Lease vs buy?

RVD · Mar 25, 2018

I have previously leased many of my cars. But I have found that with the limited range of an ev and my relatively short commute (8 miles each way) and the fact that I ride a bike for most of the summer months, I don't come close to driving the allocated miles in a lease. For road trips and such, we have another car that we use for that kind of stuff.

For my last Leaf lease, it included 12k miles/year and I ended up driving less than 6k miles/year. I did consider buying the car at the end of the lease but the residual was still too high and Nissan wouldn't really lower it and I wasn't that set on buying it anyway. From what I have seen, I like the Soul EV+ and think I can be happy driving this car for 10 years.

So I am interested in a 2018 Kia Soul EV+ with the sun/fun package. It looks like the MSRP is around $38k.

If I can bargain them down a few thousand bucks + I live in the state of WA so with our state sales tax incentives and federal tax credit, it will be around $28k or so for me.

I am working with one local dealer that many have dealt with here (Lee Johnson Kia) and they haven't sent me all of the details but they sent me some basic numbers and if I can get the car for around $180/mo + $3k drive off it will be around $10k w/tax for 3 years. If the residual is around $13k or so, then even if I purchase at the end of the lease, it will still only be ~$23k so still cheaper than buying.

Does this look right or am I missing something here? The sales guy hasn't sent me the details so I haven't had a chance to scrutinize yet (i.e., maybe he's sending me numbers for a Soul EV instead of EV+, etc.).

CopperRoad · Mar 25, 2018

That looks like it could be correct. I leased my 2018 Soul EV + with Sun & Fun Package 2 weeks ago in SoCal. I did not do any negotiating really. I had been trying to work a deal on a new e-golf for months, and frankly was burned out by that experience. Dealing with Kia was very easy, and the Soul EV features are far beyond the base (and top of the line) e-golf I had been trying lease.

These were the out the door numbers.

10k mi. a year
$2500 Down
$199 + tax (9.5%) = $218
Residual = $13328

I'll be getting the full $2500 down payment back. So that comes to $7848 total for 36 Months.

This is more car than my top of the line 2013 Nissan Leaf SL, and a much less expensive lease.

I do wish the 2018 Kia Soul EV had some active emergency features, and smart/adaptive cruise control. But, I have been happy so far.

Hope this helps.

RVD · Mar 25, 2018

Thanks for the info. The guy at the dealership isn't sending me any details (he keeps pushing for me to come in so we can talk details). He claims they are leasing like hotcakes and the supply isn't able to keep up with demand...?

Sounds like even if I eventually might want to buy it's better to go the lease route and then buy (which is kind of unusual).

Adaptive cruise control, self parking, autopilot, etc would be nice though.

KiaForbs · Mar 29, 2018

A dealer that won't quote you a price on the email (Never on the phone) doesn't really have the car in stock OR will try to gouge you.

Move on or better yet, go on their website and 'request a price' those go to the Internet manager (Note the REAL internet manager, not just the guy who has it on his business card)

Booper · Apr 11, 2018

RVD, any update on your experience with Lee Johnson?

RVD · Apr 17, 2018

Yes I leased a 2018 Soul EV+ with the sun and fun package from Lee Johnson a few weeks ago.

The deal was around $3k down ($2988 to be more precise) and $169/mo for 35 months for a 36 month lease. No sales tax in WA state for EV. Total cost is slightly less than $9k for 3 years.

I chose to put nothing down and pay $260/mo and the 3 year total is slightly more than $9k.

The dealer and manufacturer incentives are like $16200 from kia and a few thousand more from the dealer.

They move a lot of cars. I wanted the two tone black and red but they didn't have it. They only had white and cloud white (cream color). I chose the pure white.

I've been happy with the car so far. I have since gotten the windows tinted and dashcam installed.