Need Advise

[Sphincter]

Hey everyone, I've been lurking the forums for a few months now and I'm seriously considering buying a Mazdaspeed3. I'm going to go to a local Mazda dealership on monday for a test drive, and I'm expecting a salesman to go ahead and try to sell me the car right away. I'd love to buy one, but here's my dilemma.

I currently own (all payed off) a '03 Ford Focus ZX5, which I'm totally willing to trade it in. I also own a '06 Kawasaki ZX-6R 636 which I would love to get rid of. The problem is I owe roughly about $8.5K on it, and the resale value is only about $7K-6.5K. My friend suggested I try to trade in the bike as well, which I didn't know you could do, be he says you can. I'm afraid they'll try to butt **** me on a trade in and end up transferring negative equity onto a new loan, which is something I'd really hate to do. This is where the numbers game come in. Let's say they give me $3.5K on my focus trade-in, and like $5K on a bike trade in (if it's even possible), that means my car will pretty much cancel out the bike loan and I'll be left with no down payment.

Should I be patient and try to sell my bike first so I only lose about $2K on it, and cover it out of pocket? That way I'll have my focus as a little down payment on a new MS3.

I hope all this made sense, and I really appreciate all the response and advise I can get. Looking forward to becoming a proud MS3 owner and joining the community.
-Stan

 

[coyfish]

You could wait for the new beefier 2010 msp3 .

 

[CosmoMS3]

To trade in or not to trade in

This is what I would do: sell the Focus and the bike to a private party. Use Craigslist or Ebay or newspapers. Than get an pre-approved loan from a credit union or online from a bank like Capital One.

I would tell the dealer that I have already a check for the new car and tell him the real interest rate you got minus 2% and let him try to beat that (offer you a lower rate).

The dealer will try to screw you in any possible way. The only way you can minimize your losses is to reduce the ways he can make money off of you.

Of course, there is the possibility that you do not want to deal with the hassle of selling the car and bike yourself. Then you walk in, do the trade in deal and drive the Mazdaspeed3 the same day. You will pay about 1500-2000 more for the convenience though.

 

[mattj3636]

You could wait for the new beefier 2010 msp3 .

have you read the articles?

there adding power, and taking away the only thing that helped this FWD with the power. haha its gonna be terrible to drive, unless they pul LSD back in.

 

[essejkcamraw]

i traded in my 06 MZ3 and still owed roughly 13k on it still ( i had it a year ) they paid off my car. and no down payment. the whole deal went really well....wont hurt to try.

 

[Sphincter]

You could wait for the new beefier 2010 msp3 .

I've been keeping up with the rumors of the 2010 MS3. At first I really liked the dual exhaust and the wrx looking hood scoop, and was considering to wait. But once I saw the rendering of it, it made me change my mind, to me it looks like a nissan versa on steroids. Plus I read somewhere that it could be a 2011 release.

I've had my mind set for a few months now on a sunlight silver MS3 GT, and I can hardly wait to pick one up. To make things worse my buddy just picked up a 2008 Cobalt SS turbo last week, and he can't shut up about how he thinks that it'll beat MS3. He let me drive the SS and it is fairly quick, and to make things even worse I think I got addicted to boost.

 

[Sphincter]

Another salesman told my friend that right now since it's the end of the year the dealer is more then likely to drop down from their posted price, but once it's a new year that they won't even consider doing it. That's why I think it's the best time to buy. Is that true though or no?

 

[340CID]

You could always wait for the newer, improved model to come out which means you'd never buy the car. Just like buying a computer.... you could wait another 3 months for the Pentium Triple Core to come out but then 6 months later the Pentium Quad Core will be launched.

I'd get sell the Focus and bike privately to maximize the money you would see from both. Going into the dealer to unload them is the simple (but not financially sound) solution which is one of the reasons why people live well beyond their means.

 

[C.A.T.A.P]

if you play hard ball with the dealer then you should be able to get a good deal. And why not try to get them to give you a good deal what do you have to loss. You can always so no to them and then sell your car and bike online. But good luck with everything and i wish you the best! Plus you can get an 08 speed3 for 23k gt here. So they are cheaper now then the 09s

 

[C.A.T.A.P]

I've been keeping up with the rumors of the 2010 MS3. At first I really liked the dual exhaust and the wrx looking hood scoop, and was considering to wait. But once I saw the rendering of it, it made me change my mind, to me it looks like a nissan versa on steroids. Plus I read somewhere that it could be a 2011 release.

I've had my mind set for a few months now on a sunlight silver MS3 GT, and I can hardly wait to pick one up. To make things worse my buddy just picked up a 2008 Cobalt SS turbo last week, and he can't shut up about how he thinks that it'll beat MS3. He let me drive the SS and it is fairly quick, and to make things even worse I think I got addicted to boost.

I know what you mean when you say you are addicted to boost. Cuz i am 2 and i found it out when my friend burned out my clutch and now it slips in boost.

 

[Sphincter]

Well today I finally went out to a dealership for a test drive. I gotta say, I FCUKING LOVE IT!!! Tomorrow I'm going back to talk more numbers game. Today these are the numbers they gave me, $3300 down (my ford focus, which sucks that's all I got) $408 a month, 9.99%, 72 months. What I was really guesstimating the $400 monthly payment, that's where I was 'ballparking', but what really kills me is that I got 9.99% financing. It's total BS cause two years ago when I was buying my Kawi my beacon score was 754, since then I haven't ****** up my credit in any way. So with at least 750 beacon score 9.99% financing kinda hurts. So I said no, and walked. I'm expecting they will call me tomorrow with better numbers. Is $400 a month for 60 months sound reasonable for a 2008.5 GT (no navi)?

Thanks for all the help, hopefully I'll be a proud MS3 owner in just a few days.

 

[BillTheCat]

Dude... with my 720 Beacon score, I financed at 6.3% for 72 months 6 weeks ago. 9.99% is a joke. My payments are slightly over $400, but only because I didn't put any money down.. (I am saving my liquid cash to put down on a house)

Here's the deal... look at the sticker on the car you want. Decide what you want in trade for your Focus and/or bike, either as a package deal or separately. Deduct that amount from the sticker to find out what you'd finance if you don't haggle the price down.

Then decide if you want gap insurance, extended warranty, tire warranty, prepaid maintenance, etc.--- the "options" that aren't on the sticker. Gap should run you $500-800, and I got a bumper to bumper 7/100 warranty for $1,100 from my dealer. Add that to your amount financed. Then deduct whatever amount you feel you can/should haggle them down.

Enter that amount into any finance calculator- every bank web site has one. Figure on 6 to 6.5% interest because money is CHEAP right now. Anyone quoting you over 7% better be giving you a reacharound. If the dealer says they can't do 6% with your 750+ Beacon score, frankly, I would get my own financing & go back with a blank check from the bank.

Then be strong with the dealer. I swear to gawd in heaven, if you don't ask for your keys back & walk to the parking lot at least once with most dealers, you're not getting a good deal. It works even better if you act like you're almost there & then you change your mind, because it's like leaving them with blueballs.

 

[Kain]

Both of you guys are being robbed. Interest rates are stupid low. If you qualify, this is the time to lock in a fixed rate loan. Granted, my score is in the upper 700s and my D/I ratio is really low, so my car note is 4.99% for 60 months.

 

[SwampAss]

Yeah, I'm paying 4.74% @ 60 months. This was when interest rates were higher. I'm high 700s but have a relatively high D to I ratio.

 

[ms6acton]

wow, when i got my speed3 last year my interest rate was 1.9% thru the dealership.. but i do live up in canada, so we pay more atxes and higher prices on cars

 

[SwampAss]

I was going to make a joke about the canadian dollar but will probably have to wait 3-4 years for it to be funny.

 

[mdavis]

I also own a '06 Kawasaki ZX-6R 636 which I would love to get rid of. The problem is I owe roughly about $8.5K on it, and the resale value is only about $7K-6.5K.

not to be a d*ck but how did you manage to only pay about $1k in principal in two or three years??! those things retail around 9800 for an 09.

 

[ms6acton]

oh making fun of the dollar is still funny right now, ours is worth about .80$ of yours.. stupid canada lol free health care worth it?? id rather have cheaper cars lol

 

[Sphincter]

not to be a d*ck but how did you manage to only pay about $1k in principal in two or three years??! those things retail around 9800 for an 09.

When I was buying my Kawi the bike itself was roughly $9K. Then I went ahead and added prepaid maintenance, road side service, tire service, gap. By the time I got the key to the bike I was financing $12K. I did all that cause maintenance on high performance bikes gets pretty expensive, $450 for service, $120 oil change every 1500 miles. So I duno, it seemed like it was a right thing to do at that time. I still love my bike, I just want to get it off my hands. I had way to many close calls, and knew a guy who lived in my neighborhood always wanted to go riding with me, once I moved out a month later some dumbass made a left hand turn if front of him, he left a wife and two kids behind. Bikes are fcuking fun as s***, it's just once you have too many close calls you don't know if it's worth it or not.

 

[rmgedon69]

i'm pretty sure there's more than 2 mazda dealership in orlando area. have you visited all of them? do your homework, shop around and compare. don't get caught up with all the excitement of driving one out of the dealership. a few weeks of patience is better than 72 months of misery.