Cool-Blue-Dad

Skynet120, there are payment calculators at many websites - especially the websites that host car listings. I've seen you bring up interest, but not term. Some folks are ambitious and go for a 3-year loan, but you can get 4, 5, or even 6 year loans on new cars. It all depends on your personal situation and goals - YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

Cool-Blue-Dad

Only you can decide which blossum smells the sweetest young grasshopper.

Seriously, automobiles are such a personal choice. I'm surprised you'd even ask that. The best we could help you is to call b.s. if you outlined a price that was way too high (we say - you're being ripped off) or a dealership known for shady sales tactics (we say - some of us got ripped off there already, but your mileage may vary). Some folks are happy with their dealerships and sales experiences and recommend them to others (I do recommend S&S in Baltimore, MD, but another member was unhappy with his experience with a different salesman at that same dealership).

My advice - get a buddy on-the-scene with you. They can help if the salemen try to bully you (rare) or try to lure you away from features you'd said were 'must-haves' (more common). I played wingman for a college buddy at a Saturn dealership once. He'd been there alone and came home feeling like they walked all over him. We went back together, were both polite, but firmly stayed the course. He got what he wanted.

Cool-Blue-Dad

Hmmm, I said 'young grasshopper' to make a joke, but also guessed right. I will make my suggestion stronger - don't go to buy this car by yourself unless you have already bought 3 or 4 cars. I don't mean disrespect, but you may find some very high-pressure sales tactics used against you and I think you could be unhappy with the experience if you don't have someone along to back you up. I don't mean take your parents and make them do it for you - just one tag-along who can monitor a second set of b.s. sensors.

I just bought my 2004 RX-8 on September 30th as a 33rd birthday present. I considered taking a wingman (8th car purchase since I was in high school), but I had a deal in-hand from phone negotiations and decided to solo this one. My college buddy and I were ~20 when I played wingman for him - he and I always looked back on that as a smart move.

Be sure you keep that and any other 'must-have' features (like MT?) firmly in mind while shopping.

That's possible, but not likely. I got ~$8300 off MSRP on a 2004 in Sep 2005. That was with a very special set of incentives to get rid of the 2004s when 2005s were already on the lots. The 2006s aren't exactly flooding the lots so it may be too early for super-deep discounts on new 2005s.

If you are looking used I would suggest carfax reports too. The $30 you spend for unlimited reports is cheap insurance against picking up a vehicle with bad problems (some RX-8s have been wrecked - http://home.comcast.net/~store0001/macabre/ ) I suggest looking up Edmunds.COM pricing on specific vehicles you find so you can tell if the dealer is not discounting enough for mileage, etc, etc.

Good luck!

Cool-Blue-Dad

I was lucky. Not smart, not good, just lucky. I don't really think I am a good negotiator. The dealership had extra special incentives to get rid of the 2004s back in Sept 2005, plus the dealer was throwing in some trunk money. The sales manager told me he took in 4 of those left-over 2004s as a special favor to Mazda. He claimed he didn't expect to make any money off them, but expect to get special consideration from Mazda for doing them the favor of getting rid of those orphans. Might or might not be 100% of the truth, but I had no reason to ever doubt that story - at least it's a plausible explanation.

I'm an electrical engineer. I tried some sales when I was young, found I had no flare for it, then trained in something I could do well. I don't like to negotiate for things I plan to buy because I expect to be out-classed by a better negotiator, so I use different strategies.

I contacted the dealership from which I bought via the internet. I saw their car listed, thought it must be a mistake to be new and cheap - figured it had to be more expensive or used. The lady in charge of internet sales called me and offered me an even lower price and assured me it was indeed brand new. I asked her to verify certain options so she went to see the car then called me back. After that I talked to the sales manager at that dealership and reached a firm verbal agreement. He understood I was driving 350 miles and that I wanted to be crystal clear about our arrangement. He even faxed me the invoice for the car with some notes about the price on it. Then, I drove down about bought it ~1 week after I first saw the add on the internet.

Of course, I had been shopping for 6 to 8 weeks before that and nearly closed one deal on a used RX-8, but someone bought it out from under me (anyone on this forum buy a used blue RX-8 GT with 30,000 miles on it in VA back in mid-Sept? if so, no harm done, I'm really happy with the one I bought two weeks later).

Anyway, I also suggest you read some of the other threads in this Purchasing sub-forum. Groo posted an excellent story a few weeks back - I thought his technique was very good.