Hey All...I found two cars in the area that match what I want according to the mazda website. One is at Star Mazda in Glendale, and the other is in Alhambra. Anyone have experiance with either, good or bad?

 

Call them both - ask for the fleet manager - and go with the one that seems most willing to work with you.

I have heard that Alhambra has one good rotary mechanic, which could be helpful in the future of your 8.

Good luck!

 

I bought my RX-8 from Alhambra. Great experience, except for the 3 hours of haggling I had to do - but that was my first time buying a new car. Bought mine (2 miles on the odometer, still had protective vinyl film everywhere) for less than $1k over invoice (~2.5k+ below msrp) and they even throw in free oil changes every other round.

 

I have S-plan so price ins't a concern for me, i just don't want to have to deal with rude sales poeple. Is Alhambra's service any good? Is that a standard Alhambra deal to throw in oil changes?

 

The sales people aren't rude or pushy at all. My buying experience there was basically "this is what I want, let's make a deal". Then they would go back n forth with the guys in the office and come back with replies until I was ready to sign. All in all, I think I was the only one putting pressure.

I've gone there for 2 oil changes and 1 major service so far and they were quite courteous. The dealership is relatively small and it's usually quiet there, so the service people pretty much treat you like the only customer they've had all day.

The complimentary oil change thing comes in the form of a coupon book which basically entitles you to free services like oil changes, car washes, tire rotations, etc. given you only take it to them when it's due.

By the way, what is S-plan?

 

S-Plan is the mazda employee purchase plan. Its given to mazda suppliers as well. It basically gives you the car for a little under invoice. Not a bad deal and saves some time and hassle. BTW I'm looking at the same car you have, except the nav. Ti is a great color! Where in LA are you?

 

The employee purchase plan is the E-plan and more enticing than the S-plan, trust me.

Although a heavily-rebated model at a dealer can beat both deals occasionally.

 

I actually live right on the border of Los Angeles and Alhambra. Some call it "El Sereno" but my address is in Los Angeles.

So you're telling me you're a Mazda affiliate? If that's the case, I'm sure any dealership would treat you just fine, if not better than walk-in customers...

 

yeah but the only two dealers in the area (50 mi) that have the Ti Gray touring package with nothing else on it are Star and Alhambra.

 

yeah i meant s-plan is the employee plan i get through ford for mazda. i would love e-plan, but i'll take what i can get.

 

Stay far away from Alhambra service. Those idiots tried to tell me I had a turbocharged car, refused to do work as per a Mazda TSB, and didn't do service they said they did, like rotate my tires.

 

I bought my car from Star Mazda in way back to 8-3-03. I bought the 8 at MSRP which was per-order. I went to Star Mazda dealer five times, and about the service i think is Okay for me. EX: last time, i went back to the dealer for ECU adjusted to the L version, and they did that for me and didn't give me hard time.

i don't recommend the alhambra because they tried to charged me over the MSRP even i made the per-order in way back to March, 2003.

 

Yeah looks like star it is. I called alhambra and they didnt have a car in stock that i wanted, and becasue I have s-plan that refused to find one for me. Star has it in stock and hopefully Monday I will have it.

 

Bad experiance with Star, totally screwed me over. Then tried to call be back and make amends. Getting a car from Riverside, let you know how it goes.