FINALLLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im in the market to buy this sucker.
im just so excited now.
first of all...i'm thinking of leasing it for 42month.
and i'm aiming for $400~410 without any money down.
thats like using FIXED honda money factor and residual value.
and i have accounted $30000~30500 as price for the car.
is it gonna work?? is it too little high? or low?
i think $400 would make me really happy.
if anyone have experience, how much have u guys paid?

and i'm 22 now. should i just buy the car instead of wasting money on lease?
if i'm buying, i have to buy used, like MY02 or 03 with range of $21000~$23000.

so wat do u guys suggest? LEASE it or BUY it? or just go for other car
which can survive through harsh winter in NJ?

ANY INPUTS WELCOMED. THX.

 

Depends on how long your going to keep the car. Every car I've every owned I always said to myself that I was going to keep forever but the truth of the matter is that I sold them or got em stolen before I owned them.

As for leasing a car.........remember that you can't negotiate a leased vehicle price. You will be leasing on the full sticker price. If you own it you will be able to negotiate down to a couple hundred over invoice.

Also if your going to use it as a daily driver remember that most leases have mileage restrictions. Also you can't really modify a leased car. Or you will have to at least replace the OEM parts when you return it.

 

i already talk to the salesman and negotiated the car price.
i mean, he was just basically reducing the dealer mark up.
cuz there was like so much mark up on it.

and mileage i got was 15000 per year.

and payment he gave me was $470. but we talked little while and he could go down about $40~60 per month.

im just not sure if that is still reasonable. cuz i don wanna get ripped off
hahah anyways~ thx for the reply

 

ummm.. dude.. its nice to give advice but please know your $hit b4 u post!!!

 

yea, you can negotiate the purchase price. in fact, that is your only factor you control. the lease is based on purchase price, interest (money factor) and the residual (for the depreciation base).

You should be able to get a little under $400. If the salesman won't do it, its because he thinks he has a prize pig. Head home and he'll call you in a day and agree. Remember, if you go home, you win. As the customer, you hold the leverage, NOT HIM.

anyway, i leased at your age, too. It was a good experience, but depreciation is a killer and all that money goes to nothing. Buying new is the same way, too...after 3 years of payments you usually owe about what the car is worth.

If I were you, I'd get a 01-02 for 20-22K. The payments will be similar and you will own the car in 4-5 years. Depreciation on used cars is a lot lower, and I think the S2000 will bottom out at about $15K for several years. Why? It is popular with the kids and there are not many of them. Notice ITRs are still expensive...the S will be the same way.

 

A 42 month lease is pretty long. Its like practically owning it for 4 years. Regarding leases you can pretty much negotiate the same kinds of things as you would if you were going to buy it. Except with leases there are things like residuals and mileage restrictions. I think buying used is a good idea though as the overall cost is lower and that many used S2000's can be found with relatively low miles. I would get one thats certifed used if only for the extended warranty. Although, I believe that you can buy Hondacare on any car as long as its in its factory warranty period. With a lease your kind of locked into the car for the term of the lease unless you want to pay the penalty for breaking it which is usaually pretty steep.

 

LOL. bro, honestly. if you can get the car below msrp, good luck. i wish you the best. everyone here makes it sound do easy, and claims they have this 375-390 payment. thats bullshet. honest truth, after having been friends with everyone at my dealer, GM,SM,ASM.. and working for vw, seeing this stuff every day, you should not complain if you can get the lease payment TAX INCLUDED in payment, under 500. speak with some lease folks, or use an online lease calculator. the residual, will change your payment, and so will the base price. but like i said, a new 05,, and try to get less than msrp. riiiiiight. so be happy if you get between 450 and 500. take it easy. dave

 

Make sure you do your research before heading to a dealer. Edmunds.com has many tips and calculators to help you negotiate the best lease terms. Read it and know what you are getting yourself into BEFORE going to a dealer. I used this when I leased a car a few years ago, and even pulled out a printout of what I was suppose to pay when the numbers the dealer came back to me did not look right.

10 Steps to leasing a car

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/leasing/arti...85/page004.html

Lease calculator
http://www.edmunds.com/apps/calc/Calculato...culator.tab.1.*


I moved to NC from NJ 8 months ago. If you plan on driving the S in the winter, please get snow tires. I drove the S on rare occasions in the winter since I had a beater. Good luck!

 

You are going to be hard pressed to get under $400/mo with any lease tern less than 48 mos with no money down. Honda Finance is currently rolling .00250 (last I checked last week) on this car for lease terms up to 39 mos/12k miles per year, and it only goes higher for longer term leases.

If you really want to find a great deal on an S2000 lease, you should use leasecompare.com or check out swapalease.com or leasetrader.com. In fact there is an '04 on leasetrader.com right now for $390 and change a month.

http://www.leasetrader.com/auto/lease/sear...isting_id=80087

The minimum money you'd need to put down on a new '05 lease through Honda Finance would be security deposit (which you may be able to get waived) and first payment. Taxes are usually included in the payment however you CAN opt to pay them up front in some states, which will save you some cash/month because you won't be paying tax on all that interest every month. Your acquisition fee will be included in the total cap cost of the lease (which will become your adjusted cap cost).

It sounds to me like you have started this all from the wrong point of perspective, your monthly payment. Luckily you did work out a nice fair price for the vehicle very close to invoice. It all depends now on your money factor and lease term.

As for what's right for you... well, judging by your stance on the situation and the fact that you have no money to put down, I would say go for the lease. DO NOT go for the lease if you know you might exceed your mileage or have difficulty paying for excess mileage down the line. Otherwise, I see no reason not to lease, especially if you know you'll be getting rid of the car anyhow if you otherwise purchased it. The point of this thread however, shouldn't really get into whether leasing is right or wrong, it's your money, do what you will with it.

Now back to the lease calculations, do you know how to calculate a lease payment? Do you know all the important terms around a lease (cap cost, cap cost reduction, money factor/rent, term depreciation)? If not I highly suggest you educate yourself as quickly as possible:

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/leasing/arti...81/article.html
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/leasing/arti...93/article.html

If you absolutely need to get a payment < $400/month, you will need to put your acquisition fee and taxes down up front. If your state doesn't allow taxes up front (i.e. california) then you are screwed, but you will be very close (~$420/month) with the right money factor.

My lease details, whenever I get around to getting this damn car, will be like such:

Note: with taxes up front, my payment goes down to $393/month, so you can see how that would benefit my monthly. Also, if I pre-paid all my taxes I would save $322 over the term of the lease. Not a shit-ton, but hey that's almost a payment.

My total money out the door for this lease? $795 + 1st payment, or $1220.35. Note that the leasecompare.com lender quote money factor is over 1% lower! That is a load, look at how interest is calculated on a lease! If I had to go with the Honda Finance rate of 0.0025 I would be paying $23/month MORE in interest.

FWIW, and I'm not advertising for them nor have I actually worked with them yet, I got my info from a quote off leasecompare.com -- and while not guaranteed, it does give you a very close idea of what could be possible given different term/mileage situations.

 

I would not lease a Honda unless you don't mind paying to have all the little dings repaired when you turn it in. For me, a lease did work out in the end, but I was constantly worried about every little ding or dent since I was driving someone elses car. Get this car and keep it.

Cheers