Turbo6PGT

I recently test drove a 5-speed Tc, only thing it had on it was the standard model stuff. But I liked the car enough to do some math and see if I could afford it. The car I built online said it costs around $16,500. Pretty cheap for a car as nice as the Tc!

So I went home and did some research on the scion website. I dont want this scion to be a big performer, more or less a reliable car with a warranty. Before I say anything else I mise well tell you Im cheap heh. I make OK money but not enough to buy the car. So Im thinking is it really worth me leasing it. Unlike mazda and honda the scions have a 5-year lease which would put my monthly payment at $235-240/mo depending on what all I get on it. I can tolerate that payment and pay all my other bills.

Sooo is a 5-year lease a good idea with these cars? I realize they are only a little over a year old so not many people have pushed the milage higher or seen what kind of problems could turn up. My common sense tells me its never a good idea to do a 5-year lease even if thats all I can afford. But I really want a warranty and I geniunely like the Tc. So can anyone out there give me any advice as far as if a lease is a good/bad idea and what you guys would do if all you could afford is $240/month? Any advice would be apprecaited. Thanks!

-Dan

XB_BOY_2005

If you are looking for a reliable car with a warranty, you should go for an xB. they are roomy as hell too. you should look into test driving one of these babies, AND they are cheaper too.

Greg2385

Whenever i think of leasing, i think of loosing money.

I recommend buy over lease ANY day of the week. If you cant afford the payments, don't buy it. Or look into a more less expensive car like XB BOY Suggested.

Turbo6PGT

Dont take offense to it but if I had to get a cheaper car I wouldnt touch an xB. I dont care for the looks or handling, its not my type cof car. A friend of mine is a toyota/scion mechanic at the dealer and he also said to stay away from the xB because they areless reliable. *shrug*

tikbhoy

Lease only if you know you can GET THE LOWEST APR, if so then the difference on it for your monthly payment should be minimal.

Try getting as much allowed miles per year if not ask if you can add more to your monthly payment to get more miles per year just in case.

Lease if you dont plan to own the car after 3-5years

Read the contract if there is a option to buy off the car too.

DynomyteSW

my dealer told me that you couldnt lease scion vehicles!

not that i would lease anyhow

flyerI

Here is a good rule of thumb that will hold true for almost all consumer (not business) buying decisions.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER Lease!!!!! You are paying rent on a depreciating asset and you can not even write off the depreciation. There is nothing to gain except being able to ride around in a car you can't really afford to own. That is only fun until your are writting your payment check. After you pay $240 for 60 months you own nothing.

DO BUY something you can afford and save some money for a nicer car later. Don't be like most people with all the stuff, all the payments, and broke as a convict.

Not trying to bust your chops, just some advice from someone who has been there, done that, and has the T-Shirt.

Turbo6PGT

Funny you mention the business part. I actuallyown my own business and the car woul dbe deductable. Would you change the tune for Leasing in that case?

I agree if I do this for a consumer purchase lease is a bad option most likely. My current vehicle is going to become a money pit and I dont want to deal with it. I would much rather have a newer car with a warranty. But anyway thanks for the suggestions.

Nick06tC

Well I would say that if you can afford to throw $240 a month away. Plus the $3000 you are going to have to put down at signing that you can probably afford to buy one bone stock brand new.

When I got my tC i got alot of the accesories and took the price up to 20,263. I got a 5 year loan and I am paying 351.47 a month.

If you can get it out the door for 18,000 and up it to 6 year loan your payments shouldnt be to high. Then you can do what ever you want with the car and sell it in the end and have something to show for it.

surfcity40

i wouldn't. leasing is really never as good as purchasing. you will be able to write off the portion of use that is business related but at the end of the lease you still do not own the vehicle. in a purchase, not only can you write off the vehicle but you get the secondary gain of owning it at the end of the contract. with a lease you will have the residual at the end. if you do not choose to pay or finance the residual to keep the car, you own nothing. you have been able to write off the payments but have no equity standing in the vehicle....it is not yours. you have basically "rented" the car for five years.

i purchased mine for not significantly more per month than you were quoted for a lease. at the end of the contract, obviously, i own the car. i suggest paying the additional per month to own it as opposed to merely renting it. if you cannot work that out, i'd look at less of a car but i'd still purchase over lease.

Nick06tC

I would only lease a car if I had bad credit and couldnt get financed but could afford it. This would help build good credit.

I have good credit so this isnt an issue.

ScionofKirkland

I don’t know what you guys are talking about,

Yah there are some reasons to buy but the best way to use you money is to lease. You should only buy things that will increase in price (house), lease everything that looses money (car).

I sell cars for a living, and I asked myself why on earth do ALL my managers lease there cars? They have all been in the bizz for over 25 years?? If it’s such a bad thing why would car salesmen lease?

Look you can give me all the reasons you want,

• I drive more than 15,000 a year
• I like to own my cars!
• I don’t see why someone would, not like to own the car.

You can think of every reason in the book and yes sometimes it doesn’t make sense to lease.

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The concept of leasing is fairly simple, yet people don't completely understand it and are often skeptical. It is frequently misunderstood as a kind of cheap "rent-to-own" scheme made up by dealers to separate good people from their money. There are even well-meaning but misinformed "consumer experts" who are quick to advise against leasing because "it's all a scam."

There used to be a lease that was bad it was called an open-ended lease. We don’t have that anymore we now only use closed-ended leases.

Leaseing is the best way to use you money, if you like to work of emotion then buy your car you will not get the consept because it is nothing that you will ever do.

BTW to add to the first question on the page, dont lease over 3 years, you use your money better with a three year lease ^_^

Nick06tC

The thing of no money down isnt true. Even dealers on tv advertise. $ 3000 or whatever due at signing. Yeah if your gonna get rid of the car in a few years a lease is the way to go. Because when financing a purchase of a car the first year or two is all lost to depreciation and interest rate. But most down buy a car thinking about hmm i will sell this in two years.

ScionofKirkland

You have some good point’s buy I have to add one thing, and I am not trying to be rude.

So at $240 a month you’re looking at a $14,400 car. But with a lease you would only really be looking at 3 years or 36 months so that comes out to $8,640.

Let me ask you, after five years what do you really own?

Let’s look at a $20,000 car. That’s going to be around 365 a month after tax etc.

Leasing that same car, lets say the residual is 51% of the MSRP for three years $10,200 so you only pay tax on the half you lease lets say $800 and then title etc. so about $1,000 needed at signing. Say you pay 225 a month.

So your saving about $140 a month, at the end of the lease there are a few things you can do, Buy the car, Finance the rest of the car, trade it in for a new one, or just toss them the keys and be done with it.

Wait?! the car depreciated only 9k! You just made about 1,000 because you can sell the car for more money!

The car depreciates 15km hum well at least you don’t have to take the hit the bank dose.

I love the car!! Finance the rest and own it!

ScionofKirkland

It is true you mixing up a few terms, money down is different than what is due a signing.

Money down is what you put twards the MSRP to lower the price of the car.

Whats due at signing is all the taxes fees and other junk that you have to pay.

surfcity40

it's not an audi.

in four years a purchase contract will have equity in the car. a lease will not.

i see....so i've paid the requisite $250.00 per month on the lease and at the lease end i want to keep it so now i finance the residual of approximately 10K for another four years at $250.00 a month. what a deal....now i've paid for the tC for nine years but i own it to the tune of 35K in payments.

here's how simple it is. a lease allows for someone to "rent" a car for a portion of its value. the "loan" or lease is only a percentage of the value of the car; meaning you "finance" about half of the value. the remainder of the value of the car is set aside as a balloon payment called a "residual". it is owed at the end of the lease to keep the car; or one may just turn the car in and have nothing except the memory of a slightly cheaper payment had they bought the car.

so, instead of writing a loan for the price of the car, the dealer writes the loan for about half the price of the car. if you want to keep the car you owe the other half as a one time payment at the end. you can pay it, "refinance" the balance or give it back. in essence, if you refinance the residual you pay nine years for the car to the tune of about three times its value.

the car.

btw, spell check is imperative if selling snake oil.

Turbo6PGT

The big reason for a business purchase when leasing is it entitles a full price deuction rather than a percentage of the purchse like buying it outright. I learned this last year when talking to H&R Block, I had purchased a cheap car ('95 monte carlo) for the business car and I was only able to get a small percentage of the cars price. She said if I had leased a new car the amount is fully dseductable which is a huge difference in price.

Im a poor bumb right now, I just started my business and its not taking off like I had hoped and all I can afford is ~$250/mo or less. I agree that more than a 3 year lease will not make the car worth a "rent to own" scenerio. I just figured it out, Scion would want 800 due at signing and 240/mo for 5 years would mean I pay out 15,200 in those 5 years total. Well thats $1000 less than the car is worth new heh. So theres no way Im going to do it now, business lease or not!

So I am left with trying to find a cheaper car I guess, no Tc for me. To bring my payments down to $240/mo when buying a car Im looking at a $14,000 car for a 5-6 year loan. I do have good credit, my score is even 810 so thats not a prob. But I just dont make enough mula for the banks to give me an overly low APR. Oh well, it was still awesome driving the scion. Maybe in a couple years I will make more money.

So bottom line, after 5 years I will already paid nearly full price for the car. But in 5 years if I chose to buy it the car would still be worth $7-10,000 at the dealer but that means Id pay 7-10k more than the car was really worth. So 5-year lease = NO WAY!

surfcity40

well thought out, however, in "writing off" the car you are only deducting from your gross income the amount you paid. unless it lowers your actual bracket, it is negligible. even if you could write off the entire $250.00 per month, you are merely reducing your tax debt by $3,000.00. that equates to about $100.00 in taxes.

if you plan on keeping the tC i'd suggest you buy a loan term of 84 mos. with your credit score that loan will be available. i guarantee you can get into a tC for about $250.00 a month with your credit and own it at the end.

if you are going to lease you cheap b*strd, get a bmw...can lease one for about 299.00 with your score....j/k

Nick06tC

"It is true you mixing up a few terms, money down is different than what is due a signing.

Money down is what you put twards the MSRP to lower the price of the car.

Whats due at signing is all the taxes fees and other junk that you have to pay."


I know what the terms mean but it doesnt matter how you say it you have to pay something up front. One of your benefits eluded to the fact that you dont have to put money down so there is no dollar amount up front. But there is a dollar amount up front.

When purchasing a car there is nothing due up front. Unless you want there to be.

So when leasing you have to have a couple thousand dollars laying around to get it all started. I dont know if $1000 is a good number or not. But from alot of commercials i have seen lately the number is closer to $3000 due at signing.

I took delivery of my scion without paying a penny until my first payment a month and a half later.

Turbo6PGT

Ive never heard of a 84 mo. loan but I suppose someone out there does that whether its a credit union or bank. But if you think I could get a tC with a payment in my range its worth looking into because it would definitely be a car Id like to own later down the road. I might just take a drive to the dealer to see what they think, they can tell me yesor no and I just have to make the decision.