Deciding between AMG C43 and Audi RS3 lease - numbers in post

Hi Guys,

New member here and I’m looking to get some opinions on two leases that I’m currently looking at. I live in Palm Beach County in Florida.

Here’s a photo of the AMG C43 lease, from what I can tell it’s a pretty awful deal. They insisted that it was a fantastic deal and that they don’t really discount these cars.


I’ve seen people on this forum get MUCH better deals on a C43 AMG

The deal on the RS3 is $937 per month with $3000 due at signing including all fees. I don’t have a picture of that one. The RS3 is loaded with every possible option and has an MSRP a little over $67,000.

I haven’t really seen any RS3 lease deals on here and from what I can tell, they’re usually $1100 plus per month.

Those both sound like awful deals. Is neither an option?

That’s solid m850 territory.

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I’m leaning towards neither right now. Truthfully, no dealership offers decent leases on the RS3. The price for that one is one of the best that I have seen anywhere. The lease for the C43 is horrible though, guy must be trying to scam me. He’s expecting me to come sign in the morning, so I am going to let him know that he’s off by a couple hundred when he calls and if they don’t lower it I’ll just look elsewhere. I’m also considering an Audi A5 or S5 as those tend to have better lease deals.

Being that a BMW M340i is faster than either of these and can lease for under $500 with drive offs (on east coast or in CA at least), I’d suggest at least looking into one. Or if you really want an Audi, the S4 would lease far better.

The 0-60 on a 2019 RS3 is about 3.7 second, but I will look into the BMW. I typically have only driven Audis and I love them, but when I saw the interior on the C43 I figured I would check it out. I’m actually a little pissed that the Mercedes salesman tried to sell me a C43 at C63 lease price lol.

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Ok you got me there. Just checked, RS3 did 60 in 3.5s, M340i RWD in 3.8s - both Car & Drivers numbers.

I was thinking RS3 was a 4.0s to 60 car for some reason. Either way, the M340i should be faster then a C43, and in any event cheaper to lease than it or the RS3.

Maybe a barebones 2019 C63 if you can find one, but nowhere near a 2020.

I love my C43 and really like the MB styling in general, but unless you are super intent on having one, they aren’t the best option right now. A handful of things working against you on this one:

  1. That’s a fairly well-optioned C43 @ almost $70k. A lot of the m340i deals people will compare this to are on cars that are closer to the low/mid-60s. And it is only a few thousand less than some of the better C63 deals people have posted on here.

  2. Base MF on these is pretty high (.00193) compared to the m340i (.00128) and it looks like they’ve marked this one up to something like .0025, although I’m not 100% sure I’m getting all of the numbers correct.

  3. All those dealer fees sure eat into whatever discount they are giving you.

These have $1,500 in lease cash on them, so it looks like they are giving you 5% off in addition to that (and, like I said, marking up the MF quite a bit). I haven’t seen many (any?) 2020 C43 lease deals on here yet, so it’s hard to say how much to expect, but in general I wouldn’t expect amazing deals on them this early in the MY.

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Thanks for the reply biturbo, the C43 in that quote is actually a 2019. That’s mostly why I was expecting a much better deal on it

Both deals are truly awful. You should probably just buy the RS3 depending on what the dealer discount is.

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I got them to reduce the MSRP by 12,500 on the RS3, maybe buying it is the best choice. I just prefer to lease my cars

Oh, yeah, that’s downright awful then. You’re getting like a 3% discount and super-marked up MF.

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Buying the RS3 is a no brainer then, that’s an excellent discount.

Are you just payment shopping at this point? Why not first pick a car you will enjoy driving for the next 2/3 years? If you have not already done so, I would recommend test driving all those cars on your list.

I am sure you have seen this mentioned several times but MB AMG cars, Audis in general (not just RS models) do not lease well.

Good luck.

I’ve seen C43s come up on swapalease or MBworld for 550-600

The other Florida guy I just replied to was offered an S5 Prestige for like sub 700 before TTL

Thanks for the reply, I’m upgrading right now from a 2016 A3 that I own and have test driven the RS3 and the C43. I essentially fell in love with the RS3 after I drove it and that is probably my top choice. A friend of mine told me to consider the C43 and now that I drove it, I’d be happy with that car also as I like he way they did the interior. Things got a little dicey once I dropped my A3 off for a final service on Thursday and was given a brand new A5 coupe to drive for a couple days as a loaner. The A5 coupe drives very well and makes much more power than I expected from a base model, but it does not have the exhaust note that the RS3 or C43 have. RS3 and C43 are still my top choice at this point, but unfortunately Audi does not like doing lease deals on the RS3 due to their very limited availability.

I also emailed the mercedes salesman this morning expressing my concern with the price of that C43 in relation to what I hear they usually go for. Here is the reply that I received from their GM
" Justin,

I hope everything is going well.

Nelson just shared with me the below email.

I take our online reputation management as well as our customers concerns very seriously.

If you look at the below offer on the 2019 C43, It is for a vehicle with an MSRP of $55,250. The vehicle we priced for you had an MSRP of $69,735. We discounted the vehicle $5000 similar to the below advertisement.

You have to agree that $14,500 more vehicle is going to increase the monthly payment. We also had 10,000 miles per year and the advertisement is for 7,500 miles per year.

We also had your TOTAL out of pocket @ $3,000. The add called for $5,265 + Tax and Fees.

I fully understand your concerns but these are factors in the increased payment.

I would like to invite you down to the dealership to discuss all other concessions we can offer you for this potential lease, I am sure we can make you happy."

That sounds like a killer deal on the S5 Prestige to be honest.

Quattro…rs3 c43 are not in the same atmosphere as the a5. My opinion that you’re looking at the rs and baby amg class tells me you’re going to be very BORED w a5. Rs will not lease well. I really don’t think I ever saw a good lease deal on them. For the c43, I’d consider this as a nice middle ground between the two. They don’t lease particularly well but you can work a good deal if you put in the effort. Idk what I would do if I was you, but I wouldn’t do the a5. If you’re heart saids rs…but it and perhaps sell it after 3 years? C43 can be leased but I wouldn’t settle on that deal they offered

Neither car leases well. Much better values on the market. You can buy an RS3 and do a longer loan, pay less per month and have equity by the time a lease would have been up. There is no financial reason to buy a C43. Poor lease programs, poor resale value. Unless you love the car, it’s not a good buy unless you can find a killer lease deal, perhaps a loaner? BMW M3/4? VW Golf R (buy it). The S4 will lease better also

What is the sale price of the RS3? As the owner of a 2018 A4 P+, I would jump on the RS3 if it was “affordable” and made sense to own one (Just moved into a custom built home and have two kids in daycare).