I got my car at Almaden Mazda through the fleet mgr, Kathi Greene and the Costco Car Buying program (you must be
a costco member) $700 over invoice for a automatic ( I think a manuel would be even less) with exactly
what I wanted on it, no games either we did the deal over
e-mail so no miss understandings. Car came in on a Wednesday
I took delevery that Saturday w/ 4 miles on the car. Very happy!

 

No luck at all.

First, Almaden. As I said earlier, they claimed to have a Sport/Nav in stock. I set up an appointment to look at it. What I didn't mention was that, when he told me it was Sport/Nav, he first said it was Touring/Nav. After I told him I only wanted a Sport, he corrected himself and said it was a Sport/Nav.

I got there today and guess what. No Sport/Nav. The red one was a Touring/Nav. Damn lying salespeople.

I drove over to Oak Tree to see if they still had the silver Sport in stock. They didn't. The only Sport they had was an Auto. All the other cars were GT.

Looks like another Honda for me. I guess it is appropriate. Every time in my adult life that I started a new full-time job, I bought a Honda Accord shortly afterward. Looks like the streak will continue again.

I'll call around again to see if I can find the right RX8, but if I don't, I'll be driving an Accord V6 (or similar car) by this time next week.

 

Did you call Bill Lang in Vallejo? They have a sh#t load of 8s.

 

Check out Wood Mazda in Santa Rosa as well per their last ad they had 8 in stock.

Dont give up!!

 

I just bought a silver 6-speed with sport package from Mazda of Oakland for $400 under invoice. The nice thing is that the car has only 6 miles on it =)

You absolutely do not want that silver car in Putnam. I went there yesterday to take a look. It has over 270 miles!!!! Scratches everywhere, rattles from the rear window, and the check engine light came on when i was test driving it.

 

Congrats. I was eyeing the same exact car (well, over the phone), but chose to search for other colors instead.

The more I look at the Accord V6, the more ambivalent I get.

Pros of the Accord v. RX8:
* More room
* better gas mileage
* probably quicker in daily driving (e.g., the 5-60 time that Car & Driver does)
* cheaper (the top of the line, fully loaded Accord V6 is cheaper than a Sport RX8.)

Cons:
* The reason I was looking at the RX8 in the first place was that my 94 Accord and 00 Accord, while very good cars, bored me to tears. The V6 will probably do the same.
* Terrible skid pad numbers
* Terrible braking

I need a car in one week. So I will just do one more round of the dealers again to see what's there.

The practical part of me says the Accord V6 is more than adequate. The non-practical part of me says that I've been practical for too much of my life--I've been a car buff since the 3rd grade and it's high time I get a car for a car buff instead of an Accord.

 

I looked at the Accord V6 before buying the Rx-8. I was looking for things the accord couldn't offer, besides it's kind of a boring looking car, I didn't even bother to drive it. I'm sure it's a good reliable car but as you said, being practical your whole life... maybe it is time to take a chance....

 

We bought a Nordic Green Mica from Almaden last month. The sales staff was okay, but the dealership is a bit of a drive from Union City. We dropped the car off at Magnussen to have a tire replaced. There was a salesman there - they call him G.I. Joe. Really nice guy. We just wanted to check out the spare tire in the RX8 and he took the time to show us and answer our questions. I would have bought the car from him if we had crossed paths earlier. Give him a call.

 

Called back Menlo Mazda. They have a tit. gray Sport in stock. While not my first choice in color, looking at pictures in these forums makes me realize that it still looks pretty damn good in gray. Hopefully everything will work out.

 

Thanks and Good luck. I have heard a lot of bad things about Menlo Park but hope u find a good deal. You should also go to Mazda of Oakland and take a look. They have over 15 RX-8s sitting in the lot when I went there yesterday to buy the car..and most of them are still under 10 miles. So hopefully they could cut you a deal like they did to me ($400 under invoice....$900 under invoice if you can use the graduation rebate).

 

I had a good experience with the guys at Oakland Mazda. I have experience dealing with George, Dave (Manager), and Tony (Assistant Manager), and I can tell you they are all really nice, and knowledgeable. If they don't have the car you want there, they will find it quick, so I would recommend giving them a try.

 

gusmahler - if you've decided on the titanium grey at Menlo, congratulations! I think that's a great color for the RX-8. If you still want something that's not available on any of the local dealers' lots, there's probably time to get a dealer to trade for one before the 14th (may be cutting it fine, but I'm guessing a couple of days here and there won't be too much of a problem). I was quite set on the exact car I wanted (funnily enough - red sport without appearance package or spoiler ) - Oak Tree traded with a dealership in Chico! I put down a deposit on Sunday and the car was here on Wednesday. You'll probably be ok if you tie the deposit to a VIN, a delivery date and a max mileage.

wokuku - congratulations! Sorry I couldn't get back to you in time, but you found exactly what you wanted anyway.

CR

 

Finally ended up getting a red Sport/Nav from Menlo for $100 over invoice. They had the Tit gray Sport, but I thought the Nav would be cool. Plus I like red better.

 

Great!!!! Glad you got it and you'll like the NAV, it is useful and cool too.... :D

 

Cool =) Have fun with it

 

Just a follow-up. I was digging into my glovebox yesterday looking for the screws to my license plate frame (I got my plates yesterday -- I didn't have enough screws, but that's another story), and found a sticker about my car having $3,995 in "dealer markup". Now, I paid right down around MSRP, and was a little steamed about that... But seeing this, it clicked -- I already have the aluminum bezels around the air vents, and I have locking lugnuts, neither of which come standard with the Touring package, right? I'm not sure if there's anything else I have that I don't realize (maybe I should toss a CD-ROM into my player and see if I have an MP3 player after all!), but it made me feel a little better about what I ended up paying.

...Paul

 

MSRP is somewhat higher than Inovice price. Did you buy at Menlo? I remember they were going to start the negotiations REALLY high when they talked about selling me a car.... glad I went to putnam with the at inovice pricing. I got the locking nuts free and those bezels I believe are part of the package, it's only on the lowest model where they aren't standard (I think). Sounds like they ripped you off a bit if you paid MSRP and not a little over invoice... unless of course you bought your car back when they first came out.