Mperor

What is a good average lease price for a CLS55 w/o 030 - $1300 per month? $1400 w/ 030?
Since no one really knows on the resale value, would it make sense to lease?

GC55

without alot down the lease is more like $1500+

ajf1

That will not happen, its pure numbers, I had a client lease a $97K cls 55 with 0 down 39 months and is payments were around $1880. So a 030 car with options would probably be around 105-108, another 8-10k, which represents $240-300 more a month in payments on a 36 or 39 month lease. If you put down a large down payment you can get that but it wont happen with zero down. Go play with the mbusa lease calculator, rember that their payments dont include tax. I have a good lease guy if you need, pm me, I also have a dealer who will do $1000 off msrp on a cls 55.

GC55

$1000 off MSRP is nothing. You can do better than that. Heres how I got 12%off inv. Find what lease special is going on. In your office or friends or family get a couple of cars together. Every dealer get whats called a control #. Its for family of an employee(12%). Get a couple of car deals and get a control#. 91,000 cls55 0 down just inseptions $1150.00 15k@39mths

SoCalCLK

Try to avoid putting money down on a Lease. This is because, unlike a purchase, the down payment does not build any "equity" (although cars are a depreciating assets and frequently build negative equity).

Down payment on a Lease (aka Cap Cost Reduction) is simply multiple lease payments made up front.

HLG600

Don't lease, your only throwing away your money. The motor is a handbuilt AMG, so reliability should not be an issue. You can finance the car, pay a monthly amount in range of what it would cost to lease, and in the end, you get to keep the car.

blazinginder

....if you're looking to keep the car till it dies, see if you can get a reasonable residual from the dealer...making your payments not so bad...and figure by the end of the lease the car will be worth a few K less than what they say...and see how much you'd be paying compared to an outright purchase....thats the reason I leased my SL and just intend to buy it at end of the lease...comes out to be $6,000 cheaper than financing from the beginning.

sdsilverm3

That statement is not true. Leasing doesn't necessarily mean throwing money away. I'm not going to get into detail about that because there is a forum for that. Please do read up on some of the topics in there that might change your way of thinking.

vrracr

leasing is brilliant if you know how to use it to your financial advantage. unless you like to keep your cars, its def better to lease. these high value cars depreciate too fast to buy outright and sell in 2-3 years.

you should be able to get into a loaded cls55 for about $1550/month for 36 months. good luck.

cda

How are you liking the CLS55? I remember you bought the CLS500 and missed the power of your M3. I am thinking of getting the CLS63 to replace my CLS500...

vrracr

good memory.

you will be very happy with a cls55 or 63. it is a great car. however, it is no BMW. it rocks as long as you are on a straight road, which is the case 99% of your time driving, but i actually think that even my friend's 7 series feels better on high speed curves and turns.

but coming out of a cls500, the 55 is a dream. made me not totally regret switching to MB.


safeer

clos

just becuase you lease at the beginning doesn't mean you can't exercise your option to buy.

IMO leasing is the way to go.
clos

vrracr

that's a good point. also, a 3 year lease doesn't mean you have to keep the car for 3 years either. most banks don't have prepayment penalties so you can sell the car at anytime and break the lease. if that is not an option with the bank, you can use a service like Auto Lease Trackers.

Heisenberg

There can be a tax advantage to leasing too.

If you buy you sales tax (about 8% here in Arizona, on the full value of the vehicle) is added to the purchase price. If you finance it becomes part of your loan and thus you'll be paying interest on it from the beginning.

On the other hand, if you lease you pay sales tax as you go; it is generally summed to the monthly lease payment. At the lease end, if you return the car you have only paid a fraction of the sales tax compared to purchase. Or if it makes sense to buy the car at the end of the lease, you can avoid sales tax on the residual by obtaining a third party buyout.

Point is you will end up paying much less sales tax on a lease versus purchase.

SoCalCLK

Leasing a depreciating asset is a good strategy. Leases are:

1) Less of a hit TAX wise than a purchase

2) Possible Tax deduction

3) Never facing NEGATIVE EQUITY.

For me, Negative equity is the worst. Nothing worse than OWING $35,000 on a car that is now WORTH $29,000.

That means that if you want to get out of the current car and into a new one, the owner would have to come up with $6,000 CASH, plus a Down payment for the next car. Or, roll the $6,000 N.E. into the new car. So if you are buying/leasing a $60,000 car, it now becomes a $66,000 Car!

Leasing avoids this scenario.

JohnAMG

Leasing maybe good for some but I just don't feel like making car payment until I die. I keep each of my car at least 6 years and I do enjoy not making any payment after the 4 year term expire. Granted my cars are getting old and out of style, but it is still better than most of the cars on the road. For me nothing is worst than paying $1500/month, lease after lease and burn a hole in your wallet. Of course this is my humble opinion. And in 2008 the 2002 E55 will be traded or sold for the CLK63, on my wife's order.

John

sdsilverm3

If you keep your car long term (>48 months) then purchasing is probably a better choice. Many of us, including myself, do not keep cars for more than 2 years if that. Imagine paying taxes upfront on the FULL VALUE and then depreciation on top of that when you know it's going to be a short term thing.

SoCalCLK

Well said. If you intend to keep your car for a long time (6+ years), then purchasing is a wise option. The payments will someday (typically 5-6 years) come to an end, and you own your car outright. Period.

However, keep in mind that it will be out of warranty period, and you will "own" its problems, leaks, breakdowns and possible engine failures too.

And unlike a home or oil stock, a car (for the most part) is a depreciating asset. You are "owning" an asset on your balance sheet that will someday cost more to maintain than it is worth!

Like I siad before, there is nothing wrong with leasing a "depreciating asset."

clos

I read some where that the average person keeps their car for 3 years. This was some time ago before the warranties got better. Now with that said if you plan on purchasing a car and keeping it till it can't run any more than I would still consider leasing it first, than buying it, it will save you money just on interest and taxes.

So either way it still pays to lease the car first.
Clos

P.S I have a feeling this thread will turn in to a huge discussion on leasing or buying.

JohnAMG

If a Mercedes falls apart in 6 years then we are all buying the wrong car. Plus the money it takes to repair any future mechanical problems is still significantly less than the lease payment. I did lease a 2001 ML320 under my business. And after the lease expired I was glad it was over and I decided to buy instead. In my business it didn't make a significant difference in deduction. Maybe I am old fashion, but I just don't feel like making car payment for life. No offense to anyone, this is just my opinion.

John

sdsilverm3

It does feel good to have a car that's paid for. But for a CLS55, that's a lot of capital being tied up in something that's not making you any money. If $100k was pocket change I would definitely buy it outright. Unfortunately, for most of us that's not the case.