Topic: Buying a Mazda 3 - my experience

[aa2005]

Since I find that this forum is very helpful, I thought that I would post my own very recent experience with buying a Mazda 3 GS.  

I leased the vehicle.  I got the GS with A/C, Auto, Power Package and Sports Package in Black.  MSRP is 22,090 (including 105 for metallic paint).  Add another 1,370 for Freight, PDI, Air and Gas Tax.  

The following was my experience at the first  Mazda dealership I went to (Erin Mills Mazda in Mississauga).  You can conclude on the quality / trustworthiness of the dealership – I will just present the facts:

My wife and I went together and after standing around for a while got the attention of a salesman.  We asked the salesman for a test drive of the Mazda 3 GS.  After he spent about 15 minutes wandering the parking lot outside he came back and said he didn’t have a GS, but did have a GT we could test drive.  We went out to a car that had a big sign that said SOLD across the front and took that car out for a test drive.  I took the car out on a quite a long drive, including a trek on the highway.  I of course tested the acceleration by going hard on the gas, and braking hard as well.  If anyone purchased a Mazda 3 GT from this dealership then I apologize, as this car may have been sold to you the day before.  

Once we got inside I told the salesman that I was still doing research and was not ready to buy.  I did however, want some information on leasing.  I asked for the following information:
MSRP
Details on all other charges (Freight, PDI, etc.)
Residual (Buyback) value after 48 months and after 60 months
Lease Rate

He did provide the correct MSRP (22,090) and then told me the lease rate was 4.4% for a 60 month lease (the lease rate is actually 3.7%).  He went to his manager for the remaining information and came back with a piece of paper that said the regular monthly payment is $330 plus tax, but today’s sale price was $323 plus tax, plus a $1500 up front payment for Freight, PDI etc.  I told him that I wasn’t interested in the monthly payment and today’s sale, just the information I had requested.  He pushed very very very  hard for me to give him my credit card so that he could try and get me a better price.  I happen to be an accountant, so I knew his numbers were not correct and I told him that I was not ready to buy and to please provide me with the information I wanted.  After a long discussion he finally provided me with a buyback figure of $8,952 for a 60 month lease (this figure was again wrong, the actual amount is $8,692.50).  

I went home and used MS Excel to recalculate the lease payments.  Based on the figures the salesman provided me (MSRP of  22,090 buyback of 8,952, lease rate of 4.4%) the correct payment is 274.20 plus tax.  This $48.80 less than the salesman quoted me.  

Obviously there is no way that I would ever buy anything from this dealership.  I decided that the moment I was given a car to test drive that had been sold to someone else.  

Despite my experience I still really needed a car.  A couple of days later I phoned a different dealership (Mazda of Brampton).  The salesman that answered was new and didn’t seem to know much.  I was put through to a manager who provided to me (in great detail) all of the information I was looking for.  He even calculated the monthly payment with me over the phone and I was able to recalculate the payment using the information he gave me.  I went to the dealership and dealt with the manager directly.  We very quickly negotiated a deal (took about 5 minutes) – I got a discount of $750 off the price of the car.  I took my laptop with me so that I could recalculate the payments he was getting.  

It’s possible I suppose that  I could have saved another 150-200 dollars if I shopped the price around at other Mazda dealerships but the guy I worked with was so great to deal with that there was no way I was going anywhere else.  

Hopefully this will be helpful to someone considering buying a Mazda 3.  I would strongly recommend phoning around until you find someone who you find easy to deal with.

[hondasalesguy]

can't believe the 1st guy took you for a drive in a SOLD car... what if you had an accident or the buyer showed up to do paperwork and his car was out for a spin? that was unprofessional and stupid of that guy.

[Shnak]

Mazda's dealership here in Hull actually use brand new vehicles as test drive models... one salesguy told me that they use new vehicles as test drive vehicles until they reach 100km and then they don't use them as test units anymore. He told me that's how they work because they don't lose money on test vehicles, and that this way, the customers get to drive the exact same model that they might end up buying, same color and everything.

But how fun is it do buy a NEW vehicle only to have 100km of hard accelerating and hard braking on it?

The ones I tried at that Mazda dealership didn't have a "SOLD" sign on them though... That's just terrible!

[aa2005]

I learned that you really have to be careful.  I also went to the Honda dealership in Erin Mills, and the monthly payment the salesman provided me was wrong by $10.  I don't understand why they fool around with the monthly payments that way.  I guess they assume most people won't/can't recalculate the numbers.

[wing]

I'm really interested in the lease details.  So they gave you all the numbers, yet they didn't even jive.  IE: Using their interest rate and buyout and MSRP and fees, SOMEHOW it would cost you another $50 a month.  Interesting!  Makes you wonder how many people get screwed this way.

Here's all the numbers, trust us it works.

What did you end up paying per month?  If you don't mind me asking.

[weebl]

But how fun is it do buy a NEW vehicle only to have 100km of hard accelerating and hard braking on it?

That apparently seems to be the way of every dealership I've visited out here in the past 10 years or so.  They take a new vehicle off the lot, slap a demo plate on it, take you for a spin, then back it goes onto the lot.  Eventually sold as "new."  The same thing happened at every other make/dealership I went to while shopping, as well as in the past when trying to decide whether or not I wanted to take the plunge and get new wheels, so it definitely wasn't specific to that dealership.

When I bought my Protege, I took one final spin before signing the paperwork (first spin at this particular dealership).  I was handed the keys to a shiny new silver Protege to take around, and it was exactly the unit I would have ended up with.

Coming back on the lot, it now had about 35km on the clock, (around 30km when I started), but during the drive, I got to thinking, with that reading, it's possible it got tested by another potential buyer or two.  I was also beginning to have second thoughts on my colour choice, after having seen some really sharp looking green ones on the lot (though not to the specs that I was looking for).

So I went in to do the paperwork, but asked for green instead.  A search on the system showed one unit sitting at the port, just recently offloaded.  I specified that one (right down to the specific VIN).  About a week later, it arrived.  Only 7km on the clock, still wrapped in the white plastic from the factory.  Just enough kms for it to be driven off the assembly line, to do a quick test, and driven onto/off the boat and carrier trucks I figured.

But I sure haven't ever been taken out for a test drive in a "sold" vehicle!

[aa2005]

Jamesbe:  Yes they gave me all the details and using their numbers the numbers didn't work.  I know that my excel model is correct because it always gets the same results as the build and price section of the Honda and Mazda websites (to the penny).

I ended up rolling all costs into the lease.  The only thing I paid was the registration with the back ($42) and the cost for the plates.  I negotiated a monthly payment of $282.61 plus tax  ($325).  Not a huge discount but probably about the best I'll get given the popularity of the car.

[hondasalesguy]

It would be pretty tough for a dealership to have every single model they sell, in all transmission and engine choices, plated as a "demo". Since dealership staff usually accompanies customers on the test drive, hopefully people respect a vehicle that IS NOT THEIRS and don't try to do anything foolish. You can check out the handling and acceleration without abusing a car. On a couple occasions I have reminded people that the vehicle they were driving is not theirs, for instance if it wasn't even warmed up and they tried to redline it in 2nd gear before shifting it...

Whenever possible dealerships do take customers out in demo cars, but sometimes the only one available that is exactly what a customer wants, is the brand new one in the front line. People generally don't object to there being a few kms on the clock, as long as it doesn't exceed 100 or so. That is the price they pay for wanting to try something before they buy.

I have bought brand new motorcycles over the years and they generally do NOT let you test pilot them before hand, unless the manufacturer has a travelling caravan going through town once a year for demo days...

[Railton]

A2005,
Thanks for the post. I went to same Erin Mills Mazda myself last year when shopping for an RX-8.
I waited around in the dealership for 1/2 hour on a Saturday for somebody to help me. Once I got the attention of a salesman and told him that I wanted to take an RX-8 for a test drive and he told me to make an appointment for next week. I said to him that I wanted to try fitting in a child's seat to the back seat and take a test drive today and he finally got the keys to some Mgr's RX-8 and off we went in that. The $ discussion did not go well so I left. The next week I went to Ontario Mazda and did business with them. Again, the Mrg's demo was the test drive vehicle. I actually never test drove my car as it still had all the protective plastic covers on the outside/inside of it. The sold sign placed on the windshield was pretty unique as well with my own, my Wife's and my Daughters names on it. They even gave me a bottle of Champagne when I picked it up. BTW, I purchased it on an X Plan that Erin Mills would not honor and Ontario did.
Railton

[quadzilla]

I would be extremely p'd if my SOLD car was taken for a test drive by somebody else, no matter how they drove it.  Just for that I would not have purchased from that dealer.  Who knows what they will do to your car.

Dealing with a salesperson/manager that gives you the correct number straight away makes the sale so much easier.  When we got the 6-wgn, three of the four dealers we went to lost the sale just on that alone (#2 reason was lack of product knowledge).  I still don't understand why it took 10 minutes for one salesman to come back with higher than msrp + extra fees on top of that. No thanks.

Another thing I noticed is how many dealers don't have email. The dealer we ended up getting our car from had email and we did everything through it, so simple.

OH ya, congrats on your new 3.  Enjoy!

[weebl]

I realize it's not possible to have every variation of a car plated as a demo, but it's good enough for me to road test the particular drivetrain combo no matter what the other options are, and I can just sit in a parked model of the one I like to try out the gizmos.  In fact, I was often taken for a test drive in a different trim level of the car I wanted, but with the same drivetrain.

[barrie1]

Thats a very big no-no in the dealers lots to let someone else drive a Sold vehicle. I have had cars brought in from another dealer with the appropriate milage on them. One car was brought from Sarnia to London and had around 70 miles on it at the time. This I understand but no-body was allowed to drive it until we were able to see the car. The car sat for almost 2 days before we could see it and had had a lot of folks looking at it. They could have sold it about 6 times but waited for us.

[sirAQUAMAN64]

I wouldn't buy anything from the Erin Mills Auto Centre.

Erin Park was the absolute worst Lexus dealer in Canada. We fielded so many complaints and they weren't compliant with our standards - they weren't interested in providing satisfaction at all. Even tried to terminate the contract but couldn't quite do it. Since the time of all that there's new management for that place (thank goodness).

I haven't been to all the dealers, but if Mazda shopping in the GTA I'd visit Westowne in Etobicoke, Avante in the north, and Ajax Mazda (Greg) in the east. I don't have experience with Ontario or Brampton.

[johngenx]

Holy CRAP Commissioner Gordon, light the Bat Signal.  We've got word of an ATTEMPTED RAPE in progress.

Plug in the residual of $8962.50, the lease rate of 3.7%, the term of 60 months, and the "sale" payment of $323, we calculate a price for the car of: (wait for it...)



$25,119.

YOWZA!

That breaks down like this...

$22,090 MSRP
$1370 PDI, etc.
$1659 ATTEMPTED BONING FEE

[wing]

I don't have my exact numbers from when I went to get a quote on an echo....

But put it this way, the salesman gave me MSRP + my options all MSRP.  The price was say $12k then he goes to his manager and comes back with a price.  Now it's $18k all in.... I'm like ummmm that's WAY more than before.  They seem to think that's normal, there is tax you know.  Yeah but not 6k in TAX!  Sheesh  I'm not an idiot.

[Sterling]

Isn't full disclosure required for lease and purchase documents in Ontario? I know that in B.C. and Alberta all the pertinent info must be disclosed on all contracts so there is no way to pretend a lease is based on 17000 when it is really calculated on 21000.

[ghost]

first off congrats. I'm just puzzled at how you end up paying that much considering mazda is running ads for the Mazda3 with 90days no payments, no PDI, no deposit and something like 2.9% for 36 mth. Recently in mississauga news, i saw an add for 0% financing/leasing!  
BTW, my friend's friend owns mazda of brampton(and honda) and he normally offers invoice + tax out the door on the cars sold. Wish you posted this as i could've got you that deal.

[bmorton]

I call it the leasing brainwash, where they think that if they just come back with payment numbers often enough you'll forget that there's a residual, interest rate and actual price of the car involved in calculating those payments. Maybe it works on the average person. In my case I also always take that info and plug it into a calculator to see if the payment they're quoting me is accurate.

The Mazda dealer here in London is the only dealer I've dealt with in the last ten years that actually had a greasy sales manager sit me down and spend 20 minutes trying to sell me $400 rustproofing and extended warranty for a three-year lease. Yes, I'd really like to pay for features that will only be used by its next owner.

[aa2005]

Ghost:
0% purchase financing is available for 48 months.  No payments for 90 days also available on purchase financing.  There is no option for 0% lease financing.  No security deposit is correct.  I didn't see any ads for no PDI.
2 colleagues at work and 2 other friends have recently bought Mazda 3s.  Depending on trim they were able to negotiate 700-900 off the price.

[aa2005]

sorry - that's 0% purchase financing for 24 months not 48 months.