I have been off for spring break for a while, and now there are like 9thousand new posts. I will be reading them while I wait for responses to this thread. I know this is long, but this is a very hard and important decision for me which I'd love you guys to help me out with. I would be VERY thankful if you read it all and post your comments.

I just came back from the Infiniti dealership (went there for an oil change). I have a late 04 Coupe 6MT with less than 3k miles on it and has been babied plus had 2 premium oil changes done so far (yes extreme care, but that is how I am). While I waited, I asked to have a test drive on the new 05 6MT Coupe. Well, ever since I read all the stats and saw pictures of the 05, I loved EVERYTHING but the new 19 inch rims and the fact that they don’t have brembos anymore (orange window wiper rubber is something else I don’t like but not a big problem).

To help you guys understand what I felt while driving it I'll give you more details. First off, I sit down and want to adjust the seat. I look for the lever to tilt the seat and there isn't one, it’s done electronically... which I think is much better. Then, I turn on the car and hear the same gorgeous muffler sound, but as I look at the dials and clock, I see the speedometer is much nicer, steering wheel controls are much cooler the console, hands down, top notch. I played around with the stereo for a little, and I love the looks of INFINITI logo that replaces the ugly cassette hole of the 04's. So well, interior wise, there is nothing I would ever miss from the 04. To keep things short, the driving felt much better. The clutch pedal is softer to press (04, my leg sometimes gets tired from pressing it) and the gears shift smoother. As to the sports package's Viscous Limited-Slip I think I can only feel that while driving hard right?

Now what I would like to ask you kind G35 Community ppl is to help me out on this tough decision. I don’t know whether or not I should trade-in my car for the 05. Whichever car I decide to stay with, I will stay with for the next 10 years at least (maybe even forever like with my 85 Honda prelude due to sentimental issues) which is why this is such an important decision.

Ok, I have a Brilliant Silver G35 Coupe 6MT with Premium, Sat Nav, splash guards, brembos+18", and trunk mat which I paid in full the day I bought it. They calculated the trade-in value for my car to be 31783 and the cost of a new 05 with the same options (19' sport package included), plus aero (underbody diffuser and spoiler, normal front bumper) to be 38830. Adding taxes and re registration etc etc the amount I would pay to get an 05 would be 7944 (out the door). Is this a fair prize or have others obtained a better deal?

I want to trade my car in for two reasons. 1) I like the interior of the 05 much more which I think I would find more livable considering I plan to keep it for a LOONG time. 2) Now that I have started working, I want to build my credit (I have no credit) and financing this car will help me build good credit.

Now my worries are, 1) the 8000$ cost to trade in (which I dont know if its high or good and that is why I ask you guys), and 2) are there any known issues with these new 05 6MT Coupes? Usually, when cars come out, they find some issues which they fix later on. Does the 05 Coupe 6MT have any known issues?

I thank you guys once again for reading the whole thing. This is really an important decision and I would be grateful for all of you who help me out on this.

 

i think you have to find out what you can sell your car for in a private sale. also, in some states, you pay less taxes on a trade-in car purchase--that is, you only pay taxes on the balance between the new car and the value for the trade-in. therefore, you can sit down and figure out which route will save you more money. i don't think selling the coupe yourself will be very difficult.

as far as whether you should or not, it's all up to you. i had a 03 and decided to trade-up to the 05.

 

How much did you pay for the upgrade to the 05? BTW, I live in Florida.

As far as taxes go, I am only getting taxed for the difference. If I sell it privatelly, I will have to pay tax on the full amount of the car cost. This is what I got as an estimate...

New Car: 38830
Trade In: 31783
Difference: 7047
TaxOnDiff: 449
Fees: 448
TOTAL: 7944 (to trade my 04 in)

 

but now if you sell your car to a private party you can probably sell it for a couple thousand more... then you pay tax on the 05... so lets see the numbers...

Lets say you sell it for $35k just a guestimate:

New Car: $38830
Private Party: $35000
Difference: $3830
Tax on new: $2474
Fees: $448
Total: $6752

New Car: 38830
Trade In: 31783
Difference: 7047
TaxOnDiff: 449
Fees: 448
TOTAL: 7944 (to trade my 04 in)

Thats a $1100 difference provided you can find a buyer willing to pay $35k... so its up to you whether you want to go through the hassle of selling the car or just suck up and pay the fees...

trading in early like that will burn your wallet no matter what... i suggest you keep the 04... if you could change your mind so easily like this i don't think you're gonna keep the car for 10+ years like you say you are... who knows, when the new GTR comes you might get pulled to that... i wouldn't throw away $8000 like that... might as well put a downpayment on a house if you want to establish credit...

 

first off, don't look at the trade-in. you need to negotiate the price on the 05 first. how much off msrp is that (or how much over invoice)? then start talking about the trade-in and how much you can get for your car. you need find out the blue book value for your car ( trade-in value and private sale value) before you start anything. with your numbers, how much off msrp is that for the 05 coupe?

i just looked up kbb and the trade-in value for your car is about $31200-32900 (price for my area--norcal). for the private sale price, it's about $34000-35900. calculate how much it would cost if you sold your car privately and bought the 05 with taxes. also, calculate how much it would be if you traded it in (adjust for what you can get your car for and what you can negotiate the 05 price for). from the looks of it, your quote for the 05 is msrp. you need to negotiate on that price. i would NOT take anything less than at least $1000 off msrp. i would even try more $2000 off msrp. the trade in value of $31000 is decent.

by the way, i got $1300 off msrp when i pre-ordered my 05 coupe in october before the 6mt were even released. i didn't trade-in my car but sold it privately.

 

Thank you guys for reading the whole thing, man I appreciate you guys.

I did some more research, and well kelly says my car value is 31500 and they are giving me 31783.

As for the car I am supposed to get, the MSRP according to infiniti.com, is 38960 and they are giving it to me for 38830 which is very little less than the MSRP. Ive heard people have it drop MSRP quite a lot, but that is when the cars are not as new. You did get a very good deal on urs. Over here, in Melbourne Florida, they dont drop down their prizes too much. I mean, the 05 MT's just came out so I dont think I can have them bring down the prize that much right?

If I could negociate 1000 less, I'd probably get it.

BTW, Z2G, was there EVER a thought in your mind saying "should have stayed with my 04" ? Or is the 05 better in every way you think of?

Also, about selling privatelly, I am still a student and I dont think I would have the time to do the hassle for private selling, unfortunatelly. It would probably take a long time before I found a buyer and by that time, the mileage might go over 3k. This is my first car in the USA and I have never dealt with selling a car before so I dont even know where I would try and list my car to sell privately, that is why I am more leaning towards the trade in. I guess all I can do now is try and bring down the MSRP. How should I do this? Should I say "a friend got 1300 under MSRP even before the MTs were out"?

 

You live on the east coast and in florida like me...you should be able to get the car for cheaper than that, though that company probably won't budge. You need to join the FGC club in my sig and pay the $100 some odd dollars and you can get the car for %500 over invoice. I got mine for that price and it comes out to $36,700.

 

for me, it was a very easy decision. i had purchased my 03 coupe in december of 2002 when only the 5at were available in my area. after two years with the auto and missing a stickshift (i've always driven stick my whole life), the news of the changes only gave me more reason to trade up for the 05. honestly, going from the 04 6mt to a 05 6mt will only get you minor changes--more cosmetic changes. the power is really the same since you lose torque with the higher hp. remember, torque gets you going from a standstill but hp gets you up there in top speed. of course, the interior changes are nice...i must say. concerning the wheels, you can always purchase those from someone else and sell your current 19's.

as far as selling the car, it's pretty easy. all you have to do is list it on carsdirect or any other website, then sit and wait for the phone calls/emails. the miles on your car isn't going to affect it much unless it's a lot. you can then download or copy an auto bill of sales and get the forms form the dmv. the only difficult part is arranging for payment. i always take cash only. but with such a big amount, that may be more difficult. take a cashier's check or money order...not personal checks.

 

the link in your sig says that the page is comming soon. I dont know if its better for me to trade in my car now that it has less than 3k miles and that 04 just passed us or wait untill august when the 06's speculation and production start.

Now that I read many threads (such as https://g35driver.com/forums/showthr...ighlight=trade which is very informative) I feel that 130$ under MSRP is way too little. I did not know how much this car costed MSRP till now so I will head back (or should I just call them?) to get it lowered.

BTW where can I find invoice prizes? Sorry for being so uninformed, but I have no idea what Invoice prize is. MSRP is the one on the web right? but Invoice I have no idea.

EDIT:
Thank you agian for helping me out so much. And well I honestly would have no idea how to do the change of ownership and taxes things and all. From what I understand, you need to go with the buyer somewhere, wait in line, and sign papers. This takes a long time and well also the hassle of getting the money from them and all the phone calls asking me to lower the prize and making sure I get paid correctly. As I said, I am a student and the little time I have left after university and work, I use for homework. Im not trying to say I am lazy or that I am not interested in learning how a private car sale goes like, I just dont want my grades to go down because I spend time doing this.

 

you should be able to get that 05 for 500 over invoice.that is what i paid.the 06 models will be the same as the 05 models.so i wouldnt wait.

 

you can check out invoice prices on edmunds.com or carsdirect. they will give you invoice prices for each option too. in california, all you have to do when selling your car is sign over your title, give the buyer a bill of sale, and fill-out and send the "release of liability" form....that's it. the buyer then has to go into the dmv and register the car and pay the sales taxes. it may be different in florida. go on the florida dmv website and look in the faq section. i guarantee it's in there.

is the car already all paid off? if not, you will not get a title from the bank until the car is paid for in full. this may pose a problem for the buyer. but, he can make arrangements with his bank (if he's getting a loan) to contact your bank and transfer the title over. to save you some time and work, you can just trade the car in, but i would DEFINITELY haggle the price down a bit. if they don't budge, leave and try another dealer.

 

as for the private sale, its not that bad... do you have the title of the car? was your car financed or is it paid off completely? because if its all paid off and you have the title and no liens, you can basically just make up a bill of sale, get the money from the buyer (certified check or bank check), sign over the title, fill out a DMV form and you're done... not sure how it works in florida exactly but at least in NY the buyer has to register the car... as a seller all you do is sign the forms, get the check and give them teh car...

now if you financed your car and you still have a lien on it then its another story... you have to first pay off the lein and get a letter stating the lein is paid off before you can transfer the title... so its one extra step...

but anyway, if you can get the MSRP down lower, you'll save another $1000 or so... if you have the cash to burn then go ahead... but you can most likely get the MSRP of the 2005 down close to invoice... just needs some haggling and if one dealer won't budge, go to another dealer... or tell them that you got a better deal at another dealer...

 

32k for your car (from a dealer) is a good price... if its within your budget to spend 8k more... GO FOR IT !

to me the differences arent that big if i was in your shoes... however if they came out with AWD on the coupe or something neat like that next year and it would only cost me 8k... I'd prob entertain it.

ppp

 

I just did some more research, while I dont know what Invoice means I know the values now. I went to the kelly blue book page and this is what I got...

Invoice 35,547.00 Retail 38,830.00 Blue Book 37,680.00



That means that they are giving me the same prize as retail according to Kelly so well in other words, I am getting owned right? As two of the above posters said, I should be able to get it for 500 over Invoice which means 36k$ That is a LOT of a difference. If I could get it for 36.500 I'd be more than happy.

Do I print out this Kelly statement and use it as my weapon?

-EDIT-
Z2G/tsolin01 - yes my car was paid in full the day I bought it. The closest other dealership is Orlando. I am about to call them up right now.

Potty_Pants - When I got my car (August) it was paid by my father. I am a student and I just started working for my university (being international student does not allow me to work anywhere else). I want to build credit and pay the car-upgrade myself (not just because I want to do it, but there is no way my father would give me more money after spending so much 6 months ago. If anything, he would have a heart attack even if I told him I am paying for it).

Thank you guys again for helping me out and sorry for making you read such a long first post lol.

 

actually don't bring that page, but say you know what the invoice price is... it says 37k there is their recommended price which means the average of what people are paying... i would try to get lower than that... say another dealer offered $500 over invoice.. if they say why don't you go there... tell them its far and you'd rather go here if they match it...

be prepared to walk out if they don't give you what you want...