So an effective $455/mo at $0 DAS (at an effective 1% rent I’d roll every penny in). Do you have a target or are you just grinding for the best deal?
I’m trying to get to the low $400 mark but it’s proving to be very difficult. Right now I’m bouncing off quote sheets dealer to dealer and grinding it out. Might not be the most effective way but i’m doing this while learning how to negotiate. I’ve never done this before and I know way more now than I did when I started this post. It’s been a great learning experience!
Got it. I don’t know if you need something this month or you can grind this to the last dollar. One strategy might be able to go back to them and say “here’s where I’m at on this car: with $0 due at signing I can do 425 a month all-in — if you can do that I can be there in an hour to sign.” (which is a few bucks less than your 936 + 400x36). If they come back to you and say they can’t do that or come back with some counter, you can just reply that is your budget and you understand where they’re at and you’re going to continue to look at alternatives but if something changes on their side to get back in touch with you. If it ends up being a slow month and they need to make the deal, they’ll get back in touch and take the loser.
Depending on how far apart you are, you might need to walk away to get the deal you want. And at the end of the day it doesn’t sound like you’re that far apart, but I would not put any money down and not get so hung up on the payment being 400 even
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That’s a great tip. I’m assuming car dealerships are having a slow month due to the health crisis going on. This might just work.
A broker did mention on another thread that you can’t do $0 drive offs for Mazda this month.
I missed that. Both my Mazdas were $0 DAS but I’ll take their word for it.
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Is it true that if you’re leasing for the first time, it might be challenging qualify for $0 down?
Depends on your credit history (not just score). I had 2 paid off car loans (1 used/1 new) when I leased my WRX ($0 DAS). Then the two Mazdas in sequence (so in each case, 1 then 2 prior Chase leases). I didn’t have a banking relationship with Chase before Mazda #2 but that certainly doesn’t hurt either.
I don’t think first payment is unreasonable but IMO there is no point in putting money down on a lease to lower the payment, and if MF is low enough I’d rather roll everything on the chance the lease doesn’t get paid to term (in which case, you win). All the risk is on the captive.
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I spent roughly a decade doing aftermarket forced induction (turbo) engineering and calibration work in the aftermarket automotive industry. Without getting into a really esoteric explanation of internal combustion engines, please trust me when I say that this isn’t true. The turbo motor will take a substantial torque hit as well, equal to or larger than the hit to power. The cheap gas will also cause the engine to run slightly hotter, which will harm turbo longevity and probably emissions component longevity as well. MPG will also suffer, although probably not significantly. There’s also no way for the car to actually detect the octane difference - the only thing it detects is the engine-damaging detonation, so you’re actually doing active harm to the engine by putting the cheap gas in it, even if it will run just fine on it after a short while. Direct-injected turbo engines are even more prone to this than the port-injected 4cyl stuff I worked on. (Low-speed pre-ignition - Wikipedia)
In short, please don’t put the wrong gas in your car. 
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I believe you… But, to be crass, what does the leasee care about engine longevity when they’re going to have the car for 3 years?
I didn’t for my last car (a Mercedes C250). Filled it up w 91 octane from Chevron. The engine (unrelated to the gas) after a little less than 7 yrs and 70K mi ended up having a huge issue that would’ve required a re-build (which apparently was not uncommon w/ that generation of engine). Fat lot of good the expensive premium gas did me…
For their late model CX5/9 turbos Mazda specs only call for “regular unleaded” and they note that using premium produces more hp. So in the case of the CX5 being discussed neither gas is wrong.