Need help, with everything, in So Cal

Ask the Hackrs
1

I hate car shopping. Please help suggest a car, and tell me if the offers I’m getting are any good? Please note, all offers include sales tax.

What I want:

  • a lease that’s lower than $300/month after sales tax (9.5%)
  • car with a good sound system (Bose, Harman/Kardon, etc.)
  • preferably with leather seats and driver power seat
  • preferably a hatchback
  • preferably with safety features such as lane assist, blind spot, etc.
  • preferably 176" length because my garage is smaller than 190"
  • preferably good mpgs
  • preferably something that will be reliable throughout the lease (and after if I keep it)

I was looking at the 2018 Subaru Impreza HB Limited w/Eyesight/etc, 2018 Ford Cmax Titanium 301A, and Kia Niro Touring (or EX Premium package) (but open to more options!).

The Niro is straight out, I think - the only lease offers I’ve received were insane ($500+/month with taxes). I’m still really interested in this car, but I don’t think I can find it in the range I want.

The Ford Cmax, I received an offer, I figured out what I did wrong here, removed the pictures. It’s a little out of my preferred price range.

The Impreza, I have an offer of $305/42/12k, with $860 drive off (no idea if that includes first month’s payment, or if that is without an extra down payment). Haven’t received any residual, MF, etc. info for it.

I got an offer for a Volt: $295/36/12k, $0 drive off (+ 1st months’ payment), or $257 with a $1440 driveoff; however, I don’t have anywhere to plug it in, so not sure it’s worth it, since it requires premium gasoline.

If anyone has suggestions on other cars or ways I can get any of the prices down, I’m all ears. The only one I’m definitely not interested in is the Civic Hatchback (and technically, my husband hates the Prius, but if they’re running a deal that puts a touring level in my price range, I’d consider it ;)).

2

That is indeed a challenging list. I think the RAV4 XLE fits most of it, 184" length, 28 mpg regular gasoline but no BOSE alas

3

Suggestions Mazda 3 hatch, Jetta Sport Wagon, Toyota CHR and IM, Civic hatch

4

@TryingTooHard if you have the process (and i don’t blame you) i suggest looking into a broker who works deals in SoCal. Not only for saving you the headache but a good broker has their pulse on what cars you can currently get a great deal on that might have all the options you’re looking for that you might not even think of because you think it’s out of your price range. Most often outweighs the fee they charge depending on who the broker is. @nyclife for example is highly recommended by everybody who has worked with him on this site and works in SoCal.

5

I’ll be taking in a lease in the next couple weeks for my daughter for a not-too-familiar Hyundai Elantra Sport Premium…just came out last year, with unique to this model engineering by former BMW engineer and Design by former Audi designer. Feel free to check out the YouTube reviews, and magazine reviews. Good sound system, decent performance. If you prefer a hatch, there’s one available but a completely different European Design. Both get decent gas mileage and the lease is within/under your budget. If you don’t care so much about performance, the nonSport versions get better GAA mileage…though I prefer the look of the Sport from the back and front.

6

I cut that out for brevity’s sake, but I’ve already contacted three brokers.

Broker 1 never contacted me back.

Broker 2 only got me numbers on the Subaru, even though we discussed other cars as well. I asked him to email me information I needed to know for the lease (MF, RV, etc.) and 1 day before the end of the month at the end of the day, when he was stressing that I needed to make a decision by the next day and have the car delivered the next day, he got me an email only with the Subaru’s numbers that he told me on the phone - except I swear the down payment went up $500. No actual leasing information or info on how to move forward (and I’ve managed to beat his numbers on my own without ever mentioning his offer to the dealership). :woman_shrugging:

Broker 3 was getting me MSRP on everything.

However, I’ll try getting in touch with @nyclife and see if he has any input, maybe he can be a good outside party to confirm that I’m doing OK or get me a better deal. :slightly_smiling_face:

@BoBoB That Elantra sport is beautiful, but definitely at my cutoff for mpg. 20/30 in a city is no fun. The Elantra is nice, but my experience with Hyundai dealers is not great.

@pda64 Been trying to get numbers on a Mazda3 HB. The dealer I heard back from is being ridiculous. I let them know exactly what I want, they said they needed to text me and then tried calling me instead (I’m emailing them, by the way), then said I gave them a fake number (my Google voice number so I don’t get my phone blown up at work, wasn’t about to answer their call when they said they were texting). Finally get numbers from them, and they aren’t including tech packages and refuse to redo the numbers correctly.

Oioioi. This should be a simple process, but these guys make it such a pain in the rear. If they don’t want to give numbers, they should just say that instead of wasting everyone’s time. :cactus:

7

I don’t give numbers upfront, just a ballpark. Prevents people from taking my numbers directly to the dealer after I did all the work. Just saying

8

Makes sense, but I assume you’re upfront about it being a ballpark price. (Like you’re being here.)

My issue is being purposefully given incorrect information as a sales tactic to get me into their dealership in order to get the correct information, without ever saying anything and just being obtuse about it. If they don’t want to give it, no issue with that at all, just be upfront about it and save everyone the frustration. Or even just give ballparks and be upfront about it, instead of giving me the price for the car without the package I need on it, and then being rude when I ask for the thing I already asked for again.

Out of respect for the brokers, I haven’t shown their numbers to anyone (not even here). I was already working with the Subaru dealer prior to working with the broker. They reached out to me with a better offer after I had contacted broker #2 (who is a totally great guy, just seems like he’s too busy so he’s not following up on the things he said he would).

9

I just leased a 2017 Ford Fusion energi SE $295/mo incl tax $2789 drive off, $4400 MSRP options, 9% tax in norcal, 36mo, 10.5k miles/ year. My car has every single feature you want except it’s a sedan and the trunk is cut in half by the batteries. Why on Earth do you care about a 2018? You want the experience of three years of driving a new car. In that case I don’t think the 2018 is a redesign of the 2017 so you will have the same experience with a 2017 and there should be a huge price incentive from Ford if you can find a 2017. That is what I did and it knocked $5,500 off of the price.

My initial payment is 800 bucks more than yours and my agreed upon selling price is $27,337. I believe you did not notice there is a $1,153 down payment(cap cost reduction) in your initial payment. You need to put that into the lease calculator ( goes in down payment box ). It is very common and it protects the car seller from you not paying anything after you leave the car sales dealership. It protects them if they have to repossess the car very very soon.

It took me 4 hours to understand my lease. It seems like Ford hits you with $1,100 of fees so no matter what your selling price they make a lot of money on the lease. The fees are $645 to set up the loan which is total BS and $395 to return the car or $500 to buy the car at the end of the lease. Heads I win tails you lose,$30 a month in fees. Don’t forget to factor in this $395 or $500 cost at the end of the lease. They don’t tell you about it but it’s part of your expense and not included in payments.

10

Just an FYI- even the upgraded Bose stereo in the CMax sounds terrible.

Niro is a fairly new car and there probably aren’t many deals out there yet.

I agree with vhooloo. That is a tough list to find in one car for a pretax payment of under $270. What are you willing to give up to get the price down?

11

I don’t care about 2018 at all. It’s just all I can find here in LA - when I have found a 2017 or 2016, they’ve been worse deals than just getting the 2018 (or the same deals, in which case I’m better off getting the newer one, or just been an extremely frustrating experience at the dealership where I found the 2016 model.

Though I have read that a lot of the 2017 Niros have a QC issue with the cylinders not being drilled out correctly, causing misfiring and other issues.

Thanks, I think with my calculations, I’d save $500 by going with their lease offer and buying out at the end. And I don’t think that counts end of lease tax on the buyout price (assuming that’s a thing here). So it probably works out to be about the same.

12

Send me a pm and I can forward you a link to deals on Toyota’s. Some might fit what you are looking for. I’m not able to post the link public

13

Which Toyotas have premium sound and it seems you need to get platinum/limited $$$$ trim for those?

14

Rav4 Limited has JBL and probably fit the budget.

15

Sorry I wasn’t trying to be critical just expressing my thinking and philosophy. I negotiated my lease over the internet. I suggest you widen your search to 100+ miles, maybe Bakersfield or Oceanside or Fallbrook in San Diego county? People are not rich there and you could get a screaming deal? A 2017 might save you 4000.00 on MSRP and that can make a huge reduction in your lease payments. If you happen to get one with cylinder problems just walk away at the end of the lease. The car is covered by the three year warranty so it’s not your problem. Also consider a Honda CR-V. It’s the number one selling subcompact SUV for 25 years.

16

If you currently own an Asian vehicle, try a Chevy cruze hatchback with leather. The conquest bonus should make a lease very attractive this month. @chevysalesgirl has great deals in Socal, not sure if she had any hatchbacks on her lot.