Inside info on buying a new MX5 ND
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 3:56 pm
To avoid some of the suggestions of bias, I should mention I'm lucky enough to sell new Mazdas for a living. Hopefully my reputation from trading a lot of parts, info and advice on this forum, and spending a lot of time at race tracks around Victoria with other MX5 owners will be further proof I might be able and willing to give fellow forum members a straight opinion?
Anyway, no disrespect intended to owners of NA, NB (including me) and NC, but having dríven both manual and auto ND I will now confidently say it is, by an interstellar margin, the best MX5 ever in all round ability, equipment levels, safety kit and pricing. It will thus appeal to a much broader age and income range. It will, for instance, steal many more sales from four seaters because, apart from the number of seats (how often do you have to have more than 2 people in your car anyway?) it's now just as safe and convenient to drive as a four seater, nearer the same pricing, and likely to depreciate way less while costing no more to run.
So what do you reckon will happen to sales levels now? Same, double, treble, quadruple? Who knows for sure, but so far it doesn't seem likely Mazda Australia will get more cars from Mazda Japan than we've usually sold here over the last 25 years. On average that means each Mazda dealer will get, on average, roughly one car per month.
If you're considering ordering one, my bet is that if you want a 1.5 from launch stock you'll need to place your order within a few days or earlier. If you want your name down for a 1.5 presently being built in Japan you'll still need to be quick to avoid being at the end of a growing waiting list.
If you want a 2.0, these are due to start arriving at the end of the year. However, my experience so far suggests many customers will order the 2.0 based on just seeing the equipment for the 2.0 in the 1.5s in the showroom as well as seeing the road test reports of the 2.0 on the interweb - and without even driving either car themselves. So dealer waiting lists for the 2.0 will grow from the present 3-4 months and will not reduce as we get nearer the year end, as all planned and future production capacity will quickly be filled by pre-orders.
The final thing to consider is that I reckon I've already had one enquiry from a speculator - someone wanting to take the car without rego so they could sell it on at higher than list price to someone wanting to avoid the waiting lists. Please don't buy a car from someone like this. Talk to your Mazda dealer. We're not allowed to sell at over list price.
My advice? Get into your local dealer (it could even be me if you're in Vic or prepared to travel) quickly with your credit card and get your deposit in. The more of us do this the more chance there is of Mazda Australia getting Mazda Japan to part with more cars for us and the more we might stop over 75% of them being built with the steering wheel on the wrong side!
Feel free to ask me about specs etc, but note they're all now available here: http://www.mazda.com.au/about-mazda/new ... -to-exite/ Also please note that the $31,990 base price shown on the website is correct, and compares with $29,990 for the first cars in 1989 http://www.redbook.com.au/cars/research ... ITM-250642
To make the conversation easier for you and for your dealer, note that both the values above are, as advertised by nearly all brands and as quoted by all motoring journalists, before on roads (delivery to dealer, stamp duty, rego fees), which will differ between states and for other reasons. For instance, I always include the cost of white on black slimline plates because I reckon large blue on whites would ruin your car. Specs and correct pricing here: http://www.mazda.com.au/cars/mazda-mx-5 ... nd-prices/
Final astonishing fact: If the price of $29,990 for the lovely (I agree Michael) NA in 1989 was increased by a conservative 2.5% inflation per year, and not adjusted for how much more you get in the car now, the ND would now be $55,600 for the 1.5 ROADSTER manual. You'll actually pay less than 2/3rds of that!
Anyway, no disrespect intended to owners of NA, NB (including me) and NC, but having dríven both manual and auto ND I will now confidently say it is, by an interstellar margin, the best MX5 ever in all round ability, equipment levels, safety kit and pricing. It will thus appeal to a much broader age and income range. It will, for instance, steal many more sales from four seaters because, apart from the number of seats (how often do you have to have more than 2 people in your car anyway?) it's now just as safe and convenient to drive as a four seater, nearer the same pricing, and likely to depreciate way less while costing no more to run.
So what do you reckon will happen to sales levels now? Same, double, treble, quadruple? Who knows for sure, but so far it doesn't seem likely Mazda Australia will get more cars from Mazda Japan than we've usually sold here over the last 25 years. On average that means each Mazda dealer will get, on average, roughly one car per month.
If you're considering ordering one, my bet is that if you want a 1.5 from launch stock you'll need to place your order within a few days or earlier. If you want your name down for a 1.5 presently being built in Japan you'll still need to be quick to avoid being at the end of a growing waiting list.
If you want a 2.0, these are due to start arriving at the end of the year. However, my experience so far suggests many customers will order the 2.0 based on just seeing the equipment for the 2.0 in the 1.5s in the showroom as well as seeing the road test reports of the 2.0 on the interweb - and without even driving either car themselves. So dealer waiting lists for the 2.0 will grow from the present 3-4 months and will not reduce as we get nearer the year end, as all planned and future production capacity will quickly be filled by pre-orders.
The final thing to consider is that I reckon I've already had one enquiry from a speculator - someone wanting to take the car without rego so they could sell it on at higher than list price to someone wanting to avoid the waiting lists. Please don't buy a car from someone like this. Talk to your Mazda dealer. We're not allowed to sell at over list price.
My advice? Get into your local dealer (it could even be me if you're in Vic or prepared to travel) quickly with your credit card and get your deposit in. The more of us do this the more chance there is of Mazda Australia getting Mazda Japan to part with more cars for us and the more we might stop over 75% of them being built with the steering wheel on the wrong side!
Feel free to ask me about specs etc, but note they're all now available here: http://www.mazda.com.au/about-mazda/new ... -to-exite/ Also please note that the $31,990 base price shown on the website is correct, and compares with $29,990 for the first cars in 1989 http://www.redbook.com.au/cars/research ... ITM-250642
To make the conversation easier for you and for your dealer, note that both the values above are, as advertised by nearly all brands and as quoted by all motoring journalists, before on roads (delivery to dealer, stamp duty, rego fees), which will differ between states and for other reasons. For instance, I always include the cost of white on black slimline plates because I reckon large blue on whites would ruin your car. Specs and correct pricing here: http://www.mazda.com.au/cars/mazda-mx-5 ... nd-prices/
Final astonishing fact: If the price of $29,990 for the lovely (I agree Michael) NA in 1989 was increased by a conservative 2.5% inflation per year, and not adjusted for how much more you get in the car now, the ND would now be $55,600 for the 1.5 ROADSTER manual. You'll actually pay less than 2/3rds of that!