belteshazzar wrote: fun tip: negotiate on the warranty to an acceptable price. then seal the deal by offering to take it if they sell you the loan for the buy rate. if you didn't want the warranty to begin with, you can cancel it anytime for a relatively small fee later on.
I don't understand this but it sounds as if it is worth knowing. Can you explain it to me?
The finance representative makes his living selling you things. Two typical things they sell are the loan itself, and some extended warranty. Everything's negotiable.
Negotiate the cost of the warranty as much as you can, then offer to sign on the dotted line if they'll sell you the loan for the "buy rate" (the cost of the loan to the dealership) instead of marking it up. The employee will then chose to not make anything on the loan in exchange for earning a commission on the extended service.
You wind up getting the loan for the lowest possible rate. Whether or not you decide to cancel the warranty two days later is up to you.
This is assuming you don't come in with bank financing?
obviously.
keep this in mind though, if the dealership knows that they're not going to make any back end profit, they probably aren't going to lower the selling price of the car as much. I mean to say that it pays to let them think the F&I department is going to make some money.
anywho...
i was just floored that this engine is supposedly managing well over 120% VE. is that not amazing?
Keep us posted on if your mileage improves with age. I've heard that some owners of the SkyActive Mazda 3's are hitting 50mpg or so. I can't remember where I heard that though. Nice purchase btw; Mazdas are awesome.
-Hamid
belteshazzar wrote:went with some Konig's, Hankook V12's, and a light tint.
Nothing to add to this thread other than this is a great looking vehicle!!!!
Update. Possible wrap up...
So after 3 and a half years I decided to sell this car. We didn't drive it a lot, only 35k miles. The resale value was better than I could have dreamed. It still had a retail book value on KBB and NADA of ~$16,000. Not bad considering the MSRP was only 23,900 to begin with. I still had over two years of that extended warranty left, so I advertised that I would pay to transfer it to the new owner and asked $15k. It wasn't for sale long before my sister in law decided she wanted it. She just kind of showed up with a check and paid my asking price.
In the end it was averaging 32mpg twiddling around town taking my wife to work and back 4 miles a day. Never used even one drop of oil. Never had a warning light. Never went to the dealer for anything. I just changed the oil, filters, and added gas. Tough to complain about that. The only unexpected thing was that it would wear the rear tires down faster than the front, though not by a lot.
I saw this thread pop up and immediately thought "did I post in there back in 2012?"... YUP. 
Still have mine, too and it just hit 106k. I took it to the dealer once. I was going to get an oil change, and after they quoted me $50+ (with a coupon, no less!!!), I went to the parts counter and got an oil filter, went to Wally World for oil, and saved myself $30.
Mine has only had two problems ever: The driver's seat broke (very common problem, fixed in less than an hour with a tack weld and a couple washers) and the motor mounts got clunky (car needs the transmission and rear mounts done, again, very common). It has also consumed no oil or needed any warranty repairs. I've averaged around 27mpg lifetime. The tire wear thing is also something that happens to mine, but opposite of what you are dealing with. My inside edges always wear fast up front. My tire guy says it's due to the factory settings of the suspension and that they all do it. If you rotate religiously, it helps.
I can easily say that this is the best, most reliable car I have ever owned.
We loved the first-year low-content Mazda3 we had years back. Kept until 130k with basically no issues. These are just very good all-around cars, especially in 2.0 form.
Glad to hear it worked out as well for y'all as it did us! So what's next?
I freshened up a 2001 ML55 AMG that I scored for challenge money, and put the wife in that for awhile. Gas is cheap. It's not depreciating. We'll see how it goes. I alternate between wanting a new car with no drama, and wanting out of a car payment. It's a cycle.
belteshazzar wrote: I freshened up a 2001 ML55 AMG that I scored for challenge money
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