i'm trying to buy my wife a new car for her 40th birthday... (end of next week ) have a few questions: 1. thinking of either the toyota solara convertible or a Lexus ES 350 - any opinions about these. I have 2 kids and so I eliminated a lot of convertibles because of the size of the back seat. 2. if I go with the Lexus ES they have a Lease special for 2008 models for $369/mo with $3000 down - allows 12K miles/year. I've never leased and always owned. Is this a good deal? If I go with buying what are current car rates people are getting. I can put about 10-15,000 down (total car with options are invoiced about 42,000). any other tips on buying a new car would be appreciated - I haven't bought in about 7 years.... thanks in advance
If you want to buy, I think you can get a super deal on the ES. I think that is Lexus' least popular car. They always offer nice financing deals on it, like 0% for 60 months, etc. I think you could probably talk them into well below invoice for a ES. Go to edmunds.com for more info.
3000 down just to lease and 369/month (4428/year) and drive ONLY 12k miles? i don't know much about leasing, but that sure doesn't like a good deal to me.
When you lease you're paying depreciation upfront. Make sure you know the current month's base rate and residuals. This way you can calculate the money factor and determine what your monthly payments should be. I'm sure you can get away without putting any money down (excluding any security deposits) to sweeten the deal. Anways, that seems like a pretty decent lease rate. Infiniti was offering me a similar deal on a G37 coupe when I went for a test drive on Friday. I'm holding off for a 335i coupe so I had to pass even though it's a great car for the money. With that being said, I would seriously consider looking at the new G37 sedan. In terms of reliability, Infiniti is now number 2 behind Porsche. I never thought the day would come where I would have to badmouth the likes of Honda and Toyota/Lexus, but they have deteriorated over the years in terms of quality/reliability, appeal, and overall "driveability." The ES is a very weak car considering you're paying $40k+ for a rebadged Camry. I know it's for your wife, but you should seriously consider a 5 series or the aforementioned G37 sedan. Because Lexus and Infiniti's have great resale values I would consider buying. You can finance for 0.9% over 60 months these days. Is your wife really into cars and will she want a new one 3 years from now? But that decision is up to you and you need to decide what's best for your situation. I'm not trying to convince you one way or another, but keep in mind the ES350 is FWD and only has 272 HP with a boring suspension. That's not worth $42,000 to me! Good luck and let us know what car you get
$42k for a ES350?? If that's MSRP, you should be able to knock it down to $36-$37k + TTL. There's a rebate right now for ES350's; $1000 Cash to Customer start: 11/01/2008 end: 01/05/2009 That should knock it down to $35-$36k + TTL. The economy is down the toilet right now and dealerships will give you a terrific deal. Play hard ball, visit other dealerships and you should be able to get this price. For example, I helped someone purchase a Lexus last summer for $33k + TTL. The MSRP was $38.5k.
actually 42K is with the "ultra luxury" package and the navigation/Mark Levinson Audio package... but yeah it does seem high since the base was $34K and those packages were $4K each.
