Doombot!

Here the deal:

Black on black 2006 SLK 350, new w/275 miles
Automatic
Heated seats
Comfort package
6-disk changer
2 free hats!

$4,400 down ($1,900 is trade in, $2,500 cash)
$665 p/m for 39 months

Great, good, ok or pass?

Thanks!

Doombot!

A little extra info...The financial calculator on the MB site shows $702 + taxes, tags, & fee. The $665 was including those things.

TenzBenz

whats the price of the car? whats your interest %?

Doombot!

It's a lease, but the sticker is $51,500

TenzBenz

Oh, welllll, I prefer equity personally, because on leases you're just throwing that money out the door. When you have equity in something at least when you're ready to turn around and sell it or trade it in, you have something to show for it. I'm sure it’s a sexy car and that’s why you're considering it. Go for the ownership on a Benz, they hold their value.

TenzBenz

Plus you're loosing your down payment too....

tsn0041

Well i am leasing a 280 for 539/month for 27months 10k miles a year. with 4k down that included tax and title.

total price with title tags was 47,500 i guess. buyout 68%

Doombot!

Looks like a pass for us...we're on a 24-hour test drive and we got a check engine light after 40 miles.

9moon

ya'll know how i feel... no one drive off the car out of the dealership if they're at the disadvantage.. the best thing to do is that if ur happy with the monthly and u honestly feel like it's the deal u had in mind, then go get it.. ull enjoy the car for sure and the payment wont matter..

slktyperice

Well, for leasing, I just did a little Excel model for my friend who was deciding on a new or used W203 C230. Basically it comes down to cost of "drivership" for the term. You're comparing total amount money invested in the lease, versus total price minus market value at the end of the same term for the financing. Here's an example:

MB Lease for W203 C230 (for a 27 month lease) on their website:

Down Payment - $3624
Lease Payment - $329
Total Lease Payments (26*$329) = $8554
Total Cost of Drivership for 27 months = $12,178

Comments: If you did this, obviously they screw you on the residual value so nobody would keep the car.

Now compare to a lease payment in the neighborhood of $450 for the same car with the same down payment if it wasn't a special.

Now consider a financing structure for 60 months:

$31,000 base price
$3,100 tax/licensing (10%)
$3,624 down payment
$30,476 amount financed
$1,524 annual interest @ 5%
$7,619 total interest 5 years

$38,095 total price including interest
$635 monthly payment

Now at the end of 27 months, resale value for the same C-class on KBB is around $19000 (average of private party and trade in "excellent" values). You will have lost about $19k in depreciation within 27 months. The total cost of "drivership" is $19k for a finance.

There are also other factors going into a lease vs. finance scenario, namely your penchant for mods and your mileage. If you don't drive more than the 15,000 miles a year they give you (or around there), then you're fine. If you're busting out 25,000 miles a year, then it doesn't look so good. Also if you're going to mod the car with stuff you can't take off easily (system, bodykit, engine mods, etc), it's probably better to finance. Rims and suspension can easily be taken off, but you're going to be that much more hard pressed to return a modded lease car when you've put so much effort in.

But I digress. Strictly numbers, $12k to lease (MB special offer) vs. $19k to finance for the same period of time. The intangibles, well, that's up to the individual buyer. Hope this helps.

If there's a lease special where the special lower payment is significantly lower than if you just leased without a special, it's always more prudent to take the special lease offer. Taking a "non-special" lease is almost always not a good idea if you work the numbers into the model.

Sgooter

You can always do a quick comparison on any lease offer by checking out leasecompare.com.

9moon

but remember, leasing has it's good ways as well.. it's like having the car in trial for for 3 years.. afteralll, there are cars out there that are still lemon.. u dont wanna end up putting a big down on a purchase just to run into problems after about 2+ years... where u end up trading in this car.. so in my opinion, u lease a car if u arent planning on keeping it.. and if u dont wanna pay high up front.. then u buy a car, if u know it'll be ur baby for lifeeee!!!!
SLK 28 .... BRABUSIFYYYYYYYY

jordan2tre

Any special lease offers in Southern Cal for 2-3 years right now?