It's End-of-year Incentive Time, but One Deal Stands Out

Snow has already touched Minneapolis pavement, meaning it’s time for automakers to hurry up and clear out 2017 models. Special offers, like the coming winter, are rolling in fast.

Not surprisingly, many of the end-of-year incentives target the increasingly unloved passenger car segment. If two or four doors and a trunk is your bag, you’re in luck, though crossover shoppers aren’t being ignored in the rush to unload old inventory. However, if you’re a fan of the Big H, and especially its sportier offerings, Christmas might have just arrived early.

Spotted by CarsDirect, Honda is offering a $199 per month lease deal on remaining 2017 Civic Si sedans and coupes. Until now, the 205-horsepower, stick-shift-only Si wasn’t eligible for the same financing rates and lease promotions offered on its lesser Civic brethren.

The deal, which works out to a buck a month less ($263) than the Volkswagen Golf 1.8T S (and $91/month less than a GTI) after everything’s said and done, is made possible by strong residual value and $1,700 factory lease cash. Amusingly, CarsDirect notes that moving up to a Honda Fit EX — hardly the paragon of performance — will cost you two bucks a month more.

Surely a great deal for automotive purists, assuming they’re okay with the newest Si’s 1.5-liter turbo four.

Elsewhere in the automotive landscape, it’s an old car smorgasbord. If there’s any left, Hyundai will put $6,000 on the hood of your now-dated 2017 Sonata. The automaker is also busy flinging zero percent financing deals (for 72 months) for many models, assuming buyers have $1,000 for a downpayment. Ford Motor Company is offering much of the same, but you might want to hold off until Black Friday offers roll in.

Over at the Chevrolet dealer, there’s no shortage of traditional passenger cars waiting to tempt you with skimpy MSRPs, now 20 percent off. That applies to all cars, as well as the subcompact Trax crossover. Unlike before, it’s not just LT models eligible for the price cut.

Of course, we told you yesterday how Lincoln owners can get $5,000 off the purchase of a new Cadillac Escalade.

If you’re thinking Mazda this year, your local temple of zoom-zoom is shaving $2,000 off 2017 Mazda 3s, though you might be tempted by a $199/month lease on a CX-5. (Hmm — maybe it’s no secret why CX-3 sales took a dive last month.)

Lexus would very much like to get you into a dealership before the end of the year, offering $3,000 off the IS sedan and $2,000 off the NX crossover. Incentives abound, apparently, though you won’t find as many at Toyota. Old Camrys are gone, but better incentives exist for financing and leasing the 2018 model.

Mercedes-Benz wouldn’t stoop to offering incentives on the financing of a proper German luxury car, but it will make you a deal if you’re leasing. For its end-of-year offers, the GLC compact SUV is now added into the mix. If the lease price is still too dear, Kia’s waiting with $4,000 off a 2.4-liter Sorento.

Elsewhere, it’s hit or miss. Some automakers haven’t yet ramped up the incentives, and which company does what on Black Friday is anyone’s guess.

[Image: Honda]