school me on leasing a brand new luxury
 

It's finals time and I don't have the time to do the research right now :alone:. My cousin has asked for my advice :accepted: on choosing a new car for him.

What's important to him or what he's looking for:
Leasing
Cheapest price
Luxury (BMW, Benz or Audi)
entry level 3, C, or A4
X-Drive, 4Matic, Quattro would be a bonus, but not a deal breaker. Benz is giving a free upgrade to 4Matic until the end of April.
I dunno if all the makers do this, but the service that BMW does where they pick up your car, give you a loaner while they work on your car would definitely sway the decision since it'll save him the time of going to the dealership.

What's not important:
which has the most HP/TQ
which has the best handling
which has uber stopping power
which has the most creature comforts

What i'm trying to say is that he's not into cars so pricing and overall cost of ownership will be the deciding factor.

I've looked up some Leasing rates, and it seems like
Audi is 1.9%
Benz is 2.9%
BMW is 4.9%

I know nothing about leasing, nor do i keep up with the luxury brands, so help me out PLEASE. :alonehappy:

the new 3 series. definitely.

Sporty Luxury Sedan Comparison - Mercedes-Benz C250, Volvo S60 T5, Infiniti G25, Lexus IS 250, Buick Regal GS, Acura TSX, BMW 328i, Audi A4 - Motor Trend


read that, and you will understand.

also if he cares about the driving experience don't get all wheel drive. makes the car heavier and not handle as well. plus for the few days of real snow we get here per year its really not necessary with snow tires.

the base model 320i is really well loaded this year. for about $41k you get nav already which is a pretty good deal.

is it true that putting 10% of the vehicle's curb weight (sand bag, salt bag, etc..) at the trunk allows easier driving for a RWD car in snow?

I'm kinda digging those ct-200h's

maybe in a rwd pickup. otherwise its a terrible idea and will upset your cars handling balance making you more likely to spin out. winter tires are ideal but ive gotten by many winters with rwd and a set of all seasons

A bit unfair how the BMW isn't really a "base" model in that comparison. And wow they have harsh words for the Infiniti... but I'm biased.

They mention that it was just the model they were given, realistically, a Sport Line 328i comes in at 41k down there which makes it more than comparable price wise.

I agree they do look really nice especially with the f sport package but you're paying $36k for a rebadged Prius with leather..

and hippies everywhere don't know whether to flock to it, or run.

:considered:

Sorry, but you sure the title of this thread wasn't suppose to be:

"Which luxury car should my cousin's parents lease for him?"

What's wrong with other brands like Lexus, Infiniti or Volvo?
What's wrong with having a Honda Accord in EX-L with leather?

If he's "not into cars", you sure the vehicle with the most HP/TQ,etc would be appropriate?

If pricing and overall cost of ownership is the biggest deciding factor, why are you even looking at any of these three brands?

Etc etc etc....

Why lease?

Because he want's to act like a baller but doesn't have the money to do so.

I can guarantee right now 90% of Richmond's BMW/MB/Audi/Lexus/Porsche/etc are leased, simply because the leaser's are not looking to actually OWN the car, but for a symbol of status, many of them can actually afford to buy the car, but choose not to. Why pay full price for a 2008 C class when you can use that money to lease a newer C Class for the next 6 years. It's also a lot less problematic, once a car hits x amount of KM's, problems arise.

Leasing is the worst way to have a car...financing makes sense sometimes.

Don't see the point of making payments for a car that you're not gonna own...

Think of leasing as renting. You're renting the car, and at the end of the term, you have the option of actually owning the car. Leasing is super useful for business' that require something to "impress" your client, but would rather keep your image fresh after every lease term, or a work truck/van that you lease every 2/3 years so you don't have to worry about long term maintenance.

Impress your client with a car? Who gets impressed by what car they drive?

If you do, you're fucking shallow.

Leasing works for fleets, not for personal use.

financing: baby the car, slowly step on the brakes

leasing: redline every day, slam on the brakes

lol whut.

Driving a car harder is better for the engine, why would you wanna baby a car you're gonna own?

Fuck you guys are weird.

Half of the people on this forum:

:fulloffuck:

You really need to learn to see both sides of the argument. A lot of the posts you have made in here show you to be totally clueless talking out of your ass.

I will tell you that from my experience of owning and leasing, the depreciation hit on leasing was the same as owning. Leasing makes sense if you always want to switch cars and it saves you the hassle of having to privately sell your car. Part of the payment can also be used to write off some business expenses. Another added benefit is if you ever get into a significant accident, the value of the vehicle will tank in proportion and that is when you realize how nice it is when you can walk away at the end of the term.

To OP: The current gen Audi look will be good till 2014 before they come out with a new design (Audi's designs I find tend to date quicker out of the bunch), but the BMW just came out and the new look will last for 6 years (actually longer cause you can drive it for another 6 till it gets REALLY dated) so I would definitely check that out (definitely a bonus maintenance free). I think the current C has been out for awhile now too. I have no experience with Mercedez Benz but I find that when they do face lifts, the slightly older models (first year of the current gen) still look great.

Guess who's shallow? Clients. First impression is everything, if you're driving them in a 1996 corolla instead of a 2012 C300, they'd have different thoughts. I'm talking in a business aspect, not personal usage.


:rukidding: So you're telling me, if I bag on the car every day, it will last longer then driving normally?

Yes sir, don't bounce of the limiter, but drive it hard. Blows carbon out and keeps it nice and clean inside.

Don't tell me you break in new engines by pussy footing them?

^ how hard is hard???

By baby I mean soft to regular acceleration, don't need to kick in vtec all the time yo :lawl:

Heavy acceleration through the mid range with lots of decel.

You jelly? Regardless, you still need a significant down payment (unless you like paying higher rates) and be approved by finance. Not like anyone can just walk in who can afford the monthly.

I know a guy who makes 250k+/yr that leased 3 cars (Range Rover, CLK, E350, etc) and pays like 4k/month just on car payments alone but lives in a 3-4 million house. I guess he's a pretender too. Either way, for a base model lease you are spending at least a G per month on associated costs.

car payment: ~$500-600 (little to no downpay + limited options on car - definitely no navi)
gas: ~$360 (that's just 1 tank a week @ $90 per fill)
insurance: ~$200-225 (full coverage w/ 25% @ 2500/yr. If you had 43% you would probably pay closer to $2k/yr).

This is not factoring the higher cost of maintenance either especially if it was not included in the selling price. Audi and I believe Benz do not include free service.

I forgot to add, if you do lease try to choose a model that is changing . Rates are much cheaper than a brand new model.

Eg. 2011 135i was 5smth for 3.6k down
BMW is free maintenance but don't expect to keep the car with their maintenance schedules. My 2010 only got one oil change so far :lawl: Don't buy the upgrade package, you won't destroy your brakes within three years. Some horror stories when returning the car according to some people eg: paint scratches.

Benz, maintenance is regular and costly. They may change the brake pads for you if your brakes start to creak within two years. They do offer cheap buy back rates at the end of your lease if you do want to buy the car. You can get some deals if you alert the dealer early when you bring it in at end of lease.


All dealerships will give you loaners when they do long maintenance. Otherwise, you have to sit in their lounge for an hr or two. Richmond autowest is random, sometimes they give you a 125, 323 or even a camry. Benz will give you the model above yours for your first maintenance and then its yaris after that :troll: