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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Mazda5 Prices Paid and Buying Experience
617 messages, Last post on Jul 01, 2008 at 7:49 PM
You are in the Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Forum. Your Hosts are car_man & kyfdx
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Replying to: burtlancaster (Nov 19, 2006 9:00 pm) Probably #1 is that I really want a stick shift vehicle which can seat 5 in reasonable comfort and gets good mileage and is fun to drive. #2 is that I am 6'4" tall and want to be comfortable. I would have to move the seat of a Mazda 5 back at least 2" to be comfortable over the long term. I can do this, but then I negatively impact the seat behind the driver making that seat less useful. Also, I question just how useful the third seat is in the Mazda 5. My wife has a Pacifica with the three rows of seats and the third seat is really only good for small kids and I think the Pacifica has more room there than the Mazda. Right now I am driving a 1999 Intrepid ES with the 3.2L engine and autostick purchased new. This car has 225HP and is fast (0-60 about 2 sec faster than the Mazda 5) and fun to drive. It gets 22-24 mpg in town and 28-30 mpg on the highway on regular. It is in great shape with less than 80K, but is getting old. Also, even though it is a big car, I do not like having three people (even with one 4 year old) in the back seat. This is what has steered me away from other "sedans" with manual transmissions. I question how much better the Mazda 5 will be than my Intrepid. My 14 year old son said that the seats in the Mazda 5 were narrower and it felt more cramped which I agree with. As a final comment, I priced some of the tires for the Mazda 5 on-line today. WOW!!! I see no need for 17" wheels on this vehicle and if I purchased one would certainly want change to 16" or preferably 15" wheels. I much prefer the ride, noise, durability and price of 60-65 series tires. The Mazda 3 comes with 15" and 16" wheels. Does anyone know if these will fit on the Mazda 5? When I test drove the 2006 Touring Mazda 5 the dealer commented when I was on the Highway (I90 in Post Falls, ID) that this was a "rough" part of the road, I guess to explain the excessive road noise from the tires. I drove the same section of road in my Intrepid which has snow tires on right now and was thinking how quiet the road was. If the Mazda 5 was just a little bigger and came with 15" or 16" wheels I probably would have purchased one. I may yet, but I am still looking. I hate to buy a new vehicle that is not exactly what I want. Still life is full of compromises.
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This forum is far less active than I had hoped. Bummer. Right now, I have access to a new 06 Sport with PEP for $16400 (including the MAC rebate) or a slightly used (under 2000 miles) 06 Sport with PEP and sunroof, at $15800. I'm trying to figure out which way I want to go, but I'm still not sold on the Mazda5. My biggest concern is depreciation, especially with a stick. In 4 years, this car will have almost no value, which has to factor into your buying decision.
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Replying to: danix (Nov 22, 2006 8:57 am) Depreciation is a fact of life with cars. You will get less depreciation with a Honda or Toyota, but they still depreciate and you pay more up front. If you really are worried about depreciation, I believe the best advice is to buy a 2-3 year old domestic vehicle and drive it "until the wheels fall off". If you do go the Honda or Toyota route, don't forget the additional tax and financing you have to pay on the higher price which you do not get back when you sell the vehicle. I purchased a new Honda Odyssey last year. The tax rate here is over 9% so right away the vehicle had depreciated over $3000 the second I signed the papers. If I had purchased a Dodge for about half the price, the tax depreciation would have been 1/2. As for the Mazda 5s, if you really want the sun roof get it. Otherwise get the new vehicle. |
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Replying to: fred222 (Nov 21, 2006 9:02 pm) |
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Thought I had a deal on one in Hayward, but the car was sold when I got there. So, yesterday I flew to Long Beach, and picked up an 06 Touring in Gray, with rear bumper step, wheel locks for $17990-$1000 MAC = $16990. This was at Browning Mazda. They still have the identical car in silver. Funny thing is, I had negotiated the price at invoice (allegedly $17500) over the phone, and when I got there, the car had the lower price in big numbers on the windshield  One major dislike - they install an aftermarket alarm on EVERY car, and if you don't want it, they remove it (after much selling pressure of course). This leaves two holes in the lower dash, which they fill with two screws. I intend to contact Mazda about this. Also, I called MAC to ask if there were any prepayment or early termination penaties on the loan, and they said no. The salesman at the dealer said you have to keep the loan for 3 months. Who's right?
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One major dislike - they install an aftermarket alarm on EVERY car, and if you don't want it, they remove it (after much selling pressure of course). This leaves two holes in the lower dash, which they fill with two screws. I intend to contact Mazda about this. I take it from this that the car does not come with an alarm system standard. Anybody out there want to weigh in on whether or not you had an alarm installed? And if so, how? At the dealer, before you took the car? At a separate place? Do-It-Yourself? I'm considering buying a Mazda5, and am wondering whether it might be smart for me to get an alarm system. I also don't know if installing one myself or having anyone other than the dealer install it would void some warranty. Could use some input on the tinting, too. The other advantage to having it installed by the dealer before I drive the car off the lot is that if anything gets terribly messed up, I can refuse to take the car. Any thoughts?
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Replying to: danix (Nov 26, 2006 10:11 am) I would be very frustrated about the alarm holes, too. Especially since I'm sure they did not mention that to you until after you flew all the way there to get it. Definitely mention it to the manufacturer. But I don't know if it'll really do anything. |
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Replying to: yad5 (Nov 26, 2006 11:28 pm) My experience with tinting. Usually the dealer just sends it off to a local place to get it tinted - you can just go directly to this tinter (this is what we did). From my research on the web, there are many brands of tints with various qualities of tints. In general There are 3 main types of tints, dyed, metallic, and ceramic. Dyed are the cheapest, but can fade, metallic are durable, but can block cellphones, etc. Ceramic are durable, but are expensive. Colors differ between brands & type of film. I bought 3m color stable - which is a dyed film with a warranty against fading. I had to pay extra for the nationwide warranty, but this means I can go to any 3m dealer. Application depends on the skill of the applier - needs experience. Ask to look at their work. Rear window should be applied in 1 piece. If you look at your windows, there are a bunch of black dots around the edge of the window - I believe that this is called the frit. The tinting will not stick to the frit. Unless special things are done - this will create a whitish area over the frit. I understand that some tinters paint/sand/tape these areas. However, this whitish area didn't bother me and the tinter we used didn't do anything special to the frit for any of their cars. David |
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Just got a new pearl white 2007 Mazda5 GT; only option was the homelink mirror. Paid $19,938 + $489 "consumer services fee" + TTL for an OTD price of $21,877. Great service from Sutherlin Mazda in Buford, GA. Hope someone finds it helpful when getting their 5! |
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