Well recently I havent been able to deal with the urge of wanting an Rx-8. I have always wanted one ever since my Mom bought herself an 05 RX-8 Shinka. I got bored the other day and went down to the local Mazda Dealership and decided to test drive one of these suckers. Well to my suprise the place still had 2 05 Rx-8, both had the White color and were 6MT. Well, I take one out for a spin and easily pick up on the gear shifting( I dont drive stick but able to pick up on it very easily from driving firends' cars). Well after i bring it back I was comparing the two. One has all the added features that you can think of, the grand touring pack, nav system, and everything else you can think of and was Sticker priced at $35k, while the other was pretty much a stock version going for around $28k. Well the salesman tells me since they are 05's, they are putting a $7,000 rebate on them so it knocks down the price pretty good. I also have a trade in of a 05 Mazda3. So i figure that with the rebate and trade in I will be pretty close to my dream of own one of these bad boys finally. What I am asking is do you think i should stick with getting the stocked version of the full loaded RX-8? Also, do you think i would be able to get a better deal on these babies? and How much does Insurance usually run on these things? I am going on 20, no accidents, tickets, pretty much a clean slate and been driving for 3 years. Well hope to hear from u guys.

 

With all the features, you're going to have extra weight. They're worth it if you don't think an extra 100 pounds or so are a big deal.

Yeah, '05s have been selling cheap. You can probably knock the price down furthur.

Insurance varies, but it's not bad at all for me, being around your age. Quotes on an S2000 were nearly double when I was car shopping. The 4 doors, 4 seats and relatively low horsepower rating bring the rates down I guess.

 

Base model is the way to go. No nanny electronics and lighter weight. Just avoid driving it in the snow if you can. Everything a body needs is standard. Find out what invoice is on the car, then knock the rebate off and offer them that. They should take it.

 

The most ive heard of anyone getting knocked off has been $8K, so i wouldn't expect too much more to come off.

Personal opinion, but I think that the extra money for the GT packages are well worth it...DSC alone.

And insurance seems to vary VERY greatly from company to company, considering that some consider it a sports car, and others just a 4-door coupe. Do your personal research on this before you make any rash decisions on your choice.

 

Well i am pretty small myself so i think the weight of all the add ons would cover the weight that I am missing lol. Yeah it is a hard debate cause i figure if I could atleast get $12k for my trade in then that is about $16k I would have to pay so i figure my monthly rate at 60 months shouldnt be too bad.

 

If a dealer has a 2005 in mid-August of the following year you should be able to offer him $27 and he'd take it. If you can't get $9k off the price you're doing something wrong.

 

Unless you are a track racer.. I'd say go for the fancy version... live a bit...enjoy the ride. The extra weight is not much at all, esp if you are light, and is it so terribly important? For some maybe, but really, you're going to live with the car.... don't shoot your new car purchase in the foot. All those assessories really DO make for a nicer ride IMO.

And the nanny features, some may try to screw w/your head saying they're for sissies, but one day they may save your bacon and you'll have a car, not a pile of twisted metal on the side of a road. Enjoy.

 

Go for the whole package, not a bad price. You say you have a Mazda 3 and thats what I traded for to get my 8. The insurance went up about $ 14.00 more.

 

That's what I paid for my '05 Shinka in late March. So you should be able to do even better now.

I felt the GT/Sport extras of the Shinka were worth it. Load it up if you can swing it.

 

Get the GT with nav. others are probably telling you not to because they couldnt afford it or find a good deal on one. I agree with some above, you should be able to get more off the pricec considering 06's have been out for months. I picked up an 05 GT back in Feb. with everything but nav for $22,900. So better deals are out there.

 

21k for the base 05 is pretty good. However, if they told you they can sell it for 21k - offer 20k and wait until they say ok. They will, but it may take a month. In the meantime, just drive your 3 off the lot each time they refuse to budge. As for options - the DSC & TCS are the only non-fluff differences between base & other packages. Well worth it, especially for less experienced drivers. (no offense; 0-4yrs driving = less experienced) Do some searching here about the pro's and con's of navi, leather, etc., then choose what you want. Happy hunting. And make sure you're careful in all that so.cal snow!

 

I don't think HID headlights are a "fluff" item. And I bought my 05 sport with appearance package (+1300) and rotary accents (+130) for 20.5 brand new with 23 miles on it back in May which is around 9800 off MSRP.

 

^They are fluff. The lights on base models are plenty bright, and functional. HID is nice, but not having it is not detremental to the driving experience and it will never "Save your ***" like many have stated about the DSC, TCS. Therefore, HID = fluff. IMO - there is nothing wrong with "fluff" <<mmmm . . . fluff>> but let's call a spade a spade.

Fuel4 - You definitely need to call around on the insurance quotes. I found the estimates varied by up to $50/month between companies.

 

Yeah, well i said around $28K on the GT package because its MSRP was around $35K. I figure the on that isnt stocked, is at about $28k but with the $7,000 rebate it is around $21K. I am thinking realistically here and figure if I could take them down on the base model and get it for around $19-20K i would be able to own it myself in less months and get it sooner. But it is hard to resist all those features that the GT comes with. Shoot it is hard to decide