New Car Choices - CEG Archives

Originally posted by LocoGSR:
I pay $400 a month for my Evo.

The OP is talking canadian $$$$

As far as those 3, I think the Mazda 6 would be my first choice as it is more fun to drive than the others. However, the new sonata is supposed to be VERY competative in the mid-size class. I wouldn't bother looking at the G6 personally.

i'd choose the Mazda, but the Hyundai is a compelling option. i really like the new styling and for the price, you get a LOT of car.

whats with the oober long terms on the leases???

I was just looking at the specs on the Ford Fusion, and this looks to be a choice worth looking at as well. The SEL is a direct competitor to the Mazda 6 GT, but not so expensive. Same engine and features.

Originally posted by Pete D:
...I think the Mazda 6 would be my first choice...

Originally posted by amarv12:

Originally posted by Pete D:
...I think the Mazda 6 would be my first choice...

But then I just might be partial to Mazda...........I really do like my '04 6i Hatchback. 2.3L, 5 speed, leather, Bose, moonroof. Everything but a V6.

I was seriously thinking of buying a second one but bought a new pickup instead.

Originally posted by Coolkuehl3:

Originally posted by amarv12:

Originally posted by Pete D:
...I think the Mazda 6 would be my first choice...

But then I just might be partial to Mazda...........I really do like my '04 6i Hatchback. 2.3L, 5 speed, leather, Bose, moonroof. Everything but a V6. I was seriously thinking of buying a second one but bought a new pickup instead.

Was it worth it to go with the higher options above the Sport Package? Like the leather, moonroof, heated seats and Bose stereo?

CLICK THIS!!!

Go with the Mazda, stay away from the Pontiac chick car.

So why does the Mazda 6s "GT" come with the 4-banger? WTF is up with that? I figured the 6s GT would come with, um....let's see maybe the more powerful engine.

Originally posted by CLASSVT:
So why does the Mazda 6s "GT" come with the 4-banger? WTF is up with that? I figured the 6s GT would come with, um....let's see maybe the more powerful engine.

GT is merely a trim level. There is a GT-V6 as well. GT= heated/leather seats, auto climate control, BOSE stereo, moonroof, side curtain airbags, and alarm system.

Click This Too.....

Was it worth it to go with the higher options above the Sport Package? Like the leather, moonroof, heated seats and Bose stereo?

Yes definitely! Get as many options as you can comfortably afford. I really like the leather since my Contour also has leather, same with the moonroof. The heated seats are great, especially here in the winter. The Bose stereo with the in dash 6 disc CD changer is another nice feature. And oh how I love the steering wheel audio controls, wish my truck had them. Since I tend to keep my cars for a long time, I like loading them up with options. If you have any more questions, email or PM me.

Mazda if I chose between those three cars. Altima 2.5 SL is 420/month on a 48 month lease in Ontario province (I don't know much about Canada) with zero down, 5-speed, and more power than any of the listed vehicles. I'm a Nissan fan.

Of course, you could lease an SE-R for about 520/month zero down as well, but it looks like you want to stick to I4's for gas mileage purposes. SE-R's in Canada and better priced than SE-R's in the states as compared to other Nissan models (like G35's/350Z's).

The SE-R Spec-V completely loaded up in Ontario province is 385/month zero down, that includes:

SE-R Spec V Sport Package $3,000.00

Power sliding glass sunroof with tilt feature
Rockford Fosgate-powered AM/FM/CD audio system (300-watt)
In-dash 6-CD changer
Nine speakers (seven locations), including subwoofer
Partial fold-down rear seat
Driver and front-passenger side-impact supplemental airbags
Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)
Anti-theft system

SE-R Spec V Brembo Package $2,900.00

Brembo�?® braking system
Power sliding glass sunroof with tilt feature
Rockford Fosgate-powered AM/FM/CD audio system (300-watt)
In-dash 6-CD changer
Nine speakers (seven locations), including subwoofer
Partial fold-down rear seat
Anti-theft system

I don't believe heated seats are an option though.

I like the Fusion of them all to be honest with you.

I swear that car's style is ageless. Maybe the chrome tail surrounds are a bit loud but other than those features, I think it KOs the Mazda. De*chrome the grilles and tails=

-Just my opinion!

If you are driving lots of miles/KM's, why are you leasing? How many miles/KM's per year will you be driving? Also, you never answered this:

Quote:

whats with the oober long terms on the leases???

If you are going to pay for more than 36 months, it's usually better to buy the vehicle.

$420CAN = $362USD for a < $18kUSD car. $18k financed over 4 years is $420. Afer those 4 years, the car is paid off and still worth $4-8k.

Those lease terms/rates suck, at least compared to the US equivalent rates. Accords from $239

I see that you are going to lease the car. So I take it you wont keep it after the lease. So I would go with the sonata. Just because its cheaper and you get alot of options. Now if you are going to buy the car at the end of the lease I would go with the Mazda.

Good luck

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to buy the car at the end of the lease because I'm going to be putting alot of kms on it. I'm going with leasing because the monthly payments are lower and by the time the lease period is over I will be in a position to buy the car outright. I'm not sure why the lease periods are so long, maybe to keep the payments low?
I think I would like to go with the Mazda but I'm not sure I can justify the extra money per month to get all the extra options, $420 vs $480.

Originally posted by Bullet:
I'm pretty sure that I'm going to buy the car at the end of the lease because I'm going to be putting alot of kms on it. I'm going with leasing because the monthly payments are lower and by the time the lease period is over I will be in a position to buy the car outright. I'm not sure why the lease periods are so long, maybe to keep the payments low?
I think I would like to go with the Mazda but I'm not sure I can justify the extra money per month to get all the extra options, $420 vs $480.

Bad idea. You will be paying a residual value for a car with high mileage on it. You have to ask yourself if you could turn the car around for what you paid to buy it at the end of the lease. If not, you will be getting hosed.

For example, Honda had a nice lease rate on the Civic SiR in 2003. It was roughly $298/month for four years, $3K down. If you bought at the end of the lease, you had spent nearly $35K in total on a car that listed for $26K. Even if one would sell it, they wouldn't get all of that extra money back.

Trust me, go on the Mazda website, and use their calculators. Total up how much the car will cost you in total, buying vs leasing. When calculating the lease, include the down payment, the monthly payment, and the residual. You will see that it is NOT in your best interest to buy the car at the end of the lease.

I know a nurse who drives a ton for work. She buys a little four-banger, negotiates extra kms at the beginning of the lease (she drives over 50K kms a year) and then hands it back to the dealer and gets a new one.

Originally posted by baco99:
i'd choose the Mazda, but the Hyundai is a compelling option. i really like the new styling and for the price, you get a LOT of car.

I'm with baco99 on this one. I'd actually call it a toss up between the two. The Hyundai Sonata with the V6 is a pretty sweet deal.

Mark

Ok this is the rundown with no downpayment according to the Mazda website...

Finance

48 month finance at 2.90% is $687.55 per month which equals $33002.40 in total (including extended warranty) after 4 years for the base model with the Sport package (total on site is $31124).

Lease

48 month lease at 3.40% is $430.34 per month with $11,736.00 left in order to buy at the end of the lease. That comes out to $32392.32 in total for the car.

So it seems to me that there is not alot of difference when it comes to the price. Just a matter of whether you want to pay now or pay later. And since I would like to keep the monthly payments low, paying later sounds better to me since I will be in a better position later.

I'd definitely go with the Mazda, hands down.

Make sure you get the right kind of lease.

Been a while since I've read up on them, but there are 2 ways for buying the car at the end.

The first one is where they estimate what the car will be worth when the lease is up... if the car is worth less than they estimated, you lose; if it's worth more, you win

The other is, I think, like what you posted off the mazda site... they go by what you owe and give you the option to buy.

And there is closed end (where you have to buy the car at the end), and open end (where you decide if you want it or not)... I would go with open-end in case you totally hate the car.

Originally posted by Bullet:
Lease

48 month lease at 3.40% is $430.34 per month with $11,736.00 left in order to buy at the end of the lease. That comes out to $32392.32 in total for the car.

There is a slight flaw with that. The $11.7k buyout does not include taxes which are about 15% IIRC.

I would not lease long term, especially w/ high KM rates that you plan to do. What if the particular car you are leasing is a lemon. Well, not quite a lemon enough to use the lemon law if you have it in CA, but it is plagued with problems, or you just don't like it after 3-4 years. You either pay the penalty for the extra KM's and turn it in, or buy it, and sell it for significantly lower than the residual because of the extra KM's.

Those who drive a lot should not lease (except for business writeoffs in the US at least). A friend of mine was caught up in that and ended up carrying over the penalties into the 3rd car he leased. His montly payment is double what the special lease rate should be. He fianlly financed a car and is almost paid off, but he still had $7k USD rolled into that car cost on a basic $16k Accord.

If you cannot afford the 48mo finance, how about the 72 month one? $55 more/mo, but you'll get equity at some point (4-5 years probably) and if you do keep it you'll pay it off sooner with a lower overall sum of payments. If you cannot afford the 72 mo payment, then look for a cheaper car for now.

How many KM's per year do you think you'll be using? It is almost always cheaper to pay for them up front on a lease.

I am leasing two vehciles right now and buying/financing a third. One lease I paid for 6k extra miles/yr up front at 12c/mi after taxes. If I had not paid up front, they would charge 20c/mi when I turn it in. The other lease has standard mileage allowance, 12k/yr. Since I paid for the whole lease up front (special promotion $2279 USD out of pocket for 2 yr/24k miles), I'll just turn it in when I reach the mileage limit, be it at 18 months or 20 months projected.

If you're looking at the 6i with the 2.3L, I would definitely take a long look at a Mazda 3s with the same engine and transmission. Unless rear seat/trunk space are very important to you, you'd be getting a lot of the same hardware (engine, transmission, interior amenities, etc.) and essentially the same FRONT seat space as the Six, but less overall size, weight, and cost.

Originally posted by Jeb Hoge:
If you're looking at the 6i with the 2.3L, I would definitely take a long look at a Mazda 3s with the same engine and transmission. Unless rear seat/trunk space are very important to you, you'd be getting a lot of the same hardware (engine, transmission, interior amenities, etc.) and essentially the same FRONT seat space as the Six, but less overall size, weight, and cost.

Good call.

What APT said is right on. NEVER willingly lease a car knowing that you will be going way past the mileage limits. It's ALWAYS cheaper to boost up the mileage as part of the lease agreement, in many cases you'll only pay 10 cents per mile (sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less - depends on the manufacturer, the vehicle being leased, etc.) ahead of time instead of 15-20 cents per mile penalty rates after the fact. As much as you may think you can predict the future, you never can, and as much as you might think you'll be able to buy the car outright in four years, you never really know what situation you'll find yourself in four years from now. At the very least, build the miles into the lease agreement, that way the residual value of the car at lease termination is such that you have the option to hand the car in with no penalties or buy it for somewhere around what it's actually worth. You don't want to shanghai yourself with only bad options when your lease period is up, I've seen too many people do this. A great example is a buddy of mine just handed in his G35 sedan that he leased. He leased a new Infinity FX35, which had a lease deal for around 400/month, but because he was way over the mileage on his G35 lease and he terminated the lease six months early, he's paying 600/month on the Infinity. So, effectively, he's paying an extra 200/month for a car (the G35) he no longer gets to drive, for the next 48 months. When you think about, that really sucks big time.

I lease my Alty SE-R because I know I want to drive a new vehicle every three years and because I write it off against a side business to boot. I only drive about 10k miles per year because I use public transportation to get back and forth to my job for the most part. I leased with 12k/year giving myself roughly a 20% buffer, which is another thing I recommend, give yourself buffer room in the mileage. If you come in under your mileage dealerships love that, and will oftentimes give you another sweet lease deal on your next car because they have wiggle room because they're going to make a good chunk of $$$ on your lease trade-in on the used lot. I've even seen dealers waive a large part of lease downpayments in these situations when someone is handing in a really well cared for leased car that is under the mileage by 20%.

OK, Bullet, the numbers are closer to ....well, reality than the Honda lease.

That said, I agree with the statement about the Mazda3, unless you need the extra space. It'll be quicker than the 4-cylinder Mazda6, and you'll save gas without the extra weight. Something to think about if you will be putting on big mileage.

Originally posted by Y2KSVT:

Originally posted by baco99:
i'd choose the Mazda, but the Hyundai is a compelling option. i really like the new styling and for the price, you get a LOT of car.

I'm with baco99 on this one. I'd actually call it a toss up between the two. The Hyundai Sonata with the V6 is a pretty sweet deal.

Mark

The Sonata V6 looks like a great car but the numbers he posted were for the 4 banger.

The reason I'm looking at leasing is not only the lower payments, but also because it is a writeoff to me being self employed. I could work in an extra 60 k kms into the Hyundai lease for approx another $50 a month. Then the buyout would be 4200 with the same kms at the end instead of 7200 without the kms worked into the lease.

Get it in dark gray

I'm hoping they release the refresh for the '07 models so the previous gen will go down in price in the used market.

I hate the exhaust sound, sounds tinny as heck but it's fun as anything to drive.

Well, even with the 2006 mistakes, I would take the Mazda6 over the Fusion (having driven both).

The Bose audio sucks, I would not buy it unless you have to (like we do in the U.S. to get the moonroof).

Easy. Get the 2006 Sonata. Its one of the safest and most reliable vehicles on the market and carries the best warranty in the business.

Best of all, you can pick up a loaded 5 speed for under $US15K

Thats UNDER $15K. Hell, I paid almost that much for my used Contour 9 years ago. And I sure wish I had gotten my Contour with a ten year warranty.

On the downside, unfortunately, you can only get a 4 cylinder with the 5 speed - but its a relatively peppy 4 cylinder.

Originally posted by Bullet:
The reason I'm looking at leasing is not only the lower payments, but also because it is a writeoff to me being self employed. I could work in an extra 60 k kms into the Hyundai lease for approx another $50 a month. Then the buyout would be 4200 with the same kms at the end instead of 7200 without the kms worked into the lease.

Understood, same reason I lease, not sure on Canadian law but I can either write off the payment (basically) or the mileage, I choose the payment myself since I don't drive much.

50/month * 48 months = 2400 extra over the life of the lease.

Let's say you were to run 60k km's over your lease, then you'd pay 60,000 * 0.10 (not sure what you guys pay for mileage overages in Canada?) = 6000, much worse than the 2400 you paid on a monthly basis.

You have to run the numbers but I've never seen it come out cheaper to pay mileage penalties than to build the miles into the lease personally.

Originally posted by ODC:

Get it in dark gray

I'm hoping they release the refresh for the '07 models so the previous gen will go down in price in the used market.

I hate the exhaust sound, sounds tinny as heck but it's fun as anything to drive.

love the G35, a TT G35 is one of my dream cars that is actually attainable.