It’s my favorite time… new vehicle time. My wife’s F-150 Lariat’s lease is up in 2 months so we are down to decision time. I’ve posted separately about the tricky business of Ford not allowing us to trade the F-150 anywhere but Ford during the last 90 days of the lease. I did send a message to Ford yesterday for them to confirm this is the case, it does not appear in our lease contract anywhere so we will see where that ends up. Worst case scenario as suggested by others is a short loan to buy it and then immediately trade it in at another dealership.
Our lease buyout is $39,000 + tax for a 2021 F-150 Lariat FX4 Sport with sunroof, these are now selling in the low to mid $50,000 range on Autotrader. Ford contacted us to see if we wanted to bring it back or buy it out, but I suggested that we might trade it against a new vehicle. We bought this in the sweet spot of 2020/21 trucks prior to covid where there were huge discounts and low rates and by some fluke of nature here we are with lease end equity.
My wife was considering an Explorer, we don’t use the truck for any truck things, but my wife likes driving larger vehicles. We get terrible winters, and she likes a high driver position. I used to do a lot of larger woodworking projects but have downsized now so we don’t need many more trips to Home Depot. We also don’t tow anything or really use the truck bed at all. The Ford dealer offered us $46,000 in trade so that basically covers our buyout but gives us up to ($46,000X.15) $6,900 in tax savings on any new vehicle. We are considering a 3-year lease since we currently have 2 cars but are looking to downsize in a couple of years so plan to try and get by with one vehicle, we are just not sure what vehicle that will be.
We test drove the Explorer Timberline, it was ok but definitely didn’t love it. The interior wasn’t great and power and the drive it self were just ok. My wife had a good experience with Mazda in the past, so we dropped in to try out both the Mazda CX-90 and CX-50. I was really impressed with both of these vehicles but the #1 thing my wife wants in a new vehicle is a height adjustable passenger seat. In the CX-90 you need to go all the way up to a GT-P trim to get the height adjustable seat, which is a $10,000 premium over the nicely equipped GS-L model. The CX-90 is rear wheel biased AWD with close to 50/50 weight distribution with a very composed ride. It has a smooth inline 6 NA motor with 280HP and 332 torque, it is a heavy though like all large SUVs at 4,750 lbs. The GS-L model leases out at $361 bi-weekly over 3 years plus tax but Mazda offered us $44,500 trade so we wouldn’t have to pay any tax since the trade basically covers our $39K + tax buyout.
I loved driving the CX-50 GT Turbo model, the steering is very firm with great feedback and the ride is like it’s on rails especially so for an SUV. The turbo has a twin scroll turbo 4 which makes 256 HP and 320 torque on premium fuel, the kicker though is that it is almost 1,000 lbs lighter than the CX-90 depending on the trim and it feels like it. The 3 year lease payment on the CX-50 GT turbo (with a height adjustment passenger seat) is $1 more bi-weekly than the CX-90 GS-L (without a height adjustable passenger seat). For practically the same price you can lease a CX-90 GS-L or a CX-50 GT Turbo.
I feel like we are committing to either the CX-50 or CX-90 so we are debating the pros and cons of each at the same price. CX-50 has the most important pro of the height adjustable passenger seat, it is more fun to drive and looks a bit cooler in my opinion. Other options the CX-50 gets over the CX-90 include the upgraded audio system, sunroof and more parking sensors. The CX-90 is obviously larger and has more cargo capacity, over all the materials are very nice and we like the second-row captains chairs (which you can get with the enhanced package for $2,000 also includes a sunroof). The CX-90 would be the better winter vehicle and has a much smoother ride compared to the CX-50.
If I was buying this for me, it would be CX-50 for sure but I already have my RS-3 so this will be our family oriented vehicle. The driver in me really wants to go CX-50 but for the same money the CX-90 is more practical and will be much nicer to drive in winter and over our bumpy roads. The major roadblock seems to be the passenger height adjustable seat!
I’ll keep this updated as we progress.
