Author: G

May 2008 Lease Rate for 08 BMW X3

Published by G

2008 BMW X3 3.0si 4WD
24 Month – Residual 72% of MSRP – .00250 Base Rate*
36 Month – Residual 62% of MSRP – .00250 Base Rate*
48 Month – Residual 36% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
60 Month – Residual 30% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate

* Current BMW owners and lesses received a .00185 money factor.
** Residuals posted are for 15K miles/year. Add 2% to Residual for 12k mi/yr and 3% for 10k mi/yr on all terms.
*** Rates provided by Tarry Shebesta from Leasecompare.com

My Take: Never liked this SUV from the moment it was introduced. It looks like they just chopped the 3-series in half, added cargo space and raised it a few inches. Whatever floats your boat I guess. The rate is rather lame if you are not a current BMW customer. I guess loyalty really goes a long way in terms of saving money.

And by the way, to all mother’s in the world:

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

Now go get your husband (maybe even your kids) and have him lease you a new car, because gosh darn it, you deserve it!!!!

May 2008 Lease Rate for 08 Pontiac G8 GT: My Last Quote

Published by G

Indulge me with a quick rant for a minute. I have given up on GM in terms of leasing. Sure, if you want to BUY one, I think the price is amazingly low for such a well-built, equipped and powerful vehicle. It’s probably the best price I’ve seen for a sedan packing 330+ horses. It seems that G8 GT’s are released in very limited quantities, which somewhat explains the hefty finance charge. Bottom line is if GM believes in the quality of their cars, they should try harder with their lease programs. If they don’t even want their cars back in 36 months, why would I even want to buy one to begin with? The thing about lessing is that automakers will always get a steady group of people every month. When people’s leases terminate, they will be looking to get into a new ride. Make good cars (which they are trying to), promote good lease programs and they’ll have customers month in and month out. Then MAYBE they won’t lose 3.3 BILLION dollars every quarter.

Without further delay, here are the May 2008 numbers for the Pontiac G8 GT:

Options include:
– Premium Package
– All-Season Blackwall Tires

MSRP $31,395
Invoice $29,693
Selling Price $29,955 (this includes a $500 rebate for non-GM owners. You can get another $500 if you are a current GM owner)

Essentially, we’re looking at a $262 over invoice price if you are a non-GM owner and $238 under invoice for GM owners.

36mo/10k – residual 56% – lease rate 5.5% (MF .00229)
36mo/12k – residual 54% – lease rate 5.5% (MF .00229)

Whatever the drive-off is, the deal killer right now is the money factor more so than the crummy residual value. Quick payment calculation here for the 36mo/12k lease.

Depreciation charge is about $361
Finance charge is about $107
Subtotal $468
Total with sales tax (8.25%) $507

And you would still have to pay the drive-off of 1st month payment, bank fee, doc fee, tags, etc…which is easily over $1000 dollars.

My Take: Love the car, even before driving it. Just looking at the specs makes you say “wow”. Problem is, when you look at the lease rates and residuals and your reaction is “DOH!”. Despite that, this is still a fine car. As stated by Jim Hall from Road and Track, “…the new Pontiac G8 GT shines in many areas — outright speed, good fuel economy for its big V-8, easy-on-the-eyes inside and out, nice cabin materials and comfort, and that huge back seat. Factor in price and it is, essentially, in a class by itself. Nice.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

2007 & 2008 Lease Programs and Incentives from Mazda

Published by G

While poking around the web to find what type of lease cash incentives Mazda is throwing around these days (I really trying to confirm the $700 rebate my dealer threw at me last week) I came upon this page. Word of caution, these leases are based on MSRP. So the drive-off seems rather high. However, if you are able to get the drive-off waived (should be able to get most, if not all of that waived), you are looking at a pretty darn good lease.

Here are a few of the lease incentives going on:

2008 CX-9 Sport FWD
$329/Month, 24-Month Lease, $3,424 due at Lease Signing after $1,300 MAC lease cash back.

2008 CX-7 Sport FWD
$229/Month, 24-Month Lease, $2,824 due at Lease Signing after $1,000 MAC lease cash back.

2008 MAZDA3 i Sport 4-Door AT
$179/Month, 24-Month Lease, $2,179 due at Lease Signing.

2008 MAZDA3 s Sport 5-Door AT
$249/Month, 24-Month Lease, $2,249 due at Lease Signing after $250 MAC lease cash back.

2008 MAZDA6 i Sports Sedan Sport Value Edition AT
$229/Month, 24-Month Lease, $2,229 due at Lease Signing after $1,500 MAC lease cash back.

The Amount due at Lease Signing is higher in the following states: Connecticut ($2,742); Massachusetts ($2,819); Rhode Island ($2,871); Virginia ($2,537); and West Virginia ($2,550).

2008 MX-5 Miata Sport MT
$219/Month, 24-Month Lease, $2,219 due at Lease Signing after $1,000 MAC lease cash back.

Click Here to See Finance Incentives for Purchases

May 2008 Lease Rate for 08 Audi A4 Cabriolet

Published by G

Audi A4 2.0T Cabriolet Quattro (Geez, long enough name you think?)

36mo/12k miles/yr – residual 55% – money factor .00048

My Take: It took me some time to “warm up” to the redesigned A4 in general. I preferred the 2002 model style, but really hated the 1.8T engine because the coil packs were prone to “blow” and the engine was far too underpowered for an AWD sedan of that size. In any case, the current model has slowly grown on me. The front grill still looks like my goldfish’s mouth during feeding time, but the peppy 2.0T engine makes up for it by providing you with very little turbo lag and getting better gas mileage than the 1.8T. The residual and money factor is looking pretty darn good right now, so if you want to lease a convertible to get ready for the summer, this is not a bad choice.

And then there were three (maybe four)

Published by G

I’ve been putting a lot of thought into the final 5 cars on my list and decided to scratch out the Acura TL. The car is a fairly common ride in SoCal. I like them like prime rib, medium-RARE, the TL is more like medium-well around these parts. Another reason is the rate hike, making the lease less attractive than it was back in March. So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen Good Night!

Here are the remaining candidates in order of preference:

Infiniti G37 base – I’m working on perhaps getting this at $200 under invoice price…still waiting on some quotes. I’m shooting for around $1350 drive-off (1st payment, tags, bank fee, doc fee, etc…) and $414 a month. This car is stock though, so i don’t get all the fancy technology stuff the Journey offers. Its not to say that this comes poorly equipped, the standard list of features isn’t too bad actually. My main reason for lusting after this ride? the styling and the 330hp V-6 engine, which by the way, gets slightly better MPG than the Mazda CX7’s 4cyl Turbo.

Infiniti G35 Journey – Same as the G37 in terms of pricing. Working on $200 under invoice for ideal price. It should be around the same drive-off, but about $2 less per month (wooo-freaking-hoo), $412.

Mazda CX-7 GT – I like this car so far because its got potential to become a better deal. I know I can probably work it some more and get it under $400 a month with no more than $1000 drive-off. Plus this puppy is fully loaded, with the exception of RES (rear entertainment system), which is fine since I don’t have kids…yet. But everything else is there, including the poor gas mileage.

Afterthoughts

I’m keeping the Accord V6 coupe in the back burner right now…the money factor kills me, but I think if they are willing to sell for invoice it would really help offset the bad rate. This is more like the worst, worst, worst case scenario. It’s a long shot, but it’s still a shot since I really like the overall aspects of this car.

How do they drive you ask? No freaking clue, I haven’t even taken the time to go test drive them, but I am planning to go this coming weekend. It would be a good opportunity to get a feel for what I can get for my trade-in as well. I could probably wait another month to see if the rates improve too, but I’m getting rather antsy…which is not a good thing.

May 2008 Lease Rates for BMW 5-Series

Published by G

2008 BMW 528i Sedan
24 Month – Residual 67% of MSRP – .00230 Base Rate
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00230 Base Rate
48 Month – Residual 37% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
60 Month – Residual 30% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate

2008 BMW 528xi Sedan
24 Month – Residual 66% of MSRP – .00230 Base Rate
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00230 Base Rate
48 Month – Residual 36% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
60 Month – Residual 29% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate

2008 BMW 535i Sedan
24 Month – Residual 66% of MSRP – .00210 Base Rate
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00210 Base Rate
48 Month – Residual 37% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
60 Month – Residual 30% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate

2008 BMW 535xi Sedan
24 Month – Residual 65% of MSRP – .00210 Base Rate
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00210 Base Rate
48 Month – Residual 36% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
60 Month – Residual 29% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate

2008 BMW 535xi Wagon
24 Month – Residual 65% of MSRP – .00210 Base Rate
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00210 Base Rate
48 Month – Residual 31% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
60 Month – Residual 25% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate

2008 BMW 550i Sedan
24 Month – Residual 65% of MSRP – .00230 Base Rate
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00230 Base Rate
48 Month – Residual 31% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
60 Month – Residual 24% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate

2008 BMW M5 Sedan
24 Month – Residual 68% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
36 Month – Residual 55% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
48 Month – Residual 37% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate
60 Month – Residual 28% of MSRP – .00258 Base Rate

* Residuals posted are for 15K miles/year. Add 2% to Residual for 12k mi/yr and 3% for 10k mi/yr on all terms.
** Rates provided by Tarry Shebesta from Leasecompare.com

My Take: This is actually my favorite BMW sedan (no I don’t really like the new 3-series or even the 7-series). In terms of styling, its perfectly balanced, looks good enough for Honda to clone it on its Accord sedan, so it’s definitely got something people like. The rates are a bit high while the residual value is rather low. There definitely isn’t any lease assistance going on this month.

May 2008 Lease Rate for 08 Audi A5

Published by G

36mo/12k miles/yr – residual 55% – money factor .00236
39mo/12k miles/yr – residual 52% – money factor .00236
48mo/12k miles/yr – residual 44% – money factor .00256

My Thoughts: This car looks way better than the 3-series coupes in my opinion. Aggressive styling yet elegant. I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on that ride, but the rates, goodness…At this point even the residual is all speculation, so if I were a lessee, I would wait a few years for this model to “settle-down” at bit. Early adopters usually get shafted because Audi knows you will pay the price for this new toy.

May 2008 Lease Rate for 08 Acura TL

Published by G

Acura TL Base
24mo/12k miles/yr – residual 64% – money factor .00171
36mo/12k miles/yr – residual 54% – money factor .00171

Acura TL w/ Navigation
24mo/12k miles/yr – residual 63% – money factor .00171
36mo/12k miles/yr – residual 53% – money factor .00171

Dealer Cash $1000

My Thoughts: The rates have gone up it seems. Congrats to those who picked it up last month. 2008 inventory is starting dwindle a little bit. I’m pretty sure production has effectively stopped for all 2008 TL, so grab them while you can. The $1000 dealer incentive should help offset some of the loss in residual value and increase in the rate.