Teach me about Mazda S plan

So, looks like I've sold my wifes 2004 VW Passat wagon (1.8t, 4Motion, manual tranny). Reason for sale is that with the car seats kids are in these days, that is a two-kid car, and since we have two kids, no room for playdates or carpool.

So, I'm looking at getting a 2013 Mazda 5. Was originally thinking about a sport so as to get the 6spd manual, but wife now says she wants an autobox. Her car, so that's what we will get, I suppose. Still might get a sport, but might step up to the Grand Touring to get leather.

Anyway, I can get a Ford X-plan number through work, which makes me eligible for the Mazda S-plan as well. So, it the price still negotiable? Or is the S-plan price (plus current incentives) the best I will likely do?

Any other comments? Drove the car, seems pretty decent except that it could really use the "skyactive" 2.5L and a six-speed slushbox.

Thanks Erik

No direct knowledge on the plan purchases, but I always heard that those were "best deal" kind of prices. That having been said, I bought one of those in the 6-speed sport trim last week for almost $2k under both the Edmunds "TMV" price guidance and the TrueCar "Price Estimate" and I still got the 0% for 5 years. This was a car that had a November 2012 build date on it and a slight door ding, though, so that might not be typical.

I've never driven the automatic version of the vehicle, but after a week's worth of commuting in the 6-speed, I'm blown away with how fun this thing is to drive. There's not much power to be had, but unless there's traffic ahead or you've reached your destination, there also isn't much reason to take your foot off the throttle. My wife is thrilled to be able to drive a three-pedal minivan, but since there's no space between the front seats like in a "real" van, she finds herself a little stuck when trying to arrange her 75-gallon purse when there's a front passenger.

About the only gripe I've got is that there's no good place to mount a suction-cup style phone holder. If you stepped up to a higher trim, the bluetooth connectivity might solve that a little bit from the standpoint of switching tracks or whatever when playing back music, but for GPS purposes, I've not found the "right" spot yet.

On the S plan, That is the price. It's a no haggle price.

It's usually decent but not the best pricing you can get if you have the patience to really haggle. On something like the 5 you may be able to haggle a better price.

I don't think they are that big of a deal. For instance, whatever plan it is you can get from Ford for joining the Mustang Club of America, the dealer came back with a lower quote on my Mustang when I bought last year anyway.

So I wasted $50 joining, to get a pin, to see what the X plan (or whichever one it was) pricing was.

Depends on the car; I used the s plan to purchase mine and it was $1k less than I could get them to. Watch out if you are financing though since some of the special finiancing isnt Available with the purchase plans and yadayadaya. I didn't finance so it wasn't a big deal. I think 17.2 out the door was where mine ended up.

chandlerGTi wrote: Depends on the car; I used the s plan to purchase mine and it was $1k less than I could get them to. Watch out if you are financing though since some of the special finiancing isnt Available with the purchase plans and yadayadaya. I didn't finance so it wasn't a big deal. I think 17.2 out the door was where mine ended up.

If we're talking about the same car, I would go with the s plan. That's a lot better than I was able to do.

IIRC it is 4% below invoice and whatever rebate you would qualify for. I work at Jim Ellis Mazda in Atlanta. Will be there at noon and will clarify.

When we were shopping Mazdas 8 or 9 years ago, my wife qualified. It was a decent deal for a no-haggle fixed price, but we were able to do better without it.

S pricing is dealer cost. I think the sales guy gets $200 for doing the paper work. Hard to go below that unless the dealer is really trying to get rid of the car at a loss.

z31maniac wrote: I don't think they are that big of a deal. For instance, whatever plan it is you can get from Ford for joining the Mustang Club of America, the dealer came back with a lower quote on my Mustang when I bought last year anyway. So I wasted $50 joining, to get a pin, to see what the X plan (or whichever one it was) pricing was.

X plan is easy to get if you know someone...

Anyway, the S and Ford X plans should apply all discounts that dealers put on all of their cars, so I'm not sure how they consistently "give" prices that are lower than S or X plans. Whatever discounts that they can offer are all applicable to the S or X prices, which is lower than the MSRP that they are supposed to be working with.

Also- for both plans, they should be showing you a detailed invoice for each car, and if not, and are just telling you the S or X price, then you should either ask or find a better dealer.

Both plans are designed to give them easy, no haggle, sales + a nominal profit.

mnS4 wrote: Anyway, I can get a Ford X-plan number through work, which makes me eligible for the Mazda S-plan as well. Erik

I can get an X-plan through work as well. How does one go about translating that into an S-Plan?

s plan guidlines

I found this, which explains that ford x-plan qualifies you for s-plan.

Also says this: 8. What is S-Plan price and where do I find it?

S-Plan pricing is equal to total invoice price. It is listed on the factory invoice as "SPLAN."

1. Are buyers eligible for rebates, APR or lease programs?

Yes, these buyers are eligible for the same rebates as any other retail customer. In addition, these buyers receive dealer cash and top-level stair-step incentives regardless of the level at which the dealership is. Dealer cash and top-level stair-step incentives convert to Customer Cash and should be handled like Customer Cash.

What are "top-level stair-step incentives"? How would I find out what it is on this car so I could make sure the dealer applied it to my sale?

My local dealer is advertising a $500 cash back "state fair deal", I wonder if I can get them to give me that on an S-plan purchase....

My suspicion is that there are no stair-step incentives for a 5, given the lack of marketing support for this model...

Well, I did look further into the X-Plan, which has a pretty good website.

On the 2013 Fiesta SE, the X-Plan savings over MSRP is $115.

Woo.

Weird. On the S-plan site, it says the price is dealer invoice minus all rebates, etc.

Datsun1500 wrote:

EvanR wrote: Well, I did look further into the X-Plan, which has a pretty good website. On the 2013 Fiesta SE, the X-Plan savings over MSRP is $115. Woo.

There's only $418 worth of markup on a Fiesta. Seriously, $418 from cost to MSRP

Tough way to make a living, FoMoCo

Datsun1500 wrote:

EvanR wrote: Well, I did look further into the X-Plan, which has a pretty good website. On the 2013 Fiesta SE, the X-Plan savings over MSRP is $115. Woo.

There's only $418 worth of markup on a Fiesta. Seriously, $418 from cost to MSRP

There are most likely some healthy incentives based on monthly sales paid from Ford to the dealer. Not to mention money that is made on financing.

Sorry to drift this post off-topic, but I'd like to hear from folks who have bought under the S-Plan/X-Plan.

The main question is... does it get you any better of a dealership experience? Is there any less of trying to upsell you on all sorts of junk like extended warranties?

If I can go in, get an X/S plan price, write a check, and leave with a car, that alone is worth it.

EvanR wrote: Sorry to drift this post off-topic, but I'd like to hear from folks who have bought under the S-Plan/X-Plan. The main question is... does it get you any better of a dealership experience? Is there any less of trying to upsell you on all sorts of junk like extended warranties? If I can go in, get an X/S plan price, write a check, and leave with a car, that alone is worth it.

I think your question has a lot more to do with the dealership. I went to two dealers and one was trying to get everything possible out of me while the other one let me spec the car, they found it and I wrote a check. Done and done.

EvanR wrote: Sorry to drift this post off-topic, but I'd like to hear from folks who have bought under the S-Plan/X-Plan. The main question is... does it get you any better of a dealership experience? Is there any less of trying to upsell you on all sorts of junk like extended warranties? If I can go in, get an X/S plan price, write a check, and leave with a car, that alone is worth it.

I've gotten one S Miata and a bunch of A plan Ford cars (employee vs friends&neighbors plan), and my experience is go in, ask price, sign papers. There are still a bunch of stuff that goes on, and takes time. But at least there's no haggling.

There are some dealer specific things, which I don't understand- my parents get it faster than I do, but on the other hand my in-laws can't find a dealer who does A plan. It's not required, but it seems like a no brainer- easy sale, no work, and full comission... dunno.

The dealer should be very up front about the deal, if not, try another.

You get the vehicle at dealer invoice and then you can utilize incentives, also they get to show you what they pay for it