Hooniverse Asks: What Cars and Trucks Should Never Be Bought, Only Ever Leased?

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There are very few instances where driving a new car off the lot will suddenly increase its value, and in fact it’s almost a given that that instantaneous change from new to pre-owned will more likely occur with a dip in worth. Sometimes it’s not too bad, while at other times it’s like you’ve just flushed a sizable percentage of your purchase price right down the toilet.
One of the worst cars for initial year depreciation is the Hyundai Genesis sedan, which for its first birthday gets an almost 40% drop in its market value. That’s according to a study done by iseecars.com. Other wallet vampyres include the Smart ForTwo and Cadillac CTS. Sorry folks at both ends of the spectrum.
That kind of hit can really affect your finances if you’re not Donald Trump. It can also affect the lease cost of a car, only probably not as much as to purchase. Leasing can ensure that you dump a car before the warranty dumps you, which can also save a ton of heartache.
With those things in mind what are the cars that you would never ever buy, and would only ever have under lease?
Image: Wheels.ca

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  1. Citric Avatar
    Citric

    None.

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      And that’s my stance. A remote acquaintance asked for car advice a while back, she wanted a seven seater. She had had a good Opel Zafira, that grew a second home at the shop. Then she bought a Touran, which was much worse, an unreliable irritation. I gave her standard advice: Japanese fare, used, from depreciation valley.
      She leased a new f* Touran.
      I am actually a bit irritated. These cars are known to be rolling maintenance hobbies. She has already burnt herself. So…why?? She claims the 150000NOK the lease will cost her over three years is a good deal, but I’ve bought, driven and maintained my Honda for years and over 40k km for less. She hasn’t even started the engine or insured the car at that price point, and she owns nil when the three years are over.
      I’ll never get normal people logic. At least the crap can has new car warranty.

      1. pj134 Avatar
        pj134

        Yeah, I got my Sonata for 12k USD with some cash for clunkers assistance. We’re on our 7th year and rapidly approaching 100k hard miles without so much as a whimper.

      2. Citric Avatar
        Citric

        I can understand buying new for various reasons – in my case, the pure convenience of buying something with a manual transmission with relative ease instead of searching the entire country for what I wanted – but it still makes more sense to buy and run it until you can’t stand it anymore instead of leasing, dealing with stupid conditions and throwing the money away.

        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          True, if you can afford what you truly want – congrats! It’s just that this case isn’t necessarily a “I want this model and nothing else!”, to me it’s about ignoring advice and burning money. I just hope she’s going to be happy with it.

  2. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    Given how BMWs have evolved in the past couple years, I’m going to say none of them. Leasing gives manufacturers an out to build things that suck to live with outside of warranty, because the people who give them money don’t care. I want a dipstick damnit.

    1. BigRedCaveTroll Avatar
      BigRedCaveTroll

      If I was in the market for a new car and could afford a new BMW, I would strongly consider one until I looked under the hood, then I would close it and walk out of the dealership in tears. Old BMWs are so easy to work on. What happened?

    2. neight428 Avatar
      neight428

      Modern BMW’s are made for people that want to spend a hell of a lot of money on cars, no two ways about it. They may be great, but the marginal cost over decent transportation is astonishing. A seven year old BMW 328i is worth about as much as a seven year old Honda CR-V. A ten year old 7-series is worth about as much as a ten year old pickup truck.

    3. Ahnuc Onun Avatar
      Ahnuc Onun

      Wrong! Manufacturers would rather NOT lease cars. It’s WAAAYY more complicated, so it costs MORE money to manage and administer a lease portfolio. And since they didn’t ultimately SELL them and STILL own them, they have to do something with these cars once they come back off-lease if the lessees did not buy them out, often having to re-market them at a loss.Remember manufacturers guarantee the residual value of leased cars so if a car depreciates more than expected, REGARDLESS of the reason, it’s the manufacturer’s problem unless the lessee buys it. Why do you think manufacturer-supported leasing almost disappeared from 2007 to 2010? Because of all the gas-sucking behemoth SUV’s that lost their value and clogged the auction lanes all at the same time. So tell me again, why would a manufacturer purposely make a car that falls apart after the warranty expires, if THEY themselves have to re-sell them? In other words: DON’T EVER LEASE A CAR UNLESS IT’S A MANUFACTURER SUPPORTED AND GUARANTEED LEASE.
      The REAL reason why cars are getting worse outside of warranty is because of over-complication due to perceived market demands and prestige., cost-cutting where people don’t see it and planned obsolesence. Manufacturers have to keep up with the latest doo-dads, bells-and-whistles, and general b^!!&#!t that people stupidly shell out for to have bragging rights but never end up using anyway. I see it every day of my life. Manufacturers purposely call for the replacement of whole “units” or “modules” because it’s cheaper than educating a mechanic to become an engineer, and given labour rates, cheaper than tearing these ultra-complex units apart to fix a small part of it.

      1. Maymar Avatar
        Maymar

        Eh, leasing guarantees more sales through dependable 3-4 year turnover cycles, and it only almost disappeared from domestic manufacturers. I also think BMW and such are depending on their desirability to maintain residuals.
        Also, I never said anyone deliberately makes a car that falls apart outside of warranty, just that it’s not exactly one of their primary goals. Isn’t the free maintenance that a number of manufacturers include also inadequate for long-term ownership? You’re not wrong though, about the modulization bit though. and the constant drive for newer and better (although I’m sure part of that is driven by the need to to keep that constant leasing cycle going).

  3. kogashiwa Avatar
    kogashiwa

    My view is if there are such cars (Audis come to mind, fairly or not), I probably don’t want any part of them whether purchased or leased.

  4. Tiberiuswise Avatar

    Land Rovers*. Seriously, if you can’t afford to lease one with a full warranty, you can’t afford to drive a Land Rover.
    *does not include Defender, especially if you’re willing to work on it yourself.

  5. WinstonSmith84 Avatar
    WinstonSmith84

    German cars, British cars, Swedish cars, Italian cars, Korean cars, American cars, and anything with forced induction.

    1. engineerd Avatar
      engineerd

      So you would buy a Citroen, Skoda, Lada, or Birkin new?

      1. WinstonSmith84 Avatar
        WinstonSmith84

        Heavens no, but we don’t have Citroen, Skoda or Lada in the US. The closest thing is VW, and that falls under the German cars rule no matter where they make them. Also, sometimes not buying a given car isn’t enough. I wouldn’t lease a French car and would likely turn one down as a daily rental. I don’t know enough about Birkin to say whether I’d own one or not.

  6. TheOtherMacLeod Avatar
    TheOtherMacLeod

    Lexus LFA.. Ha!

  7. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    Current generation electric cars. After two or three years the batteries start to degrade and won’t reach full charge. Eventually the battery needs to be replaced at a cost of $5000+.

    1. Alff Avatar
      Alff

      Jinx you owe me a Coke

  8. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    Electric cars

    1. Alcology Avatar
      Alcology

      100%. There’s a $200 optional service with Tesla that if you don’t have it done severely cripples your warranty. That hertz.

      1. JayP Avatar
        JayP

        $200 optional service?
        Just $200? Hell, a rebuilt alternator is $200.

        1. Alcology Avatar
          Alcology

          The bigger issue is if you choose not to do the “optional” service, if something goes wrong with any of the batteries or whatever, that’s now on you to pay for the full service rather than the warranty covering it as it should. It’s really not optional

          1. JayP Avatar
            JayP

            $200 is pretty cheap… consider an oil change for an Audi is getting to $100.

          2. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            Will that hold up in court? Sounds ridiculous to me.

  9. Fred Talmadge Avatar
    Fred Talmadge

    If I was rich and wanted a new car every year, then I’d just lease them.

  10. Alcology Avatar
    Alcology

    Tesla.

  11. Tanshanomi Avatar

    Cars that we’d all like to see on the used market cheaply in 3 years.

    1. engineerd Avatar
      engineerd

      This was my answer. Hence why I bought an off-lease BMW and when the time comes to finally satisfy my lust for a Land Rover will probably buy an off-lease CPO.
      Other vehicles don’t make sense for us “never buy new” guys. For example, an off-lease Jeep Wrangler or Toyota 4Runner doesn’t provide a real bargain due to how well they maintain their value.

    2. pj134 Avatar
      pj134

      Have you looked at ATS off lease prices?
      It’s mildly arousing.

      1. neight428 Avatar
        neight428

        Agreed. I feel bad for the poor sap that took the depreciation hit.

        1. Fred Talmadge Avatar
          Fred Talmadge

          Nothing unusual for a Cadillac to have a huge depreciation.

          1. neight428 Avatar
            neight428

            No, but it is unusual for them to offer a car I’d actually consider wanting.

  12. JayP Avatar
    JayP

    The easy answer is Audi… but that’s more a warranty issue and depreciation.
    I’d have to lease an Accord or Camry. First, they hold the value and keep the lease cost down. Second, I’d still be able to say I’ve never owned an Accord/Camry.

    1. Kiefmo Avatar
      Kiefmo

      Accord /= Camry.
      Point of soreness.

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        I think that might be worth an actual comparison post. Jeff? Kamil?

    1. P161911 Avatar
      P161911

      Of course $30k for a small 4 door hatchback with the equivalent of a 3.5 gallon gas tank that takes 6 hours to refill is ridiculous without the rebates and subsidies. The used prices more closely reflect the real world value. I lease a Leaf. In addition to the $7500 Federal credit off the top, I got $5000 off my state taxes, I think Nissan had some rebate when I got mine. The only reason I got the car was because after the gas savings it is pretty much free except for the insurance.

  13. pj134 Avatar
    pj134

    If you’re looking to get rid of a car before you hit 6 figures on the odometer then lease it. Other than that, buy it and drive it until its death is worthy of a spot in car Valhalla.

  14. Feds_II Avatar
    Feds_II

    Let me flip the question to a specific model:
    I’m looking at an ’05 Expedition with the 5.4. It’s got ~87,000 miles on it and is immaculate inside and out. Carpet floormats even look new.
    Dealer will change the spark plugs as a condition of sale, and the cam phasers are currently not making noise.
    Should I stay the hell away from the 5.4, or are they not-as-bad-as-the-internet-makes-them-sound?

    1. ninjabortion Avatar
      ninjabortion

      If you like the truck go for it. I’ve got 170k on my 97 expedition with a 5.4, love the thing. The only thing i hate is that it is one of the first few rushed off the line so the rear floor plan is flat, meaning i can’t swap in a 3rd row from a junk yard. The roof has no plugs to remove and attach a rack, more waterproof i guess though, whenever friends think they see me driving around i just say look for a roof rack, if it has one, it ain’t me. Maintenance wise it has been great.

  15. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    The only way you come out ahead on leasing something is if you happen to know that the dealer has a bad estimate in the rate for the amount of depreciation. At the dealers, cars come in and cars go out. In a lease arrangement, they are pre-arranging what they are getting financially on two transactions simultaneously. If you want to get pre-screwed on the trade-in, by all means lease.

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      I tried to crunsh the numbers for leasing once, and had a V70 and an Outback in the final round. I can tell you, these guys know their numbers! Subaru-man looked at the Volvo deal and it took him half a minute to assess “there’s 30000NOK missing here” – yes, that was a Volvo dealer incentive. He also agreed that leasing is financing in the dealer’s favour, and earned my full respect by treating me with honesty and respect himself.

  16. salguod Avatar

    I’m thinking the opposite, or maybe I misunderstood the question.
    Cars that drop 40% in the first year are the cars you avoid leasing because you’re paying for the most expensive year of it’s life. Instead, you lease a Honda which will hold its value well and you pay less for that first year (or three). Honda lease prices tend to be very attractive, assuming you like leases.
    The cars that drop are the ones you buy used 2-3 years old, maybe off lease. Let the first guy take the hit.

    1. cap'n fast Avatar
      cap’n fast

      i regretted leasing every time i wrote that monthly check and included sales tax in the payment. truly annoying.

      1. salguod Avatar

        Yeah, but if you had bought the car, you’d have paid sales tax on the entire purchase price.

  17. marmer Avatar
    marmer

    None, indeed. Also the mileage restriction on your lease can bite you if your work or living situation changes. Yes, Audi is the poster child for depreciation, but depreciation doesn’t matter if you intend to drive it forever. And I’m a big fan of choosing only cars that you can enjoy forever, not just the cheapest appliance that Consumer Reports recommends.