Poppy D
2021 CX9 GT
Youri, this is good advice. Thank you. My calculations were preliminary and the Mazda deals, so to speak, were their initial offers, without any pushback from me. I didn't want to spend hours at the dealer. I felt it was more effective to visit another Mazda dealer then work one off other. I suspect when I visit the other local Mazda dealer today, they may sweeten the pot when they learn about their competition which I may inflate a little ... maybe, maybe not. The problem I have with the $3,000 offer is it is tied to the Mazda's financing at 4.9% which for $20,000 for 60 months is $2,590 in interest. So my net discount is really $410. I need to find out if there is a pre-payment penalty, if not, then I can refinance at 3%. In either case, I was hoping for a substantial discount that isn't tied to any dealer financing.Sounds to me like the two offers they presented are the standard discounts offered by Mazda Corporate. i.e. that may be their full price without dealer negotiation. The dealer rebates may be hidden in how much they are giving you for the Equinox however, some dealers may offer a bigger retail price off but less for your Equinox. Price varies but definitely check the "how much did you pay for your CX-9 post on this forum to get an idea of what other users have paid"
With regards to the interest rate. 0% is hardly ever free and consumer almost always pay for them one way or another. For example, in my area (Canada) at regular price Ford has 0% interest rate offers, during Ford Employee Pricing event the prices are lower but the interest rate higher. I think Mazdas may be unique because they present you the 2 interest options. (I may be wrong here though, the only cars I bought new were Mazdas). In both new car purchase for me it was cheaper to take the higher interest route with the bigger rebate, and that's is without cash downpayment. It is counterintuitive, but sometime 0% isn't cheaper. You showed it with your calculation above. If you get the 0% you save $2,062 as opposed to saving $3,000 if you go with 3% interest rate, so the 3% interest rate would offer a net saving of $938 compared to the 0% option on a $20,000 loan. If you are torn between the 0% or not, just go with the cheaper deal overall. If you have a hard time figuring out which one is cheaper on the spot, the monthly payments don't lie. If the monthly payment are cheaper for the same 60 month period, then it is cheaper. (Bonus, in my case the 4% loan with my bank could be reimbursed at anytime for no fees, I payed it faster and saved even more money.)
That being said, both offers mentioned seems to me like standard Mazda corporate mark-off available at any Mazda, not a deal from the dealer.
The second dealer actually has in stock the car we want. So maybe they may be motived to move it. I'll find out this afternoon. Wish me luck.