2010 BMW 3-Series Lease Rates – December 2009

Published 2009/12/042009/12/07 by G

logo_bmw My Take: December numbers are pretty much the same as November, so nothing too exciting to report. $1500 or $2500 are also still available (thru January 4th, 2010) depending which trim you select. During our recent test drive, the wife really enjoyed the performance and handling of the 328i. No doubt, BMW makes excellent driving machines.

A “little bird” told me that BMW sometimes will introduce last minute cash towards the latter part of this month. This is generally to spur some last minute sales during the Holiday Season. The key word here is SOMETIMES. Just an FYI in case you are shopping for a BMW this winter.

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2009 BMW 3-Series

Shopping for the Next Ride – Part 1

Published 2009/11/242013/09/17 by G

Last Saturday marked the beginning of my quest to find my wife’s next car. I compiled a spreadsheet (yes, I am that anal-retentive) listing a wide range of choices, complete with the make, model, trim, msrp, invoice, rebates, residual vales and money factors I could find (along with other performance details for quick comparison). Then I crunched the numbers a bit to come up with a basic monthly payment (with tax using invoice price plus rebates) to give me a ballpark idea as to what to expect per month. I didn’t include inception fees since that number varies from place to place and it usually requires that I actually sit down and start working out the fine details with my dealer. I do however, have a pretty good idea what to expect since I’ve been leasing cars for nearly a decade. I also know that for every $1000 borrowed, that the payments will either increase or decrease by $30 per month. Using this general guideline, I can quickly adjust my payments if one dealers inception fees are higher than another.

Here is a list of what cars we saw this past weekend.

Mercedes Benz C300
BMW 328i
Acura TSX Base
Acura TL Base
Acura TSX V6 Base

MB C300

We made our first stop over at Mercedes Benz of Long Beach. Overall, my wife came away impressed with the built quality, the road manners and it’s performance. The ride was smooth, quiet and satisfying. I also came away impressed with the interior details and features, such as the compass that actually tells you which street you are on without the need of the Navi feature. There was one thing I didn’t like though, which was the cruise control lever. It sits so close to the turn signal that you can sometimes click that by mistake. Anyway, solid ride overall. I didn’t talk dollars and cents because we weren’t ready to take the plunge; but as you know, for the right price, I don’t mind pulling the trigger a little earlier than usual. When it comes to financing a Mercedes though, I think the biggest turn-off are the fees. The $1095 bank fee is over three hundred more than BMWs and nearly double of what Acura charges. Then you got your disposition fee (which can be waived if you stay with MB on your next car) which I dislike a lot because it feels like a gimmick to force you to buy the car. With the bads, there are always going to be good things with MB leases as well. The “pull-ahead” program is great, allowing you to get into your next lease/purchase anywhere from three to five months before you lease ends. The payments are waived, not rolled over into the new car which can help you get in an out of a lease without worrying about negative equity. Plus you can get $500 in wear-n-tear and can get your disposition fee waived.

BMW 328i

After the C300, we headed over to Long Beach BMW. As I have mentioned to many of you. If you are in Southern California and you are in the market for a BMW, Dave is probably one of the easiest guys to work with so I highly recommend him. In any case, as a bonus for visiting, I got to preview the 550 GT, which began rolling into dealerships (in a VERY limited quantities) about a week or two ago. My first impression is that its not really my kind of ride. Its like a X6 and 7-series wrapped together under a 5-series badge. Plush, sophisticated and probably drives well too. But not my cup of tea.

Anyway, while Dave and I chit chatted about the RIDE with G site, upcoming sales and what not, my wife hopped on the freeway and was doing 90 mph in a blink of an eye. This car is fast for being the “lower-end” 3-series. Sure, its no 335i or G37 (I am being biased here), but it’s still pretty quick and nimble. Wife liked the interior, the easy controls and the performance. Her verdict? The best “driver” car so far. The Ultimate Driving machine for all the right reasons.

Acura TSX Base / Acura TL Base/ Acura TSX V6 Base

Our last stop was to visit our dealer Power Acura in Torrance, CA. We got our 2007 TSX from him some years ago, so it is natural to come back to see what kind of deal we can work out for us. My wife got to drive all three of these cars and decided that the TL and the 4cyl TSX were not for her. The TL was a too big, while the TSX 4cyl didn’t have enough power to help her zig-zag through LA traffic. So the TSX V6 was the obvious in-between choice. What we love about Acuras in general is the fact that all their “base” models come loaded with so many features that cost extra on other models such as the C300 and the 328i. The C300 we test drove had an MSRP of $37k, while the 3-series topped at $40k. The V6 TSX came in at $35k and has more standard features than the other two, combined. Money talks and the TSX V6 offered to me was cheap. $1800 off invoice (Eric got an even better deal). $1100 due at signing, $409 per month (including 9.75% sales tax). No security deposit, $595 bank fee, $45 dealer fee, no disposition, GAP included. Problem with this deal is that it will end on the 30th of Nov, when the $1500 dealer cash on the V6 expires. If the cash doesn’t come back, I expect the payments to increase about $50 bucks more per month. Ouch! With the BMW cash and rates, I have until January. Same on the MB, just no cash. There is also the option to special order the 328i or C300 to lock in the rates and then pick it up 2-3 months later when the TSX lease is about to expire. This would put us in a good position because it will keep our expenses at a minimum. In any case, the final decision will come down to how much car can we get for the money, so we will have to test drive a few more rides and price them out some more to get a feel for what other good deals there are out there.

Here is the rest of the “to drive” list:

VW Jetta TDI
VW CC 2.oT Sport
Infiniti G37 Journey Sedan
VW Tiguan S 4motion
Lexus IS250
Hyundai Genesis 3.8 Sedan
Mazda CX-7 GT
Audi A4 2.0T Premium Plus
Mazda 6s GT
Toyota Prius II
Honda Insight EX
Subaru Impress 2.5GT
Subaru Legacy 2.5GT

I know it’s a handful, but we don’t discriminate. Haahaa.

So the moral of this story is simple; Make sure you have a lot of options available to you if you are on a budget. Look around, drive around. Don’t commit to anything. If possible, visit dealers that you already know. This will help you not get stuck with some new guy trying to make a sale and hounding you endlessly. If you don’t have a dealer, you might want to start by looking for one online on Google, Edmunds or TrueCar. The market’s changed and buyers/lessees are in charge right now. Take your time, and do your research. If you have never driven the car, do it early, so you know what you like and what you don’t. I like to start early because it gets me ready to pounce when I see a great deal. It’s still somewhat early in the game for us, so we will be test driving more cars and weighing our options; but so far, the wife is digging the C300, with the 328 and TSX V6 following in a close second and third. Stay tuned for Part 2 of “Shopping for the Next Ride”.

Anyway, here are more pics of the 2010 BMW 550 GT.

2010 BMW 3-Series Lease Rates – November 2009

Published 2009/11/062009/11/13 by G

logo_bmw My Take: Happy Friday everyone! I’ll be out of town this weekend (again) so I’ll leave you with the latest BMW lease rates I found. BMWFS made some minor residual increases for some trims, but models got hit with a higher MF this month. Good news is that there is some holiday cash available for lessees. The 328i trims get $1500 and the 335i trims get $2500. Even the M3 gets a little love with $1500. You only get this cash if you lease or finance through BMWFS, so if you plan to pay cash or finance through your own bank, you won’t qualify. This is a mfg to consumer rebate, so make sure you get some discounts from your dealer as well.

On a side note, there have been a rash of fuel injector problems on the 335i engine according to a few friends of mine who drive them. When you lease, that’s not a huge deal, but the hassle of having to take the car in for service is a factor (at least for me) in the overall ownership/leasing experience of a car. Just a little FYI in case you were shopping for a 335i.

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2009 BMW 3-Series

2010 BMW 3-Series Lease Rates – October 2009

Published 2009/10/04 by G

logo_bmw My Take: Came down with a cold this past week so I’m in recovery mode right now. I haven’t had a chance to respond to your questions, but I will get to them once I’m feeling better. In the meantime, here are the October numbers for the 2010 3-series. In case you were wondering, the numbers are identical to last month’s (September). Coupe numbers look most attractive to me. While 2009 models should still be available for the most part, getting exactly what you want may prove challenging.

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2010 BMW 3-Series

2010 BMW 3-Series Lease Rates – September 2009

Published 2009/09/14 by G

logo_bmw My Take: There still should be 2009 models available for leasing so I would inquire about those first. For the month of September, the coupes are looking mighty fine. Take the 328xi for example, the residual is the highest is will ever be, and the money factor is only about .00145, which translates to about 3.48% APR. Not too shabby if you ask me. You can drop some MSDs to bring it down further if you wish, but personally, I think its fine as is.

I haven’t seen the 2009 numbers, but I will post them if I find them.

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2010 BMW 3-Series

09 BMW 3-Series Lease Rates – August 2009

Published 2009/08/102009/08/10 by G

logo_bmw UPDATE: $2500 lease cash for 335i, $2000 lease cash for 328i. Special thanks to Smitty for gathering the info. Also, per Dave’s email: “In California, it’s $2,000 lease cash. BMW might offer differently in other states that I wouldn’t know about. Auto transmission credits are still in place through the end of this month.” Dave sent me another email today after double checking the bank sheets; here in CA, the lease cash is $2500 for the 335i and $2000 for the 328i, just like Smitty mentioned. Looks like that isn’t the case up in MA according to Jake. It also looks like MikeO is having problems getting the $2500 on the 335i as well.

My Take: I had a little R&R yesterday, so I apologize if I didn’t get to your emails and questions until today. Had a bday to attend, then had to chores around the house, so overall, busy weekend. Anyway I got a lot of good news for you regarding BMW 3-series, courtesy of Dave Persaud of Long Beach BMW. The lease cash on the 3-series and 5-series got bumped to $2000, instead of $1000. If you have a clunker, you can get $3500 towards either a 1, 3, or X3. So about $5500 right there, which excludes any discounts the dealer gives you. Just remember that the car you get has to have at least 22mpg combined mileage or more. The most noticeable change I’m seeing this month is the MF drop on the 335xi coupe (down from 0.00165 to .00145). The rest is pretty much the same as last month, I think. If you shopping for a car right now and don’t jumping on the 3-series right now, I don’t know what to tell you other than DO IT NOW! Dave’s been giving out REALLY low prices for both leases and purchases, so you really can’t go wrong with a 3 this month.

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2009 BMW 3-Series

09 BMW 3-Series Lease Rates – July 2009

Published 2009/07/102009/07/10 by G

logo_bmw UPDATE: $1260 option cash available ONLY on the RWD sedan. $1840 option credit for xDrive sedans. $1000 applies to all 3-series (excluding the wagons and diesel). With these rebates, I think I will be updating THE LIST to include the sedan. I’m really digging the $1260 option plus $1000 lease cash right now on the sedan.

Info courtesy of Dave, so all you So Cal residents, please show him the love by giving him the 1st shot at earning your business.

My Take: There are some changes to the 3-series lease rates. For the most part, they are good, specially on the coupes. MF drops on the 328xi and it also miraculously goes up 1% in residual. LOL. The 335d drops 3% in residual value (bad) and the 335i and 335ix coupes’ money factor drop to .00165, from .00175 (good). The 335ix suffers a 1% residual hit however. Other than that, most of the lease rates are unchanged from June on the 3-series. Nothing exciting going on with the Ms. If you are in the market for a BMW coupe, this month is pretty good. I believe that $1260 option credit is still going on for automatics, so jump on it! That should easily save you around $30 a month.

Here’s some free advice that actually saves you money. If your lease is a few months away from ending, figure out how much extra it would cost you if you wait vs if you get a car now. I reminded everyone not to sit on the C350s due to the low money factors and the $2000 cash for almost 4 months. People who pulled the trigger before the end of June saved themselves $2000. Those who didn’t are pretty much shopping for something else right now. So here you have a $1260 free automatic option which I believe is untaxed (a good thing) on the 3-series. If you still have a few months left on your lease, figure out if its more that this discount or not. If its more, you obviously wait. If its not, pull the trigger. Banks pull these promos out without warning. I can’t predict these things, not one can. If I could, believe me, I would tell you. You are literally taking your chances here. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

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2009 BMW 3-Series

09 BMW 3-Series Lease Rates – June 2009

Published 2009/06/05 by G

logo_bmw My Take: 3-Series lease rates stayed relatively the same as last month. The only difference I am seeing is the 335i and 335xi getting a .0001 bump on the money factor. Here’s good news, there is $1000 lease cash available to customers, so make sure to factor that into your offer. The 335i is also getting special APR offers of 2.9% so those might be a better buy than a lease. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but please remember to provide me with the MSRP, Sale Price, Inception Fees, Tax Rate, MF and Residual if you would like me to examine your deal. I’ve been asked numerous times to analyze a deal without those numbers and the truth is I can’t give you an accurate analysis of it without all those numbers. So make sure you get those numbers from your dealer. If they won’t give it, you shouldn’t be doing business with them. It is all about full disclosure folks. Would you buy a house without knowing the interest rest you would be paying? I know I wouldn’t.

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			At Invoice		At MSRP
Make/Model	Invoice	MSRP	24-month	36-month	24-month	36-month
2009 BMW 328i Sedan	$31,735	$34,425	$549	$449	$667	$530
2009 BMW 335i Coupe	$39,650	$43,025	$691	$532	$837	$632

NOTE: Estimates assuming the following conditions:

Inception fees (1st month payment, DMV, doc fee, bank fee, tire tax and possible security deposit) due at signing.
Local Taxes not included.
24-month/15k and 36-month/15k terms.
All cars are stock, without any options.
No rebates/incentives applied

2009 BMW 3-Series

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