I am looking to order a 2005 6mt sedan and discussed the sale price with the salesperson.
They want a $1000 refundable deposit (unless I don't get a sunroof or do get navi then it is not refundable).
He does not have final pricing but expects about a $400 price increase from the 04s.

Anyway he said something to effect that the MSRP is approximately 3K over invoice and if I place an order he would split the difference between MSRP and invoice or about $1500 over invoice. For those of you that have placed orders does this seem fair?

Would it be better to just wait a few months after production begins until VPP is offered on the 05s and order from DFW Infiniti?

 

Why give them your money now? I would be very suspect of any salesperson that wants a deposit, refundable or not, for the car. This is not a car in the league of a high end Mercedes, Porsche or Ferrari where you're likely to find buyers bidding for one of a select few vehicles.

Wait till the car is released, if possible, wait till a year later (I'm kidding) and negotiate what's on the dealer's lot. I don't think what you're looking for is going to be that difficult to get at a much better price.

Cale

PS If you really want to save money. Look for a 04 6mt now. I have heard that this is currently an incredible buyer's market. Dealers are going crazy dealing on the 04 inventories in anticipation of the 05 models. I know it might seem like the 05s are going to be so much better - higher hp, interior updates, etc. - but that will make the fabulous 04 model a steal when factoring in a low purchase price and a very high resale value.


04 G35X

 

the depoit insures that I get he exact car that I want but the $1k is not a huge concern.
We are in a slight pickle since my current car has over 200K miles and even though it is a vq I want something now that last me another 10 years but waiting a year is probably not viable. even stretching it to december has my wife worried.

the dealer said he checked for an 04 like we wanted but did not find one that we wanted. If he would have, we would not have passed up the 1.9% financing.

BTW we wanted a DG with black leather 6mt with sunroof and did not need anything else. everything he saw had navi or the aero package.

 

It looks like I bought the car you're looking for. I bought it on July 5th (and got the 1.9%). I had done the "build and locate" thing on infiniti.com and my local dealer had the only 6mt sedan in New England that didn't have the premium pkg. The only options were the sunroof, splash guards and trunk mat. I think I negotiated a pretty good price. I was able to sell my Audi a few days after my test drive and came in the next day to put my $ down. Took delivery last Monday. I'm loving it so far.

2004 G35s6mt/DG/G
Resist the Mod Bug

 

When I was shopping for my 6MT sedan I did look into possibly having to order exactly what I wanted. I too was told that I had to put down a deposit [$1000 too I believe], but mine was non-refundable - period. Back then, it took about 12 weeks to receive an ordered G35, and the salesperson noted that too many people had put in orders before, but then backed out during the waiting period.

I was able to use the VPP for my purchase [sounds kind of like what you want - 6MT, Diamond Graphite, Graphite, no premium - though I wanted the full aero kit]. I think that is a great way to eliminate hasseling with the dealer. It may not be the lowest cost way though, as some have reported better results just through straight arguing, err, I mean negotiation. lol...

Depending upon the dealer too, I wouldn't be surprised if it took more than just a few months for them to start accepting the VPP on 2005 models. As a side note, I believe that the 6MT sedans will also not be out on the market until late 2004 - the autos come out first.

 

frostheave: thanks alot lol. I guess here in the cincy area there wasn't much that we wanted.

jstwong: the one local dealer does not openly offer vpp to everyone and said that it was not open to anyone for the 1st 120 days of production. i wanted the full aero kit but for 4K my wife did not think i needed it, fortunately I believe it is included with the 05 6mt. the dealer does not expect any 6mt until late december anyway.
i might have to consider other vehicles soon.

 

The December date for the 6MT's sounds about right from what I've heard too. So that, plus the waiting period for the VPP sounds like the 05 models might be beyond your time frame. If you are really set on a G35, you may have to continue pursuing an 04 model. Best of luck to you...

 

Is it really that hard to find 6MT sedans? I went to Suburban Infiniti (Novi, Michigan) in August 2003 and they had at least 3 6MT sedans in the trim I wanted (Premium, Navi, Aero, Winter). I bought one of them (brilliant silver) and a buddy of mine bought one of the other ones (desert platinum). They had 2 desert platinum 6MT sedans with those options. They might have had other colors too, which would make for even more 6MTs on the lot.

Is it harder to find ones with fewer options?

 

$1500 over invoice is at least $1,000 too high. At least in the New York area, anyway. I paid $380 over invoice for my 2004 6MT sedan. I'd shop around a bit.

04 G35s 6MT BS Aero Kit/Nav/Prem
Warning: Objects in Mirror Are Losing!

 

Last August I ordered a loaded 2004 6MT here in NY that stickered for $38,755 and paid $36,500. I probably could have a slightly better deal, but the car I wanted was too rare and I heard that people were having trouble getting deals at that time. Now I'm sure that you should be able to get a better deal than what they're giving you.

How many different dealers did you visit?

'04 G35S 6MT DG On G, Premium, Aero Body Kit, Nav, Sirius

 

A 6MT sedan with the exact color & features can be hard to find - depending upon the features. When I bought my 6MT sedan, using the Infiniti website search feature yielded only two cars in the entire Southern CA area that fit my basic wants - 6MT, DG, Graphite, with the Nismo aero kit. The difference between those two cars was that one had the Premium package, the other did not.

 

I did a search in about 15 major cities around the country setting the radius to the highest setting (I think 150 miles) and came up with ZERO results for my car. Finding the 3 major items (nav, nismo kit, 6mt) in one car seemed impossible. Remove one and the options opened up. Is the 6mt that unpopular? I heard somewhere that BMW makes a big portion of the 3 series in manuals. I thought Infiniti would try to make many more seeing as how that was their target.

So did you get a deal on it? Does the price I got seem okay to you guys? RKS, you can probably get an even better deal than I did.

'04 G35S 6MT DG On G, Premium, Aero Body Kit, Nav, Sirius

 

I would suspect that the Nismo aero kit in 6MT form is tough to get - at least it was when I was shopping. Throwing in trying to get the Nav [which means you have to get the premium package], and no wonder it was a challenge to find your car.

There is another thread around this forum about the supposed percentage of 6MT sedans to auto sedans. From what I heard from 2 different dealers was that the 6MT sedans were only about 5% of the production run for sedans in total. So there are definately not too many around! I would suspect that if demand for the 6MT sedan were to be strong, then Infiniti would inch up the production.

As for my purchase, I was able to get in on the VPP discount, which for me was about $250 over invoice. Definately a satisfactory price to me, and better yet, did not involve any haggling at all!

 

Bought my '04 6MT in early March, 2004 - after searching for 10 months and finally ordering one on January 5th (which wasn't even on the assembly line when I called to cancel the order in March) - stumbled across it on the Internet, a fully loaded 6MT, at my local dealership no less!

Somebody had ordered it, then "disappeared" - so they put it in inventory, and I bought it Day One. Obsidian Black 6MT Sedan with Graphite interior, Sport Package (standard on 6MT), Premium, Navigation, and Aero (not full Nismo kit).

Made my deal over the phone with the Internet Sales Manager, who I spoke to at 7:00 AM, the moment the switchboard opened that day. She told me that afternoon (when I was returning DMV paperwork) that her phone had been ringing off the hook for this car, and that all the salesmen were mad because we "took it off the floor" at 7:00 AM before the dealership opened at 8:00, and they all had buyers for a loaded 6MT. I paid $50 LESS than dealer invoice ($33,020) - Runs like a scalded dawg - I love this car!

Happy Trails!

Sport Sedan Fan - 2004 6MT Sedan
Sport/Navigation/Premium/Aero; "Invisiguard" Bra, Madico Onyx Tint
Obsidian Black/Graphite & "Titanium"
SHE'S SILVER & BLACK - GO RAIDERS!

 

Wow, that's an awesome price. Sounds like you got lucky finding it like that and they probably didn't want to stock if for too long since manuals are not so popular. Did you get the full aero body kit?

'04 G35S 6MT DG On G, Premium, Aero Body Kit, Nav, Sirius