"The Fit is No..."

irish44j wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: Welcome to the wonderful world of Mazdas!!! ZOOM ZOOM!!!!!! I hope you have great luck with it! Kinda related... Your story about the Fit made me think back to right before I bought my 3. I had originally wanted to get a 2012 Honda Civic Si or a used 2007-11, and I went to a local Honda dealer to check one out. This is when the Japanese Tsunami aftermath was destroying the new car market for Honda, and they didn't have one in stock. They had one on order,but they were pulling the classic "Adjusted Market Value" E36 M3, so that was a no-go. The only Si they had on the lot was a 2010 and it was the salesman's former car. His stories about "keeping it in Vtec to make maximum power at all times" steered me away from that, so I went to look at the few Fits they had on the lot. To my surprise, they weren't cheap. At all. I laughed at the prices and moved onto Mazdas. Yours should have the same drivetrain as my 3 (2.5L/6MT). It's a little underpowered, but the chassis makes up for it. And you even got the same wheels as I do! *Ignore my neighbor's weird house and yard. We nicknamed him Hot Tub Time Machine because he has a random hot tub on cinder blocks in the backyard (right behind the house). He's been out there messing with it since it appeared last summer, and although he is always working on it, he has never been in it.

ditto. My wife got her first 3 because when she went to get the civic she wanted they pulled the "adjusted market value" crap as well and wouldn't budge. We walked out the door with two salesmen chasing us and my middle finger in the air. At the time I was driving an accord and had an integra before that. Every local Honda dealer I've ever been to has been a douchebag about everything. The Mazda dealer was always good about a few minor issues the car had during warranty. Also, I like your neighbor's garage though. Looks to have lots 'o space :)

Ya know??? Me and the sales guy were talking about that today. His impression "We're Honda. Who cares what you want. Somebody else will buy this thing if you don't. WE'RE HONDA!" He's right. That's the attitude I've gotten from them from day 1.

I worked at Ellis VW in Chamblee about 10 years ago. What a great place. From the ownership on down. They really do get it. I miss that place sometimes.

vwcorvette wrote: I worked at Ellis VW in Chamblee about 10 years ago. What a great place. From the ownership on down. They really do get it. I miss that place sometimes.

Man, that's great to hear. It doesn't surprise me.

Hypothetically, if enough people were to post something like "Hennessy Honda of Woodstock Sucks", wouldn't that phrase start showing up on Google searches when people type "Hennessy Honda" into the search bar?

Just curious...

poopshovel wrote: Ya know??? Me and the sales guy were talking about that today. His impression "We're Honda. Who cares what you want. Somebody else will buy this thing if you don't. WE'RE HONDA!" He's right. That's the attitude I've gotten from them from day 1.

That's the attitude I've seen from every Jap car dealer in my area. The Toyota dealer tells you right away (if they'll talk to you), we don't haggle. You pay full price, or you don't buy. I have no brand loyalty. I drive whatever I think the best deal will be for what I'm doing.

You'd think this was a minivan enthusiast forum, with so many people excited about a Mazda 5.

Zomby Woof wrote: That's the attitude I've seen from every Jap car dealer in my area. The Toyota dealer tells you right away (if they'll talk to you), we don't haggle. You pay full price, or you don't buy.

...and they wonder why the Koreans are gaining on them like a Z06 after a stock yugo at VIR

Zomby Woof wrote:

poopshovel wrote: Ya know??? Me and the sales guy were talking about that today. His impression "We're Honda. Who cares what you want. Somebody else will buy this thing if you don't. WE'RE HONDA!" He's right. That's the attitude I've gotten from them from day 1.

That's the attitude I've seen from every Jap car dealer in my area. The Toyota dealer tells you right away (if they'll talk to you), we don't haggle. You pay full price, or you don't buy. I have no brand loyalty. I drive whatever I think the best deal will be for what I'm doing. You'd think this was a minivan enthusiast forum, with so many people excited about a Mazda 5.

Well, for this "deal," it's mommy's car. Not my car, and I think it does "Mommymobile" a lot better than the Fit, for not a lot more money, and way less attitude. If I'm not mistaken, it's based on the mazda3 chassis, and behaves as such. I pitched it into a couple corners on the way home, and grins ensued, though you can definitely feel the extra 1,000 pounds it carries compared to the Fit.

It's a true "mini-mini-van." What's not to love?

Zomby Woof wrote:

poopshovel wrote: Ya know??? Me and the sales guy were talking about that today. His impression "We're Honda. Who cares what you want. Somebody else will buy this thing if you don't. WE'RE HONDA!" He's right. That's the attitude I've gotten from them from day 1.

That's the attitude I've seen from every Jap car dealer in my area. The Toyota dealer tells you right away (if they'll talk to you), we don't haggle. You pay full price, or you don't buy. I have no brand loyalty. I drive whatever I think the best deal will be for what I'm doing. You'd think this was a minivan enthusiast forum, with so many people excited about a Mazda 5.

When we got the 4Runner, the first place was the biggest Toyota dealer in the area....all the salespeople with headsets and mics on, a bunch of typical dealer BS. In 2008 when gas was high and nobody could sell SUVs, we got the 4Runner near where we wanted the price. I told them "I want the floormats thrown in for free, not $200 extra, and we'll buy it" and they wouldn't budge!.

So we went to the smaller Toyota dealer across town. Told them what the other dealer had said. This dealer found us the identical model with identical features, threw in the floormats, and knocked another $500 off on top of that. With little haggling at all.

I really think dealers are just a reflection of their local owners mantra or something.

Flight Service wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: That's the attitude I've seen from every Jap car dealer in my area. The Toyota dealer tells you right away (if they'll talk to you), we don't haggle. You pay full price, or you don't buy.

...and they wonder why the Koreans are gaining on them like a Z06 after a stock yugo at VIR

Indeed. It extends to other stuff too. I'm amazed by the quality/value of korean guitars. The 90's MIJ stuff is of amazing quality, and sought after. A lot of the new korean stuff is just as good, and the japs have inflated their prices to match their reputation while cutting costs, making a lot of Korean guitars a KILLER value, but the stigma attached scares a lot ov dudes away.

If Hyundai made a good looking mini-mini-van, I'd consider it in a heartbeat.

They say the Chinese are going to come on even stronger/faster than the Koreans did. You don't have to look too far back when Hyundai and Kia were the styling nightmares the chinese cars are currently

Speaking of Mazda dealers, both of them in Las Vegas can kick dirt.

Right now, two of the cars on my radar are Mazdas - the CX-5 Sport MT and the Mazda2 Touring MT. Yes, I realize those are very different cars, I just haven't made up my mind which way to go.

Both dealers have told me they refuse to stock manual-transmission cars - not even MX-5s or Mazdaspeed3s!

They both graciously offered to order me a car of my choosing, with either 80 or 90% cash deposit, non-refundable. I told them to go to hell.

If and when I want a Mazda, I will take a 5 hour drive to California, where dealers actually stock manual-transmission cars, and sell them below MSRP. I'm just afraid of having to go to these nutcase local dealers if I have warranty issues.

Congrats on the new purchase!

I drove Korean long before it was cool.

poopshovel wrote: If Hyundai made a good looking mini-mini-van, I'd consider it in a heartbeat.

That wasn't lost on me.

Don't worry. You'll get your chance in a few years when the Mazda starts to rust around the wheel wells and door handles. You'll probably have a Fit, and trade it in.

irish44j wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: Welcome to the wonderful world of Mazdas!!! ZOOM ZOOM!!!!!! I hope you have great luck with it! Kinda related... Your story about the Fit made me think back to right before I bought my 3. I had originally wanted to get a 2012 Honda Civic Si or a used 2007-11, and I went to a local Honda dealer to check one out. This is when the Japanese Tsunami aftermath was destroying the new car market for Honda, and they didn't have one in stock. They had one on order,but they were pulling the classic "Adjusted Market Value" E36 M3, so that was a no-go. The only Si they had on the lot was a 2010 and it was the salesman's former car. His stories about "keeping it in Vtec to make maximum power at all times" steered me away from that, so I went to look at the few Fits they had on the lot. To my surprise, they weren't cheap. At all. I laughed at the prices and moved onto Mazdas. Yours should have the same drivetrain as my 3 (2.5L/6MT). It's a little underpowered, but the chassis makes up for it. And you even got the same wheels as I do! *Ignore my neighbor's weird house and yard. We nicknamed him Hot Tub Time Machine because he has a random hot tub on cinder blocks in the backyard (right behind the house). He's been out there messing with it since it appeared last summer, and although he is always working on it, he has never been in it.

ditto. My wife got her first 3 because when she went to get the civic she wanted they pulled the "adjusted market value" crap as well and wouldn't budge. We walked out the door with two salesmen chasing us and my middle finger in the air. At the time I was driving an accord and had an integra before that. Every local Honda dealer I've ever been to has been a douchebag about everything. The Mazda dealer was always good about a few minor issues the car had during warranty. Also, I like your neighbor's garage though. Looks to have lots 'o space :)

My Mazda buying experience stemmed from TrueCar (no canoe, I'm serious).

I had a sour dealing with the dealership where my wife bought her 2010 3. While she got a stupid crazy deal so good that she probably got the salesman fired, I went there and they pulled some classic stealership tactics: the berkeleying bait and switch. I wanted a white Sport hatch with the 2.5L/6MT, and after calling the dealer, they said they had one in stock on the lot, and they give me a price which was fair. I tell them that I'm coming down to do the deal. I get there, and no car to be found. I ask for the Sales Manager, and he tells me that the person I spoke to was in a call center two counties away and that they don't know anything. Strike 1. They then offer to sell me another, so I ask what they could do. Again, nothing in stock or remotely close, and at this point they are trying to get me to fork over the keys to my trade to keep them hostage. Strike 2. They then find a car 2 states away, and I ask them to match the price they gave me before. SM then tells me they don't want to match the price the person gave me and that they don't want to sell me the car unless I fork over the keys to my trade for the hostage crisis to ensue. Strike three, YOU'RE OUT!!! I get up and walk, and not one month later, they lost their Mazda franchise. I wonder why...

I do the TrueCar thing, Cape Cod Mazda calls me up, I go down there, and I had the most trouble free buying experience I have ever had in my entire life. Mind you, my older sister has been in the business for years, and I always got cars through her, but she didn't have any Mazda connections, so I went solo. The dealer is tiny and doesn't do a lot of volume, but they were great! The Sales Manager down there personally did the entire deal. He was honest and up front, and even got me the EXACT car that the other dealer wanted to get me, but I paid even less for it than the random lady on the phone at the other place told me. On top of that, he gave me a trade-in offer I could not refuse. They even squeaked the deal in on the last day of a 0% Financing promo to help me out instead of porking me on the rate.

There are good dealers out there.

I like my neighbor's garage too. I've been here almost 3 years and I've never spoken to the guy. Hot Tub Time Machine is a very odd duck.

So far, he has a Bondo'ed up 90's Subaru Legacy, a rotted out 90's Ram, a multi-colored and not so complete S10, and an early 90's red Corvette. The S10 and the Vette live in the garage. Oh, and there's some 80's Japanese fake Harley Sportster that he takes out every once in a while and drives it exclusively over my lawn to get to the road, not his driveway.

I wish the house would go on the market cheap so I can buy the land and annex his garage.

oh come on , the kia rondo aint too bad looking. i dont think they make them anymore though.

Zomby Woof wrote: You'd think this was a minivan enthusiast forum, with so many people excited about a Mazda 5.

you say that like its a bad thing.

Zomby Woof wrote: I drove Korean long before it was cool.

poopshovel wrote: If Hyundai made a good looking mini-mini-van, I'd consider it in a heartbeat.

That wasn't lost on me. Don't worry. You'll get your chance in a few years when the Mazda starts to rust around the wheel wells and door handles. You'll probably have a Fit, and trade it in.

Right. Because Hondas never rust around the wheel arches, and I live in Canada. Are you just desperate to stir the E36 M3 at all costs? Seriously. Aside from the 18" wide B-Pillars and equally coffin-like rear window...and the cheesy 8-bit coleco center display, the Chevy Cruze rental was a great car. Fo real. Comfy seats. Quiet ride. Better than expected handling. Great gas mileage.

HAPPY?

Welcome to the dark side.....

On a TOTALLY unrelated note- you know Mazda makes a wicked E36 M3box in the MX6 GT, right? I mean, the hongs are experts at cars that don't make power without a pile of work, imagine what they could do with a GOOD platform.......

poopshovel wrote: HAPPY?

I'm on beer # 3 and shot # 4. I'm quite happy. Thank you.

I could have kicked you while you were down and put you over the edge, but I didn't.

Just having a little fun at your expense. You should try it some time.

poopshovel wrote: Hennessy Honda Woodstock.

I think zomby woof just likes to poke the hornets nest to see what will happen.

failboat wrote: oh come on , the kia rondo aint too bad looking. i dont think they make them anymore though.

Zomby Woof wrote: You'd think this was a minivan enthusiast forum, with so many people excited about a Mazda 5.

you say that like its a bad thing.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/media/img/articles/supplementary/JS-9893.jpg?js&keepThis=true&TB_iframe=false&height=400&width=700

Damn hotlink fail from the phone

Totally agree with you on the Fit being the last of the "real" Hondas.

But your wife will certainly appreciate the 5's smoother, quieter ride and better freeway manners. We love the Fit for around town, but the 5 certainly feels like a more modern machine.

Good luck shoveling poop the dealer's way.

Zomby Woof wrote:

poopshovel wrote: HAPPY?

I'm on beer # 3 and shot # 4. I'm quite happy. Thank you. I could have kicked you while you were down and put you over the edge, but I didn't. Just having a little fun at your expense. You should try it some time.

I had two beers on the way home, one more when I got here, and a...couple few whiskeys since then. At any rate, bring it, bitch!

bastomatic wrote: Totally agree with you on the Fit being the last of the "real" Hondas. But your wife will certainly appreciate the 5's smoother, quieter ride and better freeway manners. We love the Fit for around town, but the 5 certainly feels like a more modern machine. Good luck shoveling poop the dealer's way.

Yeah. We're kind of already going "Duh, this was the car we should've bought in the first place." BUT when mama got preggars, we were kind of running under the assumption that she and baby would still be coming into the shop every day...80 miles/day. So fuel economy was more of a concern.