ACUTERIDE

$800 DOWN, PAYING 420.00 A MONTH, IS A GOOD DEAL????

Haus

Need some more specifics....what is the residual, is the $800 down total drive off, or just a cap reduction? What does the money factor work out to be? What is the agreed upon cost of the car? I'd check out some leaseing web sites and pay close attention to the money factor...search Google for "money factor" or "leasing" and you should get some good info.

FYI - I paid $1,500 total drive off and ended up with a payment of $367/month before taxes

IntegraVT

iTrader: (1)

True. Also, S, P, with or without Navi?

There's currently a featured CL-P lease on eAcura.com $349/39mo with an unusually high $2200 down. (The featured TL-S lease is $399/36mo with only $999 down. )

thholr

dont lease, it is almost always a bad idea . how long of a lease is this ?
Why not just buy one a year or two old ? The resale value is not that great right now, so you can get a hell of a deal and buy it for what you are talking about leasing it . I have seen 2002 with 15-20 K miles for around $22-23K .
Just my 2 cents

Haus

In response to thholr - I wouldn't say never lease, but to each his own...

I would say do your homework and know what your are getting into!!! If you structure it right, leasing should work out to be nearly identical in terms of total cash outlay if you buy/finance the car at the end of the lease, to financing up front.
Also, if you want a new car every couple of years, leasing is the only way to go. Otherwise, like many CL owners are finding out, you eat a ton of deprciation. I could care less how much the car deprciates - if I want to buy it at the end, I'll negotiate lower than the residual (never settle for buying out at the residual, the dealer doesn't really want the hassel of taking the car back), or just turn it in and be on my way...

Like I said before, know what you are getting into. I will say that due to relativly lax regulations, it is much easier to get screwed on a lease than standard financing if you are not careful. Just as an example, UNDERSTAND THE MONEY FACTOR!! Why can two cars with nearly identical sticker prices, and residuals have very diferent payments......the money factor. Just for fun, take a look at a 325 or C230 (close to CL price), negotiate the residuals to be close and see what your payments end up at. My experience has shown that BMW and MB charge a much higher money factor (read interest rate) than Acura and Lexus.

Get all the facts and then it is up to whatever you are comfortable with.
BTW - if you finance a 22K car w/ 800 down and 7.5% used car loan, your payment works out to be about $425/mo for 60mo

ACUTERIDE

WELL, THE DEAL THAT WAS OFFERED WAS $800 DOWN, INCLUDES FIRST MONTHS PAYMENT, AND $398 BEFORE TAXES. I PRESUMED IT WAS A GOOD DEAL BECAUSE I GET TIRED OF CARS QUICK THATS WHY I'M LEASING, SO THIS WOULD BE MY FIRST TIME DOING THIS. MY PREVIOUS CARS I HAVE BOUGHT BUT I GET SCREWED WHEN TRYING TO TRADE IT BECAUSE I'M UPSIDE DOWN.

Haus

ACUTERIDE - you still didn't answer any of the questions...is the $800 DOWN a down payment, or drive off cost? How long is the lease, how many miles per year, what is the capitalized cost of the car, what is residual, money factor etc, etc. W/out knowing these things, there is no way to tell if this is a good lease or not.

ACUTERIDE

$800 down payment w/ 398 a month before taxes and 15k miles
a year for 48 month but if i'm correct i can terminate the lease at 42 months. Thats all the info i got!

Haus

ok, on the surface, it sounds like it may be a pretty good deal. But, do this...go to the dealer and have them work up all of the leasing documents, but DO NOT sign them. Take them home and check out a leasing web site (again, look on Google, there are lots of good ones). Understand each line and go from there.