hey i was looking to buy a 03 Z touring because that was in my price range to finace. But instead i was thinking of leasing an 05, I was wondering the positive and negative to leasing. Does anyone here lease their z? what are the payments like? im looking for around $275/month. Should i put a large amount of money down? How long are leases for and if i dont want to buy the car at the end of the lease do they give you a hard time with the wear and tear on the car (scratches or dings)? i dont have time to go to the dealership for a couple days so hopefully someone will give me some good info. Also are there any secrets in leasing? do i bargain the price of the car or the monthly payment?

 

man i would buy an 05 now and put money down and you could get your payments down to like 300. Why lease when you could buy.

 

im leasing my z for 42 months, 15,000 miles per year, and free oil changes every 3750 miles for $368/mo...o, this is with no money down

 

Hmmm, I pay $350/mo, I get all my service free, including a Zaino detailing, plus a box of cigars and a case of scotch each month.

 

Lease if you don't want to keep the car more than three years (or however long your lease is for) and don't mind having to put some money down (which you'll have to to lease usually). If you really like to mod the car or plan on keeping it just take a little higher payment and buy it. I leased my last car and now that I can afford the Z I'm buying it.

 

I wouldve rather had this instead of the oil changes

 

they offered me between $300 and $315 a month for 39 months with $8,000 down for a touring with no navigation and 12k miles per year, good deal?

 

no... down payment on a lease is silly. You drive off the lot and some ricer in a kia nails you and your insurance company just pays the lease off... you will have to fight to get that 8 grand back. Y would be better off spreading that 8 grand out over the 39 months and paying more per month.

NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVERx10000000000000000000000 EVER deal in monthly payments when you talk to a car dealer... you will fall into their trap... you are giving up a huge advantage to dealer when you are not working with the price of the car and the price of your trade in (don't even bother with interest rates they don't have control over that).

Don't even talk about leasing with the sales man; take that up with the finance guy... the fact you are thinking about leasing over buying has nothing to do with the price of the car NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY... I have heard some dealers claim you must get the car at MSRP to lease... that is a major scam/lie.

Basicly the way a lease works is the company setting up the lease buys the car from the dealership and rents it to you and then you give it back at the end of the lease. From a dealers POV they are just making a sale to the leasing company so its money like any other sale so the price of the car should be the same if you lease or buy it.

Go to edmunds.com and find a TMV or close to invoice price for the 05 you want and then go to a page like http://www.leasecompare.com/ and fill in the information and see what kind of payments you get offered... if the finance guy at the dealership can't match that leave with the quote on the car and apply with one off that webpage.

As far as leasing vs buying? it is generally ok to lease a car like the Z which has a higher than average resale value. If you know you can stay under the mileage, don't want to mod the car, and don't want to keep it for more than 3 years leasing may be right for you. You get the securty of knowing you will always be under warranty and don't have to fear a sudden depreciation in the value of your car... (i just looked up my trade in value for my car and I am a little stunned)... and if your car ends up not losing as much value as the lease expected, you can buy the car back at the buy out price, sell the car yourself, and pocket the difference... so people who say leasing doesn't allow you to build equity in your car don't know what they are talking about.

Personally, I planned on keeping my car for at least 4-5 years and I didn't know if I could live with the leases mileage restrictions so I chose to do a normal loan. However I bet the next car I buy will be leased b/c in 5 years I will be settled into my career and I will have a better idea of how many miles I use a year and then every 3 years I will have a brand new car thats under warranty.

Edit:

Other scams to watch out for is dealers saying you have to get the road hazard insurance, thieft insurance, gold plus warranty, upgraded alarm, etc in order to lease the car. This is almost always BS I don't know of any leasing company that makes you get anything except the car.

Also note that when you turn the car in you will have to have good tires and brakes on the car... OEM tires for our car last between 15-20k miles (if that) so be ready for new tires and brakes which you will have to pay for.

 

When you lease a car, you still have to negotiate the price. What you're paying for is the depreciation on the car. The leasing company buys the car from the dealer, then you pay the leasing company - which may or may not be affiliated with the dealer.

With the figures above, you're paying $20,285 total at the end of 39 months. Do you think the car will depreciate that much in the next 39 months?

If you don't negotiate well and agree on a buying price of say $32,000, you would subtract 20,285 from the total buying price.

32000
20285
-------
11715

So your dealer and/or leasing company thinks your car will be worth $11,715 after your 39 month lease is up... But they'll sell it someone else for $22,000! Needless to say, this deal is insane. Don't do it.

Look at Kelley Blue Book prices to try and determine what you think the car will be worth in 39 months. My ballpark, total-speculation, guess is that it will lose about $13,000 of value in that much time, especially when you consider the fact that you will be putting less than 12,000 miles per year on this car. It will have a perfect maintenance record. And you will pay for any glaring deficiencies when you turn the car in 3 years later. Note: I consider this $13,000 on the high end of depreciation.

I don't care much for leasing. It seems like "they" get everything, and the customer gets very little in return. If you have $8,000 to put down, and you want a payment in the 300's, maybe you could buy a lesser model with a lower price OR better yet, buy a used Touring Z. Also, if you buy new, find the invoice price, and negotiate up from there. Don't even pay attention to the MSRP sticker price. Buying used is almost always the better financial decision.

A must-visit for anyone buying any car: http://www.carbuyingtips.com

 

I am leasing and would definitely recommend it. I am driving a 2004 Base model. I put 5k down and my payments are $292 a month. The buyout at the end is around $11,500.00. After I buy it out at the end, I will have paid $33k total for the car. If I would have financed it instead, I would have paid a little more, I think it came out to around $34k. And as long as you plan on buying it out at the end, you can run up as many miles as you want, and mod it as much as you want to. I also have the option of selling it myself rather then giving it back to them at the end.

The total cost at the end can seem high, however that includes registration and taxes and then interest over 5 years.

 

well i also came across an 03 touring with 21,000 miles on it from a dealer and they said that they could work in the price range of $22,500. What do you think? better then a lease? i would have to finance about $12,000 after taxes and all

 

After all the issues I have seen with 03's, I would not buy one.

 

If you buy an 03, just have it inspected by Nissan first, asking them to look for all the potential problems. You should probably look for these items yourself first and then have Nissan do the same. Things like the axle click, the tranny grind, the tranny noise, the tire feathering, the window streaks. I bought an '03 four months ago, knowing about all these problems. My car has / had a few of them. Nissan has been very gracious about fixing them. No regrets.

If you just don't want to deal with this stuff, you should be able to find a '04 Touring in the 23-24k range. Just look everyday, especially at autotrader.com and similar web sites. You will find what you're looking for if you have enough time and patience - and maybe travel a little further.

 

are all these problems u speak of covered by nissan? do you think i will find a Z for a better price after the summer (october)?

 

All these problems are covered by Nissan, but a few people have run into dealers who are either not knowledgeable and won't cover it, or just try to get out of it. It may take some persistence.

 

If you lease get gap insurance. Not from the dealer but from your ins. agent.

 

Good advice above here! Lease only if you don't plan to keep it for more than 3 or 4 years. Also, be reminded when leasing that most ins. co. will make you carry the highest liability limits on the car which will make your premium higher.

Also when leasing your car's tag tends to be a few $$$ higher. So the money that you might save on car payments will only be absorbed with ins. and the higher cost of a taq.

 

You know that you could get a new 2005 Base Z for $25,000 right? By leasing and buying out at the end, they just raped you y $8000.

 

First of all, I purchased my 350z in September 2003. Second of all, the invoice price is $27k not $25k. Third, you need to account for interest, licensing, and taxes, as I already stated. If I had cash, I probably would have paid $30k after taxes and registration, but I didn't.

 

Im leasing my Z and I "think" I got a good deal.

New 05' Performance, 29,200 sale price including TTL
$2,000 down

12k / yr, 37 month lease, $450 month.


Buying may be a better deal if you plan to keep the car long term as you end up paying more to "own" the car with a lease. But in my case, I know for a fact that I'll want something different by the time my lease is up.

Hopefully the redesigned 400hp 09' Z