I may be leaving the mazda community. :\

[TXMazdaSpeeder]

Well i went today and looked at an electric blue pearl (dare i say it) 2004 SRT-4. I really like it, im going tommorow with my dad to test drive it and depending on what kind of financing i can get i may be selling the mp3 and getting the srt. It's just better money wise for me right now than anything.

 

[MotegiMazdA]

so you can still stay

 

[TXMazdaSpeeder]

so you can still stay

i'll still stay on the boards i just wont have the mazda anymore. By this time next week i may have a electric blue pearl srt-4 in the driveway

 

[RenzoMSP]

Cool! Ill bet you'll have a lot of fun with your new car.

 

[never Ender]

fine! (sad1)

 

[TXMazdaSpeeder]

fine! (sad1)

its just so i can have a warranty again (and run 14's lol)

 

[mp5jeff]

acctualy the 04s can run 13s with a good driver... =)

 

[TXMazdaSpeeder]

acctualy the 04s can run 13s with a good driver... =)

well i wont call myself a GOOD driver, i can hold my own but there are much better ones out there.

 

[prospeed]

the blue is a real nice color. thats the one i wanted but the dealer wouldn't budge on their $2000 markup.so got my second choice in silver. i traded in my msp for the srt-4 and is the best thing i did. don't get me wrong the msp is nice car just not what i wanted.

 

[luckezero]

It's just better money wise for me right now than anything.

I was curious how that could be ... driving (and paying for) a brand new $21k+ car vs. one that has been paid down these last few years. heh ... I'm probably missing something here. curiousity killed the cat, as they say

they look real nice tho, and I can't think of a better color. and you'll finally have seats that will actually hold you in place while tearing around the corners! (unless, of course, you have aftermarket seats). Congrats, be sure to post some pics!

 

[Matthew]

damn i need to get a new dad then because iirc you were wondering how to take a chick out with 15 bucks last night?

 

[TXMazdaSpeeder]

damn i need to get a new dad then because iirc you were wondering how to take a chick out with 15 bucks last night?

well hes paying m y car insurance and payments as long as i go to school (hey im not going to complain.)

financially let me brake it down...

Mp3: 48,665 Miles (getting close to the end of my warranty)
Payments: $286 a month
Insurance: $280 a month

SRT-4: 8 miles (7year/ 70,000 mile powertrain, 3 year/36,000 limted warranties)
Payments: est.. $271 a month
Insurance: calling on it tommorow


so between a little cheaper payments, and having a warranty, the srt makes more sense, plus it'll be as fast as i want without dumping $5000 into the engine.

 

[Newf]

your going to need that warranty

Just kidding man. Good luck with whatever happens and stick around.

and post pics of course

 

[luckezero]

okay, I guess that sounds like it would make sense, $10/mo. cheaper on payment. I've been there and done the same thing several times. In the end tho, I've discovered that I'd rather not have a car payment. If dad keeps paying while you're in school, you probably won't owe much on the MP3 when you graduate, i.e. $286/mo. for another (approx.) 24-36 months is a lot less than $271/mo. for another 48 - 72 months (or more if you aren't putting any money down and expect a payment of $271 month outside a lease maybe??) I messed up, because when I graduated I was $20k in debt and my $5k signing bonus (heh ... weeeeeeee!) only helped me get not-upside-down.

FWIW, I'm not sold on having to drive a car with a new car warranty. Now a factory hotrod car with only 8 miles on it... WooT!! I picked up my 28k mile MP3 in April with the Mazda certified limited powertrain warranty until 100k and bumper to bumper (or is it bumber ... lol) until 10/2005 or 62k miles. I also picked up back in January (but recently sold) a 1991 Toyota MR2 (n/a) with 124k miles. In the 3 months and 4k miles i owned it, never had one mechanical problem despite not having a warranty... and it got far more compliments than anything else I've ever driven. Then again, if you only owe ~ $8 - 9k (assumption) left on the MP3, you could always refinance it for another 48 months and only be paying ~$210/mo. at 5.5% if you want the true low payment.

driving a SRT-4 sounds like fun. I don't mean to sound like I'm telling you what to do, sorry if it came across that way. hope that you make the best decision and enjoy the test drive anyway and if you really want to be big pimpin' ... pick up a decent mile E36 BMW M3 or certified IS300 for your $21k. Probably no warranty if not certified, but it's a M3 or IS300!! RWD BABY!!

 

[prospeed]

your going to need that warranty

Just kidding man. Good luck with whatever happens and stick around.

and post pics of course

i am not trying to start s*** but atleast dodge will warranty it unlike mazda.

seems like mazda don't want cover the diff. i read a post on the srt forum that a guy with a 2003 blew up his tranny and they gave him a 2004 tranny with the lsd.

plus i had more problems with the speed in one month of owning it. oh and what helped on my decision on trading it in was on cold starts the motor was making noises with 11,000 miles on it. msp is nice looking car but i thought the quality sucked.my 91 volvo 940 turbo with 150,000 miles stock at 8psi and boosted it up 15psi for 2 years and had no problems. the highest the msp ever seen was 11 for a very shot time. maybe 2 weeks tops.

 

[Newf]

it was meant as a joke ( as it's been beaten to death around here ). I know dodge seems to be standing behind the srt4, and I can't say the same thing for Mazda. Props to dodge for that.

I can say that my car has been trouble free ( minus clunk repaired at 4500kms) so far (knock on wood). And I start my car in the winter in temps of -45 C with no issues. Maybe I'm lucky so far.

 

[TXMazdaSpeeder]

it was meant as a joke ( as it's been beaten to death around here ). I know dodge seems to be standing behind the srt4, and I can't say the same thing for Mazda. Props to dodge for that.

I can say that my car has been trouble free ( minus clunk repaired at 4500kms) so far (knock on wood). And I start my car in the winter in temps of -45 C with no issues. Maybe I'm lucky so far.

from my standpoint, u r very lucky.

 

[Roywhitep5]

YOU *****!!!!!!

 

[Matthew]

hes not going anywhere..ill put my next paycheck on it.

 

[msubullyfan]

so between a little cheaper payments, and having a warranty, the srt makes more sense

I definitely don't want to sound judgemental, but if you follow this principle, you'll ALWAYS be better off --- NEVER make financial decisions based on the amount of payments that you're going to have for something. Any financial adviser will tell you what matters is how much money overall you shell out on things like this over the long haul. Thinking of payments is what can get people burdened down with a lot of debt.

If you want a new car w/ more hp, go for it on those grounds. However, let me point something out that I wish I had thought of when I was 20 or so: If you keep the MP3 and save all the money that you'd pay out over the next 5 years for the SRT-4 ($25k+), you'd have saved up the downpayment for your first home.

Oh, and about the warranty -- $25k or more for a new car is an expensive warranty.

Good luck!