This sucks - I'm ready to get the car, and decided to get a Titanium Grey, manual, with GT, Nav, 6-disc changer, and my credit union's auto-buying service found that if I want the GT and Nav, all cars in CA come with the appearance package, sunroof deflector and spoiler as well!

So now the decision is, drop the nav, or get the appearance package sunroof deflector and spoiler ... AAARGH!

 

Depends on what you value. How often do you travel? Anywhere I'm not familiar with, I randmcnally.com it beforehand. I think it looks better with the apperance package and no desire to kit it out.

 

I faced pretty much the same proposition. No cars equipped the way I wanted without the appearance package. I was really worried about scraping the front air dam off on the first steep driveway. The dealer sold me the car they had on the lot and didn't charge me for the AP I didn't want.

The more I look at the car, the more convinced I am that the AP really makes it look good and I'm glad I got it. As for the other two: I wanted the spoiler and think any RX-8 without one looks incomplete. Guess I'm just used to it. On the other hand, I really, really did not want the air deflector. Since it only costs like $30, you might ask if they can remove it with no damage to the paint.

The alternative you mention is dropping your requirement for navigation. I don't have nav and don't miss it, but my car is only for around town. We travel in my wife's SUV and it has nav and we love it. Also, there's a guy on the forum who sells a converter to play video through your nav screen. Very, very cool. Makes me wish I'd gotten a nav car.

 

I like the clean look of the non-appearance, non-spoiler car. The deflector I really don't like.

I wanted the nav system, but I've decided I want it less than I don't want the app pkg and spoiler, so I've decided to skip the nav. I guess in the long run it's going to be on cell phones anyway, and we'll probably make more long trips in my wife's car (which currently doesn't have nav, but her next one will for sure). It's one of those nice to have things, but I'll survive! :o

 

Have you considered the Touring Pkg w/nav? If you really want leather, you can go aftermarket. You probably don't need the seat heaters.

 

drop the nav, use mapquest, or...God forbid, a map. the wind deflector looks like hell, it's a big reason I didn't get a particular car

 

Talking about seat heaters ... you wouldn't expect to need the seat heaters in southern CA, but I guess you get used to the weather. The first year we moved here from WI, we went for walks on the beach in coldest part of winter, but if we try it now, we freeze! I've found it to be useful in a friend's BMW, and I'm guessing as I grow older I'll like it even more. :-)

Anyway, getting to the point, it looks like all 2005s headed for CA have GT, App Pkg and Spoiler if you want the NAV. I guess Mazda was guided by what they sold last year ...

 

Yup, I'll continue what I do now. I use iSilo on my PDA to pull web pages. Before every trip I pull all directions I think I'll need. I'll just have to keep up my map reading skills.

By the way, randmcnally.com has really nice directions, especially when formatted to the PDA - the navigator finds them easiest to read.

 

I have the touring with nav, and spoiler. At the time of purchase I figured, If I want something, I'll add it later. The For Sale section on this forum is useful, as I have already purchased the appearance package and am in the process of adding it. Perhaps leather will be in the future too.

 

It's not so easy to add the NAV though! And I don't want any of the other stuff. Oh well!

 

You might want to check something like CarMax.com. They can find a car (if it's on any of their lots around the country) with your specs and transport it to the nearest dealership for you at a minimal cost.