Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 9:36 am
Not much has changed this month. Cadillac and Chevrolet seem to always have a couple of cars in the top spot.
Toyota Leasing, outside of the new 2012 Camry has really slipped and Honda remains strong with its low subvented, 0-Down Leases on nearly all of their models. Here is how it all shakes out for the Month of February.
Car Lease Deals Ratings for February 2012
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| # | Model | PMT | DOWN | MSRP | TERM | TOTAL COST | AVG | LVR |
| 1 | 2012 Cadillac CTS Sedan | $385.00 | $0.00 | $38,165.00 | 36 | $13,860.00 | $385.00 | 1.01% |
| 2 | 2012 Chevrolet Malibu w/1LS | $179.00 | $1,360.00 | $22,755.00 | 24 | $5,656.00 | $235.67 | 1.04% |
| 3 | 2012 Honda CrossTour 2WD V6 | $340.00 | $0.00 | $31,150.00 | 36 | $11,900.00 | $330.56 | 1.06% |
| 4 | 2012 Infiniti G25 Journey Sedan | $399.00 | $0.00 | $35,995.00 | 39 | $15,561.00 | $399.00 | 1.11% |
| 5 | 2012 BMW 328iX Sedan | $349.00 | $3,225.00 | $40,145.00 | 33 | $14,742.00 | $446.73 | 1.11% |
| 6 | 2012 Nissan Sentra 2.0 SR | $169.00 | $1,830.00 | $19,230.00 | 39 | $8,421.00 | $215.92 | 1.12% |
| 7 | 2012 Infiniti G37 Journey Sedan | $439.00 | $0.00 | $38,900.00 | 39 | $17,121.00 | $439.00 | 1.13% |
| 8 | 2012 Honda Pilot LX 2WD | $340.00 | $0.00 | $29,280.00 | 36 | $11,900.00 | $330.56 | 1.13% |
| 9 | 2012 Toyota Camry | $219.00 | $1,950.00 | $23,925.00 | 36 | $9,834.00 | $273.17 | 1.14% |
| 10 | 2012 Volkswagen Passat 2.5L S | $219.00 | $1,780.00 | $23,460.00 | 36 | $9,664.00 | $268.44 | 1.14% |
| 11 | 2012 Mazda6 | $246.00 | $0.00 | $21,480.00 | 42 | $10,332.00 | $246.00 | 1.15% |
| 12 | 2012 Nissan Maxima S | $309.00 | $2,690.00 | $32,905.00 | 39 | $14,741.00 | $377.97 | 1.15% |
| 13 | 2012 Nissan Rogue S AWD | $209.00 | $2,790.00 | $24,240.00 | 39 | $10,941.00 | $280.54 | 1.16% |
| 14 | 2012 Chevy Cruze w/2LS/MH8 | $159.00 | $1,410.00 | $18,465.00 | 24 | $5,226.00 | $217.75 | 1.18% |
| 15 | 2012 Volvo S60 | $299.00 | $2,994.00 | $32,175.00 | 36 | $13,758.00 | $382.17 | 1.19% |
| 16 | 2012 Mercedes C250 Sport Sedan | $349.00 | $3,660.00 | $38,175.00 | 33 | $15,177.00 | $459.91 | 1.20% |
| 17 | 2012 Mazda CX-9 | $389.00 | $0.00 | $31,605.00 | 42 | $16,338.00 | $389.00 | 1.23% |
| 18 | 2012 BMW 335iX Sedan | $519.00 | $3,725.00 | $49,695.00 | 36 | $22,409.00 | $622.47 | 1.25% |
| 19 | 2012 Volvo C70 | $449.00 | $2,494.00 | $41,325.00 | 36 | $18,658.00 | $518.28 | 1.25% |
| 20 | 2012 Mercedes E350 Luxury Sedan | $579.00 | $3,294.00 | $56,565.00 | 24 | $17,190.00 | $716.25 | 1.27% |
| 21 | 2012 Honda CR-V | $330.00 | $0.00 | $25,205.00 | 36 | $11,550.00 | $320.83 | 1.27% |
| 22 | 2012 Mazda3 4-Door | $228.00 | $0.00 | $17,695.00 | 42 | $9,576.00 | $228.00 | 1.29% |
| 23 | 2012 Infiniti M56 RWD Sedan | $849.00 | 0 | $65,745.00 | 39 | $33,111.00 | $849.00 | 1.29% |
| 24 | 2012 Toyota Venza | $339.00 | $3,475.00 | $33,079.00 | 36 | $15,679.00 | $435.53 | 1.32% |
| 25 | 2012 Volkswagen GTI | $279.00 | $1,720.00 | $24,765.00 | 36 | $11,764.00 | $326.78 | 1.32% |
| 26 | 2012 Toyota Prius | $239.00 | $3,510.00 | $24,985.00 | 36 | $12,114.00 | $336.50 | 1.35% |
| 27 | 2012 Chevy Corvette Coupe w/1LT | $589.00 | $3,950.00 | $50,500.00 | 39 | $26,921.00 | $690.28 | 1.37% |
| 28 | 2012 BMW X3 xDrive 28i | $459.00 | $3,475.00 | $38,995.00 | 36 | $19,999.00 | $555.53 | 1.42% |
| 29 | 2012 Volkswage Golf R | $469.00 | $1,530.00 | $35,810.00 | 36 | $18,414.00 | $511.50 | 1.43% |
| 30 | 2012 Nissan Juke S AWD | $269.00 | $2,730.00 | $22,730 | 39 | $13,221.00 | $339.00 | 1.49% |
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
I first heard the term, subvented lease, a few years ago while I was completing the paperwork on a 2008 Hyundai Veracruz. When I thanked my sales person for making the leasing process quick, painless and easy, he told me that he realized I was after a subvented lease, and the Veracruz was the obvious choice. That’s nice, I thought, but what does he mean by subvented lease? That was a term I hadn’t heard before. I looked it up when I got home.
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Monday, January 2nd, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Is the Highest Residual Value Lease the Better Option?
Is it better to get the highest residual value lease? Before we answer that question, it is important to know what residual values actually mean. The lease residual value is not always fixed when your car lease deal is calculated. In fact, the residual value is the one variable component of a lease that can most substantially affect the size of your monthly lease payment. Every year a financial company called, ALG or Black Book, publishes the residual values of all of available cars the cars on the market. This residual value is nothing more than an estimate of a car’s expected resale value as a percentage of MSRP. While these published residual values serve as a guideline for calculating lease payments, the actual leasing company can adjust this number up or down, depending on how aggressive or conservative they are about leasing a particular car. A leasing company might be willing to take a little extra risk on the value of a car late in the year where sales are exceeding expectations. In short, the published, 36, 48 and 60 month residual values of cars don’t always reflect the actual resale price. Cars that become extremely popular will often sell on the used market for a price that is much higher than their residual values. When a residual value is set too high, the leasing company absorbs the loss at the end of the lease term. A residual value that is set too low will yield an unattractive lease payment and be less attractive to potential car lessees. So, how does setting of the residual value end up affecting us when we lease cars? Because a higher residual value lowers our monthly car payment, it would seem that the higher the residual value the better. Not so fast:
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Monday, January 2nd, 2012 at 12:02 pm
You know what's amazing? Hyundai, Subaru, Nissan and Mazda rated at the top of the ALG Residual Value Awards, yet none of their cars finished near the top in overall lease value ratings for the 2011 year. How can that be? Well, as usual, I will give you my own two cents: As I explained after writing this article, Residual Values are only a forecast and don't actually determine what a particular car's real market value on the street is going to be after 3, 4 or 10 years. These ALG Residual values are based on 2012 car models, so this is pure speculation. However, there is something to be said for speculation in this industry. ALG has a lot of weight when it comes to valuating cars, both psychologically and financially. Having a high ALG residual value is definitely a blessing for the car maker and for the consumer wishing to lease there cars. One can only wonder if these automobiles winning these ALG awards will now start rising in the monthly car lease deals we publish for 2012. When push comes to shove for 2011, however, the banks still bet heavily on the tried and true best valued cars like Honda.
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