Almost leased an FR-S

[jhnywang]

Hello everyone,

Has anyone leased an FR-S? I almost pulled the trigger on an Ultramarine automatic for $379 a month for 3 years/15k. I would only have to pay $1500 out of pocket or via a trade in of my 2000 Nissan Maxima. The price with destination charge is around $26k, residual after 3 years is roughly $16k. The crazy part is $1500 will take care of any fees or licensing. I mentioned I want to wait it out and test drive the manual. Is that a good deal for the automatic, or just get the manual, which they are selling for $25,000, and my monthly would be much lower.
Has anyone leased an FR-S with monthly payments around $300-350 and how much did you put down?
Thanks for your input...I'm really itching to get this car.

Mark

[Corybud3325]

I leased 2 cars years ago and found overall unless you plan on walking away from the car at the end of the lease buying is the better option. One issue that may or may not affect your decision is how much you drive. If you don't typically drive 15,000 miles you should be ok, but if you drive a lot the penalty for going over is pretty stiff. Also when it comes time to turn the car in you will be charged for any damage that can be found. The last thing for me was that I always felt that I was driving a rental car. I just never felt like it was mine.

I generally keep cars longer than 3 years and paid the residual at the end of both leases I had. I did not feel either one was a very good deal.

One more thing to check on is the difference between the interest charged between leasing and buying and at the end of the lease you have no trade in value towards a new car. I am paying less than what you were offered and will own my FR-S when I am done for less than your total cost plus will have at least some trade in value.

Leasing is fine as long as you understand that you never own the car and you will always be making payments as long as you lease.

[Corybud3325]

Something else I would advise is to check on line what your trade in is worth. Be prepared to have them low ball you because they will. If you know your cars value be prepared to just get up and walk. The dealer will come back with a more reasonable offer. The original offer on our 10 year old MR2 spyder was 4,700.00. I freaked and told my wife were done lets go. I was already up ready to head for the door when the salesman said let me see wha I can do. I told him we were way to far apart and I didn't see any point in wasting their time or mine. In the end we got 11,000.00 which is what the trade in value should have been.

The other thing to be aware of is all the little things that they try and sneak in when doing the paper work. If you want the add on's fine but just be aware they will. On our FR-S they wanted to add 1,100.00 for a paint sealer and interior protectant. I kind of wanted it but thought it was over priced so I said no. In the end they offered it to me for 400.00. Gap insurance is another thing to watch for. It's a good thing if done right and since I already had financing lined up it was free.

Speaking of financing I recomend getting pre qualified before going to the dealer. Some (not all) dealers will tell you that they can't give you the best rate and end up getting a kick back from the finance company. The dealer tried this on us when we leased our 99 Miata. Said we didn't qualify for the Mazda special rate and could only get us in at 7.9%. This is where they think they have you locked in to whatever they want to do. I just looked at my wife and said guess we will keep driving the 92 Miata. We did get the advertised rate.

My nephew is a car salesman and taught me the ins and outs of how to buy a car. In general there is more money to be made by the dealer on used cars than on new cars. On new cars the money is on the add on's, accessories, and in the service dept.

I don't begrudge a dealer from making a profit but I am not going to let them gouge me either.

[jhnywang]

Thanks for your input. You are right about leasing a car, you get the feeling it is not really your car, and you have to hold back when driving it. The Gap Insurance would be included with the monthly payments.

I went to a Scion dealership near where I work and they told me they can only offer me 3.9% financing, but then when I went to the same dealership where I leased the Venza, they were offering me 0.0% financing, with the trade-in value of my 2000 Maxima of $1500, which is pretty much the value of the car according to edmunds.com and kbb.com.

I told the dealer I was going to save up money for the down payment, and then that would lower my monthly payments. He said if I purchase the car now, I can still use the money I was going to save, and just add more money every payment, which will eventually even things out. Does that make sense?

[Corybud3325]

3.9 is not bad as far as rates go in my part of the country. Looks like you have done your homework so About all I could add is good luck and enjoy, the FR-S is really a wonderful car.

[import_nation]

So what are you going to do? You going to end up getting one?

[jhnywang]

Yes I will eventually get one...Ultramarine in the manual. Just gotta convince the wife.

[Corybud3325]

I know how that goes. Usually I plan on working on my wife 6 months to a year ahead. She really surprised me on the FR-S though. We were just driving along and I pointed out a new BRZ and said when we get ready to trade the MR2 I really want to look into the FR-S. that was all it took, she said let's go look. The rest is history.

[WildBill]

Unless you're trying to get rid of negative equity in a trade, never lease.

The benefit of leasing is that you can roll over negative equity on a shorter term and walk away at the end with no negative equity allowing you to get into a new purchase fresh at zero. With a residual 61% on that type of lease condition, I would say buy it and pay it off. In three years if you want to trade, you're likely to owe 14000 or less, giving you 2000 of equity.

I have never leased, I sell Mazdas. What do you drive?

[jhnywang]

Thanks for your input guys. I'm gonna stick with my plan of saving money for a down payment, and finance. Does anyone know if Toyota's graduate rebate applies to graduating from grad school? If so, maybe I can use that to my advantage.

[WildBill]

They might. Considering its a scion, there prolly won't be much movement on price. Considering there's waiting lists ten years long in some countries, it's hard to believe they'll be discounted anywhere. I'd check with your financing bank on the other hand for the best interest rate, and give the dealer a shot to beat the best you find

[mcdeltaT]

Hey guys. This is going to be my first brand new car and was wondering if anyone knows ways to lease and upgrade the FRS with performance parts without breaking the lease contract. Ideas legal and sneaky are welcome. Also, do you think lease options are okay with TRD stuff?

Sent from my GT-P3113 using AutoGuide.Com Free App

[BODHI85]

Thanks for your input guys. I'm gonna stick with my plan of saving money for a down payment, and finance. Does anyone know if Toyota's graduate rebate applies to graduating from grad school? If so, maybe I can use that to my advantage.

On the Canadian Scion site the grad programs requires a student to have graduated within the last four years or has 4 months left till graduation. Not sure if this is how it works for Americans.

If you have graduated in the last four years, or will graduate within the next four months and have completed education requirements from an accredited Canadian university, college or CEGEP, you may qualify for this graduate rebate. In addition to this rebate, a 0.2% reduction in interest rate will be applied based on approved credit from Toyota Financial Services. Please consult your dealer for details.

Complete rules and details can be found in the Shopping Tools section of this website.

Based on the wording, it doesn't specify what level of schooling so I think graduate programs should be fine.

[jhnywang]

Hey guys. This is going to be my first brand new car and was wondering if anyone knows ways to lease and upgrade the FRS with performance parts without breaking the lease contract. Ideas legal and sneaky are welcome. Also, do you think lease options are okay with TRD stuff?

I don't think upgrade with TRD performance parts will break the lease contract. Dealerships are different in regards to installing TRD parts. The dealership near where I work told me that TRD parts have to be bought and installed by Scion techs in order for warranty NOT to be voided.

[jhnywang]

Ok, I went to a dealership website where I leased my Venza, and they do have a promotion going on for graduation school graduates. No exclusion on the FR-S. It would be a $500 rebate and no money down. It's until April, so hopefully I have some time.

"When you finance or lease through a Scion dealer and Toyota Financial Services (TFS), you'll receive the $500 rebate. Through the College Graduate Finance Program, there's no money down and no monthly payments for the first 90 days on select TFS finance programs with competitive APRs on new Scions. And through your participating dealer, if you qualify for the college graduate rebate, you will automatically get APRs that are available for well qualified customers"