rune

Best experience I ever had with a dealer was when I negotiated the whole sale through email. So relaxing and got to lay my demands out with no pressure. It throws off their "car salesman" rhythm. Oh....and nit-pick the shit out it. This is dented, this is stained, this is leaking, that makes a noise. It's a good way to get them low. I usually throw bluebook out to them, and tell them I'm not going to pay even that because of said items. BB usually knocks quite a bit off of "asking" price and provides a more reasonable upper end. Ultimately be prepared to walk away. If you show them you want it, they have you hook, line and sinker. Be dis-interested.

Personally I would try and hold out for an 06 with the 6speed.

I picked up a 06 8.1 in November and have put close to 11k miles on it since then. Drove it from WA to GA, and changed the oil from dino to synthetic. It had burned maybe .5 quart in 4000 miles. I then turned around and drove from GA back to WA. I now have close to 7k on the Mobil 1 and am not even down 1 quart. I really think it's hit or miss on if you get an oil burner. I suspect a lot of it comes from the early years when GM had a lot of slop and is less after they made the changes in 03(?). I did the back and forth on the 6.0 vs 8.1, and ultimately decided the difference in fuel economy was so minimal that I wanted to be able to tow and not know the trailer was back there.