Sorry guys but after test driving the Infiniti M45 Sport and seeing the lease deals that Infiniti is making on them, I couldn't resist. I basically got a loaded M45 Sport for less than what it will cost to lease a loaded GS300. You'll still see me posting on here as Lexus will always be considered in the future.

By the way, does anybody know any good Infiniti forums? I found http://forums.nicoclub.com/ but I was wondering if there are others.

 

at first i thot them m45's looked ugly but now the more and more i see them on the road they actually look pretty good

 

Yeah it looks very aggressive. The stock 19s with the stock aero body kit looks hot. The power of the V8 is awesome.

 

yeah looks good..but does not have the lines the gs has..but for price of a gs300 u do get the power of a gs430, actually a lil bit faster..
only thing would win me over is if the m-series would come w/ a touch screen navigation.. that whole joystick thing is i duno..

 

what does the lease look like?

 

It's funny you mention that because I only driven the car for a couple of days and I can tell that I'm missing the touch screen navigation of my 2002 GS300 already. One of the reasons I was annoyed with Lexus was their decision to release the 2006 GS with the 4th generation navigation system (instead of the 5th generation found in the new IS) and the 3.0 V6 instead of the 3.5 V6 in the new IS.

The other thing that I give Infiniti credit for doing is having a lot of factory and port installed options which can be residualized in the lease. Most dealer installed accessories cannot be residualized in the lease which means you have to either pay for them up front or finance 100% of their cost in the lease. Things like Sirius or XM satellite radio, aero body kit, DVD entertainment system are usually dealer installed accessories. At least with Lexus they dealer installed.

 

Congrats on the new M45, looks great in black Performance wise, the M45 is a monster. Really impressed me on my test drive.

There's a forum for M owners on freshalloy.com. Not as active as CL, but some informative posts nontheless.

Post some pics when you get the chance.

 

It was $695/month (including 8.625% NY sales tax in the payment) for a 39 month 12K miles/year lease. $0 down, $0 deposit (because of tier 1 credit), $1496 out the door which included first payment, bank fee, dmv fee and document fee. It was through Infiniti Financial Services. Money factor was 0.00177, residual percentage was 59%, MSRP was $57990 and capitalized cost was $52785.63 which is about $20 below the invoice price of $52804. I posted a different capitalized cost in a different thread before I finalized the deal and that number was what the salesman told me. The $52785.63 is what's printed on the Infiniti Financial Services lease agreement. Before I finalized my deal, I calculated the invoice price on edmunds.com. After I told the finance manager at the dealership the invoice price that I calculated on edmunds.com, he showed me the dealer invoice and it matched exactly what edmunds.com had calculated. Infiniti's leasing calculation is a little different from the standard lease calculators found on a lot of websites. Every time I put in the numbers, their calculation comes out to about $10 more than mine. I think they might be not be residualizing the $650 destination charge that's included in the sticker price (and invoice price) but I'm not 100% sure.

BTW, I think I got it so cheap because I was taking a car that they had in stock. Most dealerships will give you between $500 and $1000 over invoice price on M35s and M45s, even if they have to locate a car for you in the color you want with the options you want. I think the reason they are willing to go so cheap is because the dealer holdback is 1.5% of the base MSRP so they don't make any extra dealer holdback money for cars with more options.

 

I liked the Infiniti M when it first came out, but the more I see it the uglier it gets. The Fuga was hot, but the M, not so much. Performance wise the M is awesome, but that's all it has going for it. The interior is ugly ( too cluttered, orange lighting, ugly wood, etc. ) and the exterior is just as bad ( rear lights too big, the lines on the car don't flow well IMHO, etc. ). The Lexus GS is going to be a killer come MY 2007 when the new engines are put in. Lexus is going to own the world when the new GS ( w/ the new engines ), the new LS, and the LF-A come out.

 

...telling you the M45 is ugly. It is not. It's not beautiful, but it is pretty sharp looking and certainly not ugly like the Bangle BMW's. A less than gorgeous exterior is a good trade-off for the M45's heart-of gold engine.

 

Congrats on the new ride! As for forums, try this:

http://forums.freshalloy.com/ubbthre...=&Board=M35M45

 

I'll admit that the M is a love it or hate it kind of car. I obviously happen to love the car and so do many of my friends. But like you said, you're entitled to your opinion so I didn't take it personally. As far as the BMW goes, I've never been that big of a fan of their interiors. They handle great but I find the ergonomics to be terrible.

That deal you got for the GS430 is great. I was hearing more for that for a GS300. I'm curious to hear what options you were able to get at that price. I'm also curious to hear the numbers that went into that lease like the MSRP, cap cost (i.e. selling price), residual percentage and money factor and if it was also leased through Lexus Financial or another bank. If you don't want to reveal that information, I understand. Since you're also located in NY, I'd love to know which dealer gave you that deal because none of the dealers I spoke to came even close to that.

 

I agree with you about the wood being ugly. When I was doing my search, I specifically told the dealer that I wanted the aluminum trim that normally comes with the Sport version and that if the car they found for me had the rosewood option I wouldn't be interested. The rosewood is an option on the Sport version and I actually saw one in the showroom with that option when I was picking up my car and I commented to my friend that I was really surprised to see that. I also agree that I'm not the biggest fan of the amber/orange lighting but that doesn't bother me all the much.

As far as the new GS goes, I really like it, both the exterior and interior. My friends all thought I would get that car. I just didn't want the 2006 knowing that the 3.5 litre engine and 5th generation navigation system are coming in 2007. That would have really bothered me. I really liked the 5th generation navigation after seeing it in the new IS.

 

Thanks to and everybody else who wished me congratulations.

Thanks also for the information on the forums. That forum looks pretty good at first glance.

 

Wow, a loaded GS430 for $715/month. That's great. I was just curious more than anything. I think they must have given you the car for invoice or slightly above invoice and probably used a different bank other than LFS because the residuals from LFS are terrible. I'm also surprised that Bay Ridge Lexus gave you that kind of deal. Lexus of Manhattan and Bay Ridge Lexus are owned by the same people and about 3 years ago when I was looking for a 2002 GS300 SportDesign, Lexus of Manhattan was the most expensive of all of the dealerships I spoke to.