I am in the market to get a new car as my lease. The Acura 3.2 TL is a great car and my first choice especially after what Honda did to the rear of the 2003 Accord. (Damn, its ugly). Anyway, I visited my local dealer and he gave me a quote on a new 48 month lease of $340 a month (tax included) and $2737 down. Is this a good deal for a 2003 3.2TL (w/o Nav and not a Type S) the deal also included the rear wing spoiler free of charge.

( I will being buying this car in Ft. Lauderdale not Maryland)

 

I got a 42 month lease on the Type-S for $3000 down (included everything plus 1st payment) at $358 a month. Live in NJ. I literally took the best deal I got and then lied and lowered it to see if the dealer would match my "fake" deal....and they DID!!!

 

I hope this is not the first dealer you've worked with. I'd definitely shop around or you may regret it.

BTW: I bought mine, sorry I can't help confirm the lease quote is good or bad.

 

02 tls non navi 388 a month
2500 dollar trade in car
bought spoiler seperate for 600

 

might be a stupid question but oh well, why lease and not buy??

 

03 TL-S navi $439/month $2100 Out of pocket, including first month and security, for 36 months.

 

Not a stupid question at all. I've never been able to make a car lease work out on paper - especially now with the cost of money so cheap.

 

Think about it. If leasing were a good deal they wouldn't pressure you so hard to take out a lease. Leasing only makes sense if you plan to keep the car three years or less, and then only if you get a low interest lease and a high residual value on the car. I always pay cash , took twenty minutes to buy my current tl.

 

Here's what you do if you're going about a lease:

Get the Money Factor from them, they know what it is. You also want the residual value of the car. Then you want the selling price. You are paying the difference of the selling price from the residual value (its depreciation) plus interest. The equation is like this:

(Selling Price - Residual Value) = Depreciation
Depreciation ÷ Lease Term (in months) = Monthly Payment before Interest
Monthly Payment x Money Factor (ie, Interest Rate) = Monthly Payment

Your goal is to get a good residual, good money factor and good selling price. It's hard to negoiate that unless you have somebody else's numbers.

Go to BankFirst.com (I think that's it), give them a call and ask them what it would cost you to lease the same car with the same specs (they will ask for a VIN probably). They generally beat out the dealers by a good margin. Then take that number back to the dealer and say, if you can beat it, then it's sold, else get it from BankFirst.com. You might lose out on the 'lease loyalty' programs but you will save money in the long run, and make it easier to buy another car.

 

Got my 2003 TL Type-S with navi, body kit for 48 month $442 and $2000 down, that's included the first payment.

 

The only way buying a car is financially beneficial, is if you plan to keep the car for a long time.

EX:
I bought my last car. (I got ripped off but thats not the point)

2000 Mitsu Galant GTZ.
$4500 down. $450 month. I owned the car for 18 months.(hated it will never buy another Mitsu EVAR!!!)

I sold the car for what I owned on the loan. To a friend of a friend. I lucked out cuz trade in was really low. So......total cost for 18 months of ownership.......12,600.

Total cost of ownership for 36 months for my TL worth 10k more than the Galant...........17,804.

I will never buy another car again unless I l=plan on keeping it for over 6 or 7 years. Which will be never since I cant keep the same car for more than a couple of years.

 

Buying a car isn't much of an option. I don't really drive more than 12,000 miles a year and I do get sick of cars after 3 -4 years. I've never thought of cars as an investment after having a few scares with my current car which is out of warranty, I know I'd rather have a car that has a length of term warranty.

 

Also, should I worry about this transmission problem? Should I not get this car? Should I ask the dealer about it? Is this a major issue? I'd hate to buy a car only to walk into some KNOWN problems about it.

 

Just so you know, my account was activated. Corey let me borrow his account while my registration finished. I am the one looking to buy the new TL.

 

You should either push on the dealer for lower lease payment or wait, since this model will be replaced by the new one possibly in 6 months. You will regret being stuck with a lease and an out of date model.

 

Doesnt Sound Right--I put 2gs down and my payments are 411
a month and thats a Type S w/o nav.