I drive a lot more now and the time has come for me to get a new car. I think I want to lease this time around. The $299/mo Cadillac ATS lease deal would have been the biggest no-brainer, but sadly it is no longer available and may never come back.
Requirements:
Approx. $400/mo, really trying to stick to that, lower the better
Turbo 4cyl or V6 (I want easily accessible torque)
Sedan or hatch, small to midsize - prefer hatch. Would entertain small sporty SUV.
4 doors
Practical
Reasonably fun
Preferences:
Above average/good stereo
AWD
Strong preference for DCT or really good automatic
Android Auto
Blind spot monitoring / various collision avoidance technologies
This is what I'm looking at, all prices are rough and before negotiations
2017 Mercedes B250 4Matic premium pkg (Front runner) ($38-41K or so, $440-450/mo)
+ 2.0T, DCT, AWD trifecta that is so very rare
+ Great interior
+ Has all the options I want except perhaps a good stereo
+ $3570 incentive & 0.9% lease
- Most expensive, pushing my budget to the max
- Looks are not my favorite (mini minivan)
- Leasing is monthly only, no bi-weekly payments which adds ~$50/mo to the payment unnecessarily
- Apparently getting overhauled in MY2018 or MY2019
2017 Honda Civic Touring (Sedan) or Sport Touring (Hatchback) (~$31K, ~$400/mo)
+ 1.5T makes a lot more power than advertised and should be enough for my purposes
+ Very well optioned, good stereo, android auto, heated front & rear seats, rain sensing wipers, the whole 9 yards
+ Cheaper to lease/maintain
+ New model
+ Probably the most sensible option
- CVT is the only option if I don't want to drive another manual and I don't prefer CVTs. No manual option on the sedan in Touring trim.
- Completely unrealistic artificially low residuals (~$12K after 4 years) force the payments much higher than expected
- No cashback or lease rate promotions
- FWD
- "Sport" models look too riced out with excessive plastic body cladding
- The Civic Si might be an easy choice but it isn't available and there is no word when it's coming
2017 Acura TLX V6 SH-AWD (~$45K or $436/mo lease)
+ Lots of car for the leasing money
+ $3500 incentive
+ Probably has the best "base" stereo
+ Fantastic AWD system
- No android/apple auto available at all on any models (only the NSX has it lol)
- "Base" model, has no tech options or monitoring tech
- Apparently getting overhauled for MY2018
- Fuel economy
Other things I've looked at to lease - a lot of them creep into my price range until you add the necessary options, then they are too much:
GTI / Golf R - Too expensive, pricing too close to the R as soon as you add any options
Golf - Bad transmission options (5MT or poorly reviewed traditional automatic), 1.8T low-ish on power
Most american cars - Too expensive due to garbage residuals
Hyundai Elantra GT - Too expensive due to garbage residual
Infiniti QX30 - $5000 for basic option package makes it too expensive
Mercedes GLA/CLA - Too Expensive
Mercedes C300 w/$4400 incentive - Still too expensive
WRX - Possible, but would have to live with the manual. CVT in that car is unattractive (drone). Power delivery not as good for easy city driving.
Volvo - nothing in my price range
Acura ILX - By far the cheapest to lease ($350/mo well equipped) but too boring I think. Very sensible car though, and has an 8speed DCT ( who knew?) Will be better when it gets the turbo updates and the new Civic platform.
Still need to look into:
BMW X1 - probably too expensive
BMW 228 - probably too expensive
Thoughts? Opinions? Am I way out to lunch on anything? Anything I should look at that I haven't? Any salespeople want to give me a wicked deal? TIA