I am thinking about buying a 2014 Mazda 6. There is a lightly driven nearly new one at a substantial discount. Three questions:
Would you believe it was only driven by the owners wife? as claimed?
If true, can prolonged highway driving damage a new car? I am trained to believe that varying speed, etc. is necessary for break in…is that superseded by new engines and technology
Would I be better off to spend about $3,000 more for a current model year ( 2015) and no miles?
Drive it and have it checked over.
What is your first impression ? Does it feel that the claim is most probably true ?
sounds like a deal.
My 79 was bought as a ‘‘demo’’ at a big discount ( had been broken in to, rear glass broken and radio stolen )…I still have it at a grand total of 71k miles on it.
My 08 Expedition was a dealer use vehicle ( different dealer than mine ), though reatively high miles for its age when I got it, it has been trouble free for me. now 106k.
I don’t think I’ll ever buy new again.
I assume you are going to get the balance of the warranty. I don’t know about the price–at this point, the Mazda you are considering is a used car. In 2006, I bought a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander that was called a “program” car. It had 15,000 miles on the odometer and I think I paid about $16,000. I would still be driving the Uplander, but our son needed a better vehicle so my wife sold it to him a a great family discount price. I has over 120,000 miles on the odometer and has had no major repairs. It runs great and uses no oil Now I have no idea what is meant by a “program car”–it could have been used by a spike tester for the railroad and driven down the tracks to see which spikes were sticking up. I will say that it was as trouble free as the 2011 Toyota Sienna that I bought new to replace the Uplander.
I don’t know about car prices, but I would think a discount of $5000 would be more reasonable.
No,I would not believe it unless she told me herself. But it might be true. Is there a CarFax to see where the car was registered before? This should tell you the type of owner and where it was registered. Don’t put too much faith in CarFax, but it may have some useful information.
Highway miles are easy miles on the car. Of course, this all assumes the car was used as advertised.
Who knows? This might be a good deal and it may not be. Can you get it inspected by an independent mechanic to verify that it has not been in an accident or flood?
Do all the math. How long do you typically keep a new car, then look up the trade in difference one year makes for cars of that age. Many of the 2015s have cam and transmissions reprogrammed for better fuel economy, if that is the case on the car you are interested in, figure in the fuel savings.
If the car you want has a CVT, the third generation CVTs are installed on the 2015’s, the 2014’s have the second generation. The third gen are supposed to handle higher torque.
New cars don’t come with a recommended break in procedure anymore. The basic engine design hasn’t changed but manufacturing techniques have radically changed as have some of the materials used in the wear parts. So it may not matter as much today as it did in the stone age (the age when machining was done with silicon carbide stones instead of carbide or diamond inserts today.
Where is “here”? Florida to New York or Forida to North Carolina or Florida to Georgia? It would have been used as a demo even if the wife drove it, they would still have to call it a demo. That’s over a dollar a mile discount maybe from what the dealer paid. I myself would rather have something that I knew the history of but if you like the money, and all the options and color are OK, and the warranty is intact, big deal. Now if she drove like my sister, no way.
I would be wary of this car’s unknown history, no matter who is claimed as the driver for those 2,300 miles.
While it is true that newer vehicles are less subject to excessive engine wear during the period of initial use than older ones were, there would always be questions in my mind, such as…
HOW was it driven for those initial 2,300 miles
and
Did the driver (or–more likely drivers) make sure that the oil level never dropped too low during that early period when oil consumption can be a bit high?
We are all products of our own experiences, and in my case my experience includes a new Volvo that I bought, and that was driven from a CT dealer to my NJ dealer. While I could never prove it, my suspicion is that the excessive oil burning and the persistent transmission leak were the result of the car being abused during that drive of 200 miles or so.
Yes, it was a Volvo (translation=POS), but I still think that my problems may have been the result of someone hot-rodding that car before I owned it. As a result, I will never again buy a car that has to be “transported” from one dealership to another.
I would buy a brand new 2015 and leave all the guesswork behind if I were you. That’s the safest route here. No one knows the exact history of a vehicle unless it’s the driver and that is subject to change depending on how bad they want to sell the vehicle.
Engine breakin is not as much of an issue as it used to be, but never ever ever believe a single word that comes out of a car saleman’s mouth. Ever.
If you like the car and everything checks out, go for it. I’m not much of a risk taker, so I’d put the extra $3K into the deal for a brand new one. Besides, a $3,000 discount for a 2014 used vehicle against a 2015 model brand new isn’t a good deal anyway. The discount should be at least twice that. In resale or trade in, you’ll lose $5K just for the one-year-earlier model year, and there should be at least another $2K off for the mileage.
Also if some idiot totals your car on you, you will be paid for a one year older car. And don’t forget you can negotiate a deal on the 2015 also. Truecar suggested about $1400 off a base model.
Regardless, all the great suggestions so far cannot decide for you what you find more important; $3000 or piece of mind. All used cars carry the stigma of being used I inappropriately in our personal opinion. You know the maintenance cannot be an issue and new cars driven this way are less susceptible to break in problems. My question is, "could you negotiate a lower price on a car with no miles ? " who drives a new car well enough in the opinion of the “next” buyer. I have never been stung buying a used car when I had it thoroughly checked over by some one I trusted. $3000 IMHO, like others, is still not enough of a discount over a 2015. Negotiate more or buy new.
You did not tell us which trim level and options are.on this car, so telling you if this is a good deal is difficult to do. If you provide that information, we can calculate what a site like TrueCar or Edmunds thinks the car should sell for. Rebates are narrowly targeted and you probably don’t qualify.
It’s a one year old low mileage used car. A one year old used car for $3K less that the original MSRP is too highly priced by at least $3K. Perhaps more.
Stop thinking of it as a new car and begin thinking of it as what it actually is and your perception of the deal will change.
What if this was a Camry? Would you think that $6000 off MSRP would be an apropriate price for a one year old car? Ther are no incentives on the Mazda6 at this time, expect for college grad and active military. Most people won’t qualify for those.
I love dealers, its a brand new peach with 2300 miles when they are trying to sell it to you, but if you bought a new car with zero miles and traded it in with only 1k miles it would be a used car to them.
The owners wife probably did drive it to florida, but what they didn’t tell you is her drug addict Kid borrowed the car for a few nights and smoked crack in it and ramped curbs in it, and neutral dropped the transmission.
These vehicles only make sense if you are going to keep them a long time. When I had company cars, they always bought the most recent year available, since vehiclces were traded every 3 years.
A friend of my wife just bought a 2011 Kia Rondo with only 23,000 miles on it and paid very little compared with the new price. A retired couiple was downsizing from 2 cars to one car.
Mountainbike, I think your numbers are a little off. Edmunds says the difference between a new 2014 iTouring Mazda6 and a used 2014 is $2300. The difference for a new 2015 to a comparable used 2014 is $2500. The difference for a trade is closer at $5000, but that is not relevant. The OP wants to buy a car and not trade it in.
And a very nice car, I hear. Cars.com has it on their list of top ten under appreciated vehicles on the market today. The dealer discount is almost $2000 on average. And the reviewers think it is one of the best sedans on the market for a family sedan.