I never bought a new car before, and all my research indicates it's not a good idea unless you have all the money up-front and understand the instant depreciation hit.
In my opinion if you are willing to pay that kind of money for an asset that will depreciate the instant you sign the papers and drive it off the lot, then it better have everything you want in terms of options, colours, etc. You are paying a lot of money anyway, so the small premium to get everything customized the way you want it is worth-while. Most people will end up paying a lot more than that on the interest over the duration of payments, so then why not get it customized?
The only drawback to customization is that you lose all negotiating leverage over the dealer -
you pay what they ask and that's that!
If you MUST get a new car, you can definitely get a great negotiating advantage by choosing one they already have on the lot. They already paid for that car and are losing money on it (interest to the bank + depreciation), so they are willing to make sacrifices to get rid of it. If they order one for you from another dealer, or manufacturer, it's not really helping them on the above constant money loss, so no deal for you.
