2006 Altima 2.5S Auto w/ Special Edition Package, Mats and Splash Lease - 36 MONTHS - $209/MONTH - $2,309 INITIAL PAYMENT
Excludes taxes, title, and license. $2,309 initial payment required at consummation. (Includes $2,100 consumer down payment, $209 first month payment, $0 security deposit).
2006 Altima 2.5S Auto w/ Special Edition Package, Mats and Splash model 5716 subject to availability to well qualified Tier I lessees through Nissan-Infiniti LT. $21,445 MSRP incl. destination charge. Net capitalized cost of $18,593 includes a $550 non-refundable acquisition fee. Dealer contribution may affect actual price set by dealer. Monthly payments total $7,524.00. At lease end, purchase for $12,009.20, plus $150 purchase option fee (except KS & WI), plus tax, or pay excess wear and tear plus $0.15 per mile for mileage over 12,000 miles per year. Lessee is responsible for maintenance and repairs. See participating Dealer for details. Offer ends 5/01/2006.
Here's one thing that always confuses me about a lease. They mention an initial payment, which in this case would be $2309. But then they say "tax extra". If you're leasing a car though, what do you pay taxes on? Do you still pay a sales tax on a negotiated price?
At a quick glance, I didn't think this sounded half bad. After all, my Intrepid was $2000 down, and then the monthly payment was $347.66. Of course, I bought that car, so I could put as many miles as I wanted to on it. Nowadays though, I could probably keep the miles down to 12,000 per year pretty easily.
A deal to be sure. DO the math, and it is about equivalent to $164/month with nothing down (that is, spread the DP of 2K over 24 months). Hard to go wrong for that if it fits your needs.
I would be tempted to get one myself if it was a year from now, when my son turns 16 and is going to learn to drive. Get the stick shift initiation done on a car that I won't have for a long time, so all the clutch slipping and gear grinding won't bother me!
I actually plan to get an older semi-beater for him to learn on (and then serve as the spare car), but it might cost less overall (depreciation and repairs) to lease something in this price range instead, although insurance will be higher (since I live in NJ, probably by a lot!)
Here in Colorado, sales tax is geography dependant - state sales tax, county sales tax, city sales tax, transportation district, stadium district, etc, etc, etc.
The sales tax is added to the monthly lease amount and shows up on your statement, so the money down is cap cost reduction, security deposit and acquisition fee, as was described above. Registration is also handled on a county by county basis, so the dealer sends your county the sales information and you then pay the county directly to get your tags.
andre, the advertised vehicle is not the "special edition" but a regular 2.5S with mats and splash guards. The special edition includes a half-dozen other options that escape me at the moment.
sort of like the bait in a bait and switch. The ad price gets you in, then you find out it doesn't have an automatic, etc. So, they try to upsell you into a more expensive lease.
But, if this has everything thing you need, you get lucky.
Funny you should mention insurance. After leaving the dealership, I called my State Farm agent to see what a new car would do to my rates.
In addition, with a kid going off to college in the fall, it was a good opportunity to find out if her relocation would have an impact on the premiums. On that matter, the answer was no, since she will be attending school within 150 miles of the primary residence.
What I did find interesting is that the kid is currently rated on the Focus but really drives the L300. I was under the impression that the premiums on the Focus were less - WRONG! If we switch her to the L300, the premium drops by about $25/month, which is good news to the kid since she pays her own insurance.
Then, I would be rated on the Focus, but would trade that in for the Altima ... pretty much a wash as far as the premium goes - $75/month, give or take a few bucks.
Wife says if I want a new car, I should get it. She has always liked the Altima, and in fact lobbied for it when I bought the L300 3 years ago. The L was several thousand less, however (I was looking for a V6 with leather and a sunroof at the time) and Saturn was also offering 0% financing as well.
If you like the car--enough--heck at that price if you just didn't "hate it" even, it sounds like a great deal. If you can get out of your Focus w/o losing your shirt?
After watching my bmw depreciate roughly $5K a year in the last 4 years--I'm starting to think that maybe leasing whatever you can "tolerate" for between $200--$300/mo. makes sense......
Lowering your payments, hopefully, & a brand new Nissan--if there's no hidden catches--what's not to like?
Edmunds TMV on the trade in value of the Focus is $7300 .. I think I owe just under $7K, so maybe a few hundred dollars in equity there.
Of course, NADA pegs the trade in value at $9500, which is a number I like a lot better, but is probably unrealistic.
Invoice on the Altima (2.5S with mats and splash guards) is $19,153. $1750 rebate exists; this takes the transaction price to $17,403.
woodyvw - what's not to like? Not much, really. I'm a bit nervous about having to live with a mileage allotment. We're considering a move to the country and that would add lots of miles to my daily commute. I asked the wife if she would be willing to drive it as we would be a lot closer to her work after the move - she sorta said yes.
Other than that, I can't see too much of a downside. A new, larger car that gets approximately the same mileage as the car I'm currently driving, with the same features and is under warranty for $100-200 less per month on the payment.
that bugs me about the 4-cyl Altima is its relatively poor highway EPA rating. I would go with an automatic myself, which is rated at 23/29. I guess it just bugs me because an equivalent Accord/Camry is rated at 24/34.
Most of my driving is local though, so I guess I should focus more on the fact that the city estimate is only 1 mpg less, and that the highway difference wouldn't affect me that often. My Intrepid is rated at 20/29, so in theory the Altima shouldn't do any worse on the highway, and might give me about a 15% improvement in most of my driving.
Heck I'd go for it, that's a great payment on a lease. For me leasing doesn't work (as told by the 50k miles in 17 months on my Titan), but if it works for you then by all means jump on it.
Make sure you update us when you bring your new car home.
I think the Altima's 4 banger has a few more horsies than the Toy/Honda equivalent, which sort of explains the difference in mileage. My folks had a mid-90s Altima with a 4cyl, and that thing got up and went!
if another thing holding back the Altima 4's mileage is that it has a 4-speed auotmatic, compared to the 5 speed automatics that the Camry and Accord 4-cyl have.
When the Camry 4-cyl went from a 4-speed to 5-speed automatic in 2005 (IIRC), the EPA estimates went up slightly, from 23/32 to 24/34. And when the Altima V-6 got a 5-speed automatic, it saw a pretty healthy boost from 19/26 to 20/30!
My Mom & stepdad have a '99 Altima, and I don't really like it. I liked that first-gen ('93-97?) Altima though. I thought it was a good looking car. Never had a chance to drive one though.
Yep, the U13 was one of the better renditions of the '90s 'jellybean' fad. I still see them around all the time. The 1993 had a little pad-printed "Stanza" badge over by the left tail light. If Nissan had brought over the AWD turbo version, we could have had a proper "Altima SE-R" a decade early.
Shoot, that's pretty amazing. I imagine it's because the new one is coming along pretty soon, right?
I would consider something like that, and just pay the whole lease up-front. But I am sure I would exceed the mileage allowance. What's the cost per mile over the allowance?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
The EPA numbers on the sticker of the Altima that I looked at were 24 city, 31 highway. The EPA numbers for the Focus ZX5 that I am driving are 25 city, 32 highway.
I average about 29-31 MPG in my normal driving - my daily 20 mile commute is about 3 miles of neighborhood driving (25-35MPH), 5 miles of divided 4 lane road (45-60MPH), and about 12 miles of interstate (65-75MPH).
More numbers to bore you with:
The Altima has a 2.5 litre, 175 horsepower engine; the Focus is 2 litres and 130 HP.
The curb weight of the Altima is 3075 pounds (17.57 lbs per hp), while the curb weight of the Focus is 2699 pounds (20.76 lbs per hp).
The size of the fuel tank - 20 gallons for the Altima, 13.2 gallons for the Focus.
I dunno .. I think I am having a case of 'analysis paralysis'. I think I will call the dealer and get the residual percentage and money factors and go from there.
EDIT: the mileage penalty is, I believe, .15 per mile. I can get those details as well.
is probably about right. That was the same penalty on the Altima lease I dug up.
Back when my buddy bought his '98 Tracker, he got talked into one of those "smart buy" things, where you had 47 monthly payments and then on the 48th month you could either turn it in or pay off a balloon payment. The kicker is that if you went over on miles, they hit you with 10 cents per mile, I think it was back then.
Well, he was 30,000 miles over, so he had a choice of turning it in and paying $3,000, and having NO vehicle, or paying $5600 and keeping it. He chose to keep it. And naturally, the transmission went out soon thereafter.
is not too bad - say I exceeded the mileage limit by 10K, that would be $1500 over the life of the lease, or an extra $62.50/month, which still seems like an OK deal to me for a brand new Altima - that would be like $225/mo with nothing down. It's a lot of car at that price.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
For the mileage penalty. My Titan is leased through NMAC and the mileage penalty on it is 15 cents/mile. Can you imagine what mine would be at the end of 48 months??? :sick: Probably somewhere around $13k if I kept up my current rate of driving.......roughly 34k/year.
Residual on the truck is $17,183-$2310 (refunded ESC that became a deposit), so $14,873 to buy the truck at the end of the lease. If I was keeping it I would no doubt have to buy it and eat it. OUCH!
... Back in the day, when leasing was young.... say, '98 or so... the mileage penalties were often 10 cents/mile. Even on big rigs like Tahoes or Gd Cherokees or other semi-upscale 'utes.
This was back when they were hot.
So you had residuals that later turned out to be overinflated by thousands -- average loss for lenders on returned SUVs was $4-5k, IIRC -- and then, to add insult to injury, you had mileage penalties that in no way made up for the loss in value of these miled-up trucks.
Ah, to be young and foolish again.
Anyway, what do youze guyze think it costs to drive? $.15/mile sounds a little high but OK; 10 cents is a steal. In fact, I've often paid 10 cents a mile on old cars I bought used, when figured over the life of the vehicle.
I'd say the lease deal on the Altima is great, even with penalty... if you stay in the warranty mileage for 24 months, what's not to like... lotsa car, and someone else's worries.
Or, as we say here in CCBA: do it do it do it do it!
Is the main reason I'll never lease again, that and I tend to use my trucks, mine looks 2 years old.....cracked grille, scuffed mirror (neither one was my fault), lots of chips and dings. I'd hate to have to turn it in at the end of the lease.......OUCH OUCH OUCH!!
Now why I ordered black for my new truck is beyond me, lol. I'll blame it on my 10 year old, she wanted mommy to have a black truck. Only 2 months to go.
He doesn't like cars as much as I do :-(. But that may be a good thing since that leaves me to buy all the cars :-).
Problem is, my Vue I bought in October 04 and it has about 29k on it. Now I am looking at a BMW, and boy am I in the negative equity stage. I will have to keep this one for a while unless I crash it (I have GAP insurance, thank god).
Thanks for being here.. At least I know now it just isn't me.
OK, so I don't really qualify as a CCB, especially as I approach 4 years in my 2002 Honda Accord Coupe. Last year I shopped Saabs, Subarus, and finally the Acura TSX (the one that almost got me) before deciding that having a paid-for Accord in 2007 would be a happy thing.
Well, the Subaru lust never really left me. Just for grins, a couple weeks ago I looked at some pre-owned listings to see what actually was floating around here... ended up test-driving a 2004 WRX wagon. This particular copy had some tall miles and a tall asking price, but 90 miles up the road there can be had another '04 WRX wagon. A lot less miles, and a price that's more in line.
Soooo do I venture up there? And the other risky thing is that particular dealer also has in stock a new '06 Legacy GT with the 5-speed.... hrm, what to do? The Legacy might be an even better idea than the WRX, even if it's not the most fiscally responsible idea.
The fiscally responsible idea is that the Accord will be paid for in July '07.
I've kept a running total, and figure that my 2000 Intrepid has cost me about 23.3 cents per mile, + gas, + insurance. So that 23.3 cpm covers the down payment, all monthly payments, all maintenance, all repairs, a $250 deductible from when someone tried to break into it at Six Flags America, and the cost of the Viper alarm I bought for it soon thereafter.
In contrast, I estimated my '68 Dart cost about 11 cents per mile, + gas/insurance, over the 85,000 miles I drove it. Considering that was from 253,000-338,000 miles though, I guess that's not too bad! I think it ended up being the cheapest cpm of any car I've ever owned!
So I guess when you really think about it, 15 cents per mile isn't THAT bad.
Yeah, I actually thought about that, Bumpy, when I noticed the guy said he wanted a truck. Still, as much as Granddad's old Silverado pisses me off sometimes, I know I'd miss it/need it for something if I ever got rid of it.
What are the asking prices/miles etc. on the 2 Subaru wagons? And what could you get for your Accord?
The only thing I'd say is, Subarus don't seem to have the great resale value of Hondas--so buying a year or 2 old Subie could make a lot of sense. And, can you use the AWD in your area (Winters)?
My advice: do all your homework with the value of your trade, & the value of whatever car you're going to see beforehand. Oh, & perhaps check the selling prices of used WRX's on fee-bay.....
Is it too late to change the color of your new truck? I've had 3 black cars in a row, & I've sworn, never again. Black can look great when the vehicle is totally clean & waxed, the rest of the time, esp. in Snow Country......you just give up after awhile trying to keep it looking good.....
Is it too late to change the color of your new truck? I've had 3 black cars in a row, & I've sworn, never again. Black can look great when the vehicle is totally clean & waxed, the rest of the time, esp. in Snow Country......you just give up after awhile trying to keep it looking good.....
Yup, definatly too late, has been too late for about 3 weeks now. Its ok, I'm going to be better about it than the Titan, the Titan I finally just gave up since when its clean it looks horrible. I can't believe how thin and weak the white paint is on it. Its chipped and peeling all over the truck, it looks much better dirty.
I've owned 3 black vehicles, never had any trouble keeping them looking nice. The paint always seemed to hold up just fine to nearly anything. I'm very disappointed in the white paint on the Titan, even my Sedona Titan had better paint.
Originally I wanted Flame Red, because hubby has a flame red Dodge, but then again so does my dad and I didn't want to be like my dad, lol. Little one wanted mom to have a black truck and I caved.......she was in the hospital when I ordered the truck so that gave her sympathy rights I guess, lol.
Glad to see that you're thinking about the Altima. I'm the proud owner of a 2003 and think that for $209 a month, it's a heck of a car. Mine has 34,000 miles on it and has been quite good so far.
I can get 31 mpg on the highway and it's very comfortable cruising at 75 or 80. The special edition package comes with some very nice features except it doesn't have alloy wheels. I've always thought that Nissan offered some very wheels but ugly wheel covers on the Altima.
Let me know if you buy it. I think that it will serve you well.
A local newspaper is looking to interview consumers who believe an automaker's country of origin is an important part of their buying decision, for better or worse. For example: Have you ruled out buying an American vehicle because of past experience? Or are you trying to "buy American" to support troubled automakers? Please send an e-mail to ctalati@edmunds.com no later than Monday May 1, 2006 by 2:00 PM PST/5:00 EST containing your daytime contact information.
The WRX I actually looked at is an '04... 55K miles for $19,995. Stupid money for miles that tall, which is why I haven't followed up on it at all.
The other one is also an '04, but with 29K miles... also 19,995. That's at a Subie dealer that's a ways up the road, where I could be tempted by a new Legacy.
I'm pretty sure my Accord could pull 11,5/12,0 in trade.
Only thing is I'm in coastal NC, where AWD ain't worth much, but looking at a couple possible opportunities to get north. So it may become a bigger factor in my world shortly.
how can you pass it up? I absolutely LOVE the cars you find for sale! It looks like a beaut, it's in fantastic shape for the years, just to judge by the fairly small e-bay pics. :-)
And I noticed you are still not into the 80s with that one! ;-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Well, what your daughter wants is good enough reason to pick a color. I've noticed that a lot of trucks look really "Baaddd" (meaning--Good) in Black. Part of my antipathy towards black is that I don't think it's a good color for my current car.......my 2 previous black cars looked beautiful in black.
I've been picking out colors for my new 4wd Tacoma (that I'll probably never buy)--I'm leaning towards Silver or Red.....
I can't remember who posted this dilemma, but wow. The Focus is a fun car to drive, but the Altima is 2x the car. Especially on a cheap lease... where was this? Maybe I'll get one to save miles on my Maxima, lol!
I noticed it didn't sell on fee-bay--high bid was US $727.17 & it didn't meet the reserve. Does the seller still have it, or did he sell it privately? Someone may have offered the BIN price off-ebay.....
I just read Autoweek's comparison of the fuel efficiency of various cars. They used a Jeep Commander with a Hemi as their photography vehicle, and got 17.2 MPG on the highway. What was shocking was that the Commander, with all its heft, only has a 20.5 gallon fuel tank. My Altima had a 20 gallon tank!
Surprisingly, the Commander with a Hemi doesn't have the shortest range of the Jeep lineup. That honor goes to the Grand Cherokee SRT, which has the same size (20.5 gallon) tank, and achieves 12 MPG city, 15 highway--at best, you'll be stopping every 300 miles for fuel.
One more point... The Commander is available with the fuel-sipping 3.7-liter V6. A base 4x4 weighs nearly two and a half tons! I'd almost like to test drive one just to see for myself how horribly underpowered it is.
That honor goes to the Grand Cherokee SRT, which has the same size (20.5 gallon) tank, and achieves 12 MPG city, 15 highway--at best, you'll be stopping every 300 miles for fuel.
LOL, sounds like my Titan, on occation I can go over 300 miles on a tank.........a 28 gallon tank!! Towing the TT we can only go 200 miles before the uh oh light is on.
I sat in a Commander, it wasn't bad, didn't drive it though. I hate the new Grand Cherokees, I miss the old body style (93-98).
Jolie, I know what you mean... I had a '96 Grand Cherokee and a '99 Grand Cherokee and I think the new one doesn't look near as good. Personally, I like the styling of the '99 best.... Honestly, I can't remember the change, 2004?... Anyway... My Land Rover is getting about 14.5 with highway and city combined.... At 3,700 miles, I should get better as time goes on.
I'm getting ready to go on a two week motorhome trip (rented 38ft. diesel, with 4 slides). Last year I got 8.5 mpg's... hopefully, I can squeeze out a few more! I'm planning on going about 1,500 mile this time. Fuel will cost what it costs, can't do much about that! :sick:
M156
2010 Land Rover LR4, 2013 Honda CR-V, 2009 Bentley GTC, 1990 MB 500SL, 2001 MB S500, 2007 Lincoln TC, 1964 RR Silver Cloud III, 1995 MB E320 Cab., 2015 Prevost Liberty Coach
I had a 1994 GC V-8 and a 1998 GC I-6, both were good trucks and I really liked them. Never did like the Jeeps after the 1999 redesign and liked them even less after the 2004 redesign.
We won't take our first trip until maybe June and that's only if we aren't too busy logging. I suppose there's a good chance the TT will gather dust in the yard this summer, not because of gas prices, but because of time. Bad thing about that is I still gotta make payments on the dern thing!
I had a '98 Range Rover 4.6 with a 24.6 gallon tank. I got 300 miles per tank-full, period. It was slightly depressing filling it up even then (altho the fuel costs were dwarfed by the other costs of owning a LR). I sold it about 4 1/2 years ago--I can't even imagine buying fuel for it now. Wait, $73.80 now to fill up & go 300 miles.....I think it was $35 in 2001.
You'd think--since Chrysler puts Cummins Diesels in their P/U's, they'd be putting them in their SUV's. But the Soccer Moms (& Dads) probably wouldn't understand it, or buy it. It may take gas going to $5.....(?) But I agree with your point about the tank size.
FWIW, the current Accord has a 17 gallon tank, & the Prius, 11.9.....so it now costs $35 to totally fill up a Prius (!), but it can go 480 miles or so.
Comments
2006 Altima 2.5S Auto w/ Special Edition Package, Mats and Splash Lease - 36 MONTHS - $209/MONTH - $2,309 INITIAL PAYMENT
Excludes taxes, title, and license. $2,309 initial payment required at consummation. (Includes $2,100 consumer down payment, $209 first month payment, $0 security deposit).
2006 Altima 2.5S Auto w/ Special Edition Package, Mats and Splash model 5716 subject to availability to well qualified Tier I lessees through Nissan-Infiniti LT. $21,445 MSRP incl. destination charge. Net capitalized cost of $18,593 includes a $550 non-refundable acquisition fee. Dealer contribution may affect actual price set by dealer. Monthly payments total $7,524.00. At lease end, purchase for $12,009.20, plus $150 purchase option fee (except KS & WI), plus tax, or pay excess wear and tear plus $0.15 per mile for mileage over 12,000 miles per year. Lessee is responsible for maintenance and repairs. See participating Dealer for details. Offer ends 5/01/2006.
Here's one thing that always confuses me about a lease. They mention an initial payment, which in this case would be $2309. But then they say "tax extra". If you're leasing a car though, what do you pay taxes on? Do you still pay a sales tax on a negotiated price?
At a quick glance, I didn't think this sounded half bad. After all, my Intrepid was $2000 down, and then the monthly payment was $347.66. Of course, I bought that car, so I could put as many miles as I wanted to on it. Nowadays though, I could probably keep the miles down to 12,000 per year pretty easily.
So on your example it would be $209 plus tax of $18.81 a month.
I would be tempted to get one myself if it was a year from now, when my son turns 16 and is going to learn to drive. Get the stick shift initiation done on a car that I won't have for a long time, so all the clutch slipping and gear grinding won't bother me!
I actually plan to get an older semi-beater for him to learn on (and then serve as the spare car), but it might cost less overall (depreciation and repairs) to lease something in this price range instead, although insurance will be higher (since I live in NJ, probably by a lot!)
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The sales tax is added to the monthly lease amount and shows up on your statement, so the money down is cap cost reduction, security deposit and acquisition fee, as was described above. Registration is also handled on a county by county basis, so the dealer sends your county the sales information and you then pay the county directly to get your tags.
andre, the advertised vehicle is not the "special edition" but a regular 2.5S with mats and splash guards. The special edition includes a half-dozen other options that escape me at the moment.
But, if this has everything thing you need, you get lucky.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
In addition, with a kid going off to college in the fall, it was a good opportunity to find out if her relocation would have an impact on the premiums. On that matter, the answer was no, since she will be attending school within 150 miles of the primary residence.
What I did find interesting is that the kid is currently rated on the Focus but really drives the L300. I was under the impression that the premiums on the Focus were less - WRONG! If we switch her to the L300, the premium drops by about $25/month, which is good news to the kid since she pays her own insurance.
Then, I would be rated on the Focus, but would trade that in for the Altima ... pretty much a wash as far as the premium goes - $75/month, give or take a few bucks.
Wife says if I want a new car, I should get it. She has always liked the Altima, and in fact lobbied for it when I bought the L300 3 years ago. The L was several thousand less, however (I was looking for a V6 with leather and a sunroof at the time) and Saturn was also offering 0% financing as well.
After watching my bmw depreciate roughly $5K a year in the last 4 years--I'm starting to think that maybe leasing whatever you can "tolerate" for between $200--$300/mo. makes sense......
Lowering your payments, hopefully, & a brand new Nissan--if there's no hidden catches--what's not to like?
Of course, NADA pegs the trade in value at $9500, which is a number I like a lot better, but is probably unrealistic.
Invoice on the Altima (2.5S with mats and splash guards) is $19,153. $1750 rebate exists; this takes the transaction price to $17,403.
woodyvw - what's not to like? Not much, really. I'm a bit nervous about having to live with a mileage allotment. We're considering a move to the country and that would add lots of miles to my daily commute. I asked the wife if she would be willing to drive it as we would be a lot closer to her work after the move - she sorta said yes.
Other than that, I can't see too much of a downside. A new, larger car that gets approximately the same mileage as the car I'm currently driving, with the same features and is under warranty for $100-200 less per month on the payment.
Most of my driving is local though, so I guess I should focus more on the fact that the city estimate is only 1 mpg less, and that the highway difference wouldn't affect me that often. My Intrepid is rated at 20/29, so in theory the Altima shouldn't do any worse on the highway, and might give me about a 15% improvement in most of my driving.
Make sure you update us when you bring your new car home.
When the Camry 4-cyl went from a 4-speed to 5-speed automatic in 2005 (IIRC), the EPA estimates went up slightly, from 23/32 to 24/34. And when the Altima V-6 got a 5-speed automatic, it saw a pretty healthy boost from 19/26 to 20/30!
My Mom & stepdad have a '99 Altima, and I don't really like it. I liked that first-gen ('93-97?) Altima though. I thought it was a good looking car. Never had a chance to drive one though.
Yep, the U13 was one of the better renditions of the '90s 'jellybean' fad. I still see them around all the time. The 1993 had a little pad-printed "Stanza" badge over by the left tail light. If Nissan had brought over the AWD turbo version, we could have had a proper "Altima SE-R" a decade early.
I would consider something like that, and just pay the whole lease up-front. But I am sure I would exceed the mileage allowance. What's the cost per mile over the allowance?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I average about 29-31 MPG in my normal driving - my daily 20 mile commute is about 3 miles of neighborhood driving (25-35MPH), 5 miles of divided 4 lane road (45-60MPH), and about 12 miles of interstate (65-75MPH).
More numbers to bore you with:
The Altima has a 2.5 litre, 175 horsepower engine; the Focus is 2 litres and 130 HP.
The curb weight of the Altima is 3075 pounds (17.57 lbs per hp), while the curb weight of the Focus is 2699 pounds (20.76 lbs per hp).
The size of the fuel tank - 20 gallons for the Altima, 13.2 gallons for the Focus.
I dunno .. I think I am having a case of 'analysis paralysis'. I think I will call the dealer and get the residual percentage and money factors and go from there.
EDIT: the mileage penalty is, I believe, .15 per mile. I can get those details as well.
Back when my buddy bought his '98 Tracker, he got talked into one of those "smart buy" things, where you had 47 monthly payments and then on the 48th month you could either turn it in or pay off a balloon payment. The kicker is that if you went over on miles, they hit you with 10 cents per mile, I think it was back then.
Well, he was 30,000 miles over, so he had a choice of turning it in and paying $3,000, and having NO vehicle, or paying $5600 and keeping it. He chose to keep it. And naturally, the transmission went out soon thereafter.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Residual on the truck is $17,183-$2310 (refunded ESC that became a deposit), so $14,873 to buy the truck at the end of the lease. If I was keeping it I would no doubt have to buy it and eat it. OUCH!
This was back when they were hot.
So you had residuals that later turned out to be overinflated by thousands -- average loss for lenders on returned SUVs was $4-5k, IIRC -- and then, to add insult to injury, you had mileage penalties that in no way made up for the loss in value of these miled-up trucks.
Ah, to be young and foolish again.
Anyway, what do youze guyze think it costs to drive? $.15/mile sounds a little high but OK; 10 cents is a steal. In fact, I've often paid 10 cents a mile on old cars I bought used, when figured over the life of the vehicle.
I'd say the lease deal on the Altima is great, even with penalty... if you stay in the warranty mileage for 24 months, what's not to like... lotsa car, and someone else's worries.
Or, as we say here in CCBA: do it do it do it do it!
-Mathias
Now why I ordered black for my new truck is beyond me, lol. I'll blame it on my 10 year old, she wanted mommy to have a black truck. Only 2 months to go.
My name is Laura and boy am I a CCB!!! I thought I was the only one..
Here is my list:
Started it in 1988-
1987 Mercury Lynx
1990 Mazda Protege
1994 Saturn SL2
1995 Saturn SL2
1996 Saturn Sl2
1996 Saturn Sl2
1998 Hyundai Accent
1999 Saturn Sl2
2001 Saturn Sc2
2002 Mercedes Benz C230 Coupe
2003 Mercedes Benz C230 Coupe
2003 Saturn Ion'
2003 Saturn L200
2001 Saturn Sc2
2004 Saturn Vue
That was just me..
My husband:
1986 Mazda B2000
1989 Mazda B2200
1989 Mazda 323
2000 Hyundai Accent.
He doesn't like cars as much as I do :-(. But that may be a good thing since that leaves me to buy all the cars :-).
Problem is, my Vue I bought in October 04 and it has about 29k on it. Now I am looking at a BMW, and boy am I in the negative equity stage. I will have to keep this one for a while unless I crash it (I have GAP insurance, thank god).
Thanks for being here.. At least I know now it just isn't me.
Laura :-)
Rocky
Well, the Subaru lust never really left me. Just for grins, a couple weeks ago I looked at some pre-owned listings to see what actually was floating around here... ended up test-driving a 2004 WRX wagon. This particular copy had some tall miles and a tall asking price, but 90 miles up the road there can be had another '04 WRX wagon. A lot less miles, and a price that's more in line.
Soooo do I venture up there? And the other risky thing is that particular dealer also has in stock a new '06 Legacy GT with the 5-speed.... hrm, what to do? The Legacy might be an even better idea than the WRX, even if it's not the most fiscally responsible idea.
The fiscally responsible idea is that the Accord will be paid for in July '07.
The fiscally responsible thing would be to buy a real car. The best out that list would be a Saab.
Rocky
In contrast, I estimated my '68 Dart cost about 11 cents per mile, + gas/insurance, over the 85,000 miles I drove it. Considering that was from 253,000-338,000 miles though, I guess that's not too bad! I think it ended up being the cheapest cpm of any car I've ever owned!
So I guess when you really think about it, 15 cents per mile isn't THAT bad.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Just DON'T sell the Pontiac !!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only thing I'd say is, Subarus don't seem to have the great resale value of Hondas--so buying a year or 2 old Subie could make a lot of sense. And, can you use the AWD in your area (Winters)?
My advice: do all your homework with the value of your trade, & the value of whatever car you're going to see beforehand. Oh, & perhaps check the selling prices of used WRX's on fee-bay.....
Yup, definatly too late, has been too late for about 3 weeks now. Its ok, I'm going to be better about it than the Titan, the Titan I finally just gave up since when its clean it looks horrible. I can't believe how thin and weak the white paint is on it. Its chipped and peeling all over the truck, it looks much better dirty.
I've owned 3 black vehicles, never had any trouble keeping them looking nice. The paint always seemed to hold up just fine to nearly anything. I'm very disappointed in the white paint on the Titan, even my Sedona Titan had better paint.
Originally I wanted Flame Red, because hubby has a flame red Dodge, but then again so does my dad and I didn't want to be like my dad, lol. Little one wanted mom to have a black truck and I caved.......she was in the hospital when I ordered the truck so that gave her sympathy rights I guess, lol.
I can get 31 mpg on the highway and it's very comfortable cruising at 75 or 80. The special edition package comes with some very nice features except it doesn't have alloy wheels. I've always thought that Nissan offered some very wheels but ugly wheel covers on the Altima.
Let me know if you buy it. I think that it will serve you well.
Thanks,
Chintan Talati
Corporate Communications
Edmunds.com
The WRX I actually looked at is an '04... 55K miles for $19,995. Stupid money for miles that tall, which is why I haven't followed up on it at all.
The other one is also an '04, but with 29K miles... also 19,995. That's at a Subie dealer that's a ways up the road, where I could be tempted by a new Legacy.
I'm pretty sure my Accord could pull 11,5/12,0 in trade.
Only thing is I'm in coastal NC, where AWD ain't worth much, but looking at a couple possible opportunities to get north. So it may become a bigger factor in my world shortly.
And I noticed you are still not into the 80s with that one! ;-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I've been picking out colors for my new 4wd Tacoma (that I'll probably never buy)--I'm leaning towards Silver or Red.....
Surprisingly, the Commander with a Hemi doesn't have the shortest range of the Jeep lineup. That honor goes to the Grand Cherokee SRT, which has the same size (20.5 gallon) tank, and achieves 12 MPG city, 15 highway--at best, you'll be stopping every 300 miles for fuel.
One more point... The Commander is available with the fuel-sipping 3.7-liter V6. A base 4x4 weighs nearly two and a half tons! I'd almost like to test drive one just to see for myself how horribly underpowered it is.
LOL, sounds like my Titan, on occation I can go over 300 miles on a tank.........a 28 gallon tank!! Towing the TT we can only go 200 miles before the uh oh light is on.
I sat in a Commander, it wasn't bad, didn't drive it though. I hate the new Grand Cherokees, I miss the old body style (93-98).
I'm getting ready to go on a two week motorhome trip (rented 38ft. diesel, with 4 slides). Last year I got 8.5 mpg's... hopefully, I can squeeze out a few more! I'm planning on going about 1,500 mile this time. Fuel will cost what it costs, can't do much about that! :sick:
M156
We won't take our first trip until maybe June and that's only if we aren't too busy logging. I suppose there's a good chance the TT will gather dust in the yard this summer, not because of gas prices, but because of time. Bad thing about that is I still gotta make payments on the dern thing!
You'd think--since Chrysler puts Cummins Diesels in their P/U's, they'd be putting them in their SUV's. But the Soccer Moms (& Dads) probably wouldn't understand it, or buy it. It may take gas going to $5.....(?) But I agree with your point about the tank size.
FWIW, the current Accord has a 17 gallon tank, & the Prius, 11.9.....so it now costs $35 to totally fill up a Prius (!), but it can go 480 miles or so.