Is it a crazy idea to buy this thing??

[JeremyW]

I will start by saying I always avocate only leasing these small battery EV's. I am very thankful to have leased my first EV, a Nissan Leaf, due to the horrible battery degridation I've experienced.

But...

I'm considering buying one of these in September. Here's my reasoning: if I can get 0% APR, it's like I get an interest free $7.5k loan. This would allow me to purchase an engagement ring for my sweetheart and pay off the last of my student loans with the cash from the state.

I was looking forward to test driving one of these little sparks for a few days here in Sacramento, but Hertz returned their fleet last week. So I have a base yaris which is similar in size, and I am really enjoying having a small car despite my 6'4" frame!

I have to say besides the one dead spark due to hitting a pothole and probably tripping the crash circuit, I've seen what seems to be pretty good reliability from these little cars. Anyway, what are your guys thoughts?

 

[jsca72]

There are a lot of people on this forum who advocate leasing, but for me, buying was the way to go. Here's why:

1. I was able to take advantage of the $7500 federal tax credit. Add that to $2500 California Clean Vehicle Rebate that buyers and leasers both get, and I got $10,000 off the price of my Spark. You'd have to look at your income tax return to see how much you would get back on your taxes. If you can't take advantage of the tax credit, leasing might be the way to go.

2.

Now, here in the San Joaquin Valley, the SJVAPCD is also offers an additional 3k rebate for the Spark EV. So... $12K to buy the Spark EV. About the same price as the 1.2L 4-banger gas version.

I don't know anything about this besides what is mentioned in this forum, but if this is a rebate you can take advantage of that living in Sacramento, that would even make the buying price more reasonable.

3. Depreciation is something to consider with an electric vehicle; but if you get your initial purchase price down through rebates and tax credits, this isn't a worry. (Search the thread on this forum, "Spark resale value in 5 years: 28% according to KBB.") Using the numbers from the article in this thread, I calculated my resale value in 5 years to be 43% which is better than most cars, electric or gas.

4. We drive our cars for a long time, putting over 300,000 miles on two of them. If you like a new car every few years, again leasing might be the way to go.

5. Now, ignoring money. I, too, was looking for a small car. I had rented a Yaris on a trip back east. I liked the car and its size, but found it had no pep...same problem with the PriusC. The SparkEv has the small size I desire, but has so much pick up and go. When traveling in the Yaris, I would accelerate to get on the freeways. It would make lots of noise as if it were trying to speed up, but the MPGs would just slowly increase. I found the same thing when I test drove the PriusC. Not with the SparkEV, step on the accelerator and off it goes.

Crunch numbers, do your homework. Only you can truly know your situation and can decide whether to lease or buy. But if you like the Yaris, I think you'll LOVE the Spark.

 

[StevesWeb]

We also chose to buy our Spark EV. We still have a Prius from 2004 and another Prius from 2009, we keep cars for a long time.

Neither of us would consider a lease as the expenses are open-ended.

With $10K gummint refunds the price was as low as a less desirable car, but the Spark EV is exactly what we wanted. We have the roof space for 78 solar panels, our EV is only charged at home, in effect I'm driving free.

 

[ezryder]

I debated long and hard on buy vs lease. I ended up leasing only because I got an insane deal. $85/mo with $2950 down ($2,500 of which came back to me from the state, of course). $7,500 was taken off the price of the car, plus almost $4,000 in incentives. The residual is $16k, roughly. 10,000 miles/yr. Even with delivery (to my front door) from Northridge, (L.A.), the whole deal will cost me $3785 plus insurance and PG&E. I have my paid-for Mercedes ICE car, which I literally stopped riving two months ago. I finally filed a thing with the DMV saying it wasn't being used, to save on registration fees. I also got the minimal coverage of $20/mo from my insurance carrier. My insurance costs $74/mo. The charger cost me $500 - but it's truly "portable" - and it cost me $600 to install a 220v outlet for it. So, if you add it all up, the total cost of ownership is about

2,664 insurance for 3 years for two cars
1,100 charger and outlet
3,785 car including shipping and down payment
330 decal stripes
2,500 ad-hoc DCFC charging and PG&E, estimated
-------
10,379

vs Mercedes alone

2,160 insurance
5,940 gas at 3 fill-ups per month, minimum
1,800 minimum in maintenance
----------
9,900

If you consider insurance for JUST the Spark EV, then it comes to 10,620. If I were to have spent even $15/mo more in gas, then owning the Spark EV literally is like not even paying for a second car. Free car. And this doesn't factor in the savings on wear and tear for the Mercedes or possible expensive issues, given it has 150,000 miles on it.

In the end, I still have the option of working a deal to buy the car, if I wanted to, at the end of the lease and not having to worry about losing money on a trade in or trying to sell a car that gets half the range that new cars will in three years...

So, for me, I consider this a truly "free" car - assuming I keep it for three years. It helps that I LOVE this car, as well.