2019 Golf R Lease Review - NJ

I know the R is a niche vehicle aimed at enthusiasts that are willing to pay a premium for it, but my goodness, a $500 discount? That’s ridiculous.

Edit: Given the 8k / 36 months, you’re looking at an effective payment of $703…some have unicorn M3’s at that price!

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You are missing to tax your cap cost reduction. But that still won’t take it to 481. Where is the dealer worksheet? Actually, it doesn’t matter. Don’t do this.

For Starters, this is incorrect. It is (adjusted cap cost + RESIDUAL) x MF. I come up with $148.66 rent charge.

I come up with about $425, all said and done.

As others have said, paying this kind of money for a Golf is beyond silly, but its your money.

Great catch! I’m seeing the same–still not $481. But that makes a little more sense compared to the calculator. Yeah, I’m not really interested in people’s opinion on the car. I’m more concerned that the math is correct. Thank you for catching that error.

What do you mean? Tax on the 8,000 trade-in? It’s my understanding that trade-ins in NJ are non-taxable. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

The dealer actually wouldn’t share their worksheet with me. That’s when I left.

My mistake, you’re correct for NJ. Something is off by a lot.

Thanks for the link! Yeah the way NJ taxes work with leases is funny. I also thought it was weird when I saw there was $1,600 in taxes on their work sheet, after I applied my trade-in, and they wouldn’t explain why.

Looks like in NJ you either pay taxes up-front or somehow roll them into your monthly payment. But according to consumer affairs, a trade-in can reduce tax burden. Everything is so complicated lol.

You’d have to pay interest on tax that’s rolled in. But, given your trade, part of that should be paying the tax (less than $1k) and all the fees ($1500 after you do away with VIN etching, which is complete BS). $500 discount is pretty sad. Actually $0 discount due to the inflated doc fee. Are these cars really still demanding full MSRP?

ANYWAY, as I was saying, after the taxes and fees, your cap cost reduction is approx $5550.

Yeah, I’m planning on paying the tax, doc fee, bank rate, and title and reg up front to avoid the interest. Should come to around $2,000 out of pocket. I agree the doc fee is inflated. NJ average doc fee is $355, but there is no max. I heard this is difficult to negotiate and it’s better to ask for, say free rubber mats, or something. I didn’t get too deep into price negotiation as the monthly numbers seemed so high. I’ve seen people get between 500 to 1,200 off MSRP lately. It is what it is.

can’t negotiate doc fee, but then i just subtract it from the sale price.

Tax and fees is more like $2500 in your quote (don’t forget you pay tax on the rent charge, too).

Just curious, but have you checked out the STi? A friend just had his Golf R wrecked and replaced it with an STi. He says it is a better value.

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The Golf R is a far more liveable car as a daily than an STi. Source: I’ve driven both significantly.

The STi is the better analog experience/drivers car, hands down. The R is more comfortable day to day. The interior on the R and the technology is superior as well.

If he’s getting these quotes in Jersey on the R, I can almost promise they’ll be worse for the STi.

Jersey/NY/CT are big demand markets for the cars and dealers tend to mark those cars up in the area. That’s been my experience shopping in the tri-state area for those.

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I think a better discount can be had on an STI vs Golf R.

I’m not 100% but I’m pretty sure there are more STI’s in production vs Golf R’s.

Got my STI for $1,000 under invoice.

I just don’t really understand why OP is throwing away $8k, (probably closer to $10k if sold privately, whatever the vehicle is?) if you’re putting that much down then isn’t it easier to just buy it?

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That’s a good point. Well I’m not going back to that dealer. The next dealer’s doc fee is $475. Still high, but a lot more manageable going in. I didn’t know there was tax on the rent charge too. So many taxes. I calculated an additional $9.45 on $142.72 (6.625%).

I was actually between the STi, the Golf R, and Audi S3. I believe the STi is a lot more affordable and definitely more of a driver’s car. But I like the practicality of the hatchback and as others have mentioned, the interior is much more livable. They updated the 2018/19 with some nice new additions too.

Time is money, I think I could get about 9.5k on the open market after all negotiations, but then I’d lose about $500-700 in tax benefits by turning my trade-in to a down payment, so really I’m throwing away an extra $700 bucks. The best loan I could do was 3.74% over 72 months with $8,000 trade and say $2,500 down payment so same as my lease option. My monthly payment would be $520/m. To make a long story, short you essentially break even over 6 years. Basically $48k for each (barring that I lease the same car with the same options etc. for another 3 years). There are pros and cons to this. I can either have a new car every 3 years and treat it as an expense or 1 car over 6 years and maybe get a few years in the black once it’s paid off, but I don’t usually keep cars longer than 4 or 5 years and don’t drive too much, so a lease seemed preferable. To each their own, I guess.

What did an S3 lease look like?

Or or or

Sell the car, negotiate a lease deal seperatly, and pay DAS with money from sale of car, put the remainder in your account and pay the monthly

Yeah, that’s totally an option I’ve considered. But again, in NJ, there’s a tax benefit with trading in, even on a lease. With the higher insurance for 2 cars, adv. cost, and time involved selling the car privately, I don’t see the benefit for a few hundred dollars.

I didn’t pursue the S3 too far. I realized I wanted a manual and a hatch, other than that, they’re essentially the same car. So I figured it wasn’t worth an additional cost for basically the same options.

Before getting caught up on the R just cross shop other cars. Your really passing up other vehicles you could be in with the money your basically willing to spend.

I know enthusiasts (such as myself) need certain trims, certain packages and its hard to get 1%. I know because im paying unfortunately for it. Someone doing the math said 703 a month ultimately for a golf R is not worth it.
Being that your in NJ your most likely want a performance vehicle with AWD. There is definitely something for you out there. Don’t disregard RWD because of snow. My 335i with All seasons was 10x better then my EVO that came stock with summers. Tires play a big part as well as clearance but this year it snowed (bad) twice…

just something to think about.