first one had aftermarket wheels. A big part of the R3 is the amazing set of wheels. You deffinitely made the right decision.

 

Thanks!

After spending several hours on VA and NC highways, impression #1 is that the suspension is a good bit tighter than my initial impressions on test drives. Long trips would be tiresome. But I don't intend to drive it for family vacations, so no worries!

Impression #2, after some spirited driving this morning to/from work is that it understeers under braking more than I expected. Dealer put new tires on it - I need to see what they are. OEM tires, most likely. Dunno if tires will help there.

Impression #3 is that it has been WAAAAY too long since I've owned a car with decent handling - man this thing is freaking fun to drive! Even with the miserable torque output, it's still a blast!

One of my coworkers who has a track-prepped E36 M3 couldn't wait to drive it - he was hounding me the moment he got into the office this morning. He was very impressed with it. And the test drive confirmed he needs a new clutch - which I told him after we swapped cars for a weekend a few weeks back. He really liked the gearbox and the interior.

Impression #4 is that the R3/GT has a shitload of gadgets! I didn't really consider those in the buying decision - as I already had a long list of requirements that made it hard to find a car I liked. The keep-you-key-in-your-pocket entry/ignition is very slick. I like it a lot. I have the audio system paired with my phone - also slick - but don't expect to use it too much as I don't use the phone much...at least not as a phone. I would like to get bluetooth audio streaming working, though.

Impression #5 is that it's been WAAAAY too long since I've owned a fun car. Oh, wait, did I already say that?

So, I guess I'm going to be a regular here for the next few years...

Chris

 

That blue is hot! Congrats! Driving in NEVER gets old. The handling is very addictive.

 

Wow...I had no idea! Most of my research had been on engine reliability and maintenance issues. I assumed that aftermarket wheels would have been about the same price as the OEM wheels and that I could easily find a trade to get back to the OEM wheels. I'm guessing now that I was horribly wrong! That makes me really, really happy that I didn't go with that one. I would have been really bummed out to find out it was going to cost me a small fortune to get back to the OEM wheels.

Thanks, all!
Chris

 

And if you ever get tired of the seats, you can sell those for a small fortune too.

 

I'm very happy that you found the right R3, at the right price for yourself.

I hope you keep having immense fun driving it. It really is a great handling machine, and I'm sure you'll have a blast through your ownership.

Enjoy!

 

Think of it this way....I got my 07 Sport in 08 with 8k miles for 21k....I like that deal :P

 

If you hold out...I watched a 2009 RX8 Grand Touring with 21,000 miles for six months on cars.com, they lowered the price from $19,999 to $17,600 and I jumped.

Two weeks of ownership and I love it.

 

LOL!

I've been doing that for a while now. It is amazing - and sad - to see these cars don't sell fast. I have the cars.com app in my iPhone. It's an awesome app for tracking cars

 

I just purchased an '09 with 389 miles, and a 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty for $22,900. It sold as a new car due to never being titled. LOVE it!!

 

You sure they sold it as "new"?

As far as I know that 100k bumper to bumper warranty only applies to the pre-owned certified, unless you purchased it separately.

 

lol nice. congrats on ur ride man. r3s are sexy as hell