chiefmg said:
I don't buy cars often, and I keep them for a long time (case in point, my '81 RX-7 bought in November '80 which I have to this day). I get what I want no matter if it is popular or easy to resell. I am happy with the deal I got, the car is awesome and with the few mods I have planned will be even better. Now I just have to come up with a name for her!
For anyone sitting on the fence, while you don't know me or anyone else who recommends this car, if you are any sort of enthusiast you will appreciate this car.
Well with those habits in car buying, you did very very well. The great thing about this car is that you don't even have to be that big of a car enthusiast to love it. The Mazda 6 itself is a fabulous daily driver that a lot of the general public (non enthusiast crowd) loves, and this is simply a better version of it. It took me a while to get used to the big heavy feel, since I was always a compact guy, but now it's really grown on me. As long as it's reliable, and capable of a lot of miles without major problems before 100k miles, I'll be keeping it for a very long time, and driving it to it's grave (Hopefully longer then 10 years, but I drive my daily cars 20k+ miles a year, so that might be a long shot with a car like this). I do a lot of highway driving, and I'm very gentle with cars, and maticulous with maintanence, so if it doesn't last it's not because of how I treated it.
Any sort of enthusiast would appreciate this car, but keep in mind it's not for everyone. For one you need to be committed to it because of it's market failure and fast depreciation in the first 4-5 years, and not be after the next best thing. That's where I'm gonna begin to train myself. Since this is a daily driver, and I can swap out my fun weekend car (currently 06 S2000) to cure my need to explore the hottest new sports car. Secondly, you shouldn't buy a car like this with purely the intention of a track/autocross/weekend fun car, because you may grow tired of it. There are simply much better options out there, the Speed 3 being one of them, if pure enthusiast is on your mind, and you want a lightweight weekend fun machine to modify and only take out on nice days. I do not believe this car is intended for that, nor should it be used for that, but whoever feels it does, and will use it that way, the more power to ya.
As for the above question to Huascar82, generally negotiations on this car kind of fall in your lap, because of the super lease incentive. All areas are different of course, and prices range, so you'll have to figure that out on your own. For purchasing, I'd expect a possible cash back incentive (whatever it is in your area, check Mazdausa.com), and a starting price of that incentive minus the invoice price (check Edmunds.) That's what they did with me. However, since it's now nearly 2007, and not summer of 06, the starting price could be lower, and you'll be starting from a lower point (below invoice plus the cash back incentive). I then haggled from there until I couldn't any longer, and exhausted them out to their rock bottom. You can then negotiate from that point as I did, and show reluctance, like you are ready to walk if the price isn't met. That's my .02 of advice, as it has always worked for me. Good luck!!