What is the pre-tax purchase price. Others are claiming a Sport purchase price of around 16500 for a new 2010 with low or no finance charge...
Here is a link to the ad, it's a St. Louis, Missouri dealership.
http://adzone.stltoday.com/ROP/ads.aspx?advid=20721
$16,500 for a '10 Sport with manual transmission, after $500 cash back, this price is if you walk in with your own financing or are paying cash. If you want the 0% financing for three years it will cost $17,000. Tax, title, license in Illinois (the dealership is in Missouri) adds about $1,500.
So for a new '10 with automatic, the cost would be about $19,000 after tax, title, license, doc fee etc, in Illinois, or $4,000 more than the used '09. What do you get by spending an extra $4,000?
1) New tires. My guess is that the tires on the '09 are nearing the end of their useful life, new tires will run about $220 each from Discount Tires or just under $900 for all four (I had to replace one tire so I'm familiar with the price).
2) A full warranty. The bumper to bumper warranty on the '09 will end in 2,500 miles, the bumper to bumper warranty on a '10 will end in 36,000 miles (minus starting mileage) or three years.
3) Stability control. This wasn't available on the '09s, it is standard on the '10s.
4) Higher residual value. A '10 will have a higher residual value by nature of it being a year newer. This will come into play whenever you want to sell the car down the road.
5) Maintenance history: With a new car you know the maintenance history, with the used car you don't. Same for how the car was driven / treated. This was most likely a rental and may have been abused.
6) 32,500 miles: For the extra money you get the "best" miles out of the car. Not really that important right now, but it will come into play a few years down the road as the car ages. Also, per
www.edmunds.com, 32,500 on this car is a $970 deduction on the value of the car.
It would be worth the $4,000 to me to get a new '10 but I'm also the type to buy a car and hold onto it for 8 or 10 years or more. If you plan on selling the Mazda5 after two or three years, take the used vehicle otherwise I personally would recommend buying new.