Buying and Selling question

[Heilander]

so, I got my Mazda 6 s GT June of 07 and I love it, but i've been doing alot of hypotheticals in my head because i'll be getting alot more money monthly soon.

my brother used to drive a RAV4 and about 2 years into his buying period he somehow was able to trade it in and get a Prius for about the same monthly.

my question is, how can you do that? and is there a certain amount of time I have to wait?

not that I don't love the car, cause I absolutely do, although I may have a manual transmission dropped into it. Just wondering if it would be feasable to lay down more a month and get a nice RX-8.


...thinkin about just buying 2 cars anyways, but im starting to ramble.....


answer/comments?

[Jack ffr1846]

Well....just some facts:

Cars all depreciate.
2 cars will almost always cost more than 1 to own, insure, etc (unless you're considering a Ferrari as your only car)
The longer you wait, the less your car is worth.....but.....
The sooner you get another car, the sooner it starts depreciating under you.
Dealers are in business to make money. They won't pay you more than they have to for your car.

and

The longer you just hold onto your car....so long as it's still reliable...the less you lose in the long run on car expenses/purchases.

I own 4 cars, a boat, a snowmobile and 2 trailers. They all cost money. I'm lucky that I can afford them all, but I do know that if I just simply dumped everything but a single daily driver, I'd be way ahead $$ wise.

jack

[Spooner77]

If what I've read is any indication, you can't just have a manual transmission "dropped" into it. If you really want the MTX you may as well just trade in your current 6.

[Freak4Dell]

Yeah, putting a manual into it would be a really hard thing to do, and if it's even possible, you'd have to pay a lot.

Your friend didn't really pull any tricks. He just traded in his car and got a new one. His just happened to work out to about the same monthly payment. You just have to play with the numbers a little to figure out how you can pull that off.

I can tell you that a dealer won't offer you anything near what you could actually get for the car. I know that when I had my 2001 Corolla appraised for trade-in at several dealers, the dealer that would've given me the most said $1900. CarMax said $3500. The car had a lot of miles, but was in otherwise really good condition, and I could easily sell it to a private party for upwards of $4500. You'll always get the most money by going with a private party sale, although that takes a lot more time and effort on your part. If you don't want to go that route, go with a place like CarMax. They give more than the dealers do.

If you actually buy a new one, make sure you get a good deal on it, and don't get ripped off. Whether you want to trade in your current car or not, don't mention the trade until the price of the new one is agreed upon. When they ask you if you have anything to trade in, just say that at the moment, there's no trade. It's really good for you to shop around and try and get dealers to beat other dealers out. I usually feed them some bullcrap about why I want to buy from them. If the dealer is close to me, I'll say that I could get a better deal at this other place, but I'd rather just do business with someone who's closer to my location. If that doesn't apply, I'll make up something about how I've heard that the service here is great and I want to buy from a place that has a good reputation. The dealership that I bought from is a family owned dealership, and so I just elaborated that a little and made it sound like the most important thing when choosing a dealership. (I actually can vouch for them, now, since I've bought a car from them, and it might not have anything to do with being family owned, but their service is excellent.)

Anyway, whatever you decide to do, good luck. When it all comes down to it, for a daily driver, keeping a reliable car for as long as it runs is the best thing to do costwise. If you don't care too much about the long-term costs, you can buy another toy or upgrade your current one for about the same initial and monthly costs.

[Jax6S]

It's a really bad move to trade in your 07 right now because you'll lose a lot of money. However, in several years, the amount that you owe might be equal or close to the trade in value. When that happens, then you can trade in your car.

Example: Me! I traded in my 2003 6S for 2006 MS6 and my monthly payment only increase by $15 per month over my old car.

[Heilander]

yeah, im gonna wait at least 2 years i think

in other news, i found out that I can get a much better 0-60 in manual mode of the ATX, so thats sweet. Was about 7.6 in ATX but i can pull mid 6s with the manual + and - mode

[makaveli]

Yeah, keep it for a few years.

[dzbonski]

I was sitting here thinking exactly exactly that question myself. I've found a good deal on an 2007 6s ATX. I'd prefer MTX but this place doesn't have any. I wondered what it would take, even just as an exercise in educations, to put an MTX into a vehicle that was an auto.

We'd need the manual trans, the shifter an linkage, a different plate on the center console, a clutch system (including a pedal, fluids + fluid system)

Thoughts? More details?? I know it's kind of a crazy idea.... but might be worth an interesting discussion.

[nufan422]

lmao i though bout that but ask mrtea. he done a atx to mtx. look up the forum and read it. It is such a hard thing and expensive too. Just find one that got mtx. if u can't find it go look for another. that's how i see it. or just get a speed6.u can easily get a rx-8. mazda cars are just bad resell value. toyota in the other hand is different that's y ur bro got a great deal but mazda in general aren't holding their value. the only car that keeps their value would be the rx-7

[exftw]

i am thinking of doing a ATX to MTX swap for my car next year or so.

Here is what i have heard. its going to be a pain in the ass.
1) i need a MTX transmission (so i either buy one or attempt to salvage one)
2) I need a mazda 6 (same year) MTX ECU (so i have go and find that)
3) installations (getting the clutch and stuff)

overall ... im looking at around 3000 - 5000 if i want a really good job.


but i think that one day i might trade my car in for a 07 ms6... possibly next year.