Seems I put myself in a corner by waiting since June but we had a lot going on.
Wife and I are currently sharing one vehicle (and can do so until spring of next year), 2019 I3 (144$ / Mo) lease expiring in early November
although no issues extending for 60 days - we have our first born on the way and the I3 turned out to be really small for car seat and stroller to even get us through the end of the year. Not to mention needing more space when our parents visit from overseas.
Really wanted to stay in the EV/PHEV space but thats also difficult right now with most larger options being way overpriced or not avail (ID4, XC40 recharge, Mustang etc…) and being in a non friendly EV state doesn’t help either
-Wrangler XE not a good option for a newborn plus cant wait for build (tired to convince the wife though)
-BMW is also becoming a non option due to shortages and lack of safety features we wanted to have on inventory and builds. Plus the decent discount I had back in July seems like its not going to work now but I am used to brand and like to have lease transfer flex.
-Leaf: too small
I so far struck out on Audi and Acura crossovers with ridiculous prices and hesitating to go for less premium cars like Mazda and Honda since payments are not that much better off and their inventories suck.
Brokers: really no one in my neck of the woods that has the deals that make sense - shipping / broker fees would negate the savings.
I was thinking about buying an Arteon 21’ at 0/72 and hold of a couple of years but there again I fear this car will not hold value at all (47% residual on lease) and inventory dwindled since June/July.
Would a Volvo subscription for 5/6 months make sense right now for close to 900$ / month? probably not but I am open.
so it brings me to Tesla - at a risk of being the poster boy for the Meme thread (because I am always hating on this brand) would that make sense to buy one cash or with my own financing and resell next year? not sure the values will hold with so many on the road right now + they keep raising price each month.
Anyway sorry for the long post - I would greatly appreciate your input so I can try to do what makes more sense in the next 45 days or so.
PS: budget is around 500/600 with Zero or minimal DAS / prefer lease transferable brands (or 3rd party purchase allowed), larger sedan is no problem.
Only double checking here but you’ve scanned through Swap A Lease & Leasetrader to see if anything would be suitable or the transfer section on here?
I don’t quite understand the minivan hate, a lot of them are really good now. I would totally buy a Hybrid Pacifica or a Pacifica S, and we only have a dog with no plans on kids. The amount of stuff you can haul in those is insane.
I could understand the hate if your choices were driving a GMC Safari or a 2005 Toyota Sienna, but the climate is so different these days.
Multiple people previously reported very good Volvo XC60 deals from GA. Even though those deals are few months old now and the Volvo lease programs got much more expensive, I think you can still get an XC60 for a decent price especially in GA if you add a-plan\affinity, bonus drive, and other other available incentives. I think couple of people reported deals from Dyer Volvo in GA.
Yeah I did well two years ago here with 17off msrp on an XC60 but got out of our lease in January (not really knowing the market situation) because we don’t needed the car and it was full of issues for close to two years. I may have no option but to look back at Volvo.
Thanks
I will throw out Toyota Highlander Hybrid. While not PHEV or EV, I got one back in April. A lot of nice features/safety, and we haven’t gotten anything less than 32mpg.
You probably won’t believe this, but the best vehicle we’ve ever had with kids is a Ford F-150
The amount of room in the back seat is ridiculously huge. And once a kid is 4 they have a shitload of room to stand up and move about once parked. We can even fit a baby trend stroller between the passenger front seat and the infant car seat without moving the front seat, that’s how deep the back of an f150 is. I digress.
Also, if this is your very first child, understand you won’t be taking the baby too many places for at least the first 2 months, probably 3 months.
Also, infant car seats are frigging huge front to back. And we kept our first kid rear facing as long as her legs could stand it. She’s long, so that was about 3 and a half.
Minivans are for when you have more than 2 kids or you commonly transport 3 or more kids. In my opinion, for older kids… Overkill for a newborn unless you find a killer deal on a quality used beater, which is how I would buy one - cheap and wear it out.
We still have our f150 and I had a Camry for 2 years. The Camry was way sufficient for up to two kids, easy peasy.
You probably won’t use strollers as much as you think. At first, use a baby trend, it folds small and the infant seat top fits right into it.
I would also think the Highlander a great choice.
We way overthought the amount of gear we would need when our first was newborn.
I would lease something that I can transfer in a year instead of a Volvo subscription. X3s will check a lot of boxes for a family, prices are not too far from where they were arguably.
