I know I am jumping the gun by doing a write-up about my “next ride” considering I have another 10 months left on my lease. However, my wife has began dropping hints about what my next ride should be. “Something practical, something bigger…something that will keep your paws off my Jetta” she says. Sadly, it looks like my G37 has become rather impractical and the wife has finally put me on notice.
I can’t say I blame her because in recent months, her car has become the designated “airport shuttle”. If that wasn’t bad enough, we have also been using her car to haul some furniture from Office Depot and weekly trips to Costco. Unfortunately, it seems that life has finally caught up with me and I can no longer ignore the other “needs” in life.
So now I am faced with a dilemma….what exactly can I get that will fulfill the following requirements…
- seating for at least five people
- practical cargo space
- above average performance
- similar or better MPG than the 18/24 I am getting now
- costs no more than what I currently pay ($1300/$424 per month), preferably, less!
After careful consideration over the past month, I’ve come up with a general “Wish List” of potential cars/SUVs that may satisfy my needs.
The Large SUV Group
Honda Pilot
Mazda CX-9
Chevy Traverse
Toyota Highlander
Ford Explorer
The Compact SUV Group
Toyota RAV4
Ford Edge
Infiniti EX35
VW Tiguan
Acura RDX
The Wagon Group
Audi A3
VW Jetta Sportwagen
VW Golf TDI
VW GTI
Subaru Outback
The Sedan Group
Acura TSX
Acura TL
Hyundai Sonata
Infiniti G37
Nissan Maxima
For the next few months, I will take the time to do some test drives in order to narrow down the list some more. Keeping in mind the requirements listed above, I would love to hear your opinions and any recommendations you may have.
My Take: There is $1000 that can be used for leasing, but it seem that you can’t use the captive bank, so you will need a 3rd party bank to finance your lease. There is also loyalty and early termination cash, so make sure to discuss them with your dealer to see if you qualify. These cash incentives are schedule to run through the end of the month. The CX-9 doesn’t look too bad since the money factor is low, but so is the residual. Depending on your intentions at lease-end, this could prove to be a good lease. Personally, I would just buy the car at 0.0% APR for 60 months. Nothing beats 0% interest over 5 years.
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.