Hey guys, i'm looking for a recommendation on a new car. I'm currently driving a 69 Dodge Dart that's been in the family for 40 years and won't last much longer (will still keep it). I'm looking for a daily driver and nothing really excites me that much right now. I was going to get a Challenger, but they are really scarce and costs a bit much. I really like the idea of hybrids, esp parallel ones, but the Volt is going to be too expensive (and ugly). I'm not a hippy tree hugger (though I am a certified master gardener and do organic sustained gardening) but feel solar panels in the house + plugin = free energy. But anyways thats a few years away, so i'm thinking a Mazda3 for 3.5 years @ well under $300 no down would be a good until a nice electric comes out or something i really want comes out.

BTW the lease deal was found by typing mazda3 in google and clicking the first link Text

Any opinions, car flames welcome! I'll talk about anything.

Although I love Mazda, resale value blows... get a civic...

Do you want to know if 279/month for 42 months sounds like a good deal or would you like to know what it should cost to lease one?
If you want to know what it should cost to lease a Mazda 3 for 42 months then you need the following: MSRP, cap cost (what the dealer
is selling you the car for – remember you need to shop price as you would do when buying), the money factor (interest) and residual value.
If you get the residual as a % use the MSRP to determine the value: residual value = MSRP * residual %.

The monthly cost is made up of two fixed components: depreciation and interest charge. The first is straight forward: depreciation = (cap cost – residual value)/42 (months).
Now the monthly interest charge = (cap cost + residual value) * money factor. Add those two and get your lease payment.

Oh, add monthly tax if necessary …

IMHO, the 2010 Mazda3 is hideous. It looks like a Cheshire Cat smiling. The 2009 was so much better. I have always been a fan of the 3 and almost got one a few months back, but I really don't like the new one and getting the old 2009 model is pointless since it's outdated and loses so much value on the remodel (and they weren't even dealing!). I ended up going with a Lexus IS250 and got a good deal on it. I lease my vehicle and recommend that you not consider leasing unless you can write it off on your taxes (i.e. you work 1099 not W2). Otherwise you'll lose money over the longrun and purchasing is a much better option. The only other way it's a better idea to lease than to buy is if you're getting a car from a manufacturer that doesn't offer 0% APR and you can buy down the MF on the lease to be significantly less than the APR would be on a purchase and then you buy the car out at the end of the lease (this way you can save money on interest for 3.5 to 4.5 years, depending on length of lease, and also lower your payments or stretch them out into 8 years, which I also don't recommend you buy a car if it takes you 8 years to pay it off, just saying it's possible).

Anyway.. If you were considering the Challenger, you should look at the new 2010 Chevy Camaro. It has a bigger engine and costs far less. They start at $23,040 for the LS (3.6L V6, 304hp -- the bigger engine in the Cadillac CTS) and the top of the line 2SS model (6.2L V8, 400hp in the auto, 426 in the stick -- 0-60 time of 4.7sec -- the award winning L3 engine found in the Cadillac CTS-V) with Technology Package (included in 2SS), RS Package (Rally Sport), AUTOMATIC (6 speed with steering wheel mounted paddle shifters), and sunroof is under $36k (I believe it's $35,600, I can't remember off the top of my head).

EDIT: The $36k price is for fully loaded with all of the options listed (you can get an SS model without all of those options and it'll be far less), that was just to give a top price range because a lot of people think the Camaro fully loaded is in the $40k's and it's not (unless of course you add crazy rims or something).

One more thing I have to add based on me just now seeing the bottom of your post says you found the lease deal from doing a google search. No advertised lease is ever a good deal. You can always get it cheaper than that. ANY car (excluding rare cars). Once you find a car you're set on, go to Edmunds and check out what people there paid for their cars this month. That'll give you a better idea what you can expect. When you lease a car you need to negotiate on the selling price. Often advertised leases are calculated off MSRP (which you should NOT be paying right now unless you're looking for a rare car) or off a discounted price that you can negotiate further. For instance.. for my IS the rate they advertise is $349 a month with $3499 down on a base car. I got that price (no down, I rolled everything up so my monthly is higher) on a car with navigation, premium package and 18" summer tires. Which is another thing.. 99% of advertised leases are on BASE model cars, which often can mean stick shift as well. If you want any options your price will be higher.