DaveG

Hey Guys, I'm attempting to join the cult.

Here's the situation: A local dealer with approx 20 04 8's has told me that they still have the 3500 lease incentive for 24 months leases. However, he says that the incentives may likely change (end) as of Tuesday, so this may be my last best chance to get the great lease incentives. I ran this by a friend of mine who works in finance and he says that may actually be true. According to him, this late in the year many manufacturer lease incentives start to dry up.

So, my question is this: from what I've read here, I think I should be able to get a sports pack 6sp, nothing else, for approximately 295-340 per month incl TTL with just the usual 700 or so down for fees, 1st payment etc.

Does this sound about right? When I told this to the guy over the phone he acted like it was way low. He said that would only be possible with a 36 or 48 month lease. (Doesn't make sense to me since the incentive is only 2500 for longer leases) He also said he couldn't tell me anything regarding payments until they ran my credit.

Today, they're closed, I looked at the lot and they had a freakin red 6sp sport on the lot with a sign saying "1500 down, 299 month, incl ttl"

So, what do you guys think? Should I be able to lease a sports or touring equipped RX8 (24 or 36 months) now for between 300 and 360 per month with just 1000 or less down?

Any info is greatly appreciated! Thanks

Icemastr

Leases are a pretty complicated thing, on such a short term lease 30+% of the monthly payment is generally dealership profit (going off MSRP) so generally of course up front they will quote you a low payment to get you in then give you a high payment with everything loaded up. Four major things affect leases, selling price of the vehicle, residual value, money factor, and mileage. Since I dont deal with this type of stuff for a Mazda dealership I don't know what Mazdas financing plan for leases has as a money factor, residual value for the vehicle, or adding on for mileage so all I can do is estimate.

The best way to handle the negotiations is to find out what cars the dealership has that you want, look up what the invoice is for the vehicle with all those options (around 27,000-29,000 for the packages you are considering) then call the Internet manager and offer what you think is a fair price based on the invoice and that you are going to lease it for 24 months. If they accept your offer you can have them find out what the monthly payment will be. If you figure you buy the car for 29,000$ + T&L and pay 1500$ down plus the $3500 off from Mazda, the car has an MSRP of 32,000 and a residual factor of 60% (The car will be worth $19,200 after two years and 24,000 miles) you will be paying for $7459 worth of depreciation so your payment will be about $312/month NOT considering money factor (like interest, its kind of a rent charged for leasing the car). If you plan on putting more miles on the car then the set amount you can pay extra to increase your mileage allowance. Hope this gives you a little idea about leasing, good luck on your purchase. As long as you set a good price to purchase the car and are aware of any mileage, acquistion fees and any additional fees you should be able to get the monthly payment you want. My residual factor could be high or could be low, which would make a huge difference. A residual factor of %50 would mean the car would be worth 16,000$ after two years making your payment $445/month. Leasing can be a very smart way to go if you understand everything, a lot of Finance managers lease cars from the dealerships they work for because they can buy the cars close to cost, have a payment lower than if they were actually buying the car, and just get a new car after 2-3 years and not have to worry about break downs etc.

blitzkriegs

another sucker lured to 'lease' a car because of what the dollar amount of the monthly payment is....

the TWO BIGGEST numbers in leasing a car are the (1) moneyfactor (which is set by Mazda and based 100% on your credit score), and (2) the residual value of the car at lease end.

Without knowing these numbers, you are entering no man's land while being guided by a monthly payment.

Moreover, why lease a car for 48 months? That is 4 years. Most new car loans are 5 years. So why would you 'lease' 75% of the car BEYOND the warranty period and still NOT own it?

I love the auto industry and how they turn customers upside down with thousands of dollars. Knowledge is key AND 80% of car buyers/leasee's don't have it.

erik

Here's some info that can help. For the 30 month lease special that Mazda was offering, the residual was 62% and the money factor was .0034. That's a decent residual and a terrible money factor. You can't negotiate the residual but you can negotiate the money factor.

But FIRST, negotiate the price of the car. For an 04, I'd shoot for $1000 under invoice (the car is over a YEAR old), plus the incentives. So you are looking at $4500 under invoice.

I'm guessing your residual for a 24 month lease would be between 65 and 70 percent.

I have an Excel sheet that figures out lease payments for me. So I did you a favor and figured out your payment.

Assumptions:

Money factor : .0034
Residual : 65%
Final Price (Invoice - $1000 - $3500) : 22,686
MSRP : 28400
Sales Tax % (NJ) : 6%
Term : 24 months
Bank Fee : $975

This is with no true down payment. You'll have to pay first month + document fees at signing but that's not included in your down payment.

Finally, the price would be $334.94/month. Residual at lease end is $18,460.

I don't work in the industry. I just do research and never want to go unprepared into a dealership.

Good luck.

ERIK

Icemastr

If the money factor is .0034 that would mean you are paying about 40% of your monthly payment for money factor, that sounds a little high. erik's numbers are right on for the figures he gave; but if you go for the touring package and get it at invoice the price of the car would be: $27588. Figuring in all the fees I assume the dealership will charge here is what I come up with: Capitalized cost (27888+45 doc fee + 975 bank fee + 557.76 license and registration - 3500 mazda rebate = $25965 (getting the car well below invoice, not bad so far) MSRP of 30,000, residual of $19,500 so to have an RX-8 for 24 months you will only have to pay $6456.76 not bad. 24 months that gives you a payment of 269.41. With a money factor of .0034 your monthly rent charge is $154.58! Thats where things are scary since if you financed the car at a decent interest rate you wouldn't accrue $3709 in finance charges even over a term like 60 or 72 months. Then you also pay $25.44/month in taxes for a total payment of $449.43. This is only paying your first months payment at lease signing. Just for your information, if you financed the car for 60 months with no money down at 4.0% interest for invoice without any rebates you would have a payment of about $520/month and $3000 in finance charges over the whole term of the loan. 72 Months your payment would be $440/month and $3500 in finance charges,

I like leasing because if its a really good residual factor and the car depreciates more than that you can just return the car and buy the same car around the same mileage for less and save a few thousand dollars, or if the car depreciates less than the residual you can just buy the car and have a low monthly payment still, or you can just walk away free and clear and buy another car. Good luck, and try and find out the money factor, any bank acquisition fees etc ahead of time and any of us can run the numbers for you to make sure there isn't anything you are unaware of.

erik

You can also try leasecompare.com for leasing offers. They usually have worse residual values but their money factors are a lot better. I would think the leasing rebate would still be viable even if you leased the vehicle through another leasing company. They won't offer 24 month leases, but they will offer 36 month leases.

ERIK

Mazdax605

I leased my 8 back in August,and got what I thought was a great deal.Here are the terms:

$27200 window sticker on a base 6 speed
24 month lease
12K miles a year
$4250 off in incentives at the time
I got the car at invoice $25xxx
minus those incentives brought it to
$21xxx
money factor is a high .00305(7.3%) which at the time was Mazda's best money factor
Residual was 65% or around $17xxx I think
Payments are $300 a month including sales tax(5% in MA) and an excise tax we have here in MA.

I think I did pretty well on my first lease ever,and I am very happy with the car.

Good Luck

FX-RX8

I Leased a 04 6spd Grand touring PKG/apperance pkg. The car Sticker was 32.xxx$$ I had S-PLAN pin number which came down to 29.xxx then minus 2500 lease incentives, The Residual value of the car is set at 19.460 I have a 30 Months Lease with 15K miles a year....I only gave them 900$ down and I pay 399/mo plus tax.....This is Gunther Mazda in Ft. Lauderdale. This was a 30 month Special program.....

Icemastr

How do you figure 7.3%? With that price and residual your monthy lease charge is $120. Considering you are "financing" $4224 for 24 months you are paying $2897 in finance charges. Thats about 55.7% APR if you financed that much money for 24 months and accrued that much finance charge lol. But don't worry you still got a great deal since you have a great residual and got $4250 off in incentives which more than makes up for the lease charge.

I think that deal is about the same I am going to go ahead and get once I get my next house bought. I could just prepay the whole lease and not have a payment lol. Pay $7600 up front to have a brand new car for 24 months and not have any payments makes more sense than to put $10,000 down and pay $350/month for 5 years to own a car I probably will sell before 2 or 3 years.

DaveG

Hey Guys!

Thank you so much for all of your help. I didn't expect what I got.

To update you:

Went to two dealerships Monday, before being able to read your original replies.

The first dealership was John Bommarito Mazda in St. Peter's MO. I had a nightmarish experience with MATT the sales manager. Long story short, Matt at John Bommarito Mazda can lease you an RX8 with the 3500 incentive for the low low price of $542/month! He tried to tell me that taxes were $110 per month and that my awful credit score (692!) were ramming up the payment. When I questioned how he arrived at these numbers Matt grew increasingly frustrated and barked that he "fed them into a machine and it spit them out." Not impressed by his answer, I calmly asked him to show me the math of exactly how sales/property tax raise payments by $110. He only repeated his prior response. I countered by offering to do the math in my head. After all, 7% tax should only add 20-30 bucks. So, this guy actually refused to show me any numbers that comprised his lease offer. All he would do is shove absurd payments my way.

I made him aware of the other lease deals I have seen posted on this site. His answer was that nobody on here knew what they were talking about and that they also probably had five year leases which they were mistaking for two year leases.

I told him that I thought it was unlikely that everyone in the RX8 community was retarded. Matt ignored me and went on about how you can't believe anything on the net etc. At this point I stopped him and said calmly: "you are giving me a very sleazy impression." Then he threw me out.

I had no idea that guys like this still existed, he was the sales manager! This was at a very large, slick Mazda dealer which I BOUGHT MY LAST CAR FROM!

The second dealer was far cooler and came up with 424 month, still unacceptable.

Now, after reading all of your brilliant responses I am on my third dealer, Randy Blount. I actually emailed him one of your lease examples! So far, these guys appear to be straight shooters. We'll see what happens.

-Dave

Mazdax605

Hey Ice,

I came up with the 7.3% by taking the money factor and dividing by 2400,which is how you determine the percentage rate on a lease which I am sure you know.I have excellent credit(787 experian score),and at the time the .00305 was the best mazda was offering.The sales manager showed me the mazda lease paper work,and I confirmed it on edmunds site by asking the leasing guru.The following month the best money factor you could get was .00315 or 7.56% for customers in mazdas 0 tier credit score which is the best.The money factor was/is terrible,but like you said the residual is great and I got the car for over $6000 under sticker so that makes up for it.After 24 payments I will have paid $7400 total including taxes with the residual of $17xxx.Add those up and I will pay $25xxx for the car which isn't bad.That is assuming a cash buyout at the lease end.I may try to negotiate the buyout at the end as well,which I have heard is tough with Mazda but not impossible.Or maybe I will just turn it in either way I have had my RX-8 for 2 years for $7400 including excise,and sales tax.I think that is a good deal,but like I mentioned it is my first lease,so maybe I am wrong.

I would suggest looking into the base lease money factors and residuals via the Car_Man on edmunds website he will give you the low down on any and all leasing info usually within a few days.Good luck to you and the original poster.Leasing is tricky if you go into it not knowing how they arrive at the numbers,or what the numbers mean.Oh yeah just for some info my payment is $264 a month and the rest is tax.sales tax is $13.xx and the excise tax which sucks was another $30 a month.So you can see the monthly payment without the tax isn't too bad.

2ks2k

First off, the payment will be less on the 48 month lease as opposed to the 24 month because of the residual.

I hope this helps in your quest for a lease. Here's what I got for the next 48 months...

'04 6-Speed GT package, Appearance package, Rotary Accent package, and Spoiler. I put NO money down (just made the first payment and the sec. deposit ) and my payments are just under $350.

Good Luck and keep us posted!!!

fredw1

You probably know by now the lease incentive expired. Now there is (allegedly) a $1500 rebate on '04's and $1000 on '05's. Last weekend (granted it was the last day of the month) I was offered a lease deal for $289/mo on a 48-month lease. Net cap cost was $24,800 and residual close to $13000. The money factor was .0014. This was a good deal, but I was not quite ready to buy or lease, and may wait until spring.

erik

Your money factor was .0014? Is this a typo? That's an amazing money factor. That's only a 3.36% rate for a lease. Too bad you weren't ready, it'll be tough to find that rate again.

fredw1

.0014 is correct. It was good.