…and basically got one. 2012 Civic LX 5MT. Leased it, gonna buy it out at the end so I don’t have to worry about miles. Probably be able to sell it for more than the buyout. Got a really good lease deal.
I’ve had it for a couple of months now, just never saw a point in bragging about a downgrade. So far I really like it as an econo box. 35mpg consistently, 40+ on the highway. Not nearly as slow as I thought it would be, though it’s pretty slow. Honda did a good job of picking where to save cost. Cruise, power windows with auto up/down on the driver side :tup:, CD with aux and USB inputs and the i-mid display screen computer thing (lets you control stuff like what doors auto lock and unlock and stuff like that.) Otherwise pretty basic. Hub caps, no spoiler, cloth seats that bolstered OK but have no lower back support, telescoping wheel is nice, yadda yadda yadda.
Now to find some time to shine up my Xterra and sell it. Anybody doing detailing? PM me a price for an 07 Xterra.
Looks just like this outside:
Interior like this, except gray instead of beige so it’s not so two-toned.
Pretty nice little run around really. :shrug:
[quote=“JayS”"]
PS… yay for a new car thread title having nothing to do with milk.
That’s what I came up with. This one was totally finance based decision. With some reasonable guesses at resale values and repair costs, this turned out to be cheaper than the $3-5k beaters I was originally looking at.
I arranged it as $3k down, plus taxes and $600 acquisition fee so all together I wrote a check for around $4500, then $99/mo for 36 months. $11,400 buyout at the end. I could have done zero down and paid a bit more per month but this worked out cheaper over the 3 years.
It worked out to a little below invoice something like $16,800 if memory is correct, and a 1.8% interest rate. Not the steal of the century, but when you factor in gas mileage, estimated repair costs, and estimated resale value I couldn’t work out a cheaper way to drive for 3 years.
$99 a month looks great until you factor in the $3000 down. The real number is $182 a month then. Not bad for driving a brand new car for the next 3 years but nothing spectacular either considering at the end of 3 years you’ve got a 16k vehicle that you still owe $11400 on.
I guess the big money factor will be how many miles a year you were putting on your gas hog and how much gas goes up in the next 3 years. As we’ve discussed in a lot of other gas saver threads it’s really hard to save money on gas by getting rid of a paid off vehicle for something you’re now going to make payments on though unless you drive 50k a year.
Like I said, I looked at a lot of scenarios and this was the cheapest way I could find to drive for 3 years. I can show you the spreadsheets. But yeah you can’t get hung up on that $99/mo number. That’s just one piece of the equation.
JayS, your math is misleading, specifically this: “at the end of 3 years you’ve got a 16k vehicle that you still owe $11400 on”. At the end of the lease, even after the buyout, here is where he’s at:
so he pays ~18k for the car all said and done. Now he sells the car for a safe 12,500 and end up with an overall loss of 5452 over 3 years. That is pretty fucking good for 3 years of driving.
You’d have to pretty much not drive the car to be able to make more money then the buy back. I’d probably continue leasing new ones if you can get it at the same rate.
I might have looked into leasing the Chevy Volt. $1000 down $268 a month for 36
Yeah the resale could go either way. At worst it’ll be $11.4k + tax = $12,400. I should be able to get that for it and at least not have to pay mileage fees at the end. Maybe I could make a couple hundo if it’s still really shiny. Maybe I lose a couple hundo if I beat it. Maybe I like having a gas saver run around and keep it. :shrug:
The Volt idea makes no sense. 3000+9936=6564 for the Civic. $1000+26836=$10648. $4k premium over 3 years? For what? Save money on gas so I can watch my electric utility bill go up?
But yeah you can’t get hung up on that $99/mo number. That’s just one piece of the equation.