Hi,

I live in Plano. I am thinking about leasing an RX-8. I have heard things both for and against leasing. I was wondering what people on this forum thought about leasing the RX-8. Anyone here on a lease? If so, what dealership did you lease from? Thanks!

 

If you plan on modifying your car... I would stay away from the lease/balloon programs.

But if thats not the case... instead of a traditional lease there are some local cbanks that have better balloon payment programs.

As much as I hate ViewPoint bank (I was working there as a Loan Officer/Credit Analyst when they laid me off)... they have a really good program they call "payment advantage". Unlike a lease you are not taxed twice and also unlike a lease there are no ridiculous fees that you have to pay upfront.

hope that helps

 

Thank you so much...I will look into this.

Update: I tried to find the payment advantage program on their website...but I don't see it. Am I missing it or do they just not have it up on their site.

 

I don't think the RX8 is a very good car to lease just looking at the residuals. If I were you, I'd try and buy a leftover 05 at a good price brand new if you can find one.

 

They were selling auto 06s here for 21k in the paper, don''t know if they still are or what the deal is though, might want to try www.mazdanorth.com or www.mazdasouth.com and see if they're still doing that.

 

I thought exactly the opposite...I thought the residuals on the RX-8 are good! I see 2004s still being sold at or near 20K. Why do you say residuals are low?

 

ditto, they appear to be holding up much better than I would have thought anyway

 

People aren't getting 20K for any 04's, that's just what they are asking. I regularly see 04's go for 17-18 grand for about 30K miles. I've seen plenty of sub 20K mile 05's go for 19-20 asking price. Hell I paid 20.5 for my 05 sport w/appearance package BRAND NEW off the lot which is why I didn't buy a used one to begin with. When I saw shopping for S2000's, there are about 3X more used RX8's in the Dallas area in every color/package available all with decent miles for reasonable prices.

 

Thats interesting. Thanks for the info. It helps a lot. By the way, what dealership did you buy yours at? 20.5 for a brand new 05 sport WITH an apperance package is damn nice.

 

I had to fly to San Antonio and drive it back, called about 20 dealers in TX before finding someone that agreed to the deal. Does help that I had over 10 grand to put down though. I haven't heard of anyone else getting close to 10 grand off on a sport yet but call around.

 

Last year I got 10K off an '04 grand touring but had to fly to Houston and drive it back to Dallas. Like Cosmos's deal - they aren't all that common but they do pop up on occasion.

You have to be patient. I searched for a few months before this deal came along.

Now, new '05s are hard to find because Mazda was offering $6500 off remaining '05 inventory to clear them out. They're pretty much all gone now - I haven't seen any but that doesn't mean there aren't some hidden away somewhere ready to be found.

Probably the only thing new you can find now are the '06 and they won't budge much o nthe price (yet) since this was a short production year. At least that's what they told me.

The '07s will be coming out in November. By summer of next year the '06s should be ripe on the vine - if you catch my meaning.

Bottom line - you can find a last year's model - you can save a pretty penny. If you buy used you can save even more. Probably pick up a low mile '04 for 17K.

 

Oh.. but sorry I got off topic. Concerning leasing..

Personal finance advisors do not recommend leasing because you end up in a cycle of making payments on new cars that you will never own. In other words - you're really just renting the car.

From a financial perspective the "smart money" move is to BUY a car (ideally low mile used) and keep it for at least seven years.

Or.. run the numbers.

Suppose you buy a used one for 20K out the door at 8% interest for 60 months. Monthly payments are $406 (rounded off) for 5 years. At the end you paid $24,360.

Now suppose you sell it for a mere $5,000 at the end of 5 years. You end up paying a total of $19,360. Spread that out ofer 5 years and it cost you $323 a month to own the car (not counting anything else).

If you can sell it for $8000 in 5 years then it cost you $272 per month to own the car.

If you keep the car for 7 years and sell it for $5000 then it cost you $230 a month.

Compare the above numbers to lease payments. Don't forget to include cash down.

It's just a numbers game and is based on a lot of assumptions and you have to take that all into consideration and fit it to your needs.

 

Yea man, you are right. I came to the same conclusion after talking to some people that have been in the leasing game for a while. The down payment is actually the deal killer. I will probably go for your advice concerning getting a low milage 04, if I can't find a 05.

 

Leasing an RX-8 is a bad idea. When you lease, you are only paying for the depreciation, and the RX-8 has alot of depreciation. I think buying one is a bad idea because in 3 or 4 years, you are still going to probably be upside down. Having known then what I know now, I would have passed on the RX-8 (and not just because of the depreciation).

 

The whole point of leasing is that you are driving a new car. Of course the numbers work out cheaper if you compare it to keeping a car for 7 years. You are also driving a 7 year old car and not a brand new shiney one every 2 or 3 years.

 

When I got my 8 in December 2005, it was pretty much a wash for leasing and buying. To keep payments reasonable, I would have had to put $11,000 down to buy the car, and payments would have been about ~$380/mo over five years. At close to the same monthly payment (~$400), I could lease for four years (with no money down), and end up buying the car at the residual for $14,625. Total difference between the two options was $1200 more for leasing. I suspect that if I want to buy it, I could get it for less than the residual, so the difference may be less. Furthermore, I would own the car a year sooner than if I had financed through a sale.

I have four years to decide if I want to own the car, don't have to worry about selling it at a loss if I don't want it. I have paid almost the same per month as I would have to "buy", with the only difference being that I will pay the big chunk ($11-14K) at the end instead of at the beginning. In the meanwhile, I was able to lend that money to my son so he could buy a car. He will have repaid me when my lease ends, so I"ll have that money if I need it.

When it comes time to get my next car, I'll go through the whole process again, and maybe leasing will not be the right answer. All I know is that it was this time.