Jeep Garage  - Jeep Forum banner

GC should I buy or return after lease?

3K views 23 replies 14 participants last post by  FAUEE 
#1 ·
In about 7 month my lease on my 2011 GC Laredo will be over. I am looking around and I can't find anything looking as great as my car and I need SUV with this size and abilities. Two things are stopping me to buy out this car is transmission and that I am loosing coolant level a little by the time. Transmission is jerking since day one and i believe everyone's here does. I added one canister of coolant since summer, which is not a lot but scary anyway. Should I fix it since car is on warranty and buy car out or just release to new or???
 
#2 ·
I'd return it after the lease is over and then lease or purchase a MY14.
 
#7 ·
This, for sure...especially given you're experiencing "issues"...
 
#12 · (Edited)
Honestly I would buy it after lease if not these two issues. Car in general is made very well in all other aspects besides tranny. Question is, how good 8 speed would be? It might jerk same way just more often ... :)

---------- Post added at 04:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:36 PM ----------

what is your residual?
$19k

---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:37 PM ----------

I recently sold me 2012 Overland V6. And although we loved it, I simply lost interest in driving it. I couldn't stand the horrible shift points that just ruined the driving experience. I would consider getting another but it would be a 2014 with the new tranny that hopefully makes driving the Jeep more enjoyable. Not only that but I should have bought the V8.

As for leasing I have never done that. Is that beneficial for you instead of purchasing one? I wish I understood it better, but does that basically mean any money you have put into it so far has not gone to anything except to have it? And then your going to purchase it ontop of that? For people that would consider purchasing the vehicle after lease, I just don't understand how that can be smart financially, unless I'm missing something?!?

Leasing in one hand pretty bad option, however in another I like to have option to return problematic car without worry of fixing it after lease is over. And if you like this car you could finance remained portion. Also, I have 2 other cars I have to pay for and lease payments are slightly lower than finance would be.
 
#5 ·
I recently sold me 2012 Overland V6. And although we loved it, I simply lost interest in driving it. I couldn't stand the horrible shift points that just ruined the driving experience. I would consider getting another but it would be a 2014 with the new tranny that hopefully makes driving the Jeep more enjoyable. Not only that but I should have bought the V8.

As for leasing I have never done that. Is that beneficial for you instead of purchasing one? I wish I understood it better, but does that basically mean any money you have put into it so far has not gone to anything except to have it? And then your going to purchase it ontop of that? For people that would consider purchasing the vehicle after lease, I just don't understand how that can be smart financially, unless I'm missing something?!?
 
#10 ·
Have it fixed while it's under warranty and if it's fixed correctly, then keeping it becomes a viable option. If it's not fixed turn it in and start over with a new lease on a 2014 which will have the ZF 8 speed transmission. Every review of vehicles with that trans have positive comments about it. I think it's worth considering starting over just for the trans.
 
#21 ·
$19k to buy it isn't a bad deal. Most of those are still in the mid to low 20s to buy now.

If you like the car, keep it and enjoy that you already made payments for a long time and aren't throwing the money away. There's issues on every car, the 14s will have issues, the 18s will have issues, everything will have issues. It's a question of when starting over paying on a car is outweighed by the number of issues.

The car's under warranty, have it fixed now, get it fixed right, and buy it out since you like it and it fits your needs. That's the cost effective way to do it. Keep in mind that you could probably replace the entire engine and transmission for the purchase price difference between buying it out as opposed to buying a new MY14.
 
#22 ·
Problem there is no cure to this transmission, this is known issue. Search this forum for last two years about. I believe latest Motor Trend published same bad tranny review made by someone. Coolant leaking little some place doesn't bother me as much as idea of going to the dealer and explain and wait for my car to be fixed and drive no loaner for several days ... I prefer to buy another two gallons of coolant until lease will end :)
I am just not sure if I should continue with Jeep any longer but can't find any car which I could say - yes this is car for me and my character. GC is really good for this.
 
#23 ·
Why would you want to do another 3-4-5 yr loan on a vehicle that is going to be 3yrs old. With a lease you basically are paying the interest on the vehicle, yes a little on the principle of the vehicle. Then you have to think of the warranty after the lease is up, are you going to get an extended warranty? You might be best to just lease a new 14 instead of dealing with the current situation. Just my thought.
 
#24 ·
LOL, what?

With a lease, you pay 3 things. Depreciation, finance rates, and pure dealer profit.

The main portion of the cost is the depreciation they expect. They tend to figure this out pretty damn well before they launch the vehicle, so it ends up that the buyout is damn near what the used value of the car is (in the case of this WK2, residuals were a little stronger than they expected it'd seem).

You do pay a little bit of financing charge, a lot of people don't realize that, but you do pay interest on it. Then there's just the pure profit they take in (in a lot of cases, that's the "money down" etc.)

In any case, I'm not entirely sure what "transmission issues" you're speaking of. Mine did have a bit of a judder when coasting uphill, but a flash to the PCM cleared that up without a hitch - but I have a V8, so maybe you're speaking of something else that is V6 related.

That all said, I'm not aware of any major rashes of failing transmissions. So I'm not really too sure what exactly there is to cure. If you're talking about the judder, my dealership was going to replace the torque converter, but the PCM flash ended up fixing it. If you're concerned about it making the transmission die, you could buy a badass extended warranty for less than the cost to upgrade to a '14 as well.

Leases are for a few types of people. Small business owners who can write them off, people who are trying to buy cars they can't really afford, people who just like having new things, and people who love making payments on cars forever.

If you're looking at other vehicles like the Jeep, the new 4Runner is great. I wanted a few luxury features it didn't offer though, so it wasn't a major contender for me, but its Lexus cousin was. I bemoaned the lack of a V8 in it as well, but their V6 is stout and returns slightly worse performance than our V8, with pretty impressive fuel economy. Plus, it's still body on frame and tough as nails.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top