Let me lay out the scenario and then need some advice from the community.
I’m currently in a '17 Bolt Premier lease that ends on 11/19. For the past month I’ve been actively looking at both the '20 Bolt & Niro. I drove the Niro last week and it made an audible torque motor noise at low speed 5-10 miles an hour that decreased as you gained speed. The salesman didn’t know anything about the noise or if it was a setting that could be turned off etc. That caused me to rethink my entire decision and now leaning toward the Bolt again.
Here’s the issue…Chevy is super aggressive on the Bolt. As a current lessee I have every incentive plus Costco so it’s a matter of finding a dealer who will give me the lowest MSRP before incentives to create the deal. I’ve checked a ton of KIA dealers and even with the best deals I can find here, the Niro is still significantly more expensive than the Bolt and it requires a bigger DAS payment as well.
Chevy lowered the RV this month making the great deals harder to come by but still better than the KIA. I’m assuming they lowered the RV in anticipation of the 21’s hitting next month. The dealer I leased from told me that 11/16 is the production start for the 21’s and that they should begin to land middle of Dec. Neither brand seems to support a 2 year lease which is what I’m most interested in so likely have to get into a 3 and hope I can find a takeover in 24 months.
I can extend my lease 1 month; I’ll have to pay for the registration (350) and make another payment (300) but not sure what the best option is. In Dec perhaps both Chevy and KIA get more aggressive with their programs and want to clear out the 20’s to make space for the new models and the great deals will return. Or should I just take it down to the wire this month, bite the bullet and lease one of the remaining 20’s at my dealer before my lease expires and save on the registration and extra month. I’d be taking a bath on the registration because I have to reg for a year and I’d only be in the car for another month or so. I’m way under my mileage so that’s not a factor here.
I know there’s no crystal ball, but any buyers, brokers, dealers have a sense on how aggressive either manufacturer tends to be in December? I want to avoid waiting around for the deal that never comes.
Niro, only the 2019s have any kind of good deal, otherwise go with bolt. Both offer 24m,who told you they didnt? However many post rebates wont pay on a 24m lease
But the bolt is more like an ex not a premium so its hard to compare a car without a sunroof vs one with for example
Why did you do that? If you’re not ready to pull the trigger in that month, it’s a waste of time. Now you’ve missed the Bolt deal, you could have gotten another Bolt for about half of what you’re paying now on a one pay. Know when to hold them, know when to fold them!
The noise is a new federal mandated thing for low speeds so pedestrians can hear you coming, people with other EVs have found the noise box and unplugged it to shut up, otherwise you can’t turn it off through the car.
If we’re solely talking about the car I’ve tried both and I really like the Niro. I like the overall size and design of it as well as the features and interior. Couldn’t go on test drives either time but I liked how I sat in the Niro better.
If you’re content with a Bolt and have all the incentives go ahead and pull the trigger, maybe go for a premier model if you didn’t already. Otherwise look for the best deal on a Niro and take it if you think it’s worth the money
I appreciate everyone’s thoughts and viewpoints. A one pay is not an option for me so I don’t feel i missed out on anything there. There was also very little incentive for me to pull the trigger in October as I would either have to insure 2 cars or have 2 car payments as my current lease doesn’t end until Nov 19.
What I was really looking to gain insight into was if the community here felt that Chevy lowered the RV in anticipation of the 21’s coming. Thats the only thing I can think of as to why it dropped this month. Of course an individual dealer could lower the price and make the difference.
I am only interested in the Bolt Premier (which is what I have now) or the Niro EV Premium. And from what I’ve found, Chevy does NOT support a 2 year lease, and KIA doesn’t really have a great program for 2 or 3 year leases. Are people really putting 2K down and then paying close to 400 or over for a Niro EV? That seems crazy to me when for slightly more (or less depending) you could get an i3 (not for some I know).
In my eyes the Niro and Bolt are very close competitors and I can’t see the value proposition in overpaying for a Niro. The new, restyled Bolt comes out next year and that is why I would prefer to have a 2 year lease. That noise I mentioned in the cabin of the Niro at low speeds did NOT seem to be audible outside the cabin…it seemed to be an internal vs external noise but I could be wrong on that.
In a general sense will both Chevy and KIA have more incentive to make better deals in Dec? Anyone care to look in their crystal ball?
I have no real urgency to move…If I extend the Bolt lease a month or two I would have to pay for a car either way so that’s not a huge deal…the money I would leave on the table is the registration fee.
I’m just trying to get the best deal on either car.
You missed the best deal(for a 2020), I’d extend your lease and see if things improve. I got a great deal on my 2020 in January, so maybe that happens again. I’d sign up for one of the GM credit cards, it was worth an extra $1000 on my deal
That’s exactly what i was referring when i said it rarely makes sense to wait till the end…many believe they need to carry the lease to the end. Ground it early, take the $200-300 (one month payment) loss and take advantage of an unprecedented deal offer. And you don’t need to go one pay if you don’t wanna…give up some more $ and go with payments. A good deal on a one pay usually translates into a better than usual deal on payments.
Actually the Bolt is a bit closer in MSRP to the Niro. Bolt is just under 44K with Infotainment, Confidence II & DCFC. There seems to be a lot of EX Premiums in So Cal…I’m hoping KIA wants to get them off the lots before the end of the year. My Chevy dealer will cut me a deal that’s pretty similar to the ones on LH but I’d prefer the Niro; it’s just not worth the downstroke and over 400 a month.
You’d probably be setting yourself up for disappointment if you believe that the Bolt RV will increase next month, let alone return to the September and October levels. That doesn’t mean that they might not increase incentives for one last end of year push, but I’d be surprised to see any increases, especially since it was left out of the Cyber deal stuff they are currently running.
I’m not expecting the RV to increase…my thought is that they lowered the RV in anticipation of the 2021’s dropping. A local dealer could perhaps drop the price to make the difference but I may be able to get a better deal by waiting for the 2020’s which will likely have a higher RV and may actually lease better…then again they may not have the huge discounts Chevy is offering on the 20’s. I know I’m walking the line…I guess I’ll see what happens. Going to give it one more shot with my local dealer and then if that doesn’t work, extend the lease for a month and then see what Dec brings.
Ha, this literally happens to all of my leases. I get trigger happy and cut some sort of smoking deal and eat a month. I’m still ahead of all the jokers that wait until the end, and now I have a security blanket of an extra vehicle with plenty of miles. My new philosophy is lease different vehicles for different missions, never run out of miles
If I use my own deal as a measuring stick (and I’d expect others to follow) you would need an additional 3% off sticker before incentives to make up for the drop in residual, barring any other changes. Impossible? Perhaps not, but depending on the market that’s a big ask.
I know the Kona and Niro are essentially the same car. I prefer the styling a bit more on the NIRO so was really focused on that. The KONA has a battery recall as well. No one has mentioned if that extends to the NIRO as well. I would imagine they are the same power train.
The closer I get to my lease maturity date (10 days) the more I’m thinking the best thing to do is to extend the lease (I’m 6000 miles under) and see what happens in the next 60 days with the Bolt and Niro leases and support. By then the 21 Bolts will be out and they may have programs to lease those or perhaps support will be on 2 year leases (which Chevy isn’t currently supporting)
