
Originally Posted by
EJ25RUN
These "people that are gonna buy it" Talk about some of the most ridiculous things you have to go through to lease to own a car.
Autoblog:
The monthly lease payment on the Lexus LFA is $12.398.44. For 24 months. That's $297,562.56 worth of lease payments over two years, at the end of which you own nothing. However, Lexus is quick to point out that the LFA's MSRP is $375,000, so you're technically not paying full price. And at the end of 24 months, lessees are free to plunk down an additional $93,750 (more than the base price of a very comparable Nissan GT-R, we should mention) and buy their LFA outright.
Of course, you can't just waltz into your local Lexus dealership with $12,398.44 and rocket waltz out in an LFA. Lexus has to actually select you to lease its (admittedly awesome) car. Once you're chosen, you've got 10 days to drop off a $10,000 deposit at your local Lexus dealer and submit to a credit check. We should mention that this will not be the only deposit and credit check Lexus requires.
Once your credit checks out, you then have to deposit an additional $50,000. To mini-recap, that's $60,000 down on a $375,000 car. Sounds reasonable (from a detached, algebraic ratio perspective) until you remember that you're not buying the car, just leasing it. All of this will be/is happening from March–June 2010. Production of the LFA doesn't start until December. We don't know how long each car will take to build, but customers lessees will be required to go through a second credit check immediately prior to delivery. We're not entirely sure you really want to pass the second credit check. Here's why.
Remember the $12,398.44 per month lease payment we mentioned a couple paragraphs up? That's just the breakdown. All LFAs are being doled out via Lexus' 1Pay Lease Program. Meaning that to lease the LFA, you hand Lexus a check for $237,562.56, which is the full amount of the lease minus your $60,000 pair of deposits. Oh, and there's a $700 "aquisition fee." Plus tax, title, license and registration. The good news? Even though you have to lease the LFA, because of the lengthy approval/deposit process, each car is still made to order. Meaning that even though you don't own the car, you can still order it in Passionate Pink, a $3,000 option.