Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I wanted to extend a BIG “THANK YOU” for your continued support. It hasn’t been the smoothest of years, but I am very thankful to have a good community I can talk cars with. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and cherish your time with your family. As a last minute reminder, shop early and make sure to give yourself plenty of time before your existing lease expires. Happy Turkey Day Everyone!
This month’s participants include: Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Kia, Nissan, Acura, Hyundai, Infiniti, Honda, Lexus, Volvo, Audi and BMW.
For Dealer Quotes, go to: TrueCar.com. or Yahoo Autos
To check your credit, go to CreditReport.com.
Ground Rules
- Participating vehicles will be based on the lease rates gathered on this website during the corresponding month.
- 36-month/15k lease terms will used for all calculations unless a better term is available.
- A $1500 drive-off fee is assumed for all cars. Since fees and taxes vary from region to region, your drive-off may vary.
- Sale Price estimates will be based on Truecar.com sales data in the Southern California region, so your numbers may vary.
- All estimates assume you qualify for the base rate. A minimum Credit Score of 700
may be required to secure Top Tier credit in most cases.
- Sales taxes are not included since different states handle taxes differently.
- The rating system used is based on RIDE with G’s Lease Calculator. Only cars with a 90 rating or higher will be included on this list.
SEDAN
2012 INFINITI G37 SEDAN JOURNEY (109.5) *$1000 loyalty and $1000 holiday cash
36 Month – Residual 58% of MSRP – .00074 Base Rate
2012 INFINITI G25 SEDAN X AWD (105.6) *$500 dealer cash
36 Month – Residual 59% of MSRP – .00061 Base Rate
2012 NISSAN SENTRA 2.0SR CVT (105.0)
36 Month – Residual 61% of MSRP – .00082 Base Rate
2012 NISSAN ALTIMA SEDAN S CVT (103.1)
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00021 Base Rate
2012 HONDA ACCORD SEDAN EX-L V6 (101.3) *$500 dealer cash
36 Month – Residual 54% of MSRP – .00050 Base Rate
2011 BMW 328i Sedan (99.6) *$1000 loyalty cash
36 Month – Residual 60% of MSRP – .00180 Base Rate
2012 ACURA TL BASE (99.5) *$1250 dealer cash
36 Month – Residual 58% of MSRP – .00114 Base Rate
2012 HONDA CIVIC SEDAN EX AT (99.5)
36 Month – Residual 61% of MSRP – .00098 Base Rate
2012 Mercedes C300 4matic Sport 4dr Sedan (97.4) $2000 loyalty cash
36 Month – Residual 60% of MSRP – .00142 Base Rate
2012 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T SE (96.7) *$500 loyalty cash
36-month | 15k miles | residual 62% | .00142 base money factor
2012 Volvo S60 T-5 (96.3) *$1000 loyalty cash
36-month | 15k miles | residual 59% | .00122 base money factor
2012 NISSAN MAXIMA S (94.5)
36 Month – Residual 59% of MSRP – .00128 Base Rate
2012 VOLKSWAGEN CC SPORT AT (94.1) *$1250 lease cash
36 Month – Residual 51% of MSRP – .00028 Base Rate
2012 Mercedes C250 Sport 4dr Sedan (93.7) *$2000 loyalty cash
36 Month – Residual 61% of MSRP – .00154 Base Rate
2012 INFINITI M37 SEDAN X AWD (93.6) $1000 loyalty cash
36 Month – Residual 52% of MSRP – .00029 Base Rate
2012 Kia Optima EX (91.2) *$1000 customer cash
36-month | 15k miles | residual 57% | .00130 base money factor
2012 LEXUS IS250 AT SDN (91.1)
36 Month – Residual 60% of MSRP – .00150 Base Rate
CONVERTIBLE
2012 INFINITI G37 CONVERTIBLE SPORT 6MT (90.5)
36 Month – Residual 59% of MSRP – .00153 Base Rate
COUPE
2012 INFINITI G37 COUPE JOURNEY (102.1) *$1000 loyalty cash
36 Month – Residual 59% of MSRP – .00100 Base Rate
2012 HONDA ACCORD COUPE EX-L V6 (95.8) *$500 dealer cash
36 Month – Residual 52% of MSRP – .00050 Base Rate
2012 HONDA CIVIC COUPE EX AT (95.2)
36 Month – Residual 59% of MSRP – .00098 Base Rate
2012 Mercedes C250 2dr Coupe (94.6) *$2000 loyalty cash
36 Month – Residual 66% of MSRP – .00225 Base Rate
2012 BMW 328xi Coupe (90.2) *$1000 loyalty cash ($1000 lease/apr cash available)
36 Month – Residual 62% of MSRP – .00185 Base Rate
2012 NISSAN ALTIMA COUPE S CVT (93.8)
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00090 Base Rate
HATCHBACK/WAGON/SUV/CROSSOVER/VANS
2011 HONDA CR-V 4WD EX AT (106.3) *$500 dealer cash
36 Month – Residual 59% of MSRP – .00077 Base Rate
2012 ACURA ZDX BASE (106.2) *$2000 dealer cash
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00054 Base Rate
2012 HONDA PILOT 4WD EX-L (93.1)
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00056 Base Rate
2012 HONDA ODYSSEY EX AT (91.3)
36 Month – Residual 61% of MSRP – .00155 Base Rate
2011 NISSAN ROGUE AWD S (92.8)
36 Month – Residual 57% of MSRP – .00123 Base Rate
ALTERNATIVE FUEL/HYBRID
2012 NISSAN LEAF 5DR HATCHBACK SV (92.4) *$7500 lease incentive
36 Month – Residual 44% of MSRP – .00174 Base Rate
2011 HONDA CR-Z EX NAV AT (91.1)
36 Month – Residual 62% of MSRP – .00185 Base Rate
Bright Spots
VW. The only model to make it into the lease was the CC Sport, thanks in part to the generous $1250 lease cash that’s available. The rest of the models make better purchases than leases due to special financing. Eos also gets the $1000 lease cash, but the lease is only so-so, rated at 85.5 on my calculator.
Mercedes-Benz. Being an existing MB customer is really paying off this Holiday season. The $2000 loyalty cash is huge! Another model to keep your eyes on is the GLK350 4matic. The RWG is not high (87.5), but this SUV has never leased in with a RWG higher than 90 to begin with, so 87.5 is not too shabby. Remember that MBs payments are usually a bit more budget friendly on the 48-month terms. However, wear-n-tear issues should be considering before going that route.
Volvo. The C30 and C70 cut it pretty darn close (both hitting a RWG of 89). This is made possible by a generous $1000 loyalty cash that’s available to existing Volvo customers. Overall, I’m very satisfied with Volvo’s leases on their cars. Their SUVs, on the other hand, need a little work.
BMW. BMWFS seems to be throwing a lot of loyalty cash at their customers. On select 1-series models for example, they also have this $500 lease/apr bonus cash which I think could be applied to lower the MF plus $1000 in loyalty cash.
Weak Spots
Audi. They have not offer any worthwhile leases lately. No shock there, it’s been a while since Audi made it into the Round-Up.
In Summary
It’s Loyalty month here in the auto leasing world. Many manufacturers are rewarding loyal customers with loads of cash. Folks looking to get into something under $400 should consider the Sonata, Optima, Maxima or any non-luxury car. Honda almost seems to be giving away their cars right now so it isn’t hard to find a good deal there.
The Leaf is also great if you don’t ever want to visit a gas station again.
In the end, if I had to put my money where my mouth is, I would be rolling in a loaded 2012 Infiniti G37 sedan. Hands down, the best lease I’ve seen all month long.
G, I need your help.
I’m looking at the c250 coupe right now with 10k miles 24 month lease in Brooklyn.
For a car that has P1, Backup camera, Ipod connection.
I’ve been quoted $330 a month with $1600 out of pocket for dmv fee’s, doc fee’s and tax upfront.
I’m told in order to qualify for this deal I have to have Tier 1A credit but after running my credit I only qualify for tier1. The MF is .00225 and 77% residual, I currently own an infiniti so I qualify for conquest. I’m confused as to whether this is true or not. I think the deal is great but I just want to know your opinion on it. After they ran my credit I was told maybe I should wait until december in order to see if the MF becomes a special rate and then the tier difference won’t matter.
Please give me your opinion.
@igor. Credit tiers are a tough issue to address because when it comes to leasing, I only recommend people to lease cars if they qualify for the top tier. Anything less, you are pretty much at the lender’s mercy. Nevertheless. The deal looks pretty sweet if all you need to come up with is $1600 upfront and pay $330 per month. If it’s $1600 PLUS fees, taxes and what not, then that’s not a good of a deal.
Unfortunately, every bank has different requirements when it comes to credit and I don’t have access to that kind of information. All I am able to provide is information based on top tier credit, which generally requires a 700+ credit score or more. It is possible that MBFS could cut you a break next month. I think its worth waiting for since Nov rates generally carry over to Dec. In the future, I would recommend doing a personal inquiry of your credit score before you start shopping for a car since personal inquires do not lower your credit score, external ones do.
G, Is there any way to get a rough estimate on how good leases may be by working backwards? For example the Jeep Grand Cherokee is advertised at $319 a month with $2499 due at signing. The ford edge is $249 with $3707 due at signing. Is there a way to gauge these deals?
@matt. VERY GOOD QUESTION! I think there is, but I haven’t tried it. I believe it will require that you know the MSRP and the sale price (at the very least). You might be able to get away with “fudging” the RES and Money Factor since you know what to expect in terms of payments AND you know how much cap cost reduction they want.
Lets take this example I found on Ford’s website on a 2012 Explorer:
MSRP $29,105
Due at Signing $3,820
Term 36mo
Miles 10500
Payment $314/mo
STEP 1) Use my Calculator. Because it has the RwG rating and will help determine how good the deal is.
STEP 2) Make up the MF and RES. I decided to use 50% at 0.001 (2.4% interest). You will need to adjust accordingly in order to get the $314 payment.
STEP 3) Plug numbers in. Set the sale price to be MSRP MINUS Cap Reduction of $3820, or $26,194.
STEP 4) Adjust either MF or RES (or both) until you get the $314/mo payment.
I came up with 54% and 0.0055 MF. Not saying this is right, but it did help get the payment to $314 and it got a RWG of 85.5, which isn’t half bad.
So what does this mean in general? It means that you need the dealer to fork out $3820 in discounts in order to get this deal. That way, all you pay upfront is the inception fees which is the bank, dmv, 1st month and some misc fees. The less the dealer offers to discount, the lower that RWG will go, making this deal worse and worse. Hope this makes sense. I will do a write up with more examples later on. I think you brought up an AWESOME way to work backwards on a deal.