defboob

Hey guys, I've been lurking around here since early this summer, and finally decided to register and let my voice be heard here in the club. I've already learned so much from this place it's amazing, so thanks for hosting all this information!

I graduated college this past May and now have a full-time job in computers (comp sci graduate). So now of course i'm ready to get rid of my first car ('93 Mazda Protege!) and upgrade to a new one. Well of course I'm eyeing an '05 RX8. My first priority is to save for the down payment, around 6 grand towards a new one. Throw in a possible $500 trade in for my current protege and the $500 graduate discount, and i'm well on my way to owning an RX8. I'm eyeing the 05 because by the time I am ready to purchase (Nov. or Dec.) the 05's should be on the lots. I got to test drive a 6spd. black '04 with GT package & navigation this month, and I simply fell in love and couldn't stop smiling!

I'm looking to get the 6spd. touring package (cloth int.) with navi, with a buying price around high 28 to 29k. Seem like a reasonable price? I'm not sure how flexible the dealers will be with the 05 models, and at that time, i'm not sure how many 04's will be left on the lot for a potential steal. Since I'm in central PA, a set of 17" wheels and winter tires will pretty much be a requirement aswell, so there goes about another 1k that would have to be done right away (seeing as a winter purchase time). I'm hoping that if I decide to go through with it, trying to get the dealer to do the install of winter tires for free so it's ready to pick up with the treads on, and I would take the summer tire set home for storage.

So now this brings me to the choice of full purchase or consider a lease. Full purchase would require 60mth payment @ ~4.9%, making payments quite a bit higher than what most lease's seem to be going for. I'm just not sure if I want to be at square zero again when my lease is up.

Everyday I'm getting more and more educated on this car, and I can't wait to walk into the dealer with my wealth of research and information to show them I'm not messing around and want a good deal. I have about 3 dealerships in my area that i'll be able to price at for comparison.

I've also decided that if the RX8 comes out to be just too much car payment for me to handle, then I will go for a fully loaded Mazda 3 s, since I also like that car and I would still enjoy the ride it would bring me, with a price of about 21k.

Feel free to post your thoughts and comments on my situation with new car buying, I'm just exicted that i'm so close to getting a new car! My protege has certainly done it's job (bought it in 3/00, now has 148k miles, she's a beast!)

DOMINION

Man I dont care how much I have to pay to have my RX-8... Well kinda. But I pay $700. a month with 50/50 credit.

Redlinin 8

Welcome to the club,keep us updated if you get the 8.

cgrx

Welcome - your name backwords describes many people on this board at one time or another....

Benthic

'04 with Navi and Touring invoices at $29,309. MSRP is $32,000. (Not including recent grad rebate).

Check out the actual average selling price for your area on www.kbb.com. Buying an '04, you could get one at or near dealer invoice, especially with the rebate. As there are few changes rumored to be made in the '05s, I'd consider waiting until they come out, then negotiate a great price on an '04. Take printouts from kbb.com and edumunds.com. If possible, get financing arranged ahead of time. This will give you a little negotiating edge.

Good luck!

cgrx

What color are you going for ??

defboob

I'm eyeing up the Titanium Gray Metallic. I also like the Sunlight Silver but considering there are alot of other silver cars around, perhaps the darker titanium gray would stand out a little more. My current car is red, and I just don't have the desire for another red car at the moment.

I'm afraid of actually going into a dealer to order this car. I won't have my down payment complete until end of Oct, so if I go in by then, it wouldn't be until around Dec. when the RX8 would finally arrive (that is if I do have to order it to my liking). So in reality I would have to go in now to order one so that it would be on the lot by the time I'm ready to cash in my money. I know there are usually deposits for an order, but can you cancel out of it if things don't work out, and get your deposit back?

goforwand

Still under factory warranty, a good amount of depreciation already absorbed. If you've been on the site for a while, you've seen some sold here for excellent prices via private party. And the used prices are only going lower as Mazda fires off all these incentives on the remaining '04's.

If you're set on exactly what you want for options, it may be more difficult, but if you have some flexibility you will save thousands of dollars versus any other option.

Actually, you may even be only a few thousand more than your fully loaded 3.

Something to consider...

cgrx

Very true...

defboob

I will consider a used 04 if one comes across me for sure and it looks to be a good deal, I always keep an eye out

On a side note;

What does everyone think about getting a set of OEM Mazda 3 17" rims as my winter set along with a good winter tire (dunlop m3, blizzak, etc) for those rims. I could pick up the rims fairly cheap either from forums or ebay, and then have both the tires and rims to have the dealer to put on even before I leave from picking it up. Perhaps I could sway them into putting the TPS sensors on aswell for cheap or free? This way then I would leave the dealer with my summer tires/rims to take home with me for storage, and the winters ready to roll.

shelleys_man_06

Holy crap! $700 a month?! I only pay $250 every two weeks...to my dad.

I thought the RX-8 came standard with TPMS? That sounds like a good idea, but I don't know for sure since I live in the part of Texas where if it snows, the rapture is coming.

draco067

I'm in the same boat - recent May grad, planning on getting an RX-8 sometime soon. However, I'm planning on buying in late March/early April, thus giving myself more time to absorb the cost of winter wheels/tires until the next year - as well as more time to save on a down payment and decrease the monthlies. 3 or 4 more months means another 3k or so more in down payment, and to me is well worth it for the reduced payments. That also gives me a year to learn how to drive it (my first RWD car) before you throw snow and ice in the mix, as well as time to decide on what I want to do for winter wheels/tires. Just some things to keep in mind.

Photic

I have no credit, and I'm paying $480 a month.

Love the avatar defboob, Your spoon is too big and I am a Banana!

defboob

Draco, I would almost prefer to be that way too, holding off until March/April to get the RX8. The only thing that's wanting me to get one sooner is that I'm not sure how my current protege will handle another winter. It's been doing ok and no mechanical problems, recently had new muffler put on, exhaust patched, but nothing major. If my protege can take it, then i'll keep her until early spring time. I kinda hate the idea of getting an RX8 in the middle of winter! But MAN i want one now

cgrx

LOL

defboob

Well I have considered that, my payments would probably be lower...

But let's say I setup a 3yr lease. Ok, now the 3yrs is up, and I want to buy the car at it's value by then (who knows what an rx8 will be worth by then). That being the case, there's probably another 3yrs worth of car payments in order to fully own the car - thus putting 6 years of payments until it is paid off.

If I buy the car straight off, with at least a 20% down payment, then within 5yrs it would be paid off, even a trade-in at 4yrs would still have some money left over to put towards a new car.

So with the lease it's either an extra year or so to fully own it, or start from square zero again with another lease on a new car. This is just my rough figures and ideas.

Osiris

I would go with the 04 Rx8. I'm sure there are dealers that still have some brand new sitting in the lot. As for winter tires, no need to buy those 17" rims. I have Blizzak snow tires on my 8, and they're 18"!! They run about $1100. Bought my set last winter at NTB. Good luck!

Chirodad

I agree with buying an '04. I just bought a red '04, grand touring pkg, with 5000 miles on it for $24,000 from my local dealer. That seems like a pretty good deal to me.

defboob

One can only wonder if the dealers in my area will still have 04's on the lot by the end of Oct or November. If so, then I would have that option.

Melkor

I too am a May graduate from NCSU (Wolfpack). I got my first job out of college and Dad wouldn't let me drive his car for free anymore. So, I had to go out and make my first car purchase. I was going to go cheap and very practical. I was looking at camrys and accords, but I still wasn't happy with the idea. It was more of like settling for practicality and I think deep inside I wasn't all that happy with it. Well, my girl wanted to check out the mazda 3s, cuz her jetta is getting old. Well, you know how this goes right? Like a magnet I am drawn to the rx8 on the dealership lot. Now I have a brand new Titanium Grey and I love it. Owned it for a month or so and owning this car is really a hobby I'm learning. So I joined this cult, errm, I mean this forum and I learn tons of great stuff. Zaino polished my car and I'm getting better and better at really making the car look great. I'm tracking all the fuel stats on my laptop in excel and I'm averaging 19mpg with 20mpg my best so far. Mostly city, but fast city driving. The only things I might have done different is to go with the manual and to get the nav system. Anyways, this was my first purchase and I feel blessed to have an Rx8 as my first car. My dad sure was shocked! Everyone loves it and wants to ride in it (or drive it, but NO).