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Comments
Not to pop a bubble here, but most companies have historically been quite inaccurate in predicting residuals, especially recently. The advent of extremely attractive new car financing has been depressing the used car market beyond what any leasing company had expected.
For further proof, you can see that in the past 2-3 years, two of the largest non-captive lessors (Bank of America and GE Capital) have exited the business entirely due to adverse conditions and their inability to endure residual losses from their portfolio.
Sorry, a bit of a tangent... back to the regularly scheduled programming...
There have been so many generalizations flying around all of the boards over the last couple of months. In the previous 100 posts on this board, there has been some commentary about the Infiniti sales force.
My question - isn't the sales force the first line into Infiniti products and aren't those the people who Infiniti really needs to ensure are up to high standards? Infiniti after all, prides itself on the customer experience and I would think there would be little room for sales people that are lame.
stsurbrook... An initial residual is only an estimate. Set by the leasor. And it may likely be inflated (a subsidy) by the manufacturer to move cars. Many companies advertise low lease rates to move metal. These leases are often heavily subsidized. The production/sale arms of the manufacturer make a profit on the sale, but the leasing/financing arm takes a loss due to high marketing costs (the subsidized lease).
The future true wholesale value of the car won't be known until you go to sell the car down the road. And then the leasors get to see how inaccurate their estimates were or how costly their subsidy.
Lots of these variable change quickly depending upon where you live, how well you negotiate, who is your insurance company, etc. The 330i was assessed $2,100 more for financing, $900 more for insurance, and $1,000 more for taxes.
Allow me to give my personal experience at purchasing a new Lexus in mid April. I was interested in the new ES300 for my wife. When I walked into the showroom and was totally ignored. After 10 minutes of standing by the car I finally walked over to the receptionist and asked to have a salesman paged. He walked over to me looking as if he had just woken up; still had his coffee and newspaper in hand. I told him I was really interested in the ES300, I had been reading as much as I could find and liked what I knew about the car. He then began the normal sales spiel telling me everything I already knew. When I asked about the sludge problem some Toyota engines were having he told me not to worry that "This is a Lexus, WE do not have such problems. In fact we have the highest rated vehicles ever!" When I said that Lexus is Toyota he just starred at me like I was a member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. What WAS I thinking to challenge a Lexus?
When I walked to the Infiniti dealer next door and asked about the I (our second choice) the salesman asked what I knew about the car then provided some information that I was unaware of. When I asked to take a test drive he said just a minute and walked away. I though I was about to be given some BS reason why none were available at the time. Instead he drove one up to the door, threw me the keys and said "See you on Monday" (this was Friday evening).
So, which dealer would you do business with?
kdshapiro - Just as an FYI... The residuals are typically calculated by a third party whose business it is to calculate residuals and the lessors use that data for calculating the cost of financing. Where manufacturers do the subsidizing is in the "money factor" (ie. effective interest rate on the value of the car that is "consumed"). This is why you can often find manufacturer leases that are better than 3rd party. How much subsidization depends on how new the car is, how fast it is selling, etc.
Take a look at the Q45. While I think it is a very nice car, it's money factor is almost zero because it is not selling all that well (or hasn't in the past). The G35, on the other hand, is still pretty new and doesn't get any subsidy.
As for the dealer sales people being the "first impression", you are correct. I don't know how to explain the treatment. However, it is very difficult to draw any kind of statistical conclusion from one incidence. If we were to try to draw meaningful conclusions, then we would take a look at things like reports from buyers here, JD Power, etc. Those have been typically good.
One thing I have yet to see, is someone saying that they bought a BMW because of the spectacular knowledge/treatment they received from the dealer. Sure, there are exceptions, but the general experience (supported by my own) does not seem to be as good.
Hmmm, kind of wondering if it is like this one experience I had at a Seattle Starbuck's. I was visiting some family there and my mother-in-law wanted me to buy her some coffee. So I went down to the Starbuck's and asked for a pound or two of their house blend and was waiting for them to package it and give it to me. Watching people order, you could see it was a matter of pride to order a "special" combination with precision and confidence. One guy who was ordering, but didn't seem to have totally made up his mind, messed up his order and the girl behind the counter rolled her eyes, looked at the ceiling (as though to say, "What an idiot!"), and then asked him in a VERY slow voice, "Could you try again?" Kind of reminded me of how I was treated at the BMW dealership.
At the Infiniti dealership (both the two I visited and the three I called), even though they were not very willing to bargain on price, at least treated me with respect and an attitude of, "What can we do to make this deal work?" In other words, I at least felt as though I was important and that they were "hungry". Guess that is often the difference between a champion and a challenger... and what makes a challenger into a champion.
Anyway, experiences at dealerships vary and mine has been good. Good enough for me, at least.
If you (or reiz) are truly interested in the car, I hope you will try it on its own merits, not those of another standard. I grew up on German cars, so buying Japanese went against the grain. In my first test drives, in some ways, they just felt "wrong". However, I realized that it was my past experience and resistance to change that was making up that "wrong" feeling, not the car. It was just "different" and had its own merits.
Hmmm, time to go...
Scott
My BMW dealer treated me with respect and gave and has given me good service, which was all I ask. It was my Nissan dealer who I bought three cars in the past from, that killed the deal to get another Nissan. And I didn't even want to go to another dealer.
i used this calculater http://www.hicloneqld.com/data.htm and it gave me about 19ish mpg which is allright i guess for a first tank. but you guys calculated 15L/100kms to be much less, you said 14ish i think.
so there is no hole and the calculator on that site seems accurate. 59L for 396kms, you can try it yourself.
so its 19 right?
sandandton....You will not be getting 375 miles on your tank of gas. My guess is you might be able to stretch it out if you were to run the tank literally to empty. I just filled up today and I had 320 miles on my trip computer (easy and spirited driving). If the tank holds 20 gallons of gas then I had about 2 gallons left in reserve. As a sidenote, the NAV screen alerted me to my gas deficiency and gave me the option of finding the nearest gas station.
My '98 540i6 will get about 24.5-25 mpg on highway (74 mph) and go a bit over 500 miles on a tank (18.5 gal plus 2.6 gal reserve). I've run her up to 475 miles and only pumped about 18.75 gallons.
Thanks for your input.
So, we:
1. Divide the 14.8 liters by 3.78 and get approximately 3.92 gallons.
2. We next multiply 100km by .62 and get 62 miles.
3. Now it is a simple calculation to get mpg's. 62 miles divided by 3.92 gallons is 15.82 mpg.
I don't know how the other calculator figured the milage. Anyway, it is rather low. However, are you SURE that you FILLED up the tank BOTH times? If not, that will surely affect your mpg calculations...
johnjorg - Vin etching is always a good idea. No matter what you have for security (except for, possibly, Lojack (privacy issues)), a tow truck or equivalent can easily circumvent it, if a thief is sufficiently motivated.
Personally, I'll rely on the Autolock Pro. Only about $60 ($50 each for two) and will make the vehicle just about impossible to steal. (Barring a tow truck, as noted above.) If you are interested, you may want to check out the link below. (I have no financial interest in any of the companies discussed.)
http://www.autobarn.net/autolockpro.html
Scott
G35 receiver excellent score in japan crash test, with no sideairbag too. see it yourself
and where's the pics. you are posting infintiseller. And your comment on Lexus was the first one i've heard of,
i don't think there are perfect dealers. right?
True Cost to Own (TCO): Revealing the Hidden Costs of Car Ownership
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specialreports/articles/59897/article.html
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Paul
I felt pretty good about my dealer experience (except price
Scott
Anyway, some members had already found it. Needless to say, it has sparked some interesting conversations...
Thanks.
Scott
here is a link for another calculator for various units.
http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/dictunit/ccfuel.htm
stsurbrook, i was pretty sure about the last fill up. however, it never hurts to repeat the calculation on the next one. i zeroed my odometer the last time i filled up and i made sure its filled to the top.
Anyway, I went off and discovered my eligibiltiy for a Nissan/Infiniti VPP program, called same Infinti store, asked for a different rep and the deal was one of the nicest car buying experinces I can remember in 22 years. The VPP discount made it a no brainer for me on many levels, but the dealer experience was execeptional all on its own. Dealer is Infiniti of Pleasanton, east bay SF area. Interested to see how the service experice is, once I get to that point.
Desert Platinum, Leather/Premium/Winter/Xenons/Wood/Bose 3wks old, 500mi having a great time driving the G here in N Cal
It took a little while to get used to a couple things 1) stereo controls on the wheel 2) steering and 3) braking but now they are second nature. I have learned to love the steering. In fact, the car almost steers itself in normal driving. It's almost a case of "unlearning" steering from other cars where it's so sloppy.
Most of my driving is back and forth to work so I appreciate the creature comforts. However, on the weekends I often get out in the country and let it go. What a blast - great handling and acceleration. I've even mastered the "manual mode" on twisting roads.
I recognize this post isn't filled with facts - just my opinion. There are a lot of great cars around but I definitely am happy with the choice I made. I could have, and was willing to, spend a lot more but I don't see how you can beat the bang for the buck of the G35. If any of you propeller guys are hanging around, I'm not bad mouthing your cars so don't feel compelled to tell me about NEEDING a manual shift to have fun. I don't.
Now I get to have fun with this new car. I'm going to see how LOW a gas milage I can get. So far (about 60/40 highway/city), after ~45 miles and HARD driving (wherever possible), I'm getting about 19.7mpg.
If you continue to get such poor l/km, I would take it to the dealer to find out what is wrong.
Hmmm, have you been filling it with premium or regular? Regular, in addition to poorer performance, will lead to lower mpg's...
purwin - I'm about to go in for my first oil change (in the next two weeks). I don't change the oil myself anymore for a couple reasons. First, I don't want to give the dealer/manufacturer ANY reason to balk at any potential warranty claims. My in-laws had a Toyota Camry 4-cylinder engine that seized up on them and Toyota had to be beat over the head to honor the warranty on the engine.
Second, finding parts that won't invalidate the warranty. IMO, there is much more "wiggle-room" in filters than there is in oil. (BTW, I believe you can find oil filters at: http://www.infinitiparts.com/ )
Third, I'm just getting too old to mess around getting under cars to change the oil. It isn't as simple as it was when I got my first car (1978) to change the oil. Too much hassle just to save ~$20.
When I get my oil changed, I'm going to use Schaeffer synthetic blend oil. From what I've seen, it is the best available (at the price). If you are interested, I'll post my experiences when I get it done.
Scott
I will make sure to get that info posted to the board as soon as I get home... I wish I had a flatbed scanner, but I have a feed scanner and can't scan the pages
At any rate I will get that info posted asap and hopefully with enough description to make it useful...
Sorry about the delay
Faenor/Dane4
Maybe I'm not doing the calculations correctly (I thought I was being very conservative), but for the last 5 fillups at the station and the subsequent calculation for mileage I am getting a solid 24 mpg in combined city and highway driving (about 90 highway 10 city) and actually probably closer to 25mpg...
I cruise on the freeway at about 70-75 and regularly burst to over 100 for a minute or two at least once a day during the commute trip (Used to be for much longer than that, but I have calmed down *smile*)...
I went thru the break-in technique and adhered to the rules as closely as I could but I'm not certain if that has that much to do with anything...
I'm still keeping track of the mileage and the last fillup (this morning) my odometer read 362 miles and the fill up was 14.88 gallons (I always use the same gas station and the same exact pump and take a reading right when the fill-sense stops the pump for the first time) and that works out to around 24 mpg...
I was actually under the impression that the EPA stickers were on the low side and that it was normal to do better than the EPA sticker showed so I was at first a little disappointed with getting somewhere inbetween 22-24 combined mileage...
To this point, I am satisfied with the mileage and emminently satisfied with the car as a whole! but still confused as to the other members of the board who get very low mileage... could it be the grade of gas? the Type of gas?
California uses the dreaded MTBE stuff that I am certain is a horrible hit to engine performance and with the latest tests has also proven to be horrible for the environment (damned if the pseudo government environmentalists don't ALWAYS get things like that wrong) There must have been some kind of MTBE kickback scheme going on where the major producer was some Senator's cousin or something... So first we had to pay to put this "environmentally kind" stuff in, and now we have to pay AGAIN to have this horrible threat to the environment taken out... I think they should make the people who made the decision to put the stuff in write a check for its removal... plus damages... but I digress...
Faenor/Dane4
However, those of us who have to use our car to commute, and are stuck at traffic lights and/or in traffic jams on "freeways" will have an entirely different story to tell. Combine that in-town grief with the frequent opportunity to accelerate away from stop signs/lights, and the fuel mileage goes right down the toilet.
Best you'll ever do is on a road trip when you fill the car, get on the Interstate, set the cruise control (at 90, or whatever), and let it roll until you need to stop for fuel. All else will be less. My standard is the annual trek across Nevada. My totally unreliable Eagle Vision returned 27 mpg at 85 mph w/ the A/C on, and my LS gets about 25. Sounds like the G35 is right in there with the LS, even though it has 40 more hp, with the attendant torque.
The G35 looks like a great replacement. Any decent numbers for leases?
i will contact the dealer if a problem presist. the engine does sound much louder than the 01 QX4 with 3.5VQ. its much louder on idle, from inside the car and from outside during acceleration, cruising and idle. i thought and i guess its normal becuase its tuned differently.
anyways, will check my milage and will take action accordingly.
ANYWAY...big news, I test drove the car today! Of course the dealer wanted to ride with, so I took it pretty easy. Here's my initial impressions, and keep in mind that I am framing a comparison with my current I30 (I know, different classes...but you can't help but compare)E
EXTERIOR/STYLING:
When I first saw it in the dealership (first time I saw one in person up-close) I was surprised that it seemed *smaller* than online pics would leave me to believe. It's definitely narrower than my I30. The front, side and rear profiles are quite handsome, IMHO. Like my I30, I think the car looks best in silver. The emerald mist was interesting, but in lesser light the color seems kinda dull. Would not look as good when dirty, methinks. Black collects dirt too easily as well. The red color looks quite nice but still a bit dark for me. I think silver really accentuates the lines of the hood and fenders well.
INTERIOR/ERGOMONICS:
Upon entry into the driver's seat I knew immediately that this is a smaller/narrower car than the I30. It's not necessarily a bad thing since I am only 5'7" with short legs. The seats are quite supportive with good lateral bolsters(better than my I30) Interior quality is decent...but I think it is a step down from my current car. The graphite interior is definitely nicer than the willow. Love the moving instrument cluster. As for the aforementioned steering will controls, I do think they are less convenient than the large buttons on my car but I guess you can get used to it. Rear leg room is good for a car of this size exterior. Now for the most important part:
PERFORMANCE/HANDLING:
Like I said before, I did not desire to really stretch her legs outsince the salesman was with me. Handling is excellent and the general feel of the car is much more limber than my I30. The throttle is sensitive and the drivetrain pulls eagerly in every gear. I did feel that the 5 speed auto was not as smooth as it could be. It seemed to delay a bit on downshift with made me lift off the throttle to force a downshift. Not quite used to that yet. Steering feel is excellent and I don't think it's too sensitive. The brakes are absolutely superb, like I've become used to in Infinitis. (better than the already excellent brakes on my I30)
No doubt the car would be a lot more fun to drive than my current vehicle.
HOWEVER, when it comes to pricing, it's just too expensive for me to trade in my lease car since I will be about $4000-$4500 in the hole. That's simply too much money at this point so I will wait a while. I'm hoping dealers will start moving off of MSRP later this year and maybe I can find someone to assume my lease payments. All in all, the G-35 is an excellent vehicle for those seeking a nice sport luxury sedan. I do think it will bring many new Infiniti buyers into the showrooms even though they may buy other models.
havoc: Are you really 57" (4-foot-9-inches)? Or, did you mean 5-foot-7-inches? The reason I ask is that we have several things in common. I am 5-foot-6-inches with very short legs. I can never find pants off the rack, because my inseam is so short. Also, I have a 2001-I-30 and have been wondering about the G-35 and what the differences would be. And, I also live in Texas. So, your post was interesting to me! Thanks,
Jim J.