Never had a reliable car and my '89 Bronco finally bit it....I had a few requirements...

1. It had to get good gas mileage
2. Had to be reliable
3. had to get a deal


.......so I took the plunge this weekend and leased a new Civic Hybrid.

It was honestly the last thing I was going for....I was actually hoping for a decently used Civic for relatively cheap but after 2 weeks of finding nothing but overpriced over driven cars I settled on the lease. It's absolutely silly to see people selling 3 year old Civic's with 30k miles for just under what a brand new civic costs :P. Utterly frustrating.

If anyone is intersted in a Hybrid Honda has a SICK deal on their hybrids right now. I think they're advertising 280 a month for 3 years no money down. (I was able to negotiate nearly 250 a month)....got it down to the point where it was as cheap as getting a loan at under 3%, had small payments, and is covered bumper to bumper to bumper for the first few years. So now I've got a reliable car and I can still save money.

I've also started a blog that I hope will help detail the true efficiency of a hybrid. I personally have my doubts about how much money it will save so I'm curious to see how it pans out over time. The blog is located at

http://hybridtracker.blogspot.com/

 

Yaris or the Prius? The Prius is Toyota's Hybrid and it's an awesome car the Yaris is their small car and I'm not a fan at all. My cousin owns one and I feel like I'm riding in a metro when I get in it. Apples to apples I would have bought the Prius actually but the only reason I was even considering this car was because of the incredible lease rates. Dirt cheap payments and no money down.

I was actually at the Toyota Dealership looking at a few Honda's (and a matrix if you read below). They had just sold the '06 I had gone to look at and I told the salesmen about the lease deal. He went to get his manager and we had a sit down. We talked a bit and I told him about the terms and he honestly didn't believe it. I finally convinced him and he said "Man...I can't match that...wish I had something comparable but I don't...if I were you, I'd drive there right now and sign the papers."


I ran the numbers again last night and here's what I came up with for the 3 cars I was looking at (or for)

I wanted a civic....so assuming I could find a '05 Civic with 70k miles for 9 grand (which I couldn't even do....was more like 10-11k) with an interest rate of 5.6% over 3 years I'd end up paying $272.16 a month. After 3 years I'd have paid $9797.76 and have a 7 year old car with 115k miles and be on the hook for all of the required repairs....once again that was theoretical.

The second car that I found was an '04 Toyota Matrix. They had it priced at 11,400 and it was certified (up to 3 years 100k miles powertrain)....I'm assuming I could have talked them down to 10k. At 10,000 with 6% interest I'd pay $304.21 a month. Over 3 years that's $10,951 and I have an 8 year old car with 95,000 miles on it but I'll be covered under a powertrain warranty.

For the car that i leased I'll pay less than 9,300 over 3 years and not have to worry about any repairs. I'm better covered with gap insurance and full bumper to bumper for those 3 years. Obviously I have a residual but right now the residual is $3,000 less than what the 3 year old hybrids are selling for. Pay only a few hundred more than if I had bought it outright over the long term but save a ton in monthly payments.

hate car shopping...so many if's. Seems like I got a decent deal though.

 

Not if you buy out the residual at the end...then you own the car. Right now the residual on the leased Hybrids from 3 years ago are 3-5k less than they're selling for right now. Meaning you either get to buy the car for less than it's worth, or buy it out and sell it for more than you bought it out at.

And I'll post picks probably tomorrow or the next day Cal :)

 

Car's a depreciating asset no matter what. It's great to not have a car payment...if you can swing that. Since I no longer have that liberty and had to get a car the options were outlined above. Could have got a junker..but where would that leave me in when I move to the West Coast away from my family and friends and it breaks down?

Have to look at what you have to work with, not always what you want to do...if so I'd still be driving my '87 El Camino :up:

 

Honestly wasn't looking for a hybrid...was really looking for just a civic. But since I couldn't throw down a 2g payment and needed to keep my payments low this was the best deal :)

And as for your above question...I'm an architect....VERY big into cutting into our carbon footprint and reducing our dependency on foreign oil :)

[ame="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6478590936988054561&ei=GvK-SZncB4fe-wGrxdXUAQ&q=The+End+of+Suburbia&hl=en"]The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and The Collapse of The American Dream[/ame]

 

You know what they say about a guy with big pictures.....