Hey guys, I was interested looking at Acura TSXs. Well, i'm having a hard time finding a used one that I like, so I'm considering a new one. There's a lease special right now for a 2006 TSX for 359/mo w/ 2500 due at signing. That's for 36 months.

I guess my question is what happens after the lease is over? I know you have the option of buying it or returning it, but if you decide to buy it will they give you a good deal or will it be shitty?

If I plan to keep the car for awhile, then I should probably just finance it right?

 

You really need to do your homework on leasing.

 

Own a business or self-employed? Lease

Just getting the car for yourself? Buy

 

A lot of anti-lease guys on this board. Leasing makes sense if you have certin needs. Do some research on it.

 

BTW - The price you'll have to pay to keep the car when the lease is up will be decided upon when signing the lease. Not when the lease is up.

Sounds like you should finance.

 

I was planning on leasing a car for the wife. I decided against it because the price to purchase at the end of the lease period didn't make it worth it to me.

 

Personally, I would finance it. You should be able to get a TSX around invoice pretty easily right now or within the next few weeks. You could finance the TSX for around $600/mo (around $2500 down at invoice) for 48 months.

Besides, as young as you are you are going to be driving around a lot, a lease will absolutely rip you a new one if you go over the miles.

 

Not always the case, if you only keep a car 2-3 years.....more often than not it pays to lease. Especially if its a car that leases out well, like a TSX. Not for cars like Evos and STIs, etc. Cars without programs/subsidized rates or low residuals just pay to buy.

 

Most leases are figured on 110% of the cars value...
you shouldnt be putting any money down on a lease....

 

True. I've just never been a fan of leasing since I like having the luxury of owning the car and not having to make a decision after the term of do I keep it or do I give it back. Plus, watching mileage is never fun.

 

Finance. I wouldn't advise a lease for many reasons but here's one to think about...

A lot of people like myself don't typically keep cars for longer than 2 to 4 years. However, what happens if at the end of the lease you think, hummm, I really love this car and I want to keep it. Now you'll have to buy it and it's going to cost you way more than necessary had you of just financed the car to begin with. I'm only saying this because my folks went thru it when they bought their 1st M3 and fell in love with it. Needless to say, the car got traded in...

 

I agree with juniorbean. Leasing is far more attractive if self employed or for business use. Often the entire lease payment can be written off. I've leased a few trucks for the farm but have always purchased them outright after the leasing obligation expired. Interestingly, each time I paid less than the pre-determined buyout price. Why? it seems to be that in many cases the manufacturer doesn't want them back. If they are offering huge incentives to buy a new one and the used inventory is suffering, then at times it makes more sense to offer the leased vehicle at a reduced price. Better that than taking back the vehicle, servicing it, and then running it through a dealer sale where the value might not be all that high. I imagine this only works when huge incentives are being offered on new, and most likely from domestic manufacturers. Acura/Honda certainly have excellent resale values, so this may not be applicable to them.

Terry

 

You can't mod a lease either can you? The Subaru dealer here was trying to talk me into leasing a WRX wagon, but I just couldn't help but think WRX+having to keep it stock=torture

 

Lots of guys who haven't leased a car or just haven't done their homework on a lease are chiming in here.

Look up my old thread on leasing advice - I was looking to buy an S2000, and it actually turned out to be cheaper leasing the s2000 from the dealer than buying it. This was due to factory incentives on leasing at the time (much like the deal you mentioned with the TSX). I've obviously planned to buy the S2000 at the end of the lease, and when I ran the numbers, it worked out about $500 - $1000 cheaper off the top of my head to lease the S2000 over 3 years and buy it out, instead of financing it over 3 years. Not to mention that if you invest the difference in monthly payments between a lease and a finance you could potentially come out even more on top. As a bonus, you also don't have to purchase "gap" insurance since the gap insurance is "built into" the lease. Some key tips I can offer:

1. Don't put money too much down on a lease.
2. A lease deal CAN be tweaked. 110% doable. I bargained with my dealer and saved a crapload on a lease deal that was already pretty sweet.
3. A general finance/lease/monthly payment related thing here. Please don't lease the car with the intention of coming up with the money month to month. As I said in my case I had all the money up front since I had intentionally planned on buying an S2000 outright, so leasing a new one poses no financial strain.
4. Get the dealer to throw in some freebies such as wheel locks, extended warranty, and such. Never hurts!

EDIT: as long as you plan on buying the car at the end of the lease, then it makes no difference if you put 10 miles on the car, or 1000000 miles on the car. Case in point, my S2000 already has 5300 miles in 2 months!

I would think this would also apply to modding. Mod the crap out of the car, and no one cares as long as you end up buying the car at the end of the lease.

The only "downside" to a lease if you go into it with the intention of buying the car at the end of the lease is that if the car is totalled for some reason or the other, god forbid, then the lease just terminates, and any money you paid in monthly payments is ... gone.

 

Thanks for the advice guys... I still need to go to the dealership and find out what the numbers are... leave vs fincance.

It's october now, should I wait a little longer to see if Acura will offer any special clearance sale or something?

Lastly APR = interest right? What's a good APR to pay?

 

I would wait until after Thanksgiving to buy/lease it. As far as APR, it will definitely vary depending on your credit, market, length of finance, etc. Unless there is a special going on, APR's will typically range from 5.0%+

 

You didn't finish your story! If you didn't plan to purchase at lease end, so what? Pay teh lease paymetns and give it back after the term. If you planned to purchase, bear in mind that sometimes the residual is below market (but you wouldn't know until the time came.)

 

Just return it to stock at lease end. Mod to your heart's content!!

 

Well first off, when you lease a car..........you generally don't purchase it at the end of the term. As said, unless you're going to pay cash for final buyout (which even that doesn't always pay), pass on buying the vehicle.

I get so sick of cars that I know I'll be happy to give it back after term is up, has never failed. Matter of fact, I've ditched out of several leases early (without losing my shirt). Kept the M3 to term though, going back Monday.

Again, if you know that you're most likely going to keep a car more than 3 years.....finance it.

Mileage is another issue, with leasing you pay for how much you use (10k,12k, 15k, etc). I've never run into an issue with over mileage, not something that all people can say. What people do is sign themselves up for 10k and 12k mile/year leases when in reality they should have gone with a 15k mile lease. But that big $25-$30/month savings, made them go with the lower mileage term.

Also with leasing, you don't have to worry about if you get in an accident. If you have a nice car and financed it and it get's blasted in an accident. You better hope that nobody knows the car was hit (dealer, buyer) because it kills the value of a high end car.

If you're into heavy modding, leasing is not for you. I think we all know that though.