Inside info on buying a new MX5 ND

[davekmoore]

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!

[Rolley]

Great information!
Thank you for taking the time to share it.

I am in no position to buy new but am following this closely all the same.

Luke.

[davekmoore]

Great information!
Thank you for taking the time to share it.
I am in no position to buy new but am following this closely all the same.
Luke.

You're welcome, although note I do have an ulterior motive, of course.

Perhaps watch this space for realigned values for NB and NC?

One potential customer of mine gave $51,500 for his manual NC 8 years ago. He hasn't quite got his head around only needing to pay way less for a better car now - yet.

[Rolley]

I'll be sticking with Rolley until I trade up.

No point making additional losses getting another one to a point I'm happy with.
It's money that can be saved for a better ND.

[Mr Morlock]

As a salesperson for Mazda you are certainly not unbiased. I noticed that almost no one wanted to hazard a guess on what the sales will be and ultimately that's the test of success. Previous sales of NC were barely alive. . If the recent info is correct MA has an allocation of 1500 cars for 12 mths and I would have thought that would be excellent- a huge increase over recent history.

Insofar as price is concerned the comparisons are irrelevant. We could all see 12 mths ago that Mazda had to reduce their price to be competitive. 86/BRZ in one fell swoop set the standard and virtually everyone followed with better cars and keen pricing- like Focus ST and Subaru WRX. The same thing applies to many other products. What one paid 25 years ago is merely history.

I don't think the new car will make much difference to Mazda values as there will still be something like a $10,000 diff for an NC and probably $15000 for an NB and not everyone wants a new car or can justify the higher price. nD will do what every car does ie depreciate though it may well hold up well.

I also don't think it will ever challenge 4 door or 4 seater cars. A 2 door is essentially impractical as a family car. A sports car is essentially for fun and recreation and just getting in and out is a struggle for many people that's why SUVs have made such strides even over the traditional sedan. The car is also tiny and this is a limiter for carrying "stuff" and it's outweighed by so many of the things we drive today. Still that's what a top down sports is and thankfully so.

[davekmoore]

by Vat » Sun Aug 09, 2015 9:32 pm
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http://www.caradvice.com.au/372119/mazd ... ays-brand/

128 Mazda dealers in Australia so the hint of 125 a month is one per dealer a month. I can't see it being enough as it's only the same as the average sales for the last 25 years.

If you already know you want one, work out when you want it then work with your local dealer to get it on order.

If you're undecided about an ND but think you might want a new 2 seater convertible in the next 6 months or so, get into your local dealer while they still have an unsold launch model for you to view and test drive.

[taminga16]

Hi Dave,
Re; Mr M, do you recall the sales figures that Martin Benders (Mazda Aus CEO) quoted on Saturday evening?
Greg.

[davekmoore]

Of 950,000 total sold in the last (first) 25 years; 500,000 in USA, 300,000 in Europe, 70,000 in the UK, ???,??? in Japan, ???,??? in other markets, only 17,000 in Australia.

128 Mazda dealers here now. There were less 25 years ago of course, and our population has grown over the last 25 years from approx 17M to approx 25M.

My maths suggest the numbers we get of the ND are the average we've sold of NA, NB and NC. Thank goodness it's not the average we sold of NC in 2015!

[rjastra2]

1 per month? The dealer where Jean got her car has already got 4 cars (2 to customers and 2 demos) before the official release date!

There are going to be 4 models (2 engines), two transmissions and 5 colours - all that trouble for 1200/yr? Pull the other one.

[davekmoore]

1 per month? The dealer where Jean got her car has already got 4 cars (2 to customers and 2 demos) before the official release date!
There are going to be 4 models (2 engines), two transmissions and 5 colours - all that trouble for 1200/yr? Pull the other one.

In terms of total supply, the rumours of 1500 cars divided by 128 dealers divided by 12 months is less than one per dealer per month. Also take into account the fact that dealers were naturally provided with extra cars for the launch but the arrival of these will reduce the number of cars coming to each dealer for the rest of the year.

You are correct about the main models. There will also be the ROADSTER with an MZD option. There are 6 colours: White, Ceramic, Blue Reflex, Black, Soul Red, Meteor Grey. All colours of ROADSTER GT get the choice of black or tan leather. So there are over 100 total possible combinations. Do your own maths on the chances of your perfect combination being available straight from the showroom of your local dealer exactly when you want it unless you order it in advance.

Having said all this, I hope I'm wrong, and the car fails in other markets, so we can we have 5,000 per year.

[davekmoore]

The challenge is that we're a small market compared with other countries.

This shows data up to 2010. Even the UK, where there's no sun, was selling 2.5 times more than we were. http://www2.mazda.com/en/stories/craftm ... 0m/#global

[Mr Morlock]

the maths might be right but you can bet that not every dealer will order an MX5- thats illogical. If a dealer sells 10 times more MX5s than another then Mazda would simply not be that thick to send them to the "bush" to gather dust. For most other makes they check stock in different places and customers. Insofar as choice is concerned no big deal. If people want to be overly fussy then you do get a choice of not buying at all. If you buy a used car you don't always get the colour that matches your complexion. Mazda will end up bringing in what they think will sell and they will drop models when it suits them.

UK is an interesting case- there are plenty of MX5s on the roads but you also see people riding horses on country lanes- quaint and British to the boot straps - literally. Britain also does not have their roads totally choked with urban tanks being dríven with an attitude like here i.e. the sports car is welcomed. Smaller cars and an MX5 is not so intimidated.

[OurCognitiveSurplus]

How long until we see the Fiat badged models?

[Mr Morlock]

ask Fiat

[davekmoore]

How long until we see the Fiat badged models?

Who knows, or cares?