I purchased 2 months ago ,what i was hopeing to be the last yellow on the lots here . The closes yellow left on mazda.com was 100 miles away. BUT, i just checked and a local dealer has received a Yellow. The vin number shows it was a earlier build number 03162. Where has this car been? i know they trade out cars , dose this mean this car has seat on a lot for maybe a year? If you where buying now , would you purchase a NEW 8 with a earlier vin?


my edit: please scroll down, maybe the way i said it was not clear. My 8 is number 030000. This new one is 003162. Maybe my clearer question below is more to the point.

 

Yes, to me it sounds extremely foolish to voluntarily buy an old car. Especially in the first year where they improve / adjust their production process.

Also note that some of the early cars have low fuel economy no matter how the owner drives them.

Build "number 3162" means VIN ending in 0003162? That's very low. I'd stay away from it. Your car is not going to be worth more or less because of a low build #. In another field, I like to show off my very very low ICQ #. I've got a 7 digit # on ICQ :D

 

you have to look at the last 5-6 digits, not the last 4, to tell you what build date. And it should say it on the door, anyway, I beleive.

 

mine is 36xxx....you need the last FIVE digits

 

I have you beat, mine ends 013xx (5/2003) build date. I bought it 2/2004 and it had 100 miles on it, why was it hanging around so long? Is lighting yellow that ugly? I was getting about 17 MPG before the M- Flash and now get around 20 MPG. Other than the Oil Pan TSB http://www.finishlineperformance.com.../01_027_03.htm the car has been great. So if the dealer has not changed the oil pan expect to do so before you hit 5,000 miles but there are early builds that are not headaches.

 

Even on highly desirable collector cars, where the particular example was produced in the total model-year production run seldom has any impact on it's value.

 

Guys my 8 ends in 30000. the new one on the lot ends in 03162. So let me ask this question again. Would you, with what you have learned on this site, purchase this one ?

Ptiemann, This is the way i feel and the reason i asked . I was interested in what you would tell someone looking to purchase and the vin was this low and still on the lot. I would say get a newer build.

 

I'd certainly go for the newest/latest VIN as possible. When I bought my car in May, the first thing I did was look at the build date inside the driver's side door. My car had only been at the dealer for less than a month and is a March '04 build. I don't think they're building any more yellows at this point, so an April or May build might be the last of the bunch.

On the other hand, if one simply had to have yellow and an early VIN was all that was available, it wouldn't be too bad. You probably could get a heck of deal as the car had been sitting for so long. I've been following this board since about April of '03 and I think the majority of the owners who bought back in the Summer of '03 are still quite happy with their cars. As long as the TSB items (passenger side air bag recall, oil pan mod, A/C amp, and M-flash etc.)are done, the car won't be really any different than the most current '04 build. An intellegent buyer, armed with the info from this web, could ask the dealer to make sure all of the TSB items are taken care of before delivery.

 

check out some of the early owners here in this thread

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/lets-compare-vin-numbers-fuel-economy-12965/

I haven't heard of any 12 or 13 mpg stories from 'new owners' (e.g. build date after 03/2004)

 

Please note that some early VINs have higher MPG (see mine below) vin 001129, built 5/28/03. Have the engine # if anyone wants to try to find a trend to the detail level of which of the several people that were building the engines built which one. Of course one would have to determine the sequencing logic from the engine bench / line folks for starters.

 

btw, to answer your question: YES, I'd suggest getting a lower VIN new 8.
my local dealer has a 10xxx VIN yellow GT 6sp sitting on the lot, priced about $400 LESS than my touring cost me brand new. IT IS tempting to sell my 16K red and buy a first/last year yellow that is a fairly low VIN (probably produced around 8/03 as a guess) that is new - but I still don't like the thought of black leather seating surfaces... and I don't want / need the weight of a power seat... hence why I ordered the touring to begin with.

 

I would definately stay away from the low VIN RX-8's if possible.

If you get one that gets 9-14 mpg no matter how slow you drive the car, you're going to be paying a ton for gas, no matter how much of a discount you initially got when buying it.

I didn't look at VIN number when I bought mine, it turns out mine was sitting on the lot for 4 months (because it had a navi and they don't sell as fast), but luckly it wasn't too old (Dec 03) and had no problems.

 

Do you think it is possible that some oft he older, lower vin#'s that show up on occaision, like this one, are the cars that were bought back while Mazda was running the buyback or 500 rebate program? With 100 miles, and a low Vin#, it sounds like it could fit the bill. Personally, I would not have a problem with buying this car - but I would stipulate a 24 hour test drive first. I think there is a good shot at negotiating that in the deal, and that way it eliminates the major worries about buying one of the older builds.
JMHO.

 

Looks like my 8 was built the same week as yours (vin 001347) But I didn't get mine till 2/2004. I also have had only the oil pan issue and get 20 MPG since M-Flash. I would also be interested in compaing notes where on the engine is that #? We could have the same "Batch" of engines.

 

Hell yeah. My VIN is 01791 or so (ie one of the first 2000 delivered to North America). With the 2 recalls performed, I have had no AC problems, and my fuel consumption is just fine. It's only a few of the early cars that had a fuel consumption problem, certainly not most or all of them as some people seem to think.

This whole early VIN vs. late VIN mindset that seems to have developed among some of the members here is nonsense. Besides the AC amplifier (which is available to anyone with an AC problem), there are NO running changes of ANY significance between the early and late VIN production. The cars are the same, people!

Regards,
Gordon

 

Heh, I didn't notice until I washed my car last week that my build date was 12/03 and my vin is 29xxx. I bought it on 7/14/04 (kind of disapointing that it was 7 months old when I got it), but I'm averaging 18mpg and my last tank was 19. It had all of the service done to it when I got it, It also had the "New" Nav software with the Mazda logo on boot-up.