First off I would like to introduce myself. My names Eddie im a 20 yr. old student at Purdue majoring in Eletrical Engineering: Power Systems, and looking to buy an "8" after May 21st.

I was in a perdicament between the 350z or an 8. As you have noticed I made the decision to go the route of an 8 mainly because the 8 is more practical and insurance is ungodly high on the Z; and I did not want to become part of the young driver epidemic the Z seems to be having. Well enough ramblling and let me get to the point.

I am trying to decide whether to buy a new 8, which would cost me $24,5XX, which is what the dealer stated is 500 below invoice or buy a used 8 with less than 20,000 miles for $16-19k. Now being a student I would have to squeeze expenses if I choose new, but be financally comfortable with a used. If you are someone who has purchased a used 8, what should I look for exactly? I have searched but I would like to know What Would You Do?

Thanks

 

I bought a certified pre-owned and have been really happy with it. $23k for an '05 with 13k on the clock. Just make sure they do all the recalls and service bulletins before you drive it off.

 

If you can find a used one with all the options that you want I'd buy a used one; especially if it's from a dealer. As Rootski pointed out make sure the dealer has done all the recall work before you leave with it.

 

Welcome to the club.

I bought mine used over a year ago and so far so good.

 

welcome

 

Sounds good, thanks guys! I am def. going to buy from a dealership but, it will not be a Mazda dealership due to the fact that I only have 1 dealership located within a 50 mile radius and they don't sell used 8s. Sad thing is that they only have one 8 in stock most of the time.

 

If its still under warranty, it car faxes clean, and on close inspection hasn't been hit, you can't go too wrong. Even if all the TSB's haven't been covered, it its still under bumper to bumper, the dealer should take care of it.

Mine had no warranty service performed by the previous owner. 2 days at the dealer took care of that, and its wonderful now.

An 04 MT with under 20k can be hand around 16k and many still have more than a year left under warranty. Tough to beat for the money as Z's tend to go for alot more used, as do the venerable EVO's and STI's.

 

Thanks a lot man, I will be doing carfaxes on the ones I have a keen interest in but I got to tell ya, I test drove 2 z's and 1 Evo great cars IMO. But once I got behind the wheel of an 8 and took it to some twisties it was....

 

I had an evo for 2 years, and love the Z as well. They all have merits, but when I needed to buy a new car (after my C230 met an unfortunate end at the hands of shezilla behid the wheel of a chevy prisim) the RX8 was a no brainer as the price was so much lower. I would have cost me almost 10 grand more to buy a nice evo (and I didn't want one after owning one already), sti or Z with similar mileage.

Also, the insurance is stupid cheap for the 8, I'm paying $100.00 a month with a nice plan from GMAC.

 

Welcome to the club! I'd buy used if it was a good compromise (i.e mileage, options, price, etc.) 16k to 17k for a used 8 with decent mile gives you a cushion to mod your car the way you want, you know make it more your own. Or you can plan that road trip you been putting off because your car didn't handle like the 8 with by the way is a dream on long trips. Enjoy

 

I forgot to mention, get the cat checked replaced if necessary. If the car seems to slow after it gets some temperature, its probably the cat. Some dealers hassel people about replacing them, if they give you trouble, go to an exhaust place and have them do a pressure test. Bring the results to the dealer.

Keep in mind that even though the car tends to eat up cats, they are warrantied for 100k or 10 years under law. So don't stress about that when factoring in reliability etc while deciding on your purchase.

 

A very well thought out first post and you did your research! No wonder you're at Purdue. It gets a bit tiring to keep rereading the Fast and Furious crowd posts.

The 8 has a pretty severe depreciation rate due to various factors bantered about on here in many posts.

Unless you have your heart set on a new 8, I would highly recommend you get a used one. Most likely you can get a one or two year Touring or GT model and be at the same or less than what you'd spend new.

I picked up my 2005 GT last August 06 with 12K miles on it for $19K. That was probably about as low as I have seen on here. It is a buyer's market. You will find what you are looking for but it may not be right away and be open to color, but make sure there is some warranty left on it.

I know there are 2004 8 owners on here that have had no problems at all, but the most problems and recalls seem to afflict the 04s and that is why I stuck to 05s and higher.

 

I think if you find a nice 04, get a compression test at a mazda dealer for $75.00, and if its okay don't worry about it. The only issue that could really bite you hard is a flukey bad motor to start with. If the car is still under warranty, any other issues can be dealt with. That sad CarAndDriver is correct in saying that the most problematic year was 04 as it was the first year. All in all though, the later cars are the same and just come with the TSBs already performed from new. I sent my used 04 into the dealer for 2 days (after finding a better dealer) to get all the warranty items dealt with. The car is dialed now.

Of course another upside of an 05 is that the warranty is that much longer.

 

Thanks again everyone, I have decided to go the used route, as many of your statements seem to be along the lines of getting the recalls done. Which is not too much of a hassle when considering thousands of dollars. Ill keep my eye out on an 05 but mainly because of the warranty life but, if an 04 happens to cross my eye ill jump on it. Oh and CarAndDriver thanks for the comments, Ive been on other car forums and I know how annoying it can get to see "hey im getting an 8 soon, can it spank an Si in the strights ." Anyways ill keep you guys posted and will definitely put some pictures up once I get my hands on one.

 

Definitely used.
You would be amazed the number of people (even on this forum) who do not research this car before buying it, then after they get it complain about the gas mileage and want to get rid of it. For that reason there are a lot of sales within the first 6mo-1yr of ownership, and those cars are being sold for the sole reason the owner doesn't like it - nothing else wrong with them. Snap one up if you can!

 

I found www.craigslist.org and www.cars.com good for looking. www.ebaymotors.com is good for looking and pics but you have to decide whether eBay is a good route.

Keep us posted.

 

I bought mine, actually from Honda, manual GT. 2004 but only has 9,300km on the clock. All recalls have been done, and I am loving it more & more each day.

 

Definitely don't want to stretch yourself financially, especially at this point in your life. The better start you get financially the more wealth you will be able to accumulate over time, as opposed to debt.

Congrats on deciding on an 8!

 

"going to buy from a dealership but, it will not be a Mazda dealership"

This prlly works in your favor, anyway. The dealer took the 8 in trade and prlly have ZERO interest in it now. Be patient (if you can) and you will likely see that 8 just sitting there for a while.

 

Will do! I have been checking www.cars.com and www.autotrader.com daily to see the average resale price and to make sure the one I have my eye on is still up for sale. I have used eBay before and don't really have an issue with it but with a car I would rather see/buy it in person.

 

I think the real question here is WWJD.

 

I bought mine on ebay no problems (knock on wood.)

 

NOT ALWAYS BUDDY

When I got my car, the dealer overinflated my tires, resulting damage to my valve sten. cost me like 25 bucks to fix it myself.

and they also forgot to give me Manual (I have to go back and ASK, then they was like OHHH)

and they *forgot* to give me my carpet hook.

 

I purchased a Mazda certified pre-owned 04 GT early last year and have been very happy. It had low miles and it was obvious the previous owner took excellent care of it.

 

A certified Pre-Owned Car extendes the powertrain warranty as long as the car is still under the regular warranty. Stick with 05+ if you can. Take time to think over your decision. When you find something, post pics and a description and we can help you out. There is always a lot of push in a used car, so don't be to negoitiate and walk away from a deal to get what you want.