a77

Strangely 6 speed Hondas in Canada cost the same as autos (Accord V6 Coupe and the sedan a few years back)). Just marketing shit.

i got my leased TSX last month at zero percent - they gave a .25% reduction as a few years ago I leased an Accord. You should get 2% off the advertised rate through lease loyalty but none of these work back to 0.25% (which was an advertised rate for (everybody in Feb). the standard 48 month rate is now 3.5% which for you should be 1.5%. my lease is 25 months by which time I hope Acura will have come out with a nice joint replacement for the TL/TSX.

manuals are really really hard to find right now btw - but you can always wait for an A-Spec to be built.

Just want to add to the chorus of praise for your photographic skills.

ttk5

Thanks a77 for that compliment and everybody else for this really useful discussion. My rates might be different than others because my family has got 9 acuras now from the same dealership. So its like super loyalty haha.

LaCostaRacer

I don't understand why you can't wait until November to make your decision when you have more time to weigh your options. That's the oldest game in town trying to give you an artificial time limit to make a decision and is almost always in favor of dealer.
A good deal today could be a better deal tomorrow and certainly within 8 months. If you don't want to buy out the car then you should be able to find somebody that would in 8 months time.

I really doubt rates are going to increase that much in 8 months for your next car. If you're not writing your lease payments off on a business expense, it almost never pays to lease a car over direct purchase in which you have a lot more options after purchase.

On another point, does it really make sense to mod a car you are leasing and can't afford to buy out? If you go the lease route again- seems like you wouldn't want to repeat that idea.

Mr. NC

A-Spec sounds cute. In fact an A-Spec badge looks alot better than an SE badge hehehehe

TTK5 I want your coils and camber kit LOL....Hook a canadian brother up. at least you know shipping wont be a killer since it wont have to cross a border.

718Tsx

ttk don't leave! you were the first person on this forum that i pmd =[
interested in the decklid spoiler ;] my cars cbp too so perfect match

ed_423

rofl, everyone tells you not to leave, but everyone calls dips on your parts

cu2 love

ttk5

You make a really good point and I may very well do just that and wait it out.

This whole thing started though because Acura simply called me and said I could benefit from a new car and lower payments if I trade in my TSX now for a newer one. I asked my broker about it and he said its safe if a new TSX is definitely what I want.

I told him I'd actually prefer a subaru or mitsubishi which would mean waiting out my lease; which is what I always expected and intended on doing until they called. One of his wholesalers though, coincidentally happened to have a 2009 STI in their lot. After some assessments he said he could arrange for me to trade the TSX for STI...if i want.

So now I am going to go test drive the STI on friday and see if i LOVE it. Unless I absolutely love it, my options look like they'll be to get the A-spec TSX next month or just wait out the lease then decide. But I might as well look at this STI sooner than later because it could get sold.

I realize this whole thing may look stupid but one thing just kind of led to the other and this is the situation I'm in.

As for modding my leased car, yea economically its stupid but I dont regret it. I wanted the TSX, I got it, and leasing was the only way. I enjoyed it stock and had no intention on modding... but once I joined the forums, I just could not resist the urge to try. The last 4 years of my life would not have been as fulfilling and happy for me if I didn't allow myself to mod. Owning this car and working onit it has been probably one of my biggest passions and enjoyable hobbies ever in a long time. Yea its a hassle now to part it out, but its been totally worth the experience. I've learned so much about cars in general and I am now a passionate car enthusiast. Moreover, Ive become an avid photographer but honestly it stemmed from my desire to experience that automotive photography scene. So to answer your question, I guess no, logically it doesnt make sense to mod this leased car, but emotionally it really did. Guess I never really thought about all this before though so glad you asked lol. I understand we may be on different grounds, but its probably just cause Im young. I might catch myself saying the same things you said one day.

Heres the STI. 2009 Black Hatch with Tech pkg, 20,xxx km. A 2009 STI goes for about 31 -36K here in Canada these days and I can finance this one for about $5xx a month. Since its a finance, I have to, like i said, absolutely fall in love with this car at the test drive for me to get it. Because its only a good deal as a finance, not lease, so i'd be keeping it for a long time.

a77

I don't understand the expressed opposition to leasing above. Unless you are convinced you are going to keep the car long term - like 8 years, then there is much to be said for leasing. Why finance a depreciating asset is the usual mantra. But there are lot of more tangible advantages. if you think it probable or possible that you will change your car say every four years, then when you lease you have a guaranteed value for your vehicle, and you are not subjected to the vagaries of the market. Also if you have had a shunt that cost $8000 to repair what kind of price are you going to get for it? If you lease - it doesnt matter. You also get free gap coverage on a lease. Your monthly payments are lower and the savings over a financing can be invested or put against your mortgage principle. You always have a warrantied car. Its sometimes easier to charge the cost against taxes. time and time again (as a sales person) I see customers come in wanting to change their vehicle when they are on a long finance and they face huge negative equity - something that just isnt a problem if you lease. People say well i want to buy it, not rent it. Well it makes no difference whether you lease or finance - you don't own it till it is all paid off. And like financing, you can pay it off or sell it privately any time. I know a number of people who like the poster here have modified their leases and don't regret it.

Leasing isnt the best solution for everybody of course - some people do keep their cars for the duration of the finance and longer. Some people drive huge miles (though this isnt always a problem when leasing). Of course the manufacturers prefer to lease as it gives them a better chance of a repeat sale down the line. And they often offer powerful inducements to make this more tempting. Loyalty cash or reduced rates. And quite often with Hondas the cars are actually worth more on trade than the buyout and this equity can be put down to reduce payments further on a new car. i have one customer who has got positive equity at the end of his lease four times in succession - and so each three/four years his payment has got lower.

ttk5

I never said I was going to lease the STI.. As I wrote in my last paragraph, I would finance it and keep it for a looooooooong time. Which is why I have to absolutely love it, to get it. And I get that your just trying to help..but I dont understand 100% of everything your saying because I am not a car salesman or analyst or whatever it is that you do and you just used to much jargon for me lol. But I have a few resources to advise me about these kind of things as well so hopefully they'll be able to explain the things your saying to me in person. Ill be printing out your comments and Lacosta Racer's comment tomorrow when I see the STI so my car broker can explain everything. Im sure you bring up great points, I just dont really understand them right now. Hopefully by tomorrow i will!

MissAlyyTL

I don't quite understand why someone would mod a leased car? Sounds like a waste of time, money & hassle. For that wouldn't it just make sense to buy it in the first place? Or buy it out & flip it & sell it? If the mods were that worth it I assume that you would make a profit well over the buyout price.

mrstak

iTrader: (1)

i read elsewhere that modded cars typically don't increase the price during selling. it's nice to have and might entice the buyer more but in general having an intake or tints, or LEDs won't raise the price. only thing that might would be like aftermarket wheels or any huge engine mods like a supercharger etc...

MissAlyyTL

Yea i read somewhere that it actually makes the car decrease in value, stock is worth more retail. I guess my point is that its not really worth it to do it to a leased car. And to top it off, wouldn't it make sense to have not wasted the $ on mods when you could have been saving up to own a car that is actually yours?

KillerG

In other news, grass is green sky is blue.

Decisions dont always have to make economical or logical sense. It can be a hell of a lot of fun to mod your car, whether or not its the sensible thing to do.

MissAlyyTL

Its prob also alot of fun to quit your job, move to Cabo & party your life away, but unless you have the funds to do so, are you going to??

MissAlyyTL

Lol I didn't mean for it to come out sounding that bitchy it just urks me lol. He/she said to buy it out have to beg dad to do so? Really? Its not even an issue of personal preference at that point. My husband knows, when he gets paid we pay our bills, THEN mod our cars and put money into the project build. How many years into adulthood do you get to ask daddy to buy it out for u bc u decided to throw away money? I could see if it was an unfortunate situation, like due to an injury or accident and you fell on hard times in desperate need, but apparently that's not the case here... that's why the economy is so effed up. Well hey, at least this ones in Canada, not our economic prob today lol

VortexBlueTSX

But he did have the money to do it, and he did it, and he continued to live his life...it wasnt your car..so why do you care? Leave the man alone, its his decision not yours...Calm down

ceb

I think it is well settled that mods decrease the value of a car on resale. One of the "joys of modding" is making that car uniquely yours and you won't get that pre-modded. There is also that (mostly accurate) view that many modded cars are driven hard, raced and that the mods may have actually caused some damage.

There are some mods that won't decrease the value, won't increase it but may make it a bit more desireable. These cosmetic mods could include:

OE appearing wheels that may have been an option or weren't available generally (V6 wheels on a 4cyl for example) providing that the tire size is correct.

Legal tint in areas like Florida, Colorado, Arizona or California where the majority of cars may have tinted windows.

I'm sure that there are other examples but I can't think of any right now. Any obvious performance mods will drop your value.

KillerG

Its cool, and I hear what you are saying, but sometimes I think a little happiness or worth a late payment or two.

Im not a finance major or anything so maybe that has something to do with it.

But yes, I agree, TTK is probably fucking up the Canadian economy

uhohkaitlina

I'd trade my stock grill for yours .

But I want to stay with the Acura symbol =\

opboarding

Isn't pretty much everyone in here is fucking up the economy by not paying for our cars in full when we first buy?

tobwac

^hahahahahaha

ceb

That is a very dangerous statement. Those late payments might wreak havok with your credit score and may cause you literally years of grief.

If you can't afford to make all of your payments on time then you need to sell your TSX and buy a base KIA - you'll be much happier in the long run.

KillerG

Its not a very dangerous statement.

Your statement is pointless. Especially when you dont know everyones financial status, and considering the fact that I am not posting on soundfinancialadvice.com, I am pretty sure everyone realizes that I was making a simple point about enjoying the things you like to do, even if it means sometimes a questionable financial decision.



Everyone except you.

MoaarLow

I will tell you now, I come from a modded STI, And ive been actually considering letting my dad take over my lease in Nov, when his is up, and getting back into an STi. However i realized an STI isnt practical at 19, 20 or even 21, unless you are on your way and have your career and raking it big bucks

Test drving it will be the wrong decision if you want to stay in the TSX family. There is NO WAY that you'll leave that car on the lot after driving it. Theres nothing like AWD BOOST.
With that being said, Be very careful wl them. the 08-09 had many ringland issues, which is super commin wl STi's

the Upkeep on those cars is outrageous. Think about it. Brembo brakes, I did mine, $1000 in PADS and ROTORS + Labor, although i did them myself wl my bro. Any mod requires a tune. whether it be something as minor as an intake, turbo inlet, etc, so a $250 Intake becomes $700 + after a tune and thats on an open source, Factor in Engine management if you want to go that route.

I wouldnt buy a used STI again. You dont know its past life, and what its been through. A rebuild on a Boxer Motor will cost you excess of $5k. and thats for a block alone. Trust me, My best friend HAD an 09. a year in, Boom goes the first motor, Subaru warrantied. Shortly After, there goes another piston. decided to go wl a Built Block. Lost a little oil pressure, there goes another motor, turbo and everything else that went. Rebuilt for a 4th time, this time spending $17,000 in a full build, block head turbo everything. putd down 490whp and he traded it in shortly after.

Moral being, Subaru motors are very delicate, and the labor on them is out of the world. Most things would require DROPPING the motor, Which is where shops beat you on the head. So if you get into a used STI id be very careful about how its driven and who owned it before. I can post a THREAD. with BRAND NEW STI's with only 3000 miles blowing motors, Garbage pistons and Garbage Factory tune.

By NO MEANS am i trying to deter you from making a purchase, I just want to give the advice that i wish was given to me. If you arent set financially it can be the worst thing that happened to you. After some basic maintenance, replacing a turbo, dyno tunes, and the idea of going back to school, the car had to go and i ended up here wl you guys

Good luck in your hunt, if you go the STi route you'll enjoy every SECOND you spend driving the car, and if you stay TSX keep your mods and transfer em over. Besides the apparent ones that cant.

MrOtocinclus

I think there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding leasing. It's just another way of financing something, and as with all financial instruments, there is no one size fits all and it really depends on what your situation and objectives are. I won't explain it here, but www.leaseguide.com is a good resource.

To MissAlyyTL, why does it urk you so much what someone else is doing? One might argue that the economy is screwed up because Americans love to care about what other people are doing, to "keep up with the Jones", that if people weren't so intent on keeping up with their neighbors and friends who just bought that new giant McMansion and Escalade, they wouldn't need to take out jumbo loans they couldn't afford.

My mantra is to keep my head down, do my thing, and don't give a fuck about what other people are doing, while still being considerate of others, if that makes any sense. Life is too short to be unhappy, and as long as what I'm doing doesn't harm anyone, why shouldn't I do it?

This is probably my most opinionated post ever. That's because:

1. I leased my '09 TSX and modded it.

2. I sold it early to my dealer and made $1k over residual after taking off the mods.

3. I leased my '11 TSX and put my '09 mods on it.

4. I quit my (lucrative) job last year and am finishing up my last couple of months now before going to "party my life away" somewhere.

5. I'm going to attempt to sell my '11 TSX with the mods on it and break even.

Maybe this thread hit a little too close to home?

ed_423

lol man when did this get so personal...the man modded his lease car because he loves car and is a car enthusiast...now his lease is ending and he is thinking of parting out and getting another car....that's the end of the story. lol, you guys make it seem like he is the first guy to mod a lease car lol. its been done quite a lot of times. some $ might be lost, but lot of happiness gained.

opboarding

I think what is more important is knowing what the current going rate of happiness to money is. This will determine whether he will come out ahead in happiness, or ahead in money. I read in the economist that the happiness/$ ratio scale is the highest its been in the past 3 years.

ttk5

Whoa. Ok im in class so Ill just address one of the main topics here. Even if I planned on modding my car, and then proceeded to lease it, where is the harm in doing so EXACTLY? If everything I modded is reversible, which it is, the only thing I have to lose is some elbow grease when I have to put it back to stock. Why is everyone so upset about this? Im going to return my car to stock and then return it/trade it as if I had never modded it at all. Putting my car back to stock will take a week max. Whats so wrong about this?? As soon as its back in stock condition, its as if I had never touched it? Its not my car, its Hondas, and as long as the car is stock, they are content. Whats the big deal EXACTLY? Lease starts, lease ends. What I do to the car between then is at my own expense. Now educate me

MissAlyyTL

Actually no, its quite the contrary. When you finance a car, the interest added actually stimulates the economy even more bc your paying for something on top of the principle. Its like if u buy a gallon of milk that costs 3 dollars but pay 5. The milk is 3 bucks whatever way u shake it so you are actually giving them more with no return. Your wages get taxed, thefinance companies also get taxed so the more you make, the more you pay & the more you pay them, the more they make & have to pay taxes on which all goes to the government, to *fingers crossed* get us out of debt- but we all know that will never happen lol its a theoretical concept unfortunately lol

MissAlyyTL

And by any means u might be right... however the original post states having to beg daddy to buy out the car. I wouldn't have said a word if i didn't know, but unfortunately social networking has opened a gateway for ppl to air out their own dirty laundry unconsciously.

MissAlyyTL

AGREED! but to refer back to the 1st post of the thread, apparently if the poster needs to ask the opinion of complete strangers to figure out their "happiness " then they aren't really happy, u get what I'm saying? ?

KillerG

To anyone who thinks TTK5 is entitled/might be entitled, read this and try not to explode:

https://acurazine.com/forums/car-talk-5/so-seems-bmw-audi-mazdazine-lately-850804/

MissAlyyTL

LMFAOOO!!! u might have gotten a corolla but I got a freaking cavalier! AHAHAHA....

MissAlyyTL

P.s. I don't think entitled is the right word in this case. Usually those kids parents have so much money they'd never have to "beg" lol. Just quoting the post, not my own thoughts lol

KillerG

yeah i knew it was a bad word choice, couldnt find the right verbiage, but regardless...

all that kid got was a 911 turbo at age 19? pfft. No zonda?!

mrstak

iTrader: (1)

zonda's the graduation present bro

KillerG

Honestly though, his parents sound fucking cheap

Why not just buy the college and move it closer to home?

benben01

I trumped you all.. My good grades got me a hot g/f with Tig O' Bitties and a phat ass who later became my wife Seriously, where do you go from here when you have already tasted the good life at such an early age (19) where most people would take a life time to achieve. That's why I don't spoil my kids as much as I should and could.

cwins

ill buy your decklid and your intakeee!

mrstak

iTrader: (1)

^^^ lol @ you trying to call dibs on items that are already dib'd on...