Stinger Owners.....what other cars made your final list?

[Lawrence Williams]

I don't see anything unusual about it - I had pretty much the same list. Q50 Red Sport and Charger SRT in there too, and CTS-v instead of ATS-v. Seating room / comfort / 4 doors / bang-for-buck pretty much narrowed it down to Charger and Stinger and I'm not a huge F.C.A. fan..

Well that's your opinion.....lol
I don't see a M3/S5 hatchback anything near an SS but that's me .....slightly different genres....be that as it may , we see things differently

I've learned quite a bit since my initial post and truly being a car novice.....

 

[stasek]

The MKZ interior is outdated to say the least and in my personal opinion the MKZ has the image of a car for old old veeeery old men. The Crysler interior no comment. But is your money buy what makes your testicles tickle and happy.

I haven’t driven either car, but don’t necessarily disagree . Only thing I got going for me - my current stable of cars (4) has combined 550k+ miles and is on average 10+ years old (‘06 Tundra, ‘08 Fit, ‘08 Ls460, and the “baby” ‘11 CX9). Trust me when I tell you - any one of these cars will be a JUUUUGE improvement .

 

[Vermillion]

BMW M4 and M340i were on my list, a Kia performance car is quite the hard sell in some European countries simply because BMW's are cheaper and Kia's are more expensive (relative to other nations). It's really not hard to get 18% + additional options discounts off list for an M340i and the F series M4 until it goes off sale is $30K under MSRP.

I've seen some talking about a $15000.00 difference between the BMW and Kia but here for a mid spec (nearly similar) M340i you're talking $2500.00 difference. If it wasn't for some attractive lease deals I'd have skipped past it altogether.

 

[Kamauxx]

BMW M4 and M340i were on my list, a Kia performance car is quite the hard sell in some European countries simply because BMW's are cheaper and Kia's are more expensive (relative to other nations). It's really not hard to get 18% + additional options discounts off list for an M340i and the F series M4 until it goes off sale is $30K under MSRP.

I've seen some talking about a $15000.00 difference between the BMW and Kia but here for a mid spec (nearly similar) M340i you're talking $2500.00 difference. If it wasn't for some attractive lease deals I'd have skipped past it altogether.

It's the same way in the U.S. German brands discount their cars heavily. I recently got 12% off a 2020 S5 Sportback + $500 Costco gift card. A few days ago Audi of North America announced plans for 2021s so in the next couple of months there will be easy 15%+++ discounts for 2020s.

Kia execs know they have to keep the lease discounts going to compete with their German competitors, otherwise the AWD Stinger GT2s end up costing MORE than their German counterparts.

They also need to continue to highlight their 10 year/100k mile warranty, which is something the Germans can't/won't compete with.

 

[Vermillion]

They also need to continue to highlight their 10 year/100k mile warranty, which is something the Germans can't/won't compete with.

Issue is we don't get the option to buy the car after three / four years over here (according to their contracts terms), Kia's lease schema is nothing more than a rental therefore invalidating the benefit of a seven year warranty. Although BMW's lease prices have recently soared through the roof.

If the idea is to short term lease then a Stinger is far better value, if one plans to keep it long term / use as a distance cruiser however Kia falls quite short IMO (ironic for a GT). They're trying to convince BMW / Audi and Merc drivers and there's no shortage of sedans sold here, although of course SUV's are always the most popular car.

 

[Kamauxx]

Issue is we don't get the option to buy the car after three / four years over here (according to their contracts terms), Kia's lease schema is nothing more than a rental therefore invalidating the benefit of a seven year warranty. Although BMW's lease prices have recently soared through the roof.

If the idea is to short term lease then a Stinger is far better value, if one plans to keep it long term / use as a distance cruiser however Kia falls quite short IMO (ironic for a GT). They're trying to convince BMW / Audi and Merc drivers and there's no shortage of sedans sold here, although of course SUV's are always the most popular car.

What people in the U.S. do is use the lease incentives to lower the cost of the car then immediately buy the lease out so they can keep the car long term at the reduced cost. Are you all allowed to buy out your leases a few weeks after signing the deal?

 

[Vermillion]

What people in the U.S. do is use the lease incentives to lower the cost of the car then immediately buy the lease out so they can keep the car long term at the reduced cost. Are you all allowed to buy out your leases a few weeks after signing the deal?

Some companies offer incentives at the end of a lease, some won't allow you to buy them at all. Kia's contract defines the latter, although as a niche car that'll be sat depreciating on a lot or sent to auction you'd have thought they'd try to avoid that scenario where possible.

The only major difference in finance terms will be the end cost / residuals, leasing would leave 23K owed on the car (due to lower monthlies) at the end of 3 years whereas the GMFV (balloon) on a regular finance option would be 18K. If you plan to own the car it doesn't really matter to any party involved how that amount is covered. Due to dealer markup / market rates buying second hand won't make it cheaper.

So I'm stuck with two options (unless they budge), lease another Stinger or move on and the first option seems unlikely.

 

[Clockwork]

Well, this replaced my Alfa Romeo Giulia...

But as a replacement it was between the Stinger, an Audi S3/S4, or the Genesis G70.

 

[DevLF]

Chevy SS, only thing that really stopped me from getting that instead was the fact that it was extremely hard to find in my area with reasonable miles, and that I had to sell my Evo X as well. Dealership gave me a fair offer on my Evo, and also could give me a new car. So I jumped in my new stinger and drove off.

 

[TheBusch]

2016 Audi A7
2017 BMW 440 Grand Coupe
2017 Q50 RS
2016 Chevy SS
2019 Genesis G70
2017 MKZ 3.0TT

 

[General_Vodka]

2016 Audi A7
2017 BMW 440 Grand Coupe
2017 Q50 RS
2016 Chevy SS
2019 Genesis G70
2017 MKZ 3.0TT

and you test drove them all? Now that's dedication

 

[turboAWD]

Over time, I at least tried to sit in and / or test drove (*):
G37s - sport seats way too narrow for my white butt
* Q50 (regular seats, which got me started on the sport models - sadly, the sport seats don't fit, I wasn't sure about drive-by-wire, etc), so Q50RS, Q50SS, etc
* Accord V6 coupe
* Charger SRT
* Chevy SS
Genesis G80
Macan S
3-series / 4-series - quickly determined that it was too small for my kids
X3M40i - researched heavily, but never got to looking at it seriously
S3/S4/S6
C43
Golf R
* CTS-Vsport
CTS-V (never drove)
WRX base and STI
Lexus GS-F

And that's not really counting all the cars we sat in at CarMax on 3 or 4 separate occasions.

That's probably just over the last 2-3 years before buying the Stinger. My wife (and sometimes the kids) were VERY patient.

 

[TheBusch]

and you test drove them all? Now that's dedication

I cheated on this one a little, that was just my "thinking about" list. I do extensive research before I test drive so I did not test drive them all yet. I have driven the Stinger and will be purchasing one in the winter. The others each have a flaw that comes up time and time again from owners or I personally did not like driving it.

 

[P22Tyler]

Well, this replaced my Alfa Romeo Giulia...

But as a replacement it was between the Stinger, an Audi S3/S4, or the Genesis G70.

I would love to own a Giulia one day. How did you like it?

 

[GenesisG70]

I would love to own a Giulia one day. How did you like it?

I wouldn't buy any Christer/Fiat product until they establish in the market for years their reliability track is abysmal.

 

[P22Tyler]

I wouldn't buy any Christer/Fiat product until they establish in the market for years their reliability track is abysmal.

I wouldn't go into buying any Alfa expecting reliability. It's just one of those things I have to do at some point in my life. Thinking with my heart instead of my head.

 

[GenesisG70]

I wouldn't go into buying any Alfa expecting reliability. It's just one of those things I have to do at some point in my life. Thinking with my heart instead of my head.

Agree those cars are just an impulse buying.

 

[Clockwork]

I would love to own a Giulia one day. How did you like it?

Beautiful car. Excellent driving/handling dynamics. Most unreliable car I have ever owned, which is why I got rid of it (left me stranded twice and required a tow/roadside assistance).

 

[P22Tyler]

Beautiful car. Excellent driving/handling dynamics. Most unreliable car I have ever owned, which is why I got rid of it (left me stranded twice and required a tow/roadside assistance).

Ha ha it's good to see the old Top Gear boys weren't exaggerating about Alfa reliability. Doesn't make me want to own one any less though, at least once in my life. Maybe I'll feel differently after living with it for a while...

 

[Clockwork]

Ha ha it's good to see the old Top Gear boys weren't exaggerating about Alfa reliability. Doesn't make me want to own one any less though, at least once in my life. Maybe I'll feel differently after living with it for a while...

If it counts for anything, the dealer/service network sucks in general (I am fortunate to live 15 min away, otherwise the next closest ones are 2-3 hours). Also maintenance costs are much higher than a Kia.