yea, I heard that if you are financing with a plan to afford a car with a 48 month or longer, you cannot afford the car. According to carbuyingtips.com

hopefully I will put as much as I can down approx. $18000 for a $34000 (tax,license,fees included). so about $16000 financed over 36 months will be $444 a month. With interest- of 8% (+$35).

we come to $479 a month.

insurance paid off. registration paid. rent - haha no rent .

hopefully I will have extra to put in some sweet aftermarket things.

did I do the financing to buy correctly?


Suggest reading this great site -
CARBUYINGTIPS

 

I hate to burst everyone's bubble - but there is no telling what the payments to lease this car will be until it comes out and the leasing companies decide what the residual. You can compare it to an Acura TL or a 350Z or a BMW all you want, but it won't matter. There is no magic equation to figure out a lease payment...until the first RX-8 arrives and the lease company decides how much value it will hold. We can all HOPE that the residual will be high since it will be such a rare car the first year, but that is all it is...HOPE.

 

Agree with RX8Lover. For luxury vehicles (Lexus, BMW, MB, Acura, Infiniti) residuals are usually good and so most people will lease these (nobody ever finances an MB S500 or LS430 - they pay cash or lease).

But for 'lower end' manufacturers residuals can be all over the place and this can effect whether leasing makes sense or not. For example last year I looked at getting a $35k Honda Pilot (brand new on market) against a $41k Acura MDX (same vehicle but 'luxurified'). The lease on the Pilot was HIGHER than the $6k more expensive MDX I ended up getting (I am paying $535 per month inc. taxes) because the residual on the Pilot was lower (unknown resale values at that time), and Honda wouldn't offer a good lease rate (I believe it was 9%) on a brand new vehicle with a waiting list (sound familiar?).

I expect Mazda to offer high rates for leasing and finance on this new car - probably over 7% in both cases. I am sure that I can easily finance from elsewhere at 4.5%, but getting a good lease rate elsewhere may be harder. The residual is what will kill you though - it will probably be low as it is a new car with no resale history. This is just like the Infiniti G35 when it came out - residuals were raised 3 times in the first year as banks realized it held it's value better than the I30 and QX4 etc that the initial rates were based on. Just imagine if the RX-8 rates are based on resale values of Tributes and Proteges.

Personally I hope to lease my $33k RX-8, but only if payments are <$450 per month with minimum down for 39 months/50k miles (never lease above warranty mileage on the vehicle). Otherwise I will finance. Note there is no reason to believe the lease will be $450 or even under $600 per month at this time - it is just a hope. Next year I am almost certain a lease similar to what I want will be under $400, but for the first three preorder batches this year I am not so sure.

 

Here is an example of how you would do the lease calculations for an RX-8:

Known numbers which YOU decide:
Price of vehicle and options selected = $33,100 = Cap. Cost = TV
Length of lease = 39 months = LL
Number of miles per year = 15,000 (used to calculate residuals)

Guessed numbers which banks will decide when car arives - will change over time
Money Factor guess = 0.00292 = 7% APR = MF
Residual Value guess (based on 39 month and 50k miles) = 48% = $15,888 = RV

CALCULATION
Base Rent per month = (TV - RV) / LL = $441.33
Cost of Money = (TV + RV) * MF = $143.04

TOTAL MONTHLY PAYMENT = $584 excluding taxes based on made up numbers

As you can see the Base Rent (i.e. based on residual) has a vastly bigger effect on the lease cost per month than the Cost of Money (i.e. based on money factor) and the residual is something that you cannot 'shop around for' as it is set by the banks. This is why some perstige vehicles can have reasonable monthly lease payments for their very high MSRP (i.e. going from a $30k non-prestige car to a $60k prestige car will not usually double your lease payment as the prestige brand residuals are so much better).


A simplified example based on more 'normal' lease requirements:
TV = $31,100 (6MT+GT only)
LL= 36 months at 12k miles per year
MF = 0.0025 (6%) (random guess)
RV = 58% (based on 36 month and 36k miles) = $18,038 (random guess)

Base Rent = (TV - RV) / LL = (31100 - 18038) / 36 = 13062/36 = $362.83 per month
Cost of Money = (TV + RV) * MF = (31100 + 18038) * 0.00292 = $122.85 per month
TOTAL MONTHLY PAYMENT = $362.83 + $ 122.85 = $486 (+ Tax of course)


Hope these help. BTW when I tried to lease a G35 last year my dealership got a special deal for me from Chase Manhattan where Chase would pay my taxes on the car ($2360) as my credit rating was over 700 (about 778 I think) but I had to pay a slightly higher money factor. Most dealerships have several sources of finance and lease terms so push them to try other options for you. The residual values for the RX-8 I used in the above examples are 5% below the same months/mileage residual value given for an Infiniti G35 - I might have been a little pessimistic for the RX-8 as I try to prepare for the worst.

 

Hercules, you have it backwards. You either have to be within 6 months of graduation OR have graduated in the last two years. My wife used the latter option when we got our Protege5 because she graduated in May 2000 and we got our car in Dec. 2001.

-Stephen

 

That only applies to purchases at 0% interest for 60 months. Only the manufacturer will ever offer a true 0% rate, and the RX-8 definitely will not have one to start with, because it costs the manufacturer money and it won't need a sales boost when it gets here. Right now the best rates out there are hovering at around 4%, so if you can get that rate and finance for 60 mos, multiply the amount you're financing by .018417 and you'll get your monthly payment. Again, that's all for a purchase, has nothing to do with a lease.

 

We're both right

 

Mazda Canada has announced lease info for the RX 8. Rate is 9.1%
36 month residual is 57%

48 month residual is 50%

Remember residual is calculated on the MSRP BEFORE freight or PDI

Banks may offer better rates but you'd have to compare the residuals, and check if there is an aquisition fee (Mazda doesn't have one)

 

uh. not to burst anybodies bubble but it says 2002 and 2003 mazda's the rx8 is a 2004. does it still apply to 2004?

 

I will know in a few days, and let you all know.

 

Hey Gang,
Was just playing around and came across this web site.

www.leasecompare.com

Has RX8 set up to estimate lease pmts from various leasing companies. Since we still have time to play with and kill, this can give you some idea of leasing pmts on your RX8. Mazda probably won't have anything firm until the end of the month on their leasing programs.

 

Stop playing around and get back to work dammit!

 

The way I did it, it came out to $424 a month with $1500 out of pocket, $31,100 price, and 12k miles a year.

That's about right on what I wanted.

 

I kind of disagree with the lease thing. Seems like all you do is pay double for not that much of a break. I've been looking at 60 month financing of around 30-32K at about 4% or so and don't see that my payments will be that much more than what we're talking about for the lease. (530-560 range) Financing rates with good credit are so low right that I think buying is much more competitive against leasing than it used to be.

We got especially hosed one time during a move from Colorado to Maryland. Maryland wanted to repeat charge us taxes on the entire amount of the original purchase price instead of the price of the lease. We finally did an early termination and swore to never lease again. (this combined getting hosed by MD with the tax bit, but also the total loss of any value of a trade in we made, etc.) Guess this wouldn't happen if you didn't move much.

Have to admit it's probably cheaper for those of us who trade in every 3 years. Otherwise I think it's just another way to screw the consumer.

 

Leasing isn't for everybody... there are pluses and minuses to both buying and leasing.

Personally for *me*, leasing is more beneficial... but if you can't think of a reason it is for *you*, then it's not a good idea