During the 5 months that I was looking and researching the RX8 these are just a couple of the things that I have had MAZDA dealers say:

1. This car has all wheel drive
2. Its turbo charged
3. DSC was dynamic steering control
4. It had over 300hp and got 28MPG
5. No break in required just drive it like it is stolen

If it wasn't for this forum I doubt that I would be driving my 8 since the dealers are such a beating to deal with.

 

1) inline 6
2) it will get you chicks ( that was a TOTAL lie) :D

 

1) The Auto and the 6spd have the same power engine
2) DSC is standard on all models
3) It's front wheel drive
4) It's a 1.3L 3-cyl engine. I mean seriously where the hell did he get 3 from, maybe he thought it was a geo.

 

"Your last reflash was June 20, 2004. Mazda has not released a software update since then." - 2 weeks ago, before I got ahold of a competent service rep who offered to reflash because my car was "in dire need"

 

"It's got a ton of headroom"

 

My experience was not with the 8, but with a 04 Civic Si at Santa Ana Honda:

1. "Halogens are superior to HIDs"

This one got me really angry:

2. "Since you test drove the car and sat with me to talk about price, you are obligated to buy this car." (The manager and receptionist was in on it too!!!) Then after I was finished yelling at him, he asked meekly, "so, what color do you want?"

 

If you show me yours I will show you . . . wait thats not it . . . Oh yeah, it was "since this is a 1 of a kind MS version of this car we can not budge on the $44+ asking price"

 

The salesman at our local dealer told me that the engines in the auto and manual were identical. I already understood the differences between the engines, so I just shook my head and kept looking. It pays to do a little homework before shopping.

1.3L

 

1) It's 4 Cyl
2) Great on gas
3) Navtech updates their software every 6 mo. and they sent it to you automatically
4) You don't have to worry about the oil (although the manual says to check it after every other fill up)

 

Went in to get a wheel alingment and service rep told me: "its the road not the car."
LOL!!!

 

My idiot sales rep was trying to sell me a shinka he had on site instead of getting one delivered and said, "why would you want a 6 speed MT when you can get the exact same car with an automatic for less money?" -OK, you're fired. Good thing I had done enough research I didn't need a salesperson's opinion.

 

Most dealer salespersons ( yes most of the women too :D) need to remember the old adage


"It's better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you're a fool....than open it and leave no doubt"

I looked a 4 dealerships, and talked to 6 different salespeople.....I knew 100X more than any of them about the car...that's really sad!

 

After dealing with salespeople for the past month or so I feel happy that I never had anyone tell me it was an x-cylinder engine! We had one moron tell us that all of the RX-8s got burned up in a fire in Hiroshima and there aren't any left or something to that effect. He had a lot more answers than we had questions. The other big lie they tell you is that they can "make you a great deal on this car."

One guy that stuck out to me as particularly annoying did something that every cigarette smoking 20-something car dealer kid does--he kept piping up with some stupid comment while I was talking to someone else, or at least wasn't interested in his opinion. They have a tendency to question everything you want or point out why something you may want is bad. It was pretty simple why I selected who I did to buy my car from--first of all I had never talked to them in person, which is probably a big plus for them, and secondly they didn't try to tell me how impossible something was or that I didn't know what I wanted. I asked for a car--they gave me a price, and I bought.

 

This is exactly why I do my research and inital contact online rather than in person. Personally, I could care less what a salesmen thinks or says. They are just merely a vessel to get what I want.

Stuff I have heard (and my response):

"This car gets all the chicks!"
(Thanks, my wife will like that)

"You have to buy this car, we have already commited to having it shipped to the dealership from another dealership"
(Since when did a test drive constitute an agreement to buy?)

"When we swap cars from other dealerships, they are driven here buy much older, more experienced drivers"
("I'm sure the street market vendors will LOVE that idea", or "So i'll need to replace the brakes...")

 

I went to 6 different dealerships, talked with at least 3 different dealers in each dealership...and they all said the same thing. How amazing is that. It was pretty long ago so it is hard to remember the exact dates of everything but it was something to the affect of,

" Since you test drove this car on this date, you have a week to buy or it is going to be someone elses" haha.

" The engine pumps out sounds like a 5.0 liter mustang "

and the one that really pissed me off was when he asked me my age (19).

" You can't afford this car " yeah, he lost a customer.

oh yeah and the guy tried to convince me that the CD player popped out vertically to drop the CD in, instead of push it in.

He told me that the rear sets folded down to access the HUGE trunk haha, lies lies lies

 

"with this K&N Typhoon intake and Greddy exhaust, we increased hp at the wheels by 50." (by 50 what , ergs?) Bonehead.

 

Service rep told me it wasn't meant to be revved over 6,000 rpms.

 

Lets not forget the fact that the salespersons never know anything about the difference in model years/features.

Since I am looking now I have had a few things said:
I was looking at a white across the lot and asked if it was a manual...salesperson said yes...until I noticed the wheels...I told him it wasn't but he insisted...lol.

also I referred to looking at the 2004s and he asked something like "you didnt want a white 2004??"

and of course the guys who in general are just spouting off stats like they understand them until you really question their knowledge.

I did have one "younger" salesperson at Mazda of Brandon Fl this weekend who seemed to be an enthusiast and knew a good bit. Made it a lot easier to deal with.

 

the salesmen told me when the traction function is kicked in the front wheels compensates for the spinning of the rear wheels by providing traction. Oh yeah? Hmmm. please show me this 4WD feature then.

He said with this function on, performance suffers greatly and therefore is the reason it takes off slowly! During test drive I commented that the car does not have good pick up and sometimes I felt a hesitation. He said the autos were for girls and with the traction option on the car behaves really slow. He said there was a significant difference in performance from the auto to standard with the auto being the worst of the Mazda's.

Nice sales job there. Because my wife refuses to learn I got the auto but I don't think there's a big difference in performance. Torque changes with the auto compensates some of the hp loss. My guess but could be incorrect.

Salesmen are just that. Try to make a sale and confuse and misinform the public in the process.

 

Well not of all Mazdas

Ummm.... no comment.

 

Service rep told me they over fill the oil on purpose because the rotary engine uses oil and I wouldn't need to add any oil between changes since they filled it up good. OMG!!!! IDIOTS!!!

 

I would have asked if I could trade in my wife. :p

 

1.) There is no PCM flashes. I show them bulliton they tell me it was for a MPV van. The next week they misteriously found a flash.

2.) My spark plugs are gas soaked and causing them to misfire.

3.) There is no brake in period just romp the B***

4.) I have to pay for the recall work.

5.) After 30k if you dont have us change blah blahh blahh the car will fall apart and show check engin codes that you have to pay for diganostics on.

6.) You can not down shift into 2nd at 40mph or the car will shut off.

 

"You may slip a little in the snow."

This was at the features demo as I was ready to take it off the lot.
$800 worth of snow tires later, this still rings in my ears.

 

about the break-in, there's debate about long granny driving break-in procedures vs hard driving procedures. I use hard driving break-in and frequent oil changes to promote better sealing, rotarygod has expressed this also. visit www.mototuneusa.com for some info