I went to Menlo Mazda on saturday 4/09, and i've already made an appointment with this guy Pedro, he sent me a email about a rx8 due to my request from Mazdausa.com, in the email he said that the MSRP is $28900. Invoice is $26761. It's a ti. gray 6spd, sport pkg, with a sun roof. that's excatly what it said on the email that he sent me. I then call him up on thursday, he said that the car will be here tomorrow, ok so i set up an appointment with him on saturday afternoon. I went there, i realized that the car is not there, i ask him why, he said the car is in another mazda dealer, which is bullshit. we then go in the showroom and talk about the price, everytime i wanna ask him for the out the door price, he'll switch to another topic, all he asking is how much money i wanna pay each month, how many can i put down. then he said it's very hard to get this color, very hard to get this car, if i really want he can give me to me for 32000 out the door, i said no. he then ask me to put 5k down, and 450 everymonth, i think about a minutes and i realize that after 72month, i'll be paying 40000 for this car. what the **** ???????????? i really don't have a good time with this ************, i am mad. i swear, if i saw him on the street in redwood city, i'll beat the **** out of his *** for sure.

So, does anyone here still think i should get the car, and how much should i pay for it. what's are some good choices, i only want the gray 6spd cloths seat, sport pkg, and the roof. do anyone know any good dealers in the bay area that can get me this car the right price?????????? i sold my FD, i need a car!

 

Why is Pedro still asking above sticker? When the car first came out last year they were charging $5k above sticker. I know at least one person paid that but many more (including myself) refused. A week after I turned that down Pedro called back offering the car I wanted at sticker.

Go to Ray at Marina Motors in Capitola. It may be a drive for you but he's a great guy at a nice dealership. Ray won't dick around and play games with you. Tell him Robin (with the yellow RX-8) says "Hi".
________
How to roll blunts

 

Get it from Oak Tree or Almaden Mazda. Oak Tree is on Stevens Creek in San Jose, the other on on Capitol. Both owned by Del Grande Auto Group. Their reputation, although not stellar and spotless, is a hell of a lot better than Menlo Mazda from what I have heard.

I plan to get mine from Oak Tree. I advise you that before you go in the door next time, know EXACTLY what you want and how much you want to pay. If they don't have the car at the price you want to pay, say thanks and walk out. The sales guy should not be controlling the conversation, you should!

Good luck!

Kurt G.

 

I got my car at Menlo for just a few hundred over invoice. you should be able to get invoice for any 8 on their lot. BTW, I know Pedro and all the guys over there from my car being in their shop too much. I honestly think the only really cool and honest guys over there are in the parts dept where you can get better prices than at Trussville and Rosenthal if you show them the adds.

If you want to get a car and get it there, PM me and I can come with you to get it at Invoice so they don't screw w/ you.

 

blksf8, thanks for that first! maybe i'll need you , but how much you think i should pay for the 8 i've mention at the first post. and how much are you guys paying for your 8? because 30000 = NO for the RX8, i can add 3 more g to get a STi, y waste my time here, just because i love rotary to death doesn't mean i have to pay til the day i die for it. damn now i miss the good old days when i paid 7200 for my FD........

 

honestly, you can get any 8 w/ any options you want for invoice or at worst a few hundred over. The trump card you have in SF is that Royal Motors in SF has a listing in each Sunday paper advertising 3k off all 8s in stock. Let me know if you still need help. I live about 5 miles from Menlo and would be glad to get you a good deal.

 

I liked working with Oak Tree Mazda too. Specifically a guy named Byron in Finance. Skip the middle man. I paid 27,700 which was 15 dollars over invoice for them. I got a black on black, M6, Sport Touring Model.

-Clarence

 

I remember seeing an ad by Royal Motors about a month ago giving $5,000 (which indludes the $500 college grad rebate) for all RX8 in stock.

Cheers

 

Just be firm about how much you want to pay. They will bend down for you coz they're not selling the RX-8 very well.

I've heard bad things about Menlo Mazda, stay away from that hell-hole. I would recommend you try Oaktree or Almaden Mazda (both in San Jose). I've heard nothing but good things about them. I got mine there for $25K.

 

Yes you could probably go back to Menlo Mazda armed with this information (and other help) to get something close to invoice. But bottom line is why give them the business when they tried to dick you over to begin with? You can get the same if not better price elsewhere with much better service.
________
RD400

 

just PM'ed you, i got a good deal from putnam, i guarantee no bullshit, just let me know if you're interested.

 

Hey Clarence,

I just PMed you about Oak Tree.

Thanks!

Kurt G.

 

How about the alhambra mazda dealership?

 

Just bought mine from them too. I don't know if you worked with James or not but he is really cool, low key and won't try to sell you anything you don't want, ..... (Menlo mazda tried this) like your name embroidered on some all red leather seats after stating the factory seats were ****. Why would a sales guy put down his own product. The finance guy at Menlo was a dick too. After I got my insurance settlement from my stolen car I felt like going over and kicking him in the nuts. He was totally putting down my previous car and saying I'd be lucky to get 8K from the insurance (what I wanted), uhmmm, I got over $11K so :P . I will not buy from menlo and there's going to be one unhappy sales guy at menlo Thursday when he finds out I already bought the car and he lost the sale for being way too pushy and left me with no confidence in the car (it wasn't pedro, I wont post his name, I don't want to be too mean). In fact I ended up adding even MORE to the car I bought because Putnum let me sell myself the car. If you want James' number PM me. I added the appearance package and NAV that I orginally hadn't planned on buying. All I know is I love driving this car, love it way better than the sti or evo... but that's just me... depends on what you're looking for.

 

I had an appointment with the Bay Area Regional Manager at Menlo at 10:30 today to review my paint, MPG, and lack of HP issues. By 11:30 the guy didn't even show up, return calls, or call to inform us that he was going to be late or not come at all. I even escalated the issue and was assured that this guy's boss would call me today. Of course, he didn't either and both these clowns are supposed to be Mazda corporate employees. Menlo called me this afternoon to apologize and they are supposed to call me by tomorrow to set up a new appointment.

 

What kind of paint problems are you having? (so I can watch out for them)....

Do you have to continue to deal with menlo? I didn't meet any of the service people but frankly I wouldn't want to deal with that dealership at all after my prospective buyer's experience with them. They not only lost a sale but a loyal customer who is happy to have her car serviced at the dealership as recommended.

I prefer to work with people that are low-key, helpful, NICE and that I can relate to !!!! So far I'm very happy where I am. (it's only been a couple of days and I'm bringing the car home tomorrow but so far I'm VERY pleased with the level of service I'm receiving).

 

When I bought my 8, the only fully loaded one was on the showroom and had been there for months. I had expressed concern w/ all the scratches on the car, but they assured me that they'd buff the scratches out. Well, they have tried to buff, wax, etc. the car many times and the scratches are still there. Even worse, they have burnt some of the paint.

Menlo has "escalated" the paint and engine issues to the regional rep who doesn't show up or return calls.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems. I'm glad it wasn't some sort of paint defect. My car was also in a showroom (what I was told) so I've been looking at it very closely to make sure there isn't anything wrong with the interior etc. I did find some sort of scuff mark on the cover for the drink holders.... would that be covered under warranty? I'm going to mention it to the sales guy and see what he thinks. It's not too bad and I'm not overly picky... but I think it will bother me.

 

Thanks for the info on Menlo. I was planning to head to that dealership this week because the Mazdausa website says it has the one I want in stock. Now I won't even bother.

What about Oakland Mazda? They have a lot of Yellow ones in stock. Putnam also allegedly has a Red Sport that I could be happy with.

Others say I should not trust the Mazdausa website to see what is in stock. What are the alternatives?

 

Gus, Putnum will get you whatever you want, they got my car from marin. That way you don't have to wait while parts are ordered etc.... if you know exactly what you want you can look on the mazda website, find it and most dealers will trade. Supposedly the website isn't totally up to date but it's not that far off, I found the same car the dealer found by using the website. I've heard some refuse to deal with Menlo which makes me wonder even more about that dealership. Putnum is in burlingame. I don't know too much about the east bay, the dealership in Fremont offered to sell me the car at invoice one day (before I was ready to purchase)... let me know if there is anything I can do to help, I'm sure there are others here that can give you contacts as well. PM me if you want me to hook you up with Putnam. BTW, I don't get anything for referring business to them, I just think they went out of their way to treat me right.

 

When I went to Menlo, they told me they don't deal with Putnam. Menlo didn't have my car in stock, but they were able to ship it in from Sacremento the next business day. Putnam wanted me to tell them what I wanted, even though they didn't have a single automatic in stock, and thus had no demo car.

There is definitely a rivalry between Menlo and Putnam.

My experience with Putnam was interesting. When I bought my Aztek, I had ordered it with all the extras. They called me up one afternoon (several weeks later) to say they had "miraculously found an Aztek that was ALMOST what I wanted -- it was missing the trailer towing package. They could have it for me in a week, if I would drive down there that day (September 30th ).

I was special ordering the vehicle, so I had originally agreed to MSRP -- I was paying for it with options money that I had just gotten from a Yahoo acquisition, so I didn't care too much.

However, I saw when I sat down to review the paperwork, they wanted me to sign on the dotted line for the same exact price they had quoted me from the get-go -- NOT deducting anything for the fact that the vehicle they were delivering did not contain a $1000 option that was included in the original agreement. Fortunately I caught them on it, but it left a really bad impression.

On the other hand, their service department (Putnam Pontiac, that is), was actually really great, and although they seemed to take their time to do oil changes and such, I was always offered a complimentary loaner for anything significant. I'm hoping that courtesy will carry over to Puntam Mazda's service department, which is much more convenient for me to get to.

Oh, so the other interesting thing. When I had my Aztek in for oil change, tire rotation, et al, a little while back, I asked one of the sales guys, "Are you guys still selling the Aztek? I don't see any here, and I don't see many on the roads." The guy tells me, "We can't keep them in stock; they come in, we sell them."

Menlo tells me the market on Azteks is ridiculously soft, and when I told them Putnam said they sell out Azteks immediately, that's when Menlo tells me they don't trade with Putnam -- one of the reasons why Putnam wouldn't be able to get me an automatic demo RX-8 for a week, when right down the road, Menlo quite a few automatics they could've traded for. Menlo had no Nordic Greens in stock -- Putnam had three (but all 6MT).

There's definitely no love lost between them. But I had a much better experience buying my RX-8 from Menlo than buying my Aztek from Putnam Pontiac...

...Paul

 

I would like to point out that paying $450/mo for 72 mo may total $40k, but you are forgetting that some of that is interest. At 6% interest rate that equals 27,152 + 5,000 (down) or apprx $32k.

 

Check out this thread for my dealings with Putnam. Bottom line, I am not buying a car from Putnam.

 

Best tactic is to go there, talk to a sales guy to show interest, walk away and he'll call you in a couple of day telling you he's got a special, work out a price and options over the phone, put a refundable deposit on credit card, pick up the car. Don't negotiate in person, do it over the phone bc otherwise they'll have you in the office for a whole day trying to wear you down and you'll feel bad about walking away without a car. Over the phone, if price is no good -- click see ya! I bought a Mercedes and my RX7 that way.

I have had good luck with Diablo Mazda in Walnut Creek. Bill Mentz was my sales guy. That was back in 2000 so he may not be there anymore. The dealer is small though.

 

You guys might want to try a little further north like Fairfield or Sacramento. Demand may be a little lower.