Nice compact/sub compacts I haven't considered?

Ask the Hackrs
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Hey hackrs!

I am trying to help my mom get into her next vehicle and she really wants something small. I’m talking 175" or less. She is hyper focused on gas mileage and having something that’s super easy to park but road noise is also a concern as she doesn’t hear too well and having a loud interior just compounds that issue.

I’ve looked at all of the usual suspects with her (A3/4, Merc C class, BMW 2 series) and I’m wondering if there’s anything I’ve missed that I should be checking out. She really liked the A3 but it leases soooo poorly, didn’t love the Merc and the 2 series was a pretty rough ride. I know we need to look at Mini but considering I’ve never seen Mini mentioned on this site I’m assuming they lease poorly.

Is there anything I’m missing? Any non-luxury brands that can be optioned up to be rather nice inside (e.g. my JGC 4xe Summit) but are still as small as possible?

Where have all the nice small sedans gone?

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Does it have to be a sedan? Maybe subcompact SUV, like Audi Q3, BMW X1, Lexus UX200/250h.

What’s your budget?

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65k

10char

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You said she’s looking to lease. Is that lease cost? What’s the lease cost budget, montly/das or total lease cost?

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All the vehicles you’ve listed are over 175”.

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I know, I’m talking ideal situation here. People just don’t really make nice small cars in this country anymore as far as I can tell.

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I realize this is a forum revolving around leasing, but I was more wondering if there are other vehicles that we should be looking at, regardless of cost as a lot of the folks on here know a lot about cars in general.

For arguments sake though, let’s say 800 a month with first and inceptions down.

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Does it have to be a lux brand?

How bout civics/corollas?

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Does not have to be, as long as it has a decent ride quality and not a ton of road noise

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XC40, GLA and X2 are some “luxury” options. Corolla hatch, Mazda 3 hatch or CX-30 are other cheaper options.

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Ok. I’m pretty sure you could get A3 40 TFSI for much much less than that. I mean she liked the car. What were you quoted for A3?

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You might as well forget about leasing any of these because the programs are so bad. So just buy the A3 or a fully loaded Golf.

The other thing to consider for your mother is safety. You’re really unlikely to find a luxury German car in this segment equipped with the full suite of active and passive safety aides. They just don’t build them like that. The features are mostly a la carte and ordering managers don’t check every box because the price would balloon so much.

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100%, just wanted to see if the community had anything else I should look at. I found one on a local dealer lot where I was able to get 8.5% off and base MF last month on a Q5 for a buddy. I just hate the idea of paying a rent charge that comes out to over 7%. It is what it is :man_shrugging:

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Excellent point. She’s getting older and doesn’t see as well

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I’ll take a look at some of those, thanks!

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That’s true, A3 program this month is meh. But it looks like you can get decent discount on it, 8-9%.

Like others said, look at Mazdas then, over past month I recall the program on them being very attractive with extremely low money factor. Not sure if it still the case, but here on marketplace you could browse offers and see if it still makes sense.

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Subaru Crosstrek can be had for less than $30K and should lease OK, 176" and can add Driver assist tech.

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The Mazda 3 has pretty impressive fit and finish. Great amount of features and options in the premium trim.

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Base Porsche Macan

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Won’t touch a SUV unfortunately