BigW

Hello All,

Has anyone out there considered leasing an RX-8? It seems to me like everyone is talking about buying their cars.

Thanks,

BigW

Hercules

I'll be leasing.

Maurice

Here too:D

dwdeboer

I too shall lease. I like the ability to have a new car every few years. I get bored fast. Although, I feel the RX-8 may not have that effect upon me.

cueball

I know in Rhode Island leasing will soon be unpopular. Instead of paying taxes on what you pay on the lease you pay taxes on the whole price of the car. I don't know if other states are like this.

I am pretty sure that is whats happening. I only skimmed the article about it and I don't lease so I not too up to date on that either.

MPester

I'll be looking for a 3 year lease. Hopefully, when the 3 year lease is over, the RX-7 will be out.

DrKillJoY

I am searching for leasing options myself, however my local dealer has said there won't be leasing options for at least 9-12 months.. is this truth or bull-isht?

Hercules

Don't know.

I doubt it though. All they need is a residual and you can lease the car. It's not that hard.

zilch321

Latest Auto mag I read says that Mazda hopes to sell 18,000 of these this year. That leaves plenty to go around I think (often wrong). Anyway, I expect they may not lease the car at first, but I expect to see them lease this year. Getting this car on lease could be one of the things that pushes it in/out of my car list. Otherwise I guess I'll look at an Altima or 325.

Farsyde

not that im knocking leasing, but lets take my friend as an example. He's leasing an 01 miata. MSRP ~$24,000. He has a four year lease for $430 a month. Thats $20,640 at the end of his lease. To buy out the car it will cost him $10k. thats $30,640 for a $24k car!!! All he had to do was extend the loan to 55 months and he would pay the same montly but own the car in half a year more!!! Not to mention that mazda's hold their value very well. Right now my protege is worth $5k more than I owe. If you lease you have nothing to show at the end of the lease. I could sell my car today and have a decent deposit on the rx-8, not to mention that i would prolly pay the same as you guys leasing a month, albeit a little longer, but at the end i can say that the car is mine.

Renting just never made sense to me. I rent my apartment but if i could afford a house payment I'd have one cuz the payoff is soo worth it.

Just curious, what fees do you have to worry about when you lease...like mileage charge, damage, etc. I want to see the other side of the argument too so please post. Obviously leasing doesnt suck cuz millions do it. Although in the same analogy i don't see millions jumping off bridges either. :D

Hercules

First of all, that $400 something lease is a ripoff and the person that got it on a $24k car is a complete moron.

What you pay in a lease is depreciation plus interest.

The reason I like leasing is because everything under the lease period is warrantied. Mileage is iffy but if you own a car you wind up paying the mileage when you try to resell it so it's very much the same thing in that regard.

See look at it my way... it's easier to budget in $400 a month for the REST OF MY LIFE (with leasing) than to budget around 800 a month for financing for only 5 years. For some people it's the reverse.

But if you have the common sense to invest your money wisely, you put a small downpayment down on your lease ($1000-$2000), as opposed to a bigger downpayment on a finance ($5k-10k), and the rest you can invest.

So sure you make more payments over time, but the opportunity cost of your money sitting with the financing company for me personally is stupid because I'd rather keep my money and make more money with it... then I just pay a much lower payment on my lease for the rest of my life (if I decide to keep leasing).

And after three years I know I'll be bored anyways... and thus I just give my car back, and get another. If you keep leasing from the same company they let you build a 'leasing credit' with the finance managers at the dealers, and thus your disposition fees are waived, they give you better rates, etc...

Makes more sense to me. To some people it doesn't. Do what makes sense to you

zilch321

Your 100% right, why would anyone rent a car for 55 months?However If you buy a car, put a 60 month payment plan on it, and sell it after 36 months (standard lease per is 3 years) what are the chances you will be under/over on the car? Why factors into the value of a 36 month old car? As I'm sure you know the factor is demand, quality, and above all else, milage. These are among just a few factors that play a key roll in figuring out if a Lease is right for you. Anyone who says you didn't GET anything out of leasing a car isn't viewing the whole picture (IMOA). Cars are not investments, no one needs an RX8 to get to work. No matter if you Rent/Lease/Buy outright, Miles and condition dictate the real value of your car. To anyone that says owning a car removes you from the pentalty of high miles, your wrong, your car is still worthless with 3 years and 100K on the meter :D

Anyway, long term buyers gain nothing from leases, people who drive loads of miles, gain nothing either. People who know how much they will be driving, and know they are looking to change up cars every few years gain the ability to drive a nicer car for less money, and that's about it.

I think it's great if you have a car that's wroth 5K more than you have left on it. How much money have you already put into it to get to that point? Keep in mind that a lease only tries ("tries") to get you to the point where you only pay for what you use. I'm sure most of this didn't really explaine much, but hopefully it gives you some idea of why people do it.

zilch321

BTW, to see the worst case lease examples, check out http://www.leasetrader.com You'll never belive how many people have no idea why they leased a car, till it was too late. :o

danielk015

iTrader: (1)

i think leases are cool, but 12K per year is just way too low, especially living in southern cali... leases are cool if work is like 5 miles from home and you dont drive much beyond that... i definitely is tailored to the individual.. i just know too many people that didnt think things out and got jacked up when the lease was up

geng77

thinking about leasing too.. but wondering what will be the monthly price if i lease. total would probably come about $35k with all the options and for a 3 year lease with about 12k miles a year.. can anyone estimate a montly payment?

MattZ

I currently lease a 2002 Audi A4 3.0 MSRP of $38,000 for around $435/month....granted it was fantastic lease deal I got, but leasing has many advantages...if the numbers (money factor/residual) are good, then leasing is a great option.

Think about it like this:

Would you buy a stock that was guarenteed to lose 40% of its value in the 3 years. An expensive automobile is the worst depreciating asset you could own. I like to LEASE depreciating automobiles, and OWN an appreciating home. The silliest thing is to own a car and rent an apartment. People who say that leasing a car is just throwing money away make me laugh. I think that owning a depreciating asset like a luxury automobile is really throwing money away.

Farsyde

most houses depreciate at a rate similar to cars, its the land that usually appreciates (as a result of location, etc). Owning the house is a way to go but you have to wait 30 years to see the true profit. So buying a car isnt that bad if you get a return on your investment after 5-10 years, even if it isnt worth the OE price.

pelucidor

Firstly houses can appreciate a lot in less than 30 years. My parents moved house 6 times over 15 years whilst I was growing up in London (every 2-3 years) - we rarely made less than a 40% increase per sale. Personally I have only ever owned two houses (one was a bad investment in London during a property crash) - the bad investment (I never lived in it - rented it out to pay the mortgage) made $100k profit over 10 years (about 100% increase) the other which I built in NJ made $200k in 3 years (about 50% increase).

Secondly your theory of houses depreciating and land appreciating is nonsense. I built my house in NJ on land I purchased - the land was about $60k and the house about $370k. When I sold the house+land for $640k 3 years later I don't believe the house somehow depreciated to, say, $300k but the land appreciated from $60k to $340k - my property taxes and land/house insurance information certainly don't suggest that.


There is a saying that you should rent things that depreciate (most cars) and buy things that appreciate (houses in most markets).

Of course the caveat is how much the rent costs - the chap who paid $430 per month for a 48 month lease on a $24k Miata was well and truly shafted - I would not have paid more than $320 for that same lease (it's called negotiation and timing). For example I leased a $39k 2001 Lexus RX300 for 39 months/50k miles. I paid $495 per month (inc. tax) with $1500 down total (which included security, first month, TTL etc). Right now I am paying $530 (inc tax) per month for a similar lease on a $41k Acura MDX. If Mazda offer a good lease deal on the RX-8 in July I will lease it, but I will NOT pay over $450 per month (inc. taxes) for a 39month/50k miles lease for a $33k car ($0 down except TTL + security deposit of course). If Mazda don't offer a decent residual/money factor then I will grudgingly finance the vehicle at 4.5% interest (and keep it for more than 4 years for a change).

Rexor

Pelucidor

Can't you shop the lease competitively before you see your dealer, get pre-approved, and if Mazda can't match it, use someone else. I haven't leased before, but this is what I do with loans.

Hercules

Yea, there's online banks that will lease your car, as well as you can talk to your own bank and other financing agencies.

Then, if you get a rate that is reasonable from elsewhere and see if the finance manager will match it, else don't get the financing done through Mazda.

A note to make... GM makes the most money in the world doing WHAT? Not selling cars.. it's financing. GMAC is the largest financing company in the world.

Sin

The RX-7 project is shelled....

smrx8

iTrader: (1)

iam leasing mine for 399 month ,15,000 miles a year and i gave my 1992 grand am,lease is for 4 years

nate109

I just got an amazing deal on a lease from an Atlanta area dealership. See my post in this thread for details: https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=21478

gusmahler

It's irrelevant if it is the house or the land that is appreciating, because they are sold together. As for needing 30 years to see the profit, that is also mistaken.

E.g., you buy a house for $250,000. Let's say that the house appreciates to $350,000 in 5 years. You have made a profit already. And you don't have to sell the house to get the profit. Since your house is worth $350k and the mortgage is for $220k or so, you have equity in the house, which you can use as collateral for another mortgage or home equity loan.

In contrast, the $30k car you bought 5 years ago is worth $15k or less. You just LOST $15k. And most cars are worth much less than 50% after 5 years.