I'm considering a Ralliart 09 (my local dealer will give me 0.0% APR for 60 months with a Sams Club Membership), and I think I might be able to make the monthly payments once I pickup my second job.

So quick question, just wanting some realistic numbers, how much did you pay monthly + down payment for your ralliart?

And the real question of the thread. I've sat in several ralliarts for the Recaro seats and the Nav package - because getting either is an expensive package and only available in a package.

My opinions so far
- Recaro seats don't seem worth the high price of the package. I don't care for the sound system, headlights, etc. And the stock Ralliart seats seemed comfortable enough. If I wanted the seats really badly, buying aftermarket would still seem a better option - IF I ever think I really want them. The package just seems too expensive
- Paying ~$3000 for the Recaro package is just too much for me when I don't care about the extras that come with it (sound system, HID, etc)
- I REALLY liked the nav system (I sat in a Lancer GTS with it installed, but same system). Now I've used about 3-4 aftermarket GPS systems, but this one really impressed me. The screen is big and clear, easy to use, fast (my old systems took like 3seconds to search for addresses)
- The Nav screen makes the interior look MUCH better. The standard dash just looks extremely bland without it
- Still, as a package ~$1800 for the Nav System seems high.

My dealer gave me 3 printouts of RA's sitting at the port that he can bring in. One with no packages, the other two with one package each, and gave me sticker prices for the 3
RA no packages - 27,599
RA Recaro - 29,984
RA Nav - 29,384

so would love to hear opinions on the packages for the ralliart, because they are a bit steep in price, and I'm not completely sold on them

 

The Recaro seats can be bought off Evo owners on this site that are going the aftermarket route. So if the other package items don't wow you, just pass on them and look to buy later. A good set of aftermarket seats will almost always will be better in terms of feel and weight, but the OEM Recaros come with airbags if that matters to you.

If you cant easily afford the payment now, I wouldn't do it if I were you. Its just asking for trouble, especially since Mitsus hold their value really ****ty and would kill you if you if had to sell and get something else. Also 27,599 seems a bit high, I would definitely try to negotiate a bit on the price a bit. But if you financed for that amount your payment would be around 450 a month. if you paid the taxes and processing out of pocket.

Rule of thumb is to add $20 per thousand so put down an extra $1000 bucks payment would be $430 etc.

 

Also didn't notice you said 09, in that case I would not do the deal at all for that price. Unless your getting it well under invoice plus 0% apr theres no reason to buy an 09.

The 10 have some nice interior upgrades and have one less year of depreciation. This is OT, but I ran some numbers the other day through a few dealers that friends work for and my car is worth an average of 17k with about 11k miles...ouch .

 

thanks a ton for the tip . this would be my first car purchase - I have the skills/workethic to make the money, just not completely sure on what payment goals I should shoot for

and yeah, the 3 prices he gave me were Sticker prices - the sales manager told me that if I was interested he would bring them to the dealership and then we could start negotiating. I was expecting a base Ralliart with no packages to be around 25k, so I WILL haggle for a lower price definitely.

But just seeing the price of a RA with either package makes me cringe for what I get out of them...the packages are just so expensive and bring it so close to Evo X GSR territory in pricing

 

People who have the sound system say it sucks. Check out elsewhere on this forum.

Recaro seats and HID are both nice - but not $3k nice for me! You may as well go the extra steps and buy a GSR if you don't mind losing the TC-SST.

 

sales manager said the 0.0 APR for 60 months is only available for 09 models, 2.9% on 2010's.

and I tried many things in google but couldn't find any list of 2010 changes...just "omg new ralliart SPORTback", which I don't like the style of at all

 

People who have the sound system say it sucks. Check out elsewhere on this forum.

Recaro seats and HID are both nice.

I don't buy extras ...it's like buying candy from the movie theater $5 a bag, when you can get it at the store for $0.50 cents a bag.

 

Exactly what he said. You're paying 27K for a car thats worth about 18-19K.
Also try to have at least 3 months worth of car maintenance, payments, and gas money before you purchase a car.

Plus you'll probably be buying aftermarket parts, so take that into account too.
I'm saying that just cuz I promised myself that I wouldn't purchase anything after I bought the car... but the RA just isn't meant to be driven stock... lol

 

hmmm, I guess that makes sense when you put it that way. I shouldn't pay near premium price for last year's model, even if there weren't many changes

I know I'm probably the 9089042893472th poster to say "I won't be modding my RA", but I'm relatively certain I won't. I'm a driving enthusiast more than a tuner. I'll be coming from a Mazda3. I just can't stand the FWD pulling feeling much more, but the "feeling" of speed is great in the 3, better in the RA (obviously, because it is ) - and that's all I want. A car to enjoy the drive 100%, regardless of numbers.

but who knows, I might jump on the bandwagon when that adrenaline hits me lol - but for now assume I won't

 

Haha those were the exact words that I said lol
Not a tuner just an enthusiast....
I'm not saying you'll tune it 100% but I really did say that haha
I went from 01 celica, then to the 09 mazda 3 for a month then my ralliart.

I started driving the ralliart then read all the posts and then said...
It's an hell of a car right now(stock) but it can be better?? no way... I gotta feel this lol

 

Well at a 2.9%, which is still not bad, your payment jump to around 495. Again this is if you pay the taxes and processing out of pocket.

The 2010 upgrades aren't huge, but they are nice. You get a color display between the speedo instead of the red one, a nicer handbrake, and a few others which I try not to think of when i get in my 09.

As for the FWD to AWD I'm surprised you can tell that much of a difference in a regular mazda 3. Its not really noticeable until you get into higher power numbers and/ or your pushing your car in bad weather.

 

Have ever driven mazda 3 before?? The 2.3L was a lot better than the 2.0L(I think that's what it was...)
I had the 2.0L and it felt so much slow/less torque than the 2.3L.
It felt like I was in a geo...

 

I also came from a 2008 Mazda 3 and I could feel the difference with AWD on the Ralliart right away! Was a very welcome change. =)

-Taranis

 

Yeah I have actually. That fact that its slow has nothing to do with it being a FWD car though which what I thought he was hinting at. For example the 3Speed is much faster and handles better than the ralliart but is FWD, same goes for a few other competitors.

But you can tell much more that it is FWD being of the way it handles because of the power. I personally can barely tell with lower powered FWD cars, which is why i asked.

 

guess I'm too focused on the 0's and not the end totals I'm paying. I'll take a closer look again as I get closer to purchase

is the "nicer handbrake" just a different material or different shape/build? or both? just wondering - I like to pull it sometimes when I need to make narrow 180s (in a completely safe environment of course )

I just remember in 09, all the "rumors" of 2010 changes of a standard 5spd manual - that made me "" when I saw them - and what do you know, it was never true

yeah I can tell the difference. in my family's household right now (home for the holidays), these are the cars that I drive, in the order I enjoy them
2006 Mazda 3 GT (Manual)
1990 Toyota Tacoma (Manual, RWD)
2004 Camry XLE (Auto) - honestly I'd rather have someone pick me up than drive this thing - I fall asleep

but I barely enjoy the mazda3 much more than my aging tacoma these days (which was completely barebones base, it barely revs up to 3.5k rpm, didn't even have a tachometer). I felt the difference with the test drives on the RA - I was sure to get more than just freeway cruising on my test drive

anyway still looking for input on the packages - but so far I'm still convinced that either of them just aren't worth the high prices. Any word on people doing their own aftermarket in-dash installations with other GPS Nav systems? I just hate the look of the standard interior