Ok I wanted some feedback before I make a purchase.

A good friend of mine bought a 2005 RX-8 new from the dealer back in Sep of 05. I was with him at the dealership when he bought it. I know he took very good care of it. Long story short hes offering to sell it to me for $16,250. 30K miles, 6MT, Sport with optional performance package.

Now i have the option to buy a new 2007 from the dealer, 6MT, sport with optional performance package for $23,326.

Those are prices before tax and all that junk.

Which do you think is the better deal, and why? Thanks for the feedback.

 

First of all, I hate you. I just bought a brand new '07 Sport with Performance Package and all-weather mats (and nothing else) for $24,510. What color is this new one? If you say red, I'll cry.

Anyways, that deal on a new one sounds good. I love that new car smell. The cloth seats are very nice and the lack of a sunroof means you'll get a little extra headroom (which was important to me). And the stock stereo sounds pretty decent to me (and the '05 GT with Bose that I drove for a couple days didn't sound much, if at all, better to my ears). The performance package was the big thing I wanted to have (for the traction control primarily). My sales guy had to hunt one down in another state that was in the color I wanted (red) and drive down there to get it for me. He was a nice guy and he worked hard for me, so I guess he deserved a little extra.

That said, the '05 sounds like a very good deal as well, especially if it has traction control and you know for sure that your friend really did take great care of it.

If it was me and your friend's car had traction control and I liked the color, I'd probably go for that to save some money.

Out of curiosity, where do you live (in general terms)? I'm just curious how regional the deals on new RX-8 prices are. Oh, and how did you come to that price of $23,326? Was that after haggling, through a best-price online deal request, or was it something they came out of the gate with?

 

i would go with new. i just don't like buying used. i have had bad experiences with buying used. save yourself the headache and buy the new car. at least you know exactly what has happened to it and where it has been.

 

There is some validity to this, you just have to know what is important to you. Like he says.........if you buy new, then YOU know how it's been treated for break-in, oil changes, etc. It's all on your shoulders, but then you aren't guessing what someone else may have or may not have done. Comes down to piece of mind perhaps.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Still sitting here debating the matter.

Well Scott R, I came to the price of $23,326 through my employee purchasing program. My company has an agreement with Ford which pretty much lets the employees buy anything from any Ford company at the Ford Employee price + 3%. On top of that we get to stack any dealer incentives. And yes, the used one does have the performance package so I get the traction control and xenon headlights, fog lights etc. I live in California BTW

Normally I would just go with new, I've had some bad experiences with used myself, but in this case, since I'm buying it from a close friend I know the whole car's history. Like I said I was with him at the dealership when he bought the car, I was with him for his first oil change, etc. I know it was broken in correctly, and driven moderately, and aggressively occasionally.

The used car is the same color as the one I would buy new anyways, so theres no biggie there. In any case, please keep up with the feedback, I'd like to hear what other people have to say. Thanks!

 

I think you should buy my 17K mile 05 6spd sport for 18.5

 

i got my new 07 gt rx8 for 27k

 

Since he's your freind then you know you will get a good car.

Buy it. You will save a lot of money.

 

Who do you work for? I actually get the same deal.....

 

In general i just dont like buying something this big from friends, you may know the history and all but when something does happen, things just get awkward. Plus that is quite a good deal for an 07

 

I get the same deal as well with my company, I happen to work for Best Buy. I tried to pitch them to get rid of the vw bugs and go with rx-8's but they didnt go for it.

 

if you want i'm selling my rx8 winning blue 400km 6 speed full optional for 23000€!!!!

 

I prefer everything new .... cars, computers, food(!), girlfriend(!!!!!) ......

I mean, for 23K , is not freaking bad. sure you can save maybe 7-8 grand cuz buying new u need to pay tax ...

ahh whatever, just get the new one, its worth it.

 

Thanks everyone. I went with used and bought my friends. No complaints so far! Thanks for the feedback.

 

nice. now you can take the extra money you saved and goto mazsport (since you are already in cali, its not hard) and get it turbocharged.

go from the current ~180whp to ~320whp.

 

yea like kersh4w said, you can make any slow-car fast for the right amount of money.

including your friend there are 3 ppl in this thread that jumped at the chance to sell their RX-8 to you... wound why

 

short and simple...if you have the money or you think you can wing the payment, go new. If for any reason your seeing problems with paying for the new one, go with used. Even if there's just ONE thing holding you back from the new one, forget it. The 05's were still great cars, and i'm assuming your friend was able to take good care of it.

Since their both 6MT and sports, it's not all that complicated of a decision.