I need Oppo's thoughts

"TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts." (thebloody)
08/22/2019 at 11:55 • Filed to: Dodge Challenger, Leasing

So as you all know I drove an Challenger R/T as a rental this weekend and well, I kinda fell in love with driving one. Also I fee like fate is playing a bit of a role here because it was same weekend this was posted on Jalopnik

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Memorial Day sales are out so I’m thinking of leasing an Challenger R/T. Price seems right, I drive 15 miles a day one way 3 days a week to a reserved spot at a train station so I think a lease would be perfect for me right now.

So here’s the question, any body leased from Dodge before? Any gotchas that I should know about? M y Googlefu has failed me looking up anything I should watch out for.

DISCUSSION (23)

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 12:16

Their online configurator is pretty upfront about expected lease price. Here’s the quote for a base R/T manual added just heated seats

Kinja'd!!!

If you’re buying though, Dodge is offering $3700 off in addition to other incentives as part of their promo: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/dodge-power-dollars-cash-allowance-10-per-horsepower/ - Not on leases, I checked with dealers already

I haven’t checked prices on Challengers but R/T Chargers are easily $5-6K off MSRP these days. But almost all of those deals apply to purchase only.

CarsDirect is a good source for available deals - https://www.carsdirect.com/2019/dodge/challenger

412GTI > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 12:18

Wow you really did like it! I do advertising work for a CDJR store and can safely say this month is a great time to purchase a Charger/Challenger. They’re doing the $10 per horsepower and although the deals are better on the larger motor variants, they’re still solid throughout the line up (Scat Packs can be had around 38k which is crazy!).

*Edit - I should note that cash back this month is for a purchase not a lease, however there still is decent incentive/discounts for leasing.

The lease will most likely be through Ally, US Bank or Chrysler Capital. All are pretty reasonable and I believe don’t have any surprises when it comes to turn in.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 12:19

If you lease, Hellcat Widebody with the manual.

vondon302 > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 12:26

Scat pak 1320 edition or go home!

Seriously tho. I've heard alot of people complain about them dinging you for every little thing on turn in but that's all I got.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 12:28

My only experience with leasing was when we leased my Moms 2017 Outback (didn’t work, turns out Mom actually drives about 20k a year and she was putting about 7k a year on my sister’s car in addition to the 11k a year on her own car ). My advice would be to get the next mileage step up from what you actually think you will use. If you think you drive 10k a year get the 12k lease. You are going to want that extra mileage for if you decide to make a couple road trips. There were a couple times we had to cram 3 people into the BRZ for a trip because we didn’t have the mileage in the budget to take the Outback. Having to ration your miles sucks and is the #1 reason I’m paying an extra $100 a month to own my Corolla instead of leasing it.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
08/22/2019 at 12:35

Another thing is don’t pay more than the minimum down. That’s equity tied up in the car you don’t get back outside a reduced monthly. It doesn’t reduce your buyout at the end of the lease and if you get in an accident during the lease that money is straight gone.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > vondon302
08/22/2019 at 12:36

Yeah, that’s true for all leases though so was already factoring that in. Thanks though.

Chariotoflove > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 12:36

I don’t have any experience with leasing to offer, but I can see with the low mileage expectation why you’d consider it. If the car hasn’t changed much over the past several years, do you think buying lightly used might be cheaper in the end?

Textured Soy Protein > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 12:37

I’ve leased several cars, mainly for my wife. It’s a great option if you do it right. There are a few main things to keep an eye on with any lease.

Manufacturer incentives vs. shady dealerships. Just because a manufacturer website lists an incentive, doesn’t mean the dealer will offer it to you, or even give it to you when you mention the incentive.

W hen we leased my wife’s CX-5, even though Mazda had a lease incentive on their website, and I told the dealer I wanted the incentive, their shady-ass finance manager tried to close me on a monthly payment number without disclosing the terms of the lease. I refused.

Turned out, among other shady shit I won’t get into, he was trying to hold points on me even though I specifically told him about the incentive and he pulled my goddamn motherfucking 833 credit sc ore .

Demand to see their incentive books for the car you’re leasing and demand that the terms on the lease contract match the incentive.

The other big thing to watch is p rojected residual values vs. reality of the market. Leases are structured as you’re making payments on the depreciation. Whatever the difference is between the sale price of the car vs. the projected residual, you take that, multiply by the money factor, add in the taxes, divide by the number of payments, and that’s your monthly payment. Residuals are always based on some kind of percentage of the MSRP.

Some cars lease well because they have truly high residual values, which makes the payments lower because the difference from sale price to residual is smaller. But there are plenty of car companies that don’t have great residual values out in the market, but they project a higher residual percentage to make the payments. Or, they have decent residual value but set the residual at some crazy high number. On our CX-5, the Mazda lease incentive set the residual at 60% after 3 years. Mazdas hold their value decently well, but not that well.

Artificially high residuals cause 2 problems:

To get out of a lease early, usually you would just try to trade the car in to any dealership. As long as they give you more for your trade than the payoff amount on the lease, you’re good to go, and trade value above the payoff is positive equity for you. But if you have a too-high residual, the payoff amount is likely to be much higher than you’d be able to get for a trade. So you’re either stuck with the car, or you have to take a hit to trade it, or you have to roll over negative equity, which you should never do. Ever.

If you want to buy the car at the end of the lease, there’s no negotiating. You have to pay the projected residual. So if you’re thinking about leasing something you’d want to buy later, you’re effectively going to have to pay an above- market price for a 3 year old used car at the end of the lease.

The easiest way to check if a residual value is above the market is to look up 3 year old (or whatever your lease term is) examples of the car you’re buying on Auto Trader etc. If the prices out there are well below the projected residual on the lease, you know the manufacturer is fluffing up the residual. I would’t completely shy away from a too-high residual but you should know what you’re getting into if you go for it.

In the case of my wife’s CX-5, we’re fine turning it in at the end of the lease and our plan is to buy something else CPO for her at the end of it. The main reason we’ve been leasing for her is she really likes the active safety gizmos but in another couple years there will be plenty of affordable CPO cars with those things for her.

Make sense?

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
08/22/2019 at 12:39

Cool thanks, the one I configured worked out to be $400 with zero down for 36 months which is pretty figgin tempting . If I can get something close with purchase price I’d maybe consider that.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
08/22/2019 at 12:40

I drive less than 8000 miles a year, I’d have to try really hard to make it past 12k miles in a year.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 12:42

Glad I could help. Make sure you have all the information in your back pocket. Also check Leashackr forums. Good Luck!

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > 412GTI
08/22/2019 at 12:43

Cool thanks, if I can get into a Challenger R/T for $400 a month with zero down I think I’mma lease me a Challenger lol. Wasn’t sure if there were any hidden gotchas because it seems kind of insane to only pay that for that kind of car.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Textured Soy Protein
08/22/2019 at 13:00

This is great thank you, I’ll definitely make sure I see the dealers incentives. I’m looking leasing because in three years time I’m probably not going to be in the same car I drive now so I just want to be able to finish out the lease, drop it off at the dealer and walk away.

Good to know about the residual value at the end of the lease and after a quick search looks like the Challengers hold their value pretty well so that’s a plus.

JustAnotherG6 > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 13:10

My only complaint about the Challenger/Charger is that it is damn near impossible to find one specced the way I want it without the damn sunroof. We rented an R/T Charger this spring, I had to have my head cocked one way or another while the wife took a turn driving it on the 1 b/c of the sunroof and my abnormally long torso.

BeaterGT > vondon302
08/22/2019 at 13:13

Just saw one of these on lunch, looked real good. Except for the yellow bumper guards.

vondon302 > BeaterGT
08/22/2019 at 13:17

Ugh that's a plague on these poor cars.

412GTI > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 14:10

That sounds like a reasonable offer, so I think you should be able to do it. Good luck!

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
08/22/2019 at 16:17

If you’re going Hellcat, auto is the only way IMO. The manual actually saps the fun out of it, making it more like work than an en joyable drive.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
08/22/2019 at 16:19

Bullshit.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
08/22/2019 at 17:06

No BS. It’s fun at the 500 HP mark, but once you give it the full 707hp, it’s a chore. You spend more time shifting than actually enjoying the car.

I never in my life thought I would prefer an auto to a manual in a car like that, then I drove them back to back. The auto is far more fun, instead of focusing on shifting, you can focus on going fast.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
08/22/2019 at 17:19

The most rewarding things in life are the ones that you have to work to achieve

Jayvincent > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
08/22/2019 at 20:17

Opposite-option is 2016-2017 models from Carmax for around $ 25k if you can find a color combo and options package you like...

https://www.carmax.com/car/17765230