defboob

Well I stopped at my closest mazda dealership today to ask them a few questions. They have 6 2004's left on the lot. The only one I have interest in is a silver touring package/nav/spoiler 6spd. The others are either automatics or above my price range.

This silver 04 has a build date of 8/03 and has 654 miles!! damn i was surprised! They don't even have stickers on these cars, so who knows how cheap they would go on them. Big turn off on that one. I'm more interested in the 05's at this point anyways.

So after the salesman asked a few people (this salesman was a kid who didn't know squat) it turns out they have an 05 nordic green grand touring sitting in a farther away parking lot. I was happy that I got to at least see an 05 and check out the new key. I never thought I would care so much about a key, but that key is damn awesome.

My ideal RX8 at this point is a black 6spd sport package w/spoiler and splash guards. If I were to order now I would possibly get it by the end of December. They would be pleased to order one for me, said a deposit wouldn't be necessary and there would be no obligation. They already have many more 05's ordered, but they weren't able to tell me the specifics of them.

So I guess what i'm asking for as input is:

#1 - how do I avoid the idiot young salesman who know nothing about the car? Can i just say "Sorry but i want to deal with a manager or someone who knows this car better"?

#2, i forgot to ask him, but i'm assuming that you negotiate the selling price/payments as you order the car, not when the car arrives, right?

#3, I would like to shoot for as little over invoice as possible, so I plan on brining in all sorts of price reports for my configuration, and just flat out offer them a price over invoice (500 over maybe?), just to see what they say. Would that be the best route?


I hate the idea of having to get it during the middle of winter and doing my break-in miles during all the cold weather (central PA), but my current car doesn't have much life left! (93 mazda protege 152k mi). If I do go through with it all, i'm ordering a winter tire package from tirerack and will have them the day I pick the car up so I can drive off with the winter treads/rims.

I have one other mazda dealership close to my area that I haven't been to yet, so I sure hope they have salesmen who know the car better. Thanks for reading all my rambling!