[Dhattboybryant]

It's almost time for me to finish my tour over here in Japan. One of the first things on my list when I get back home is to get my very first camaro! Now the only question that I've had bothering me is to either lease or finance. Any insight will be greatly appreciated! Thank you

[Switchy]

Don't lease. It always hurts me seeing people take and throw away money each month for just renting there car (which you can't say it's yours). Be a baller and just buy the car 5 to 6 years of payments and the car is totally yours. Good enough condition you could even sell it and get the 7th gen Camaro whenever it comes out or something else.. my thoughts some people might not agree

[ZKJR88]

I got a 2 year lease on my RS, and if things really work out for me in these two years, I will purchase the SS next. This is like a trial period for me, if Camaro is really suited for me or not.

It all depends on your situation.

If you have to get a loan to buy the car, assess your ability to make the payments for the duration of the contract - ex. 5 years or 8 years. Will you even keep the car for that long? You might get "bored." Do you keep your cars for extended periods?

If you have to get rid of the car somewhere down the road, you will most likely be underwater (Car being less than the amount owing). Just make sure you make a good downpayment if you want to keep this car.

[MiamiBlueCamaro]

Are you going to keep the car for a long time? if yes then buy.
You are not sure if you like the camaro that much and at the first pretty picture of a mustang thinking of jumping ship? if yes then lease.

[freddyD]

At the end of the lease you are back to square one,is that where you want to be?

[sprtplt]

Originally Posted by MiamiBlueCamaro

Are you going to keep the car for a long time? if yes then buy.
You are not sure if you like the camaro that much and at the first pretty picture of a mustang thinking of jumping ship? if yes then lease.

Nope. Even MORE of reason to buy is if you are not sure or think you may sell sooner. It will always be far easier to sell a car you financed rather than a leased car. Even if you make it to lease-end, you would be better off selling a car you bought than turning in a lease.

Buy or lease, this all assumes you get a good deal regardless. You can easily make a bad buy and even easier get taken advantage of with a lease.

[raptor5244]

The lease programs on the Camaro have not been very good so far. GM Financial has been the sole provider in most cases and the money factor and residual values have not been good. I like to lease but I had to buy this time around due to the undesirable lease offers.

[angelbones]

Originally Posted by Switchy

Don't lease. It always hurts me seeing people take and throw away money each month for just renting there car (which you can't say it's yours). Be a baller and just buy the car 5 to 6 years of payments and the car is totally yours. Good enough condition you could even sell it and get the 7th gen Camaro whenever it comes out or something else.. my thoughts some people might not agree

Count me as one who does not necessarily agree. Let me start by saying it depends on what you plan to do with the car. If your plan is to keep it 4 or more years, then absolutely buy (especially at 0%). However, if you're like me and you get antsy every couple years, then leasing is the only way to go. The reason it is not throwing money away when you lease is because you are mainly paying for depreciation. That exact same car if you bought it, and then tried to sell it after 3 years would cost AT A MINIMUM the exact same amount as if you bought, and almost always much worse. In other words, let's say in 3 years the best you could sell your car for is $20k less than what you paid. Whereas, if you leased and your total payments came out to $18k, then you actually came out ahead better than if you bought it.

I was once like you and thought who the hell would ever lease a car, it's throwing money away. Well, after the Cadillac, Nissan, Rx-8, losing money every time I traded, I added up the numbers and it wasn't making sense. The Cadillac CTS coupe was the final straw. I thought I was doing that one smartly by buying a slightly used 2012 model in 2012 with about 10k miles on it. Still had over three years of free maintenance and a warranty left so I was feeling good. I loved that car, but I had an itch for something faster. Here's real world numbers. Paid $40k. About 30 months later, the best I could get was $22k. Now, if I had bought new and got a decent MF and residual, my monthly may have been around $600 (if I bought new of course as they were selling price of about $47k). Multiply by that 30 payments and I just lost $2k on a USED, much less new. That was generous. If I was the sucker who bought it new, then I would have lost even more. Same thing happened with my Nissan and Mazda that I paid cash for. When it came time to trade, I would have been way better off. Additionally, depending on the state, you're not paying sales tax up front. The other kicker for me was getting into an accident. In Florida, it's practically inevitable. My RX-8 was in an accident. Body shop repaired good as new. However, at trade in time, dealer doesn't care and they knock several thousand off the trade. (Welcome to the Carfax age). If I had leased that Mazda, I don't eat that extra loss due to the accident, the manufacturer does.

I'll reiterate that it depends on your situation, but just wanted to weigh in and say that even with GM's pretty bad residual right now, leasing is not necessarily a bad option. Furthermore, I'm liking the car so much that I may just end up buying it at the end (which FYI, is not the smart thing to do in general, but enjoying a car this much makes you do non-smart things sometimes).

[Hyper16]

I started out with a lease because I wasn't sure if I was going to keep the car beyond my normal 3-4 years. After having it for a short time I decided to start doing mods. Looking now to buy out the lease and either finance for a low bank rate or just finance it myself by borrowing against my own money.
Either way, you'll love the ride. Definitely plan on keeping mine.

[fzr100098]

Buy, don't fleece (Dave Ramsey term) unless you have disposable income and just like driving a new car every couple of years

My last car was an '06 S2000 that I purchased with 4k on the clock for about $23k - drove it for eight years and put about 70k miles on it, just traded it for $17k on the new Camaro

Hard to beat those numbers

[raptor5244]

Originally Posted by angelbones

Count me as one who does not necessarily agree. Let me start by saying it depends on what you plan to do with the car. If your plan is to keep it 4 or more years, then absolutely buy (especially at 0%). However, if you're like me and you get antsy every couple years, then leasing is the only way to go. The reason it is not throwing money away when you lease is because you are mainly paying for depreciation. That exact same car if you bought it, and then tried to sell it after 3 years would cost AT A MINIMUM the exact same amount as if you bought, and almost always much worse. In other words, let's say in 3 years the best you could sell your car for is $20k less than what you paid. Whereas, if you leased and your total payments came out to $18k, then you actually came out ahead better than if you bought it.

I was once like you and thought who the hell would ever lease a car, it's throwing money away. Well, after the Cadillac, Nissan, Rx-8, losing money every time I traded, I added up the numbers and it wasn't making sense. The Cadillac CTS coupe was the final straw. I thought I was doing that one smartly by buying a slightly used 2012 model in 2012 with about 10k miles on it. Still had over three years of free maintenance and a warranty left so I was feeling good. I loved that car, but I had an itch for something faster. Here's real world numbers. Paid $40k. About 30 months later, the best I could get was $22k. Now, if I had bought new and got a decent MF and residual, my monthly may have been around $600 (if I bought new of course as they were selling price of about $47k). Multiply by that 30 payments and I just lost $2k on a USED, much less new. That was generous. If I was the sucker who bought it new, then I would have lost even more. Same thing happened with my Nissan and Mazda that I paid cash for. When it came time to trade, I would have been way better off. Additionally, depending on the state, you're not paying sales tax up front. The other kicker for me was getting into an accident. In Florida, it's practically inevitable. My RX-8 was in an accident. Body shop repaired good as new. However, at trade in time, dealer doesn't care and they knock several thousand off the trade. (Welcome to the Carfax age). If I had leased that Mazda, I don't eat that extra loss due to the accident, the manufacturer does.

I'll reiterate that it depends on your situation, but just wanted to weigh in and say that even with GM's pretty bad residual right now, leasing is not necessarily a bad option. Furthermore, I'm liking the car so much that I may just end up buying it at the end (which FYI, is not the smart thing to do in general, but enjoying a car this much makes you do non-smart things sometimes).

Good points. I like to lease as well and I leased my last Camaro because the lease figures worked out well. However, the MF and RV were just awful when I was shopping. The MF was like double what I had and RV went from like 62% @ 39 on my 2013 months to 54% @ 36 months for the 2016. Hopefully, the MF and RV is improving for folks that like to lease.

[raptor5244]

Originally Posted by fzr100098

Buy, don't fleece (Dave Ramsey term) unless you have disposable income and just like driving a new car every couple of years

My last car was an '06 S2000 that I purchased with 4k on the clock for about $23k - drove it for eight years and put about 70k miles on it, just traded it for $17k on the new Camaro

Hard to beat those numbers

Yeah, that is because you were driving a Honda S2000, which are scarce now and still in high demand. Unfortunately, we wont see that kind of resale on our Camaros. Expect $25k-$28k after 3 years on 2SS.

[MiamiBlueCamaro]

Originally Posted by sprtplt

Nope. Even MORE of reason to buy is if you are not sure or think you may sell sooner. It will always be far easier to sell a car you financed rather than a leased car. Even if you make it to lease-end, you would be better off selling a car you bought than turning in a lease.

Buy or lease, this all assumes you get a good deal regardless. You can easily make a bad buy and even easier get taken advantage of with a lease.

Dude what are you talking about? If you are not sure what to buy then don't buy anything.

[angelbones]

Originally Posted by raptor5244

Yeah, that is because you were driving a Honda S2000, which are scarce now and still in high demand. Unfortunately, we wont see that kind of resale on our Camaros. Expect $25k-$28k after 3 years on 2SS.

Exactly! I will state again for the third time, buying IS the right thing to do for some people. I was only offering an alternative. Btw, I don't recall the exact MF I got, but it worked out to be around 3-4% APR. My residual, though, I'm sure was at 59%. Granted, I did a 36 month/10k mile, but I even looked at BMW, who usually has pretty good residuals and they were only offering 59% for the exact same term. I was pretty sure I was getting the Camaro anyway, but once I saw that competitor's rate it sealed the deal on getting a Camaro. With more and more people leasing, unfortunately resale value on ALL cars are going to take a hit. You want to see depreciation. Look at a 3, 4, or 5 year old Bentley Continental. $240k new. $100k used. Ouch!