Cars I don't want: buy or lease?

Yup. That's why I'm comparing the locked in cost of a lease vs. the flipsy-tipsy depreciation curve that may result from all this stuff.

 

We have not test driven one.

We both like them and are mostly sold on the idea.
The current and future valuations seem fine with them.

Against:
It would take us almost a full day to check out the two closest candidates.
Given that we won't be putting that many miles on the car, it feels like a waste of money to get a cordless hybrid for this role, and we are specifically trying to avoid the limited choices and premium prices of larger pluggy cars.


You might have answers to two feature questions that came up about them: was the v ever offered with radar cruise control and the front auto brake safety deal?

 

Thanks, that's great info!

From those docs, the v FIVE with ATP would be a great choice. I would consider a 2016 or 2017 if I could locate one.

It turns out neither of the nearby v FIVEs have ATP.

I'm not giving up on the idea but so far I've only found two- and the closer one is 500 miles out.

 

I looked into the Hyundai lease a lot more deeply than any other lease offer I'd seen before but ultimately rejected it.

We struck a deal on the Mazda instead. A decent car at a great price. The lots are empty, just not much available. I'm thinking this one will get us by until the automakers are back to their rhythm, hopefully with an expanded selection of pluggy cars for us to grow into.

 

I have previously admired the design of that car though never had the needs for one.

I agree that that car, electrified or hybridized would be brilliant. The sort of thing I hope to trade this 6 for.

 

2020 Mazda 6 Grand Touring​

Others we considered in the final round:

Fusion: missed them, all sold out. Lousy electronic shifter anyway, the Mrs. would have fought it.
Legacy: Already a 2-time Subaru owner, I like them in general but have low confidence in their new CVTs specifically.
Avalon: We really liked them, but they were scarce and expensive
Camry: Liked these as well, but not many around, mostly XLEs and other hi-trim cars that were out of budget.
Sonata: Excellent price but I didn't like the interior.

The car we bought was sold new in 2020. Unfortunately the original owner then suffered an injury and was unable to use the car, so it spent 10 months in a garage before being traded in with only 4,000 miles on the clock according to the salesman.

And so it comes to us barely touched yet with substantial savings due to someone else paying the initial depreciation.

 

6 months on, we've put 3,500 miles on the car. Usage pattern is almost exactly what we predicted: short trips with the whole family on board each week, plus the 8 mile grocery-get on weeks when the Prius is busy with one of us on a trip out of town. (The c recently passed 55k miles with no trouble fingers crossed!)

The 6 is lovely to drive. Quiet and powerful. Well, more like quiet or powerful- there is a decent auditory reward for putting the pedal down. They got the shifting exactly right, and it is adaptive enough to deliver the same satisfaction whether you are alone in the car or loaded down with cargo.

The radar cruise is very nice to work with, really reduces fatigue on longer drives. Some of the other modern safety features were a bit too beepy, but I found a menu to adjust things a bit. I love the way the car handles, and the chassis is extremely quiet. Steering and brakes both feel great. The seat is very comfortable though it isn't the easiest entry/exit; just something about its dimensions and my own.

LED headlights are amazing, every bit as good as the ones in our c, though I find myself missing the auto hi-beams.

The infotainment setup has a tactile control system that really appeals to me; I think they did a great job on that end of it. The Bose sound is pretty lame though, I guess we can't have it all.

I reckon the MX-30 is a step in the right direction but still too pricey, too much content. They should keep trying.

 

Oh I like it much more than I think I had any reason to, given how limited selection was. The big and obvious downside is that it's a sedan: we will outgrow it more quickly than some of the other possibilities.