Great news! the new lease calculator is live.

It’s been a long time coming. The RWG2.0 calculator worked, but it asked for numbers most people don’t have in front of them at the dealership, and it gave back a verdict without showing its work. This one is different.

What changed

The calculator got an overhaul. Same goal as the classic tool, but with cleaner inputs, more transparent outputs, and a fine-tuned rating engine under the hood.

Simpler inputs

You now enter the same numbers that appear on a dealer’s worksheet; your price after rebates, residual, money factor, term, and due at signing. That’s it! Down payment is gone as a separate field; due at signing covers it, because that’s how dealers present it anyway. Fewer boxes, and the ones that remain map one-to-one to the paper you’re handed.

More feedback, in plain English

Every field now has a decoder line underneath that updates as you type, so you can see what each number actually means for your payment. Due at signing gets broken out dollar by dollar, so you know exactly where every signing dollar goes; first payment, fees, cap cost reduction, refundable deposits. No more staring at a lump sum and hoping.

A rating you can reason about

The rating is now a single formula built on effective monthly cost (your total out-of-pocket spread across the term) weighed against MSRP, with money factor as the second input. That neutralizes the oldest trick in the book: a low monthly payment propped up by a big down payment. There’s also a penalty when residual falls below 50%, and the “good deal” thresholds now scale with the price of the car instead of applying one flat rule to a Civic and an S-Class alike.

Take it for a spin

Run a deal you’re looking at, or one you already signed. Tell me where it feels off or where the wording doesn’t land. This gets better with real worksheets behind it!

— G