griza

Its been awhile since ive been on here. Im getting ready to rejoin the Audi family after selling my nogaro S4 years ago. I'm getting ready to get rid of my CLS55 AMG and the S6 is really calling my attention. I've never leased before due to me driving 15-20k miles per year. My living and work situation has changed and my miles will be cut in half leading me to consider leasing. What type of numbers are you seeing? I would consider putting a significant amount down or zero depending on what that will do to the payment. Go easy on me as this is a first lease. I usually pay cash but am considering a different route this time. Thanks guys!

mwar99

From what I understand Audi lease deals are not that great. They do not subsidize their leases like BMW and MB.

///M Traitor

You have to just run the numbers and compare. For the Lease, figure your total cost for the lease over term (including all fees) and compare to what you think the depreciation will be at the end of the term. In other words, could you sell the car for more money if you owned it?

With interest rates as low as they are, a lease is probably going to be a worse financial investment. But, some people put a very high value on just handing in their car and not having the hassle of selling it or trading it in.

I personally thought the lease was a terrible offer for the S6, especially since I drive only 5k miles per year. So, I financed it from a third party at 1.5%. The financing total cost is something like $3,000 for the 5 year loan.

Rich-SLine

I'm leasing my car and I found that my price was pretty reasonable for a $88K build for 42 months. I usually get rid of cars after about 2 years and though Audi's don't lease well, I found a dealer who was working with me. The amount you put down doesn't affect the overall price like financing would. I always put $0 down on a lease because God forbid You get into an accident and total the car, anything you put down on the car in order to get your supplemental payments down, is lost. Your insurance will not refund that, it only covers the remainder of what you owe on the lease. That being said, lease insurance is a little bit higher a month than financing due to the gap insurance. My advice would be put that down payment in the bank, let it accumulate interest and pull from it every month to make your payments more manageable instead of putting any money down.

///M Traitor

Lol, please tell me where I can make more than 0.5% in a bank these days. Just ask the Seniors, as fixed income dependants, and they'll tell you that Bernanke has crushed their income.

Rich-SLine

This is true. The reason the Audi rep told me this is when you try to trade a Audi in early before the lease terms are completed, you are still around cost so you aren't paying as much out of pocket. With BMWs and MBs, you literally have to keep the car throughout the entire lease before you are at that level. It's part of the reason why there a A4/A6/A8 owners who change over to S4/S6/S8 cars within a year or two of leasing them.

Rich-SLine

Ha! Definitely didn't mean it as an investment strategy just as in that money may be safer there than putting it upfront in a lease. But like those Seniors say a penny saved is a penny earned.

S4thrills

I gave serious consideration to leasing but couldn't make the numbers work. Every scenario I ran ended up more costly in the long-run, so I ended up just getting a loan at a ridiculously low interest rate. Interestingly, banks usually can not touch my local credit union, but I ended up getting the loan through the dealer from US Bank at 16bps lower than what my CU was offering.

///M Traitor

For those looking for good Finance rates, check out Pentagon Federal Credit Union. www.penfed.org.

They are currently offering 0.74% for online loan applications through their online buying service (buy through one of their partner audi dealers in network).

In my case, the car I wanted was not at one of their dealers so I took the higher rate (still only 1.49%!!!!) and walked into my dealer with a big fat check.

turbonator

Yes, I almost financed thru them in March. I thought for sure no one could beat their rate but lo and behold, the dealer (thru Bank of America) beat them by 0.25%. Crazy times, but the low-interest rate punchbowl will be going away.