Please help decide. Buyout Infiniti QX60 or lease new one

Ask the Hackrs
1

So my Infiniti QX60 lease is up.

Not sure if I should lease another one or buy it out.

Here is the scenario. We drive about 50 miles a month = to roughly 3000 miles a year with side trips here and there since our jobs have change about 2 years ago.

Currently have a fully loaded QX60 57k msrp that has a buyout of $35,000 + taxes and fees which will probably bring it back to $40,000 range. (all safety features included)

Not sure if it makes sense for us to buy this vehicle out with 20,000 miles on it, or lease another one LUXE QWD model without all the bells and whistles for about $465 a month - (roughly $49k MSRP car for $42k)

  • Reason I am contemplating is because warranty expires and then all the headaches and maintenance usually begin.

  • Lease new car, no headaches and no maintenance (minimal)

I am torn with this decision here. Any input would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you.

2

That residual is crazy high, I’d drop that thing off. Just lease another one. The buyout financed over 5 years is $583 before tax and interest. Post all the numbers on here for the lease, I’d imagine you could get that payment down.

3

I agree with the residual being insanely high. I called them to see if it’s possible to negotiate and they said no even though newer models are out.

Currently paying $625 for Fully Loaded (but had $3,500 incentive to take over someone’s brand new car via swapalease)

This is the lease offer that I received. QX60 Luxe AWD
msrp $48,595, Selling price $42,129.06, + $700 Bank fee Adj cap $44,395.39 residual 59% mf.00069

39mo 10k miles per year $453.61 per month with only 1st mo, due at signing,

  • This was last month’s deal. Dealer now states he can honor exact same deal, but price has gone up $11.

Current rate is $465 out of pocket with $465 monthly payments.

Is this a good deal?

4

It makes zero sense to buy this, it’s not worth the residual.

But it also makes zero sense to lease if you only drive 3000 miles per year. You are burning cash by paying for 10k miles a year depreciation and only using 3k. You will save tens of thousands of dollars buying a pre owned vehicle and have very minimal maintenance costs due to driving so little.

For me, a good benchmark is $0.25/mile just in depreciation. On my used vehicles I’ve been on the $.10-.20 range and I drive 20-30k per year. Consider your per mile cost, not your per month cost.

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5

If you drive so little maybe get something allot cheaper or rent/uber.

6

I agree. Discussed that with my wife as well as it comes out to be cheaper with Uber, but with little kids and weekend activities and occasional playdates/trips, the convenience factor of having a car in your driveway is definitely worth a little more than managing uber.

7

If it was me, I’d lease the cheapest midsize sedan I could find and then rent an SUV for the long trips

8

Lease another. QX60 deals are pretty good right now with all the incentives. We did the same thing with our 2016 MDX w/tech - 50k msrp. We actually did a 3 month pull ahead and got a 2018 MDX w/tech, same color and everything. Unless you’re paying cash, your 60 month used car loan payments are going to be higher than your lease payments. And you also have to worry about service advisers trying to get you for every penny that you have.

9

Or look at some of the brands that offer 7500 leases, vw does.

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10

Buy something with strong resale value like CRV, Highlander, etc. and you can extend the OEM warranty inexpensively. 8 years of ownership will be cheaper than 2.6667 leases.

11

Thank you all for your suggestion. I think I’ll go with a base 3 row suv just to have for the convivence factor.

12

Tiguan or Atlas probably the cheapest three row options. The only problem with used is the payments will be higer than a lease if you want anything that’s not a pos.

13

Just remember to discuss with your wife on what is really important to her. If you’re coming from a QX60 to a base model Tiguan S, there are going to be a lot of things that are missing. And you’re going to have this for 2-3 years depending on the term of your lease. Here are some of the things that my wife complains about when she has to drive my car (Tiguan S vs MDX), in order of importance.

  1. Power liftgate - not just for convenience, but it takes some effort to pull it shut
  2. Finding the keys in her purse full of crap to lock/unlock/start the car - Keyless entry & push button start
  3. Automatic climate control - it’s either too hot or too cold
  4. Seat and side mirror memory - she has to readjust everything when she drives my car
  5. Too slow, can’t pass anyone
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14

I think that’s enough said to make up my mind.

Thank you so much for being real and sharing your experience first hand.

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15

The value retention of some of these cars is insane.

A 6yr old mid trim Highlander with 18K miles is valued at 19K trade-in and almost 22 for private party.

Considering you can buy a brand new 2018 for 32K or less, that’s only 10-12K in depreciation plus about $2k in interest (assuming 48m @ 3.25%) amortized over 6 years = sub 200 per month

(+TTL of course, depending on where you live)

And all the safety features in TSS are standard.

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