Can anyone recommend, from first-hand experience, a dealership to purchase an 8 from in the greater Seattle, WA area?

 

A search will bring up a lot of opinions, but in general I believe University Mazda is hands down the best dealer. Its where I purchased mine (after being dicked with at 3 other dealers)

www.umazda.com

 

DON'T GO TO Sound Mazda

 

I recommend going online to websites like cars.com, edmunds.com, mazda.com, etc. and getting online quotes from dealers in the area. They usually give you great deals (invoice or slightly higher), and you can forward one dealers quotes to another to haggle. I did this and got 8 quotes in 24 hours.

 

These threads come up regularly, and University Mazda gets consistently high marks. We bought ours at Lee Johnson in Kirkland, and I was not thrilled with them, to put it mildly.

 

I don't own an RX8, but according to the email I got from them a few days ago, UMazda will sell an '05 RX8 for $500 above invoice, no haggling.

What I really want to know is if anyone knows of any new '04's that are still around? All the ones I can find are in the Midwest or East Coast.

 

When we bought ours last year, the Mazda website had a utility which allowed you to search the inventory of all dealers in the area. That was quite useful.

 

Lee Johnson has a Winning Blue, nav, appearance and accents that's an '04 - they'd probably like to move it. Can't say it was my best dealership experience, then again not the worst.

 

Just my 2 cents regarding dealing with area Mazda dealers. We bought a Shinka a couple of weeks ago and contacted all dealers between Olympia & Lynnwood that had one. We got an e-mail price from Fugate Mazda in Enumclaw before we did this on the Shinka they had for only $290 above invoice. All the other dealers were told to give us their best price. Only Sound Mazda & University Mazda replied. Sound had said their owner didn't want to go that low yet. University had said they would sell it at about $200 above invoice until I called back and asked some questions about using the Gerber rebate which they said was fine. About an hour later he called back to say he had made a mistake on the initial price quote and jacked it up a $1000 and told me a bold face lie that the new price was the invoice. Needless to say, we bought from Fugate Mazda in Enumclaw for under dealer invoice with the Gerber rebate included on a Shinka! They were polite, honest and easy to deal with. I wouldn't trust University Mazda for a new car sale after dealing with them on this and at least Sound (Pinnacle) Mazda was honest to say they wouldn't go that low. As for the rest, they never bothered to get back to us.

 

^^^That is the first negative experience I have heard about with University Mazda. I've bought two 8s from them and would go back again, no hesitation.

Best of luck!

 

lee johnson mazda in kirkland, they are a great dealer....prices, costomer serivice....ect bought 2 cars there and will go back

 

Purchased the RX-8 at Lee Johnson. Good experience with their internet sales manager. Saved about $1000 compared to the best price I could get at University Mazda. However, in terms of service, I've been very impressed by University Mazda and take my car there whenever I can.

 

We also bought ours at Lee Johnson, but we did not enjoy any aspect of the experience, topped off by what I consider to be a scam when they charged us for their B&O tax. When challenged, they took it off, but that is, in my opinion, a remarkably sleazy practice, and we will never buy from them again. We take ours to University Mazda for service.

 

Purchased ours from Doug's Lynnwood Mazda because it was a good deal on a leftover 2004 which they purchased from Olympia Mazda. They also tried to slip in the B&O tax on the paper work and when I complained they said "the computer was suppose to remove that before printing". Seems like this is becoming a scam at more then one dealer. All service though has been through University Mazda and so far pleased with them.

 

Yes Doug's Lynnwood Mazda SUCKS -- we also didn't enjoy the purchasing experience. Purchased our RX-8 from there as well, despite knowing what we wanted and how much we were going to pay (Costco Pricing), it still took 6 hours just to speak with the financial lady to sign the papers. Once there, she tried many times to slip in extrenuous charges.
Such as the charge for 'security' etching on the window, a weird situation that by choosing two options (lowjack & extended warranty) our interest rate would drop 1% (she didn't choose Mazda financing).

University Mazda ROCKS!

 

Very positive experience at University Mazda. Just bought mine Saturday! I dealt with Barry over the internet and Lee in the showroom.

 

Welcome to the board!

I bought mine from Barry as well.

 

Another good experience with University Mazda. I've bought several cars from them and have had some very enlightening discussions with their management and service people. They are a very unusual car dealership. They're not perfect, but they are in business for the long term, not just for the quick buck. You know how the trip to talk to the F&I guy is always the most painful part of the process? Pfffft. I had a great time talking to Jerry. He has a very good grasp on money matters and can explain the jargon and let the customer choose the best option.

I could go on. Great people to deal with.

 

I just bought a used '04 from Doug's Lynnwood Mazda last night. The buying experience was okay, not bad, not great. They didn't try any high pressure sales tactics, and just showed me the prices for extended warranty, lojack, etc. The B&O tax was automatically shown and deducted on the price sheet, and no funny buisness with the numbers. I had hammered them on the price over a few days though, so maybe they just knew that I would walk out over any $100 charge here or there.

When I was looking, I always got the best treatment at University, but their prices were often a bit high. No used RX8's in stock that matched what I wanted so I never got to really see how low they would go.

Milam Mazda down south was low pressure when I was looking 6 months ago as well. So low, in fact, that when I offered the sales guy invoice for an '05 back when they weren't for sale due to the tank recall, he said he'd have to ask his sales manager the next day if they would take it. The guy literally never called me back. I told him I was ready to buy, wanted the car, and gave him a reasonable number. He didn't even try. Now that's low pressure!

 

I didn't have any problems with Lee Johnson, but I went in and told them what I wanted, when I wanted it, and how much they were going to take for it. After watching my parents buy a few cars (they never know what they want 'till they've signed papers), I decided to treat it just like any other business transaction and maintain control myself. It worked out great, but that may not work for everyone.

 

Hmm I dunno, went to Lee Johnson twice. Both times to look and seemed kinda high pressure to me. Esp. when I kept telling 'em I was "just looking"!

You can always buy elsewhere for lower and go to U Mazda for service. Thats what I plan on doing.

 

I would recommend you stay away from Milam. I've said it on this forum a few times, they are just way to shady, and like you said, they don't bother to call you, and if the do, it's just to lie to you.

University all the way, it's worth the drive.

 

If you don't mind coming to Tacoma, go to Russ Dumire. I got my RX8 there back in 03. You will not be disappointed. They have been the greatest dealer to work with I have ever seen.

Talk to Matt Dunmire is you do. Tell him the Black Dragon Sent You. He will know who you are talking about.

 

I've been into that dealership twice. It was my experience that they knew absolutely nothing about the car.

I did even speak to Matt and he pretty much just blew me off, and or ignored me.

Very rude, and I will never buy a car from them.