It only changes when part of the cost of the lease is paid — either up front as a down payment or later as a higher monthly payment.
This is an important fact about car leasing that should be understood. To see the dramatic difference between promotional leases and normal leases, see our article, Incentive Car Leases — Best Way to Lease. Both are excellent deals — actually the same deal — just different down payment. Most lease deals from any manufacturer can be arranged so that no cash is required up front, although it increases the monthly payment.
See the following article for details: Zero Down Car Leases. Low prices and high residuals, in combination, make the cheapest car leases. Get real dealer price offers from multiple dealers who compete for your business. Go with the best offer and the best deal. In general, car brands with the highest residuals are Japanese and European. There are exceptions of course. Some European models have lower than average residuals, and some American models have higher than average residuals.
Our Lease Kit has average residuals for all car makes and models and shows which cars are best and worst to lease.
Without a promotional lease deal, you must negotiate your best price for the vehicle you want to lease. The lower the lease price, the lower the monthly payment and overall lease cost. Toyota, Honda and Nissan , for example have low-cost models that also have high residuals — and they as of this writing are offering great discounts which lowers cost even further — a perfect combination for leasing. The Honda Civic and Honda Fit are good examples. They base this on a heavily discounted price, a high lease-end residual value, and a super-low money factor equivalent to 0.
The Honda Fit has the highest residual value and would make the cheapest lease, assuming prices were equal. For a little more money each month, look at slightly larger cars such as the popular Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, and Nissan Sentra.
These all have high residual values and often have promotional lease deals and rebate offers. Some have special rebates for college grads or military personnel. Bonus for switching: We're seeing this offer in cities on the East Coast and West Coast.
Big discounts help make the Envision an outstanding vehicle to lease. If you're looking for more value, the Envision could be worth a look. This is a featured deal in California, but we're seeing aggressive offers elsewhere too. Cheaper than a QX You'll have a tough time finding a better deal in this class without some sort of catch, like incentives that not everyone may be eligible for.
Examples here are based in California.
The Tacoma's high residual value often makes it an excellent truck to lease. This is a regional offer available in Southern California, but expect to see good deals elsewhere as well.
Although the Clarity Plug-In isn't a pure electric vehicle, we think plug-in buyers will find it to be an excellent deal. With a range of 47 miles on electric power and seating for 5, shoppers may find the Clarity more appealing than the Prime's mile range and ability to seat just 4 passengers. Saved Vehicles 0 Saved Searches 0.
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Featured Stories. Over three years and 36, miles, that pencils out to 22 cents a mile. The Rogue is bigger, but the Rogue Sport would be our choice. The Volkswagen Jetta has been redesigned for , and yet, in some markets, the new version can be leased for less than the outgoing model. Again looking at New York, a Jetta S 1. You've gotta really want the older version to pay 47 cents per mile rather than 40 cents. Come on, Mazda—do the right thing.
Toyota's lease deals are highly tailored to various regions. Our chart factors in that mandatory charge, but why does Toyota perform this shuffle for sophisticated East Coast lessees? Every month the best deal on the big chart is the Honda Civic Si , available in both coupe and sedan forms for just over our price point. And the signing cash on these month leases is reasonable, too: We hope some of you readers have taken our advice and signed up for a new Si.
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