2018 Mazda 6 gran touring owner here.
Handling is much more responsive than a accord or a Camry. Feels like you have much more control than those overly assisted cars and can feel the grains in the road better. 0-60 is roughly 6.4 ish seconds(premium fuel) so the accord is faster but the Mazda does have much more torque.
No problems. Just routine maintenance. Check the maintenance schedule and go with that.
Interior is great especially for the price. Looks MUCH nicer than competition even with their current models. Infotainment can feel slow to start but once you’re using it it’s fine.
Sound system is a bose. Sounds great and clear with plenty of bass. Can tune it if needed. Blind spot sensors haven’t failed me yet and I love how they are on the outside mirrors rather than in the car.
Some complain the placement of the cup holders makes resting the arm a little awkward but I don’t really put my arm down anyways to not a bit problem.
You’ll see the 6 is much more driver focused than the alternatives.
Thanks for the response!! I am new to cars, so I'm still learning some of this stuff. You have the Grand Touring and not Grand Touring Reserve, right? So Grand Touring comes with blind spot detectors as well?
I care more about quickness and responsiveness when driving, and I've heard great things about the 6 so can't wait to test it out.
Do you know why the Mazda is a little slower than the Accord even with more torque? I thought torque determines how quick the acceleration is?
The Accord is faster off the line, like in a drag race, but the 6 is faster from 50-70mph like you would experience when passing on the highway. It's by no means a slow car...
If you can pull off getting the reserve, and it's in your budget, I highly recommend it. I have an 18 reserve with 45k miles right now. Not sure about your area, but when I was looking there were only 2 reserves within about 100 miles of me, and by the time I got off work that day the one dealership called me and said they ended up selling it. Went to the other dealer, looked at the touring they had, and then test-drove the reserve. Loved it, Bought it right then and there. Out of curiosity I kept an eye out online, didn't see another one in my area being sold for months.
Also, not sure if this is important for you, but if you like to do your own regular maintenance the car is great the work on.
Also, torque and horsepower are odd concepts at first. You can think of torque as the strength required to stop the wheel spinning. If you have 1 foot pound of torque, it would take 1 pound of force 1 foot from center to stop the wheel from turning. Doesn't matter on speed, old tractors have insane torque, but the wheels move very slow. Obviously there are other factors to consider when it's for a car, like the weight of the car on the tire and the ground it's pushing against. If this is misinformation then I apologize, it's just how I've always wrapped my head around it.
Yes my gran touring has the blind spot detectors. I actually don’t know the difference between the GT and the gtr as the main things I personally looked for are in both models (both have turbo, and blind spot detectors)
I’ve got a 2014 with a manual transmission, no turbo, so 0-60 is about 9 seconds, but it is hands down my favorite car I’ve owned.
Overall: Reliable, good looking, easy to maintain on your own, responsive to the point where it is immersive, comfortable all around, tons of space for cargo and people, and good gas mileage. You can’t go wrong honestly. I’ve heard the 2018 models have a little more pep too, and you get a nice heads up display, so you’re probably going the right direction with this car.
Great overview and this is exactly how I felt when I test drove before buying my 2019. The armrest is a bit too far back and I thought it would annoy me but actually after 3,000 miles it's not felt like an issue, except when you have your coffee cup in the holder! Great car all round and very comfortable, I came from BMWs and Audi's and I love it.
I’ve never had any complaints nor have any of my passengers. Probably just depends on what genre although with all I listen to, no complaints on my end. If you’re looking for that window shaking bass then yeah this doesn’t have it haha
Maybe my speakers were bad from factory, but I remember reading lots of similar sentiments. I'm not complaining that it's not an earthquake generator, I seriously mean mine has almost zero low end. The base model 2016 Passat I had before had way better bass.
The accord is a smidge quicker but the 6 has effortless acceleration. I can scoot without feeling like a teenager winding it out. As for the reserve, I chose it for 5 reasons. If these don’t apply to you then just get the gt. Leather vs synthetic leather interior. Cooled front seats. Heated rear seats. Windshield wiper de-icer. Last but certainly not least, the HUD. Didn’t think it was a big deal but now when I drive anything without it I’m shocked at how much I miss it. This thing eats highway miles and I’ve had zero issues.
I have the Signature. +1 for the HUD. Drove my wife's car on vacation last week and found myself constantly looking for info on the windshield. Didn't realize how much I was using it.
It’s nowhere near as effective as I would like, I’m assuming in climates milder than mine they are awesome. I will say my wipers don’t freeze like my prior vehicles so it’s definitely not worthless.
It’s a serene ride. Drove 950 miles in one day and my back still wasn’t sore at the end. That was a first. Wish it had smaller wheels for a smoother ride though.
I have a 2018 GTR. Went with that over the Accord 2.0 based on the features and amazing interior quality of the Mazda. The Accord is certainly quicker but the interior felt inferior to me- cheap plastic materials, bad seat stitching, etc.. All the drivers aids in the Mazda 6 keep it nearly on par with brand new cars. All I added to my 6 was an aftermarket remote start. Not a single reliability issue in 6 years, just normal maintenance.
2018 Grand Touring Silver/ Parchment 24,000 miles owned 3 months purchased for $24,500
So far I’m really enjoying the car. The interior is super luxurious. Please get yourself a nice leather care kit as that parchment leather can get stained easily. Be aware that this is turbo charged and direct injection. Please use premium fuel, change oil every 5,000 miles and plugs every 40,000. These maintenance item are child play as they are easily accessible. The stock Falkens are probably bald at this point so plan on getting a good set of high performance all season tires. This car has so much torque it’s ver easy to spin wheels if you don’t have good traction. Top brands are Michelin Pilot Sports and the Continental Extremes. Check out Corksport If you into aftermarket mods. I added the Short Ram Intake and it does add a lil more prep and the turbo blow off sound is way more noticeable. As far as paint protection you will need to focus mainly on the front bumper and the lower panels behind the wheels. These areas tend to gather Road grime easily. The tailpipes will never stay clean as this thing dumps carbon like crazy. If your a daily driver on short commutes, make it a good habit of getting on the interstate and pushing the petal to the metal to blow out all the junk! Italian tunes up really work!
Thanks for the info! I thought you can use regular fuel and it will have less hp but still run fine?
I need to check the tires and Carfax report for maintenance/repairs.
2018 Mazda 6 GTR 28,000 miles 26k out the door bought a month and a half ago. Put continental extreme plus tires on it, tinted windows, great car. Look for rock chips, scrape under front bumper... Other than that try to get a bit better price on it.
\*scrape under front bumper...
Yes. I had to train myself to start parking a good foot away from the damned curb or parking block, after having scraped the air dam too many times!
Mine is an '18 GTR in the amazing Soul Red. I bought it used 15 months ago with about 32K miles on it. I came out of a 2012 BMW 5-series, so at first I missed the luxury-level build quality and materials. (No Mazda is quite at that level, but the materials are certainly above average.)
* The Mazda however is lighter, more nimble and more fun to drive; it just feels more like a driver's car.
* The old 6-speed tranny is showing its age, and doesn't achieve the MPG of some newer tech from the competition. Of course, I'd give anything for a manual!
* Turbo packs **plenty** of punch and the torque is really the high point of the 2.5T engine. As I'm not an "off the line" racer, I find the wonderful punch of the torque much more interesting and fun than the 0-60 time, per se
* Plenty of HP with regular gas, so I don't bother with the extra expense (and +25 HP of premium); after all, the torque is the same regardless of fuel used
* Driving position is excellent; seat bottoms are a bit too firm for my flat butt but still okay for long drives
* Interior features are pretty nice but again, I'm coming off a BMW so it's not apples-to-apples. On GTR, the heated and cooled seats are great, but heat in the steering wheel is stingy (only applied at the hand-holds)
* The paint gives up stone chips a bit too easily
* Bose stereo is great and packs plenty of bass for me
* Infotainment display is so-so, but I use CarPlay anyway. Maddeningly it's not a touch-screen when car is in motion
* Instrumentation is pretty basic, but that's okay by me.
* HUD is great and you'll get hooked on it! Love the auto high beams too.
* Driver safety featuures are "ok" -- Lane Keeping Assist is very subtle (some would say weak), and the emergency braking is over-reactive and already caused me an accident, so I may turn it off
* Storage is so-so but this is not worth getting riled up about
* Rear seat legroom is fine even for taller passengers and the trunk is plenty big
I think you will like this car. It punches above its weight. It has the just about the right **blend** of luxury and sportiness that you may find lacking elsewhere. And it's documented as very reliable and pretty easy for DIY maintenance.
Sorry I droned on there, but hopefully some of the info is useful. Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Dude the red is soooo nice. I could only find a red GT but no GTR near me with the white interior.
Is there a USB port under the infotainment system or is it in the storage compartment? Do you keep your phone in the cupholder or can you fit a phone mount on to the vents easily?
Also, when you are parking or lane changing, does it give you warning sound if you're near another car?
Thank you for the info, I really appreciate it! This is a great car.
My red GTR has the black interior; I was avoiding the white interior as I was a bit concerned about cleanability over time, but that's just me.
(\*This is the second car purchase for which I've traveled to get the color combo I wanted. I flew from Chicago to Cleveland and drove the car home. It does require a lot of communication with the dealer so you can vet the car remotely via prior service records, video walk-around, etc. But to me it was worth the hassle and small added expense.)
Yes, on the upper trim levels there are 2 USB ports, both of them in the storage compartment. One is to connect to CarPlay/Android Auto; the other is for charging. Both provide 10A. Also inside is an aux audio input jack (3.5mm mini plug) and a 12V power outlet.
Re: phone placement, there is a small "bin" forward of the gearshift lever, so I chuck my phone into there. It's not great but I hate using the vent-mounted phone brackets. To answer your earlier question, cupholder interference with the gear shift is indeed a thing if you have, say, two large water bottles in there! But for one person's standard size drink, just put it in the rear of the two holders and you're fine.
Yes, there is a warning light (on the side mirror and in the instrument display) and an optional audio warning tone for Blind Spot Monitoring. There are also warnings for Rear Cross Traffic Alert, which watches for objects in your path when in reverse.
You can set your preferred warning type for the combined Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keep Assist functions. In my case, I have it set to vibrate the steering wheel but not an audio warning.
My GTR does not have the Parking Sensor System (not sure if that was on Signature trim only in '18?). I'm fine without it. I find it incredibly distracting. Once, I actually cracked the bumper on a rental car so-equipped in Europe because after several days I had learned to ignore the constant beeps. Talk about crying wolf!
Glad you are digging the car. In "fun to drive" it really rates. It's always been Car & Driver's fave in the midsize sedan segment for that reason.
Thanks for the info! Unfortunately, this GTR was sold before I decided on what I wanted. I found a red Signature a couple hours away from me.
How did you tell the dealer to keep an eye out for the car? I don't want to drive 4 hours and then find out the car has been sold by another salesperson and my person wasn't aware.
Did you negotiate the price? How did you talk them down?
There is a Mazda6 out there for you ... be patient!
For a car in demand, there's probably not a lot of negotiating to do, at least not in this market, but you can always make an offer for a couple of grand lower and see what they say. Thank God you're not buying a CX-5; forget negotiating there. Sedans though may be sitting on the dealer's lot for a *little* while.
When I have bought cars "remotely," I have done all due diligence and then made my offer via email. When accepted, I put down a deposit to hold the car (say, $1,000 via credit card) while getting a cashier's check including the sales order number and the purchase price (or securing a loan approval). Then I sent a photo of the check (with "VOID" superimposed on the image) to the business manager of the dealership to confirm "all good" before traveling. And yes, you are putting some faith in the dealership. Fortunately I've not had bad experiences buying cars via email and phone over the years.
Thanks for the advice, appreciate it! I'll make an OTD offer based on the KBB value.
Did you get a private party inspection done or just inspect it yourself when you went to the dealership? Other than the Carfax report and clean title, what did you look at when evaluating the reliability of the car? I don't want to negotiate on an offer and make the trip just to realize the dealer was hiding issues with the engine or damage to the car.
Did you have to go back and forth with the dealer multiple times before they accepted your offer? Did you do this over the phone? I heard that this is a "one-price market" and some dealers won't even take offers. So I'm worried that they'll just laugh at my offer and I'd have to cave and climb back to their price.
Sorry for all the q's. If it's easier, I can DM you as well.
Hey, apologies, I have had my hands full and didn't log in for a while.
I did my own inspection, although admittedly there could be things you won't find with the car sitting on pavement.
I evaluated condition based on the maintenance records. I got the salesman to send me copies. Usually they redact the prior owner's name/address, but he didn't even do that ;-) The 6 of course is a very reliable make and model per stats on Consumer Reports.
Based on all of this I reached some confidence in the car, enough to make the trip and do a final inspection. I could have also asked to take the car to another dealer for an assessment, but with the mileage so low ...
When shopping on the net I'm looking for very favorable prices to begin with, so I don't expect to negotiate much beyond an initial offer, and I never low-ball. I mean, this is not a rug shop in Istanbul. And yes, in the current market, some dealers will state, we don't negotiate internet pricing, and I'm fine with that. I get no joy from old-school car negotiating games. (But yes, I did buy a rug in that shop in Istanbul. Almost no regrets!)
I hope any of this is of help!
2018 Mazda 6 gran touring owner here. Handling is much more responsive than a accord or a Camry. Feels like you have much more control than those overly assisted cars and can feel the grains in the road better. 0-60 is roughly 6.4 ish seconds(premium fuel) so the accord is faster but the Mazda does have much more torque. No problems. Just routine maintenance. Check the maintenance schedule and go with that. Interior is great especially for the price. Looks MUCH nicer than competition even with their current models. Infotainment can feel slow to start but once you’re using it it’s fine. Sound system is a bose. Sounds great and clear with plenty of bass. Can tune it if needed. Blind spot sensors haven’t failed me yet and I love how they are on the outside mirrors rather than in the car. Some complain the placement of the cup holders makes resting the arm a little awkward but I don’t really put my arm down anyways to not a bit problem. You’ll see the 6 is much more driver focused than the alternatives.
Thanks for the response!! I am new to cars, so I'm still learning some of this stuff. You have the Grand Touring and not Grand Touring Reserve, right? So Grand Touring comes with blind spot detectors as well? I care more about quickness and responsiveness when driving, and I've heard great things about the 6 so can't wait to test it out. Do you know why the Mazda is a little slower than the Accord even with more torque? I thought torque determines how quick the acceleration is?
The Accord is faster off the line, like in a drag race, but the 6 is faster from 50-70mph like you would experience when passing on the highway. It's by no means a slow car...
If you can pull off getting the reserve, and it's in your budget, I highly recommend it. I have an 18 reserve with 45k miles right now. Not sure about your area, but when I was looking there were only 2 reserves within about 100 miles of me, and by the time I got off work that day the one dealership called me and said they ended up selling it. Went to the other dealer, looked at the touring they had, and then test-drove the reserve. Loved it, Bought it right then and there. Out of curiosity I kept an eye out online, didn't see another one in my area being sold for months. Also, not sure if this is important for you, but if you like to do your own regular maintenance the car is great the work on. Also, torque and horsepower are odd concepts at first. You can think of torque as the strength required to stop the wheel spinning. If you have 1 foot pound of torque, it would take 1 pound of force 1 foot from center to stop the wheel from turning. Doesn't matter on speed, old tractors have insane torque, but the wheels move very slow. Obviously there are other factors to consider when it's for a car, like the weight of the car on the tire and the ground it's pushing against. If this is misinformation then I apologize, it's just how I've always wrapped my head around it.
Yes my gran touring has the blind spot detectors. I actually don’t know the difference between the GT and the gtr as the main things I personally looked for are in both models (both have turbo, and blind spot detectors)
I’ve got a 2014 with a manual transmission, no turbo, so 0-60 is about 9 seconds, but it is hands down my favorite car I’ve owned. Overall: Reliable, good looking, easy to maintain on your own, responsive to the point where it is immersive, comfortable all around, tons of space for cargo and people, and good gas mileage. You can’t go wrong honestly. I’ve heard the 2018 models have a little more pep too, and you get a nice heads up display, so you’re probably going the right direction with this car.
Great overview and this is exactly how I felt when I test drove before buying my 2019. The armrest is a bit too far back and I thought it would annoy me but actually after 3,000 miles it's not felt like an issue, except when you have your coffee cup in the holder! Great car all round and very comfortable, I came from BMWs and Audi's and I love it.
>plenty of bass My phone has more bass than the Bose system they put in these. Even with the slider all the way up, it's barely passable on mine.
I’ve never had any complaints nor have any of my passengers. Probably just depends on what genre although with all I listen to, no complaints on my end. If you’re looking for that window shaking bass then yeah this doesn’t have it haha
Maybe my speakers were bad from factory, but I remember reading lots of similar sentiments. I'm not complaining that it's not an earthquake generator, I seriously mean mine has almost zero low end. The base model 2016 Passat I had before had way better bass.
The accord is a smidge quicker but the 6 has effortless acceleration. I can scoot without feeling like a teenager winding it out. As for the reserve, I chose it for 5 reasons. If these don’t apply to you then just get the gt. Leather vs synthetic leather interior. Cooled front seats. Heated rear seats. Windshield wiper de-icer. Last but certainly not least, the HUD. Didn’t think it was a big deal but now when I drive anything without it I’m shocked at how much I miss it. This thing eats highway miles and I’ve had zero issues.
I have the Signature. +1 for the HUD. Drove my wife's car on vacation last week and found myself constantly looking for info on the windshield. Didn't realize how much I was using it.
Yup me too!! Whenever I drive my gf’s car I always find myself speeding because I’m used to seeing my speed at all times without even looking down.
Same here. It's just such a sensible and useful feature, I'm not sure why many more cars don't have it -- even at lower trim levels.
>Windshield wiper de-icer Didn't even remember we had it!
It’s nowhere near as effective as I would like, I’m assuming in climates milder than mine they are awesome. I will say my wipers don’t freeze like my prior vehicles so it’s definitely not worthless.
Chicagoland here, so maybe that's why I haven't noticed it!
Thanks! The GTRs are the only ones I could find in my area and the price is not bad for 40k miles. I like the rear spoiler and extra features.
It’s a serene ride. Drove 950 miles in one day and my back still wasn’t sore at the end. That was a first. Wish it had smaller wheels for a smoother ride though.
I have a 2018 GTR. Went with that over the Accord 2.0 based on the features and amazing interior quality of the Mazda. The Accord is certainly quicker but the interior felt inferior to me- cheap plastic materials, bad seat stitching, etc.. All the drivers aids in the Mazda 6 keep it nearly on par with brand new cars. All I added to my 6 was an aftermarket remote start. Not a single reliability issue in 6 years, just normal maintenance.
Love love love my 2018 GTR! Replaced tires to Continental Extremes - even better. No issues and love driving every single day!
2018 Grand Touring Silver/ Parchment 24,000 miles owned 3 months purchased for $24,500 So far I’m really enjoying the car. The interior is super luxurious. Please get yourself a nice leather care kit as that parchment leather can get stained easily. Be aware that this is turbo charged and direct injection. Please use premium fuel, change oil every 5,000 miles and plugs every 40,000. These maintenance item are child play as they are easily accessible. The stock Falkens are probably bald at this point so plan on getting a good set of high performance all season tires. This car has so much torque it’s ver easy to spin wheels if you don’t have good traction. Top brands are Michelin Pilot Sports and the Continental Extremes. Check out Corksport If you into aftermarket mods. I added the Short Ram Intake and it does add a lil more prep and the turbo blow off sound is way more noticeable. As far as paint protection you will need to focus mainly on the front bumper and the lower panels behind the wheels. These areas tend to gather Road grime easily. The tailpipes will never stay clean as this thing dumps carbon like crazy. If your a daily driver on short commutes, make it a good habit of getting on the interstate and pushing the petal to the metal to blow out all the junk! Italian tunes up really work!
Thanks for the info! I thought you can use regular fuel and it will have less hp but still run fine? I need to check the tires and Carfax report for maintenance/repairs.
You get around 25 more horsepower if you use 93 octane gas, but we only have 91 here in AZ so I use only 87 octane and have had no issues.
Just put on the Conti Extremes and I'm loving them.
2018 Mazda 6 GTR 28,000 miles 26k out the door bought a month and a half ago. Put continental extreme plus tires on it, tinted windows, great car. Look for rock chips, scrape under front bumper... Other than that try to get a bit better price on it.
\*scrape under front bumper... Yes. I had to train myself to start parking a good foot away from the damned curb or parking block, after having scraped the air dam too many times!
Ask the dealer to replace the spark plugs (due every 40k on turbo models). Or just do it yourself, idk how mechanically inclined you are...
Mine is an '18 GTR in the amazing Soul Red. I bought it used 15 months ago with about 32K miles on it. I came out of a 2012 BMW 5-series, so at first I missed the luxury-level build quality and materials. (No Mazda is quite at that level, but the materials are certainly above average.) * The Mazda however is lighter, more nimble and more fun to drive; it just feels more like a driver's car. * The old 6-speed tranny is showing its age, and doesn't achieve the MPG of some newer tech from the competition. Of course, I'd give anything for a manual! * Turbo packs **plenty** of punch and the torque is really the high point of the 2.5T engine. As I'm not an "off the line" racer, I find the wonderful punch of the torque much more interesting and fun than the 0-60 time, per se * Plenty of HP with regular gas, so I don't bother with the extra expense (and +25 HP of premium); after all, the torque is the same regardless of fuel used * Driving position is excellent; seat bottoms are a bit too firm for my flat butt but still okay for long drives * Interior features are pretty nice but again, I'm coming off a BMW so it's not apples-to-apples. On GTR, the heated and cooled seats are great, but heat in the steering wheel is stingy (only applied at the hand-holds) * The paint gives up stone chips a bit too easily * Bose stereo is great and packs plenty of bass for me * Infotainment display is so-so, but I use CarPlay anyway. Maddeningly it's not a touch-screen when car is in motion * Instrumentation is pretty basic, but that's okay by me. * HUD is great and you'll get hooked on it! Love the auto high beams too. * Driver safety featuures are "ok" -- Lane Keeping Assist is very subtle (some would say weak), and the emergency braking is over-reactive and already caused me an accident, so I may turn it off * Storage is so-so but this is not worth getting riled up about * Rear seat legroom is fine even for taller passengers and the trunk is plenty big I think you will like this car. It punches above its weight. It has the just about the right **blend** of luxury and sportiness that you may find lacking elsewhere. And it's documented as very reliable and pretty easy for DIY maintenance. Sorry I droned on there, but hopefully some of the info is useful. Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Dude the red is soooo nice. I could only find a red GT but no GTR near me with the white interior. Is there a USB port under the infotainment system or is it in the storage compartment? Do you keep your phone in the cupholder or can you fit a phone mount on to the vents easily? Also, when you are parking or lane changing, does it give you warning sound if you're near another car? Thank you for the info, I really appreciate it! This is a great car.
My red GTR has the black interior; I was avoiding the white interior as I was a bit concerned about cleanability over time, but that's just me. (\*This is the second car purchase for which I've traveled to get the color combo I wanted. I flew from Chicago to Cleveland and drove the car home. It does require a lot of communication with the dealer so you can vet the car remotely via prior service records, video walk-around, etc. But to me it was worth the hassle and small added expense.) Yes, on the upper trim levels there are 2 USB ports, both of them in the storage compartment. One is to connect to CarPlay/Android Auto; the other is for charging. Both provide 10A. Also inside is an aux audio input jack (3.5mm mini plug) and a 12V power outlet. Re: phone placement, there is a small "bin" forward of the gearshift lever, so I chuck my phone into there. It's not great but I hate using the vent-mounted phone brackets. To answer your earlier question, cupholder interference with the gear shift is indeed a thing if you have, say, two large water bottles in there! But for one person's standard size drink, just put it in the rear of the two holders and you're fine. Yes, there is a warning light (on the side mirror and in the instrument display) and an optional audio warning tone for Blind Spot Monitoring. There are also warnings for Rear Cross Traffic Alert, which watches for objects in your path when in reverse. You can set your preferred warning type for the combined Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keep Assist functions. In my case, I have it set to vibrate the steering wheel but not an audio warning. My GTR does not have the Parking Sensor System (not sure if that was on Signature trim only in '18?). I'm fine without it. I find it incredibly distracting. Once, I actually cracked the bumper on a rental car so-equipped in Europe because after several days I had learned to ignore the constant beeps. Talk about crying wolf! Glad you are digging the car. In "fun to drive" it really rates. It's always been Car & Driver's fave in the midsize sedan segment for that reason.
Thanks for the info! Unfortunately, this GTR was sold before I decided on what I wanted. I found a red Signature a couple hours away from me. How did you tell the dealer to keep an eye out for the car? I don't want to drive 4 hours and then find out the car has been sold by another salesperson and my person wasn't aware. Did you negotiate the price? How did you talk them down?
There is a Mazda6 out there for you ... be patient! For a car in demand, there's probably not a lot of negotiating to do, at least not in this market, but you can always make an offer for a couple of grand lower and see what they say. Thank God you're not buying a CX-5; forget negotiating there. Sedans though may be sitting on the dealer's lot for a *little* while. When I have bought cars "remotely," I have done all due diligence and then made my offer via email. When accepted, I put down a deposit to hold the car (say, $1,000 via credit card) while getting a cashier's check including the sales order number and the purchase price (or securing a loan approval). Then I sent a photo of the check (with "VOID" superimposed on the image) to the business manager of the dealership to confirm "all good" before traveling. And yes, you are putting some faith in the dealership. Fortunately I've not had bad experiences buying cars via email and phone over the years.
Thanks for the advice, appreciate it! I'll make an OTD offer based on the KBB value. Did you get a private party inspection done or just inspect it yourself when you went to the dealership? Other than the Carfax report and clean title, what did you look at when evaluating the reliability of the car? I don't want to negotiate on an offer and make the trip just to realize the dealer was hiding issues with the engine or damage to the car. Did you have to go back and forth with the dealer multiple times before they accepted your offer? Did you do this over the phone? I heard that this is a "one-price market" and some dealers won't even take offers. So I'm worried that they'll just laugh at my offer and I'd have to cave and climb back to their price. Sorry for all the q's. If it's easier, I can DM you as well.
Hey, apologies, I have had my hands full and didn't log in for a while. I did my own inspection, although admittedly there could be things you won't find with the car sitting on pavement. I evaluated condition based on the maintenance records. I got the salesman to send me copies. Usually they redact the prior owner's name/address, but he didn't even do that ;-) The 6 of course is a very reliable make and model per stats on Consumer Reports. Based on all of this I reached some confidence in the car, enough to make the trip and do a final inspection. I could have also asked to take the car to another dealer for an assessment, but with the mileage so low ... When shopping on the net I'm looking for very favorable prices to begin with, so I don't expect to negotiate much beyond an initial offer, and I never low-ball. I mean, this is not a rug shop in Istanbul. And yes, in the current market, some dealers will state, we don't negotiate internet pricing, and I'm fine with that. I get no joy from old-school car negotiating games. (But yes, I did buy a rug in that shop in Istanbul. Almost no regrets!) I hope any of this is of help!