Leasing 2019 SEL. Residual value?

[johnnylingo]

My finance's been driving my 2016 SE for about a year now, and see likes it so much she almost never drivers her 2009 Subaru. While the 2019 SEs are nowhere to be found, Sunnyvale has over 50 2019 SELs and seems to be looking to move them.

We are interested in the SEL just for the longer range and safety features, but even at a discounted sales price of around $31.7k and $10k trade-in for the 2016 SE, it's still quite a lot to be paying. To get the sales price, a minimum $5000 loan with 5.9% APR is required, which has now made buying less appealing. So we're considering a lease. Terms would be 36 month, 10k miles/yr, zero down with a drive-off of just under $1500.

Does anyone in an SEL lease know what their residual is? I'm thinking it's somewhere in the $15-20k range, But want to know before we lease as there's a good chance we may buy it out.

Sidenote - we spent the last couple weeks looking at the Kona and Nero, didn't like either. The Kona's back seat and trunk are tiny, and while things are better in the Nero it's interior felt meh and the screen is unimpressive. And either would be $10k more than the e-Golf SEL.

 

[JoulesThief]

I would just wait until the next newer model comes out, or look for a 2017 for cheap.

As you know, I own a 2015 SEL, and I've test driven 5 or 6 2019's in SEL versions. Even though the battery pack is almost 36 kW, while the one in your 2016 is 24.2 kW, I struggled to get 5.2 miles / kWh in any of the 2019's. I regularly get 6.0 to 6.3 miles /kWh or better in my 2015.

My point being, I'd have thought with the bigger battery pack, I'd get another 45 to 50% of range with the 2019, but that is not the case, at all. With 32 kW usable at 5.2 kW , range maximum would be 166 miles, and I'd take 15 miles of of that to keep out of the reserve, or 153 miles.

The higher HP Chinese made 2017 motor with more torque is far, far less efficient driving around town, than the older 2015 2016 motors made in Germany.

Just saying, the newer models with bigger battery pack are nowhere near as efficient as the motors that came with the 24.2 kW battery versions.

To me, not worth it, I'll be waiting for the next generation.

I test drove an Audi eTron SUV this weekend, Sad.... 95 kWh battery and the damn thing is a pig, it struggles to get 2.2 miles per kW. It's heavy and has the aerodynamics of a brick, and it's expensive too, with limited range. I don't know what Audi was thinking, but to me, it seems like a total dog.

 

[johnnylingo]

Waiting a few months for us means potentially missing out on $3k in state and county rebates. So while the deal isn't phenomenal, it still would make a lot of sense.

The tricky decision is lease vs. buy. Leasing EVs seems like a good idea as they become obsolete, but with brand new orange stickers I don't think buying is a bad investment. We only need to finance the minimal loan amount.

As far as the VW ID...ummm...I'll believe it when I see it. The new e-Tron was supposed to have 350 miles range and it's actually 200 at best. So can't say I have huge faith in VW/Audi to deliver on their promises.

 

[JoulesThief]

Sorry, I know nothing about leasing. I either buy the car to own it, or I don't.

Residual values just are what they are, a car is just a depreciating piece of equipment. If I can, I'll let it depreciate the first 5 years in someone else's garage instead of mine.

 

[Szyszka]

Take the VW loan at the given rate in order to score the (highest possible) discount off of the MSRP then promptly refinance with your preferred bank/CU. Don't feel obligated to hold on to the VW loan for the prescribed amount of time (usually 3 - 6 months) before the loan officer told you so. What are they going to do? Once the deal is made, this is your money and your loan. Good luck!

 

[f1geek]

I leased a 2015 e-Golf and got white stickers. I got red stickers for my purchased 2017 e-Golf. Unless the rules have changed, you can get the HOV stickers for a leased car or a purchased car. If you think you can get a good deal on buying and the e-Golf's 36 kWh battery pack can deliver a range (~125 miles is accurate for my use case) at least 1.5 times your typical drive, then it should be work for you. VW will stop making e-Golfs soon and I don't know how many more they will send to the USA in the near future, so if you can get a good deal now, you might not get a chance in three to 6 months. While the ID.3 is not currently slated to be sold in the US, VW HAS to bring the ID.4 to CA this year or be hit with massive legal fees due to the VW-CA consent decree stemming from dieselgate crimes.

I don't recall the e-Tron's promised range, but you if you live in the Bay Area, you can be pretty certain of getting the e-Tron's EPA range. I suspect the ID.4 will offer well over 200 miles of EPA range.

 

[coupedncal1]

If I am reading the OP email correctly, you are getting the SEL for $31,500. I just looked up the MSRP of the SEL and it is around $39,000. This does not sound like a great deal considering some of us got the SE for $10,500 off MSRP. If anything, the SEL should have better discounts than the SE. But then again, I have not shopped around lately so I obviously don't know today's market price.

If you are planning to keep the car long term, then your best bet is to buy it outright from the get go. Leasing it first and then buying it off at the end will almost always guarantee you pay more money for the car.

 

[EvGolfYay]

Bought an eGolf for around 30100 before ttl. Very happy with the price. It’s a great car and incentives are still amazing for it. We chose to buy bc if you lease you cannot receive the federal tax rebate.

 

[cctop]

Don't feel obligated to hold on to the VW loan for the prescribed amount of time (usually 3 - 6 months) before the loan officer told you so. What are they going to do? Once the deal is made, this is your money and your loan. Good luck!

I'm going to disagree with you here, Szyszka. If the salesperson said they'd discount the sales price if you financed the purchase and held the loan for X months (4 in my case), then you should honor the verbal agreement.

It was explained to me that the dealer needs you to hold onto the loan until they get the manufacturer-to-dealer incentive that allowed them to discount the price that much.

The dealer can't stop you from immediately refinancing or paying off the loan, but if you do then you're not just screwing the salesperson but also reducing the chance that the next guy who comes along can get the same deal you benefited from.

 

[johnnylingo]

This does not sound like a great deal considering some of us got the SE for $10,500 off MSRP.

Correct. I was really hoping to see a sales price from them closer to $30k even, but it is what it is. The 2019 SEs are gone, and even for the SEL only a few dealers have those. Even overpriced, it's still $10 less than the Nero or Kona which we weren't fans of anyway despite their 200+ mile range.

We lose eligibility for the California $2000 rebate on April 15th, and the $1000 Monterey Bay rebate pool is expected to dry up in May or June, so that essentially makes for a $3k discount if we get it now rather than wait for a better deal. So the question is lease vs. buy.

As far as the loan, we would finance the minimal amount ($5k I think) and pay it off in the minimal amount of time (6 months?). So that only makes for a hundred bucks or so in interest.

 

[johnnylingo]

We chose to buy bc if you lease you cannot receive the federal tax rebate.

Technically true, but you still "get" it. The leasing company takes the $7500 tax credit and subtracts it as a dealer discount, in essence passing the savings on to you.