New MX5 - does anyone pay list price?

I’m looking at buying a new MX5. What discount should I realistically expect as a cash buyer?

Hi Vinny,

Get on Carwow and run yourself a quote. It’s usually about £700 off list.
Mazda are currently offering 0% finance over 36 months and giving £500 deposit.
You should be able to get both the discount and deposit contribution.
However do bear in mind that you can buy a 3 year old 2.0 convertible with low miles for £15k, almost half list, so they depreciate fairly heavily.

On carwow i was offered £2597 off list on a 2.0 gt sport tech on a pcp which can be settled at no cost if finance is not required.

You might get a 2018 (18 plate) ND1 2.0 convertible for £15k with the older engine - But an ND2 with revised engine will be more…
Rob

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Was that on 0% though?

They are giving £2k deposit contribution at 3.4% Apr.

Yeah true, more like £18k

If you really want an example of high depreciation look at Chinese stuff, MG/Ssangyong etc, and Dacia, Mitsubishi, and anything with a big Diesel engine, etc etc.
I don’t think MX5’s are any worse than most other cars, plus the RRP has increased considerably which skews figures when comparing used with new.
The car market is just daft at the moment with prices all over the place. £65k for a nicely specced BMW 3 series? Madness. I blame pcp’s. It’ll all come crashing down eventually much like the mortgage thingy years ago.

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Take the finance contribution of £2k plus whatever extra discount you can get, and them settle the finance after a couple of months.

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I looked on some car discount sites and my local dealer offered the same - a £500 discount on a 2.0 car. I also selected the 3.4% offer, as the £2000 contribution basically covers the interest, so it worked out slightly better value the way I wanted to do it. However if you then pay it all off you get the £500 plus the £2,000. As I get a car allowance, I wanted to pay something monthly, but I put down a £5k deposit. Also at effectively 0% I am not tying my capital up and my wife is free to spend it on more important things!!

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Cash deals are pretty poor I think as the dealers don’t make anything out of them. I’ve bought new for many years due to being on PCP but the main worry is the 20% you lose leaving the forecourt due to VAT which requires thinking about additional GAP insurance. If I had the cash I’d probably look for one I don’t have to lose the VAT on i.e. pre-owned but as new as possible.

Most insurance companies will replace a written off car with a new one within the first 12 months, some will in the second year as well, so GAP insurance is a waste of money even if renting on a PCP.
There are conditions though, the main one being you have to be the first registered keeper, so it wouldn’t apply to a pre reg or used car.
Buying on finance and getting the dealer/manufacture/finance company ‘contribution’ then paying it off within a few days is usually cheaper than paying cash these days - I just feel a bit sorry for the revolving PCP renters who are ultimately paying for it. The price of having a shiny new car every 3 or 4 years I guess.

There is so little profit in a new car for the dealers. They like “Revolving Customers” who keep a constant rolling PCP agreement going whilst changing cars. The profit is largely the selling of GAP to the customer, “Guard” products to protect trim and paint, and individualised insurance, accident damage cover etc. A higher percentage of profit for the dealers is when they get a nice one back from PCP and can retail it again.
From a private owners point-of-view, the more we change our cars, the more it cost’s us…

It’s not about selling cars these days, it’s about finance.
If they can sell every car on finance and then have it traded back in a financed again that’s a win win for them.
As long as you know what you are doing and only spend what you can afford that’s ok.
TBH even if you buy cash you are paying a monthly amount in depreciation, so it’s not a lot different, and why tie up a lot of savings in a depreciating asset. Invest it somewhere.

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Fully agree - I could pay off the car in full, but choose not to, as I get a car allowance anyway, so that covers the cost. I would rather use my money to invest in stocks (I made over 100% return in the last year!) or spend it on other things like - oh whats that thing again, I cannot remember - oh yes holidays! Or this year for doing work to the garden as that is where I am likely to be holidaying this year!!

Thanks for all the replies. I visited the dealer today and it seems there is very little margin on the cars, except though a PCP deal when Mazda throw in a £2K discount if you sign up to one. So I did, and apparently if you cancel the PCP within 14 days (a ‘withdrawal’) there are no penalties except interest for the days the loan ran.

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I always find it is best when buying a new car to get a carwow quote and wave it under the nose of your local dealer and ask them to match it. Tell them that you will have no hesitation to order from the dealer carwow have found if they don’t. Your local dealer will usually after some time huddled in their office and a lot of head shaking, come up with a match or one very near it. I got £6k off of the list price of my Audi S3 two years ago by doing this. Always go prepared and do your homework before visiting the dealer. Don’t put up with the usual dealerspeak of “very little margin” etc. etc.

I did the Carwow thing. All of them (there weren’t that many!) came up with PCP deals, all about the same as my dealer was offering as the starting negotiation point, i.e about £2.5K of a £30 K car. Carwow produced NO cash / non-PCP deals, they all relied on Mazda’s £2k and a PCP cancellation within 14 days…

It seems Mazda feel they haven’t much competition now with the mx-5, I got £3k off of my 1.8 Venture Edition in 2012 and that was with a much lower list price (£18995) and 0% over 3 years!

Car WOW is good advice, I got some of the best offers when was looking for a new 2.0 RF at the end of 2019. I also browsed their nearly new section from Car WOW dealers. It threw three cars where a dealer pre-registered cars on 29-Dec, I guess to meet their quota. Test drove the car in January with 38 miles on the clock and brought it! Compared to 2020 list prices it was ~25% discount, lucky timing I guess! Peter

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I bought my 2018 ND2 2litre in July last year at a higher price, because the increase in new prices in 2020 inevitably raised used values. Not such lucky timing! Don’t regret it though - Is a great little car :slight_smile:
Rob