My Take: This is an okay lease for May. Not sure I’d call it a good lease-to-buy right now since I would have preferred a sub .00100 money factor since the residual drops below 50% after 3 years. However, I’m sure that’s not something a sizable discount on the sale price can’t fix.
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2009 Volkswagen GTi
2009 Volkswagen GTi 2dr HB
24-month | 15k miles | residual 55% | .00111 base money factor
36-month | 15k miles | residual 48% | .00111 base money factor
48-month | 15k miles | residual 41% | .00163 base money factor
My Take: I am a bit busy this week so I won’t be able to do any payment estimates for 
My Take: The only car on this list that has a nice combination of residuals and money factor is the SL550. Problem is, it isn’t THAT nice. The money factor is low, which is nice. Unfortunately, the residual is a bit lower than I would personally like. You could argue that this is a good “lease-to-buy” candidate, though.
My Take: I’ll be honest here, I don’t like the Accord’s money factor, but the residual is very nice, so you should still have a decent deal out of this. With most cars selling for around invoice or less nowadays, you can probably score are nice low payment. Remember that high residual cars should probably just be leased, not bought-out at lease end, otherwise, you will end up paying more than buying it outright. There is $1500 in dealer cash that can be used with the special financing of 3.9% for 60 months, so remember when you negotiate your sale price.
My Take: If you have been following this blog for some time, I’m probably sure you’ve learned to identify what good and bad leases look like. This one, isn’t a very strong one obviously.
My Take: I’m a bit mixed on the Mazda CX-9 this month because the residual are so bad, not even the lower money factor can save it. Remember that Mazda’s only have a 3-yr/36k miles, so leasing a term that is beyond that requires that you pay for any repairs from your own pocket. Chances are, you won’t be experiencing any major repairs within 4 yrs, but I would personally not take that chance. 2010 models should be rolling in sometime during the summer, so you could be seeing some increased efforts to move this ride in the coming months.
My Take: The residuals on the RAV4 are so high that it really does a good job offsetting the higher money factor. Just remember that high residuals makes for poor buyouts once your lease ends. This means that you will likely overpay should you try to buy the car out OR lose money if you try to end the lease early by trading it in or selling it. With that in mind, the RAV4 is an excellent alternative to the Honda CRV, which boasts a ridiculous .00250 MF. Toyota is also offering $500 cash back to customers, so whatever the dealer offers, minus $500 should be your sale price. If you are in the military, add another $400. If you are a college graduate, add another $1000. That’s $1900 if you qualify for all these rebates. Nice huh?