Auto lease deals

Was looking at options for trade-in’s in the wife’s 2018 Kia Forte with 19k miles. The values were insane for a 5 year old sedan with no personality whatsoever. Did some math and at the current finance rate (2.39%) as opposed to the 6% she was still paying on it, and the trade-in value of her Kia, we walked away at almost a 1:1 payment in this guy which was used but had been lingering on the dealers lot



I ended up loving her little mini so much that I ended up getting one for myself at 2.34%.


The countryman was one I had been looking at for a while, so I knew all the options and packages that were available for it. This one popped up on Carmax’s website and as soon as I saw the pics, I realized it was a totally spec’d out model with every option package available for the model year (including the diamond patterned British Oak leather interior) and the rare 6-speed manual.



If this car had ended up at a Mini dealership, it would have gone for 20% more than Carmax was asking, but since they just plugged the mileage and model into a calculator, they missed the fact that this was almost $50k optioned when new and had special order color/interior/transmission.

There are still some deals out there to be had, but like said above- they need to be slightly odd models (less derivable than the appliances most people want) and you need to either have cash in hand or bring your own financing (which is what I did).

And I am keeping my A3 which is behind the others in the group shot as it being 16 years old, it really has no value. But it’s a spectacular car which I can now have some fun with since it’s no longer my daily

Ahhh…the R53, actually made in UK and a true drivers car- so much so that it was pretty hated among the masses (suspension too stiff, not enough leg room, requires regular servicing, have to wax it) and thus dumbed down for the next generation r56.
I will have an R53 at some point, they are stupid cheap right now, but a minefield as so many weren’t properly maintained (as in the old fashioned schedules we old BMW owners used to follow).
Already planning for a new suspension and turbo back exhaust for the A3, got those all spec’d out. It’s basically a free car to me at this point as I’ve had it 11 years. So what do you do with a free Audi A3 that has been perfectly maintained….hmmm

But….you have to give him your ‘21 now so he can sell it and once they have that whole chip thing sorted out around mid ‘23, you can have your ‘22 that’s been rusting away in a seaside dock awaiting the nav processor for 1.5yrs 😉