Massachusetts (Western MA- can travel to CT, RI, Eastern NY, NH, VT)
Trying to remain open minded. I’m looking for a SUV lease deal that fits the following.
What other make/model should I be considering and focusing on?
Term-negotiable
12,000 miles a year
zero (or close to it) due at signing
Around 300 a month (max 350/month).
(Not opposed to a plug in, but have zero plan to plug in)
I’m working on some Jeep wrangler 4xe deals, but they aren’t landing close to where I’ve seen others land.
The list of potential candidates basically has one entry on it:
Dodge Hornet
I am about to test drive one.
I just signed for a 24’ Dodge Hornet R/T in Colorado at $99/ $0 DAS, 24 months, 12k miles. There was an additional $3k rebate I didn’t (and can’t) account for plus CO has a $3500 EV rebate that many states don’t have. My incentive rebates ended up being $16,100, but in any other case should have been $13,100; again for CO though.
Which state did you register?
CO
10 char
What’s your rating of the car - I realize this is a budget vehicle - but if you had to put a rating on it.
Out of curiousity, what’s the idea behind not even plugging into a 110 outlet over night when you’re at home?
Seems like a great way to increase vehicle efficiency and lower costs, even more so since costs seem to be one of the main factors here.
110v on an 88kwh battery is 1% per hour on a phev it’s 10% per hr
I feel like this will be difficult unless you are open to an EV (e.g. Acura ZDX, Prologue, etc), which it sounds like you are not, or a very small “SUV”.
At 10% an hour + regenerative braking, it seems like a relatively low effort way to reduce your daily driving costs.
Was just curious on the comment that seemed to dismiss a low effort way to keep costs down especially from a budget / spending standpoint.
I’ve only driven it 3 times, all in bad snowy cold weather. It’s not great in the snow as the AWD is not always engageg. I suspect you can put it into Sport mode to force it to stay in AWD although then it’s less efficient as it wants wind out higher RPMs in each gear and not run soley in electric. There is no “snow mode” setting.
The shifting is a bit clunky but that may be a part of it being 10⁰ out and it not being fully warmed up. I have a 4xE Wrangler that was a similar drivetrain setup with a turbo 4-cylinder and an electric motor. The Wrangler seemed much more smooth in acceleration and shifting to me.
It’s also not as a refined cabin as say my Ioniq 5 Limited, but that car’s MSRP is $15k high. The cabin has a decent amount of soft touch and red stiching to contrast the black interior. It’s not all hard junky plastic. The seats are comfortable and have Alcantara finish and nice bolsters. Standard heated seats and wheel are nice touch for cold weather folks - must for me. The center dash screen is oddly short but long. ~10" screen size sounds big but its just really wide, not tall. The tachometer screen is fairly nice, sporty.
It does have wireless Android Auto/ Car Play. Steering wheel is leather and has comfortable gripping points, as part of the Track Package. The steering column mounted paddle shifters are huge and a new style to me but they have a nice feel and are aluminum.
It rides very high compared to what I thought it would being a CUV. The rear storage is surprisingly small ft³. The back hatch is not automatic, you have to lift it up and pull it down, which is annoying for a $46k car.
The model I have included the Track Pack which I really like the aesthetics of the 20" black wheels and red calipers. That package also includes passenger seating being powered, and both front seats having memory buttons. I understand you can program the different FOBs to be associated with different driver profiles, which I like not having to “login” to my profile each time after someone else drives it. I just use my specific FOB.
The Blacktop package is essentially worthless to me, especially for the cost. It’s just changes the badging from silver to black. Mine included it as a combo with Track Pack, but I’d opt out of it if I could have.
Overall, I’ll need to drive it more to understand how much I like it or if I don’t. It’s way too early. I was 100% sold on the pricing I got it for, $99/mo and $0 DAS. It’s a secondary car, behind my Ioniq 5 Limited and my “on order” sports car. I’m sure it’ll be a fine daily, point A to B driver, essentially because of the price point I got it at. It’s also good for me because I prefer not to drive my full EV for longer road trips because of the charging and lost range when extra cold out.
My initial reaction to paying ~$300/mo for it; I would not. $100/mo; absoluty, $200/mo; probably still yes.
Considering it seems you live in MA, how’s that done ?
Our electric bill is ridiculously high, for the amount of driving I actually do, I’m not sure what the actual would be. I’ll probably plug in and see how it affects it.
I’m open to smaller SUV’s. I’ve just seen others on this forum getting great deals on Jeep 4xe’s.
I do not live in MA. I live in CO. My first post referenced CO multiple times and I have not stated I’m in MA. I’m only trying to help folks with the nuance of this vehicle’s features/quality, and some incentives that may be available because I recently procured one.
I’m not advocating for or referring to being in MA, or any other state, and registering in another state.
That’s the reality of CJDR’s inflated stickers. In reality it’s a competitor to a ~$25k car like a Trax, Seltos, Venue, etc.
sorry confused you with OP
Can i ask which dealership you went with? Im located in CO as well and the one I spoke with today quoted me 300/month for the hornet - which is not going to happen lol
(PM sent to you)