The Raven

Sticker was $39k, I put down $1000, payment is $302/month on a 36m/15k lease. Also, don't buy the whole down payment hype. A lease is actually very simple. It's selling price and fees, minus residual, plus interest, all divided by term. That's it. For example, if the selling price (including fees) of the car you are looking to lease is $30000, and the residual is $20000, then you are going to pay $10000 for that lease. You can put nothing down and pay $10000 over 36 months (if that's the term you choose), or you can put $1000 down and pay $9000 over 36 months (resulting in a lower payment), or you can put down $5000 and pay $5000 over 36 months. In all scenarios you are paying $10000 for the lease. In fact there is an argument for a higher down payment - it reduces the interest you have to pay on the lease. The original argument is against BIG down payments, like the $3000-$4000 that advertised lease specials always require. In almost all cases, if you are going to put down that much money, you are going to get a better deal on a longer-term buy than a lease, so basically, you shouldn't be leasing if you can put that much down. A common response to this is "well the only way I can afford the payment is to lease and put $4000 down!"...guess what that means? That means YOU CAN'T AFFORD THE CAR! ...and i'll stop here before I segway into a rant on people and their money.