Buying a new 2004 leftover
 

hello guys,

I am buying a new 2004 leftover manual GT this week. Any words of advice ? Are there any particular details I have to pay attention to?
Also, I am buying the car out of state.....I live in Pennsylvania and I am buying it in Virginia, so which state do I pay the taxes and registration to?

Thanks,

Suchindra

I would check to see if the tires are flat-spoted from sitting so long...if they are, get them to give you new ones as part of the deal. Get them to give you a complete fuel system cleaning, since its been sitting so long...and oil change, coolant flush, trany/diff change...basicaly a full tune up. Make sure all the recalls are done. Check the car for any evidence of paint work (maby its been on the lot so long cause it got dented on a test drive and for a while just sitting in the back waiting to get bought or repaired).

Have them check the make sure the AC system is at the correct pressure, ect.

Anything that normaly get serviced should be looked at from sitting for so long.

Well it depends on the dealership you are getting the car from. I got my car in a similar situation (w/ 2750K) and the dealership has been extremely helpful and very attentive to the care of my vehicle (they have changed the oil for free once already, etc.)

Keep in mind that 2004 is the first model year. What is the build date on it.

If it is before 3/04 there should be four things that this vehicle MUST be checked for before it is sold (by federal law in the US, all recall work must be done BEFORE the sale):

1. Heat insulation recall (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT - High RPMs at low speeds could damage the fuel tank and lots of other stuff it this is not done)

2. Transmission damper recall (IMPORTANT-Tranny runs much better after this is done)

Airbag recall (NOT THAT IMPORTANT UNTIL YOU GET IN A WRECK - Sensor needs replacement)

Suspenion lower ball joint recall (NOT THAT IMPORTANT UNLESS YOU RACE OR DRIVE EXTREME - This is more spotty... Mazda isn't sure which cars actually have this problem, they just inspect for cracks in the joint and replace as needed.

Make sure these are DONE (especially 1 and 2).

well, if you PURCHASE the car (you walk into the dealership with the check) from virginia... you will be paying virginia salex tax.

Since you live in penn, you would be REGISTERING the car in Penn. (make sure they don't register it in Virginia.

Some states have weird requirements about registration, and where sales tax WAS paid... so you might want to check that out too.

It *might* be MUCH easier to just go to a mazda dealer in Penn, and have them transfer the car from the Virginia dealer. let the dealer worry about the hassle of state transfer.

youll have to pay the taxes where you registering the car, in your case penn. virginia not supposed to charge you taxes on the car.

how much $$ are you saving by picking this 04 up compared to a similarly equipped 05?

I am getting a fully loaded GT with a navi, spare tire kit, 6-cd changer and rotary accents for 26300. Thats like saving atleast 4 grands over a similarly configured 2005 one.

Navigation
 

Will the navigation need to be updated? If so, how does one do it and how much money does it cost?

hmm indeed it's loaded to the gill and a good saving

i guess the question for you is, if you found out that this is in fact an 'early build' 04 RX-8 (eg pre-2004), how comfortable are you with the idea that the likelihood of something breaking on this car is higher than a later-built 8, and that you're more than likely to be in and out of the dealership for warranty work more frequently than, say, an 05 owner?

^of course this is worst case scenario, but i'm mentioning it just so you know what you may get into...

how about ask the dealer to throw in an extended warranty as part of the deal, if they're REALLY trying to get this car off the lot ;) :D

I paid about $600 under invoice for my 05 GT w/NAV and took off the $500 Gerber and $2,000 in MAC rebates so that is a savings of not quite $2,000. For that money, I would get a new 05. Mine had 5 miles on it and a host of updates that the 04s did not have - like no AC problems (for example). Down the road the 04 will be worth $1,500-2,000 less as a used car, so you are really not saving much. For sure if the example you are looking at has "demo" miles on it.

I was looking for a left-over 04 and found several, but in the end I got such a good deal on an 05 I went with that. Every time I hear about problems and recalls it seems to be a little better off to be in an 05 car.

EDIT: I put down $250 for the Gerber rebate, it should have been $500 - which makes my price just under $2k more than this 04 price.

Dennis

Yes, the NAV DVD needs to be updated, but there is no update available for it at this time.

The firmware in the radio and NAV may need to be updated if you want to try to hook up an external aux in connection (like for sat radio) or video in - but a member here can do that for you for a fee.

FWW, the changer is not a big selling point to me since it can't play MP3s. Better off to get the MP3 player and carry much more than 6 discs worth of tunes on a single CD.

Dennis

I bought my Prelude in Ohio without tax and registion, drive 2 hrs back and wait until next Monday to pay tax in Michigan when I register it. It's pretty common in among my friends, but I am not sure about Penn and Viginia. Just FYI