mark833

Hey guys,

I am just about to buy my RX8 and have two final choices I'm considering:

(I plan on having the car for 8 months, I know a short time but its my last fun before the baby comes! )

Buy

Black 2004 RX-8 GT MT Private Sale ($19000 CDN...after PST...$20500)
53000km
All maintenance records
Winter Tires and Rims Included (Pirellis with alloys)
Sunroof
Spoiler and Chrome Exhausts

Lease Takeover

I have the option to take over a business associate's lease (8 months which is perfect) for a total cost of $3471.28 including taxes for the 8 months I would have it.

Silver 2004 RX8 MT GT
63000km
Spoiler
Sunroof
Extended Warranty

I guess the difference is do I want the conveinence of a lease where I will know my total cost and all I have to do is throw the keys back to the dealer...or do I want to take a risk and hope I don't lose more than $3400 selling it in July. Do you guys think I would have problem selling it in July?

What do you guys think is the best option in my case?

Thanks alot! (soon hope to be a proud 8 owner)

Mazurfer

You ain't going to like this, but given the details that you did.........neither is a good option IMO. If you do neither, in 8 months you will be glad you took my advice. I'm not going to list all the reasons. Sorry!

Anbody else?

Marc_GS

I'm going to disagree with the above. Get the car, take advantage of the period of your life when you can accomodate it, remember it fondly in the years to come.

For under $435/month, for the exact time period you want, the lease is very appealing. If it were me, I'd probably go this way, just for the convenience of knowing exactly how much it is going to cost me. Extended warranty on the lease is a big factor, since you never know for sure that the other car won't have some problem that will cost a few hundred $$$ to fix. Also, consider the convenience of NOT having to sell a car while there's a brand new baby at home. This is important since the only way you will get the $17000+ for the car next July is privately. If you sell to a dealer you will definitely lose big money.

On the other hand, consider that you may want to keep it longer than 8 months. Others have found their RX-8s to be fine for use with young children. There are some posts on this forum regarding baby seats that fit in the RX-8. If you think you might keep the car, then you need to consider the buy-out value at the end of the lease.

LiTTleRX-8

If I were in your shoes, I would definitely do the lease option.
1) $3500 to drive a sports car for 8 months, where do you find that??

2) You seem sure that you will only keep it for 8 months...So basically you will have to try and sell a third-handed RX-8 with option 1, have fun doing that.

Why do I say this? Because our Canadian dollar is so high at the moment, the dealers have already initiated price-drops across their lineups to be on par with US prices. Of course reaching US prices won't happen immediately, but you should take that into account. A new 8, could drop a few thousand within the 8 months that you keep it. Then your resale value may get screwd. Your chance of resale will be screwd too. Of course, that's just all speculation...

Also, by any chance, IF you do fall in love with the 8, and decide to keep it for longer than 8 months...The lease car has extended warranty...And both are 2004s, so the lease car would be safer choice to keep.

BlueFrenzy

Ummm ... I would lease if I were you. If you know for certain that you only have those 8 months .. then lease (think of it as renting). Besides, of those 8 months, we're blanketed in snow for a good portion (not as fun). LittleRX8 pretty much hit the nail on the head with his explaination.

Although the Black GT is a GOOD deal! If that 2004 was a yellow, I'd buy it!

Leesha

If you want to keep the car & get a 2nd van or suv, which you will(wnat to keep the car) ... then ... I'd buy.

If not then lease and give it back. Sometimes to get your business again they will give u an even better deal than when u started off.

Chris_Bangle

iTrader: (2)

Why would you want to buy a car for 8 months? You will have to worry about getting money for it when you trade it in. The market is going to keep adjusting to our high dollar and prices on used cars are only going to suffer. You can now get an 04 GT from the states for about 17USD.
take over the lease, trash it everyday return it and get whatever it is you will be getting next.

Having typed this I just realized that Little RX-8 makes the same point

climacus

Buy if you want to keep the car, lease if you only want it for 8 months. It's a no brainer.

hippak

Although I agree that a lease is probably the best option, just keep in my that you will have a post lease inspection on the vehicle and will be responsible for any damage that the car may have.

If there is a door ding you are going to get charged, if there is a paint scratch you are going to get charged. These costs can add up to a substantial amount so unless the car is mint or has lease insurance covering this cost. Remember that you might be spending slightly more then just the cost of the lease.

mark833

^^^ exactly!

Thanks guys for all the responses. I really feel like this a great community where I can come and ask any question. I really appreciate all the responses, like really!

I plan to be a forum member for a long time to come.

Back to the car, the more I think about it, the better the lease sounds. It's almost as if it was tailor-made for me! The only thing that wasn't tailor-made is the fact its a three hour drive away...but that's okay.

Also, it has $3500 worth of "extra wear and tear" protection which I assume is damages allowed when I return the lease?

hippak

If you have the wear and tear insurance go for it. I've had that on a few of my leases and its pretty much hand in the keys and walk away.

You are way better off leasing the vehicle in this scenario. If you end up liking it alot don't sweat it as the prices of 2nd hand rx-8s will continue to decline as the manufacturers close the gap between American and Canadian car prices. So you should be able to pick something up fairly cheap.

dupa12345

ok sorry man no insult intended but this is just plain stupid .. if you got 3500 hundred to blow on a used 04 car for 8 months .. then buy yourself a bmw and keep it until the kid is 5

if you cant afford the bmw then dont waiste your money on these or any other cars for 8 months

my 2 cents .. hope it helps

dupa12345

i know .. this is really not what you wanna hear .. and i dont have any intentions of busting your chops .. but on another note .. this is the kind of lack of commitment your lady may really not like .. i obviously dont know how super cool she may be .. but some women i know would be somewhat pissed off knowing they're looking to carry a load for 9 months while their racier-half thinks of kicking some tires in their new ride

that said .. you gotta work a bit harder to work this baby in .. i mean the car

buy it or whatever ... get her some flowers .. a car sit for the baby and keep it for a while .. ask around the board .. kids like the back seat

but not the 8-month plan .. waiste of money

mark833

It's not only my wife saying I have to get rid of the car after 8 months...It's me too. A will need a van after that and I can't have three cars for the fun of it.

That being said...I now have the chance to do the BUY option for as low as $17000-$17500 ($18360 - $18900 after tax) I forgot to say there actually is no sunroof. Even though this is a great price, I would assume for the conveinence of the lease and also my strict time period, I should still go for the lease?

Thanks guys!

climacus

$17000 for a 2004 63000km with no sunroof is pretty decent. Think about it this way, if you list the car on autotrader in 07/2008 for $13000, you will have no problem selling the car. It's up to you to decide whether to tie up $19000 in cash by buying the car outright, or to pay more to have a closed-end lease and no-hassle disposal of the car at the end of the lease.

The only scenario where you'll truly get burn is if you need to get out of the lease BEFORE the 8 months is up.

Thumper3322

Screw both of those options!! buy your car from the states, in 8 months sell it you will sell it for what you bought it if not more. You will drive the car for free no BS do the research!! I just bought one same car up here (SAME) autotrader $10,000 more (before taxes of course on both). In the end if I sold it here I could make somewhere between 5-7g's off of it. Dead serious look into it while our dollar is so strong.