My aunt has a 2010 Infiniti G37 4-door and the lease expires in a few weeks (on July 8th). She will be leasing another car, but wants to lower her payment. Her payment has been $437/month for the last 36 months (she didn’t get the best lease deal on the Infiniti). But she’s looking for a payment close to $300/month and she is willing to put $2000-ish down.
The Infiniti G37 Journey 4-door with Premium Package (Moonroof, Bose 11-spkr Audio, Rear Sonar, Power tilt/telescoping steering wheel & memory system for seat position, mirrors and steering wheel tied to each ‘intelligent key’) is only $299/month for 24 months (plus tax and fees) with $2499 due at lease signing ($2200 down payment + $299 first payment).
The 2013 Acura TL ‘Base’ is also available for the same $299/month and $2499 due at signing, but for 30 months.
Two other cars that she really liked are the 2013 Buick Regal Turbo Premium and 2014 Mazda6 Grand Touring. I was actually amazed by the Buick Regal because it’s the first Buick I’ve ever enjoyed driving and could actually see myself owning! But the true object of my affection is the 2014 Mazda6 and, to my surprise, she loves it as well.
Buick is offering a special lease promo- $2834 due at signing, $234/month for 24 months.
The Mazda6 Grand Touring with $2000 down would be $286/month for 36 months.
Any other suggestions that fit the budget- around $2000 down and $300/month lease?
You might look at some Volvos. They’ve more or less abandoned their previous North American strategy of selling exclusively to professors and are gunning for the other upscale Euro brand niches, so they have some pretty good lease deals going.
I’ve heard good things about the Regal… it’s made by Opel, which is GM’s German division so it is definitely feels less bargey than the designed in Michigan Buicks traditionally have. I also believe it’s the first Buick avaliable with a manual transmission since the 70’s!
I looked at the S60 online and on the ‘base’ T5 model with no options falls under the $300/month lease payment. That means cloth (or ‘T-Tec’ as Volvo calls it) upholstery, no sunroof, etc.
It’s sad that I know this, but a few very pathetic Buicks were available with a manual-transmission in the 80s- the Skyhawk (Buick’s version of the Cavalier) had a 5-speed (or might have been a 4-speed) thru the '88 model year and Somerset/Skylark (Buick’s Grand Am knock-off) had a 5-speed manual thru the 1990 model year.
As you can imagine, they were about as high-performance as a Ford Granada…
I’d be curious to know what the take-rate is the on the 6-speed manual version of the Regal…
I suspect most people don’t really find leases an attractive or economical option so we don’t have any suggestions. If I drive a car I want to own it, put as many miles on it as I want and modify it how I please. Also I can’t see the logic in paying thousands to essentially rent a car, that’s just throwing money out the window.
I have always felt the same way; I buy a car (either new or close to new), an then keep it as long as I can, i.e., drive it into the ground.
However, lately I’ve looked at some enticing Honda Accord lease deals. Unless something’s missing in the fine print, the deals look really good, because the total payments PLUS the residual value comes out lower than the “buy” price. So regardless of how many miles you get per year and how much the "overage"costs, it seems like it will cost less if you go with lease deal (and pay the residual at the end of term), because not only is the total cost lower, but it also has interest built in (whereas purchase price does not). So I must be missing something. I haven’t gone to dealer to discuss, because I’m not at that stage. I’m sure a doper (or many dopers) knows enough about car leases to set me straight on these deals.