Finally decided to lease a 370z
 

What are your thoughts on leasing a 370z? I never bought or leased a vehicle yet. I know there are some restrictions and what not but i wanted your opionion or anyone that has experienced leasing a vehicle.
I understand you wouldn't be able modify them in anyway, but i don't plan on doing that cause i wouldn't be able to afford to do it. Maybe an exhaust or something but when leasing one i don't' think you can do that.
I wonder if it cost more to lease one in the long run.

Cars like the 370z usually wind up being a pretty bad deal to lease. You usually wind up spending a lot more than if you bought and sold the car.

you can mod a leased car but you have to return it to stock when you return the car at end of lease..otherwise they will charge an arm and leg for factory parts.

im not too big on leased cars. unless it's a car that is known to depreciate very fast... but then the cars i usually like dont depreciate that fast anyway. :D

the main focus would be to offer the lowest down payment, lowest monthly payment, and shortest duration/term.

Don't lease unless it's for business.

It all depends on what kind of deal you get on the lease.

yep, and unless its a factory lease special, with todays interest rates, you are better off purchasing.

I've leased a couple times.
A factory subsidized 299/mo lease on a Saab 9-3 that was worth its 3 year residual at the one year point, and that worked out great. Just gave it back at the end and walked away.

Also leased a G35 coupe when they first came out. nothing down but had to get rid of it due to 50% paycut when my company went bankrupt. Had it about 15 months into a 36 month lease. Sold my pickup and traded the G in on a Dodge Magnum, and they gave us 1000 more than the lease payoff, plus sales tax credit for the trade, even though you only pay sales tax on your monthly payment with a lease, and not the whole amount.

Oh, and the Z4 before our current Z4 was also leased on a factory special. traded it in on a new one two months before lease end and came out slightly ahead too. That one was just a two year lease.

Probably should've asked around before leasing...

Basically what Mike said, unless you got some GREAT deal, just buy.

Myself, I would never lease a car regardless of the deal.

Would not suggest leasing a Z at all. The only reason I lease mine is because mine is leased through Nissan corporate on an employee lease. Im getting it for really cheap, but if there was no discount, there would be no point. No upgrading at all and you end up dumping a lot of $$$ with nothing to show for it when the lease is up. Z's dont loose very much value as the years go on so you are likely to have more money if you buy and decide to sell later on down the road... plus, you can have more fun while you have it :happydance:

Leasing is a suckers bet, unless you are writing this off on taxes. Even then I would buy it and own something at the end of the payments.

Turning in a leased car means a very close inspection for flaws i.e. scrapes and dents, etc. These must be repaired before you turn in car. More money out your pocket.

My advice. Do not do it.

If you like to change cars every 3-4 years, then leasing is the way to go.
If you are going to buy and only keep it a few years, you would be way better off leasing

if your car is just a daily driver and you view it as a monthly payment for the utility of a vehicle, and you want that vehicle to always be relatively new and problem free, then leasing is a good idea. otherwise, buy.

Go to the dealer and get a price. Just like most guys said the lease deal on a Z will probably be bad. Also when you lease a car you need to get higher deductables and crap like that.

I leased one car and I'll never do it again. Too many restrictions for me, miles, mods, any damage etc. I also like being able to get another car on a whim, or if my life changes. In a lease you're screwed.

You can try swapalease.com and maybe you can take over a lease somebody wants to get out of.

I just want to set a few things straight in terms a leasing. You do NOT need special deductables for insurance on a lease. I don't thing any insurance company lets you go over $1,000 deductable anyways so it doesn't matter. You do NOT need to return the car with all factory parts on the car. If you paint the car pink with purple stripes then yes they will charge you. Adding an exhaust or spoiler does not deduct from the car's value so Nissan or any other leasing company does not care. People have been saying things about damage. If you bought the car and had damage on it you would probably get it fixed just as you would on a lease. When over half the people that finance a car should have some sort of gap insurance then you know more people should be leasing.

With that said the Z's lease isn't factory subvented. It's not like leasing a Maxima with a .000XX money factory. The 2011 residules are good and so are the deals. If you are planning on keeping the car for 3 years and aren't planning on dropping money on a super charger or full body kit then don't be afraid to lease.

Here are a few things to know about why leasing isn't this horrible thing. The average American finances for 71 months, that same American trades out of their financed vehicle ever 33 moths. They leased and didn't even realize it. The most common excuse why someone doesn't want to lease is because they don't own the car. Unless you have the title in your hand you don't own it anyways. Their are an extraordinary amount of people in this country that have negative equity on a car that use this excuse. They just don't realize if they just leased to begin with they would have paid less per month and wouldn't be rolling in money from one loan to the next. They would of handed the keys over and walked away.

Don't be afraid to lease and don't let people scare you. As long as you have some idea how many miles you are going to be driving the rest is easy. Sorry about the long reply, I just always find these comments on questions about leasing interesting.

@snake1212
I have to agree; I think the answer is: 'it depends'. I personally don't like leasing bc I like to own my cars for around 6-7 years. I like the idea of being able to sit there without a car payment; although I just paid off my car (after 3 years) and I have the urge to get a new ride...something like the 370z (THIS car is just so sweet; hard to let it go) but I know I'll wait for a couple of years at least.

@ OP
I think leasing might work for you IF you know you don't want to keep the car longer than 3-4yrs and you KNOW (I think this is the key) how many miles you average a year and you like the idea of 1. getting a new ride every 3-4 years and 2. don't want to deal with the whole selling the car or trading it it.

Just my .02

WOW for a minute i thought that leasing was horrible, especially what people were saying.
The main reason i wanted to lease it is because i don't plan on having the 370z for that long. Plus i really couldn't afford to do any mods anyways if i were to buy the car.
I talked with a nissan dealership and i know i would have to lease it for 36 months and drive it only 10k miles per yr. I probably would need to drop 6k upfront to keep the monthly payments lower. I didnt say i was going to drop 6k but i'm guessing it would keep my payments lower. I also asked what the price was for a 24 month lease and he said my payments would be more. He wasn't very forward with me cause he probably wanted me to lease it right then and there which i wasn't going to.
I also wanted to use this car to advertise my dads restaurant so that he could right it off and then in turn he could he me out with my monthly payments. But i will need to talk to him about first.

I also spoke with my aaa insurance and got a quote for 250, 500 and 1k deductible price quotes. It seems 500 will cost me about 1100 per yr (as a secondary car).
I also got a quote on mustang gt and sti. I noticed that the insurance rate was a higher for some odd reason. Maybe cause of mustangs has more power and the sti turbos causes the insurance rate to be higher i'm guessing.

i'm still debating on what i want to lease or not. But that guy was kind of a douche and wouldn't give me a clear answer. I guess i will need to try another dealership.
Anyways thanks' for your answers.

I turned in my SUbaru's lease 4 months early. NIssan picked up the balance when I bought a new car. I had about 1000 miles left, a set of bald 17" tires and lost one key when I turned it in. Car also had bumper damage. It's not for everyone, but I couldnt be pissed about our last lease.

one thing you definitely don't want to do with a lease is put a lot of money down. If you put 6k down and total the car 6 months later, your 6k is gone.

Leasing has some great advantages if you take decent care of your cars, and get new ones regularly like me. The lessor takes all of the risk of depreciation. If the car is worth less at the end, you walk away, if its worth more, you buy it and resell or just trade it in.

To give you an idea of payments.

2011 Nissan 370Z sport package 6 speed. MSRP $34,810 selling price $32,000 using $1,000 out of pocket and tier 0 credit approval:

39 months/ 10K year $427/mo
39 months/ 12K year $435/mo

$6,000 out of pocket:

39 months/ 10K year $283/mo
39 months/ 12K year $291/mo

Not sure what model you are looking at put should give you an idea. Would be interested to here what he told you. It is true that if you put $6000 down and the car gets totalled then you are out the $6,000, but If you financed a Z and put no money down and totalled it 6 months later then you better of had gap insurance cause you are going to owe the bank $6,000 anyways. Gap insurance is included in all Nissan leases so at least you don't have to worry about that. If you put $6,000 down then the money is used to reduce your payment. So if you take the difference between $427/mo and $283/mo for 39 months is $5616 in payment savings. What I advise is for you to put down the least amount of money down to get to the payment you are comfortable with. I am a business manager for Nissan and all I do is lease. Every business manager and sales manager I know lease. I have heard every excuse and reason not to lease that you could imagine. The only two that make sense is if you can afford to pay cash (still not a great reason) or if they keep their cars for 10 years.

I have a lease on my Z (2nd time i have leased a 370)... leased my last 8 vehicles.... never had to pay any fee's @ turn-in. I am a business Mgr. @ a Buick GMC store and we have much better incentives on a lease vs a buy. Just my 2 cents

Nissan cars dont have good resale value, are they such good cars to lease? I know SUbaru and Toyotas are great to lease.