Depending on how you do your taxes, leases could also have some additional benefit...

Slightly off-topic, but I think if you are really only keeping the car 3 years, and are leasing, BMW is the way to go because of their inflated residuals and maintenance program... It'll turn out to be very comparable in price for a higher MSRP car... Lease a BMW, buy a Lexus...

 

Sounds about right.

If you want to get into the math of it,

(X)^30 = 10
X = roughly 1.08 or about an 8% interest/return (that's sounds about right...nothing ridiculous like 15% over 30 years).

Imagine if you stuck the 50K at 8% for 45 years (an extra 15 years or 50% longer).

50K*(1.08)^30 = $503,132.84
50K*(1.08)^45 = $1,596,022.47

Of course, 45 years is a long time =P

Anyways, I'm off topic, but invest your money now...cause it could be worth a lot more later If you have the cash to burn to buy/lease a car every 3 years, fine. But I always recommend keeping a car as long as you can

 

This has been one of the most intelligent, well thought out, civil, and informative threads I've seen on the boards.

Nice Job!

 

I agree -- BMW has some great lease rates compared to Lexus, especially the IS350.

I searched far and wide for a decent zero down lease payment on a 350, I finally gave up and financed the whole thing minus $500 down payment.

 

Wow, financing the whole shebang with only $500 down. Your payments can't be cheap. For how many years?

 

approx $57x.xx @ 4% for 72 months. Now go to Lexus.com and see how much their lease payment calculator comes to with $500 down on a $44K car (paid $36.9)

72 mos is a long term -- but I plan on keeping it for a looooooooong time. Love the car and its loaded, everything I could want and more!

quick look at leasecompare....

Window Sticker
$44,000

Purchase Price
$37,000

Lease Payment
$555 per month

Term
36 Months

Mileage Allowance
36,000 Total Miles

Residual Value
$22,788

Purchase Option
$23,138

Money Factor
0.00241

Gap Insurance
Included

Down Payment
$500

Due At Signing
$1,055 Includes: First Months Payment, Down Payment
+ sales tax ($2312) and title fees ($150) = $3517 total down

so after plunking down $3500, I'd still have a crappy $555/mo lease payment or even higher if I rolled the sales tax into the payment!

that's why I turned to financing it outright.

 

Gotcha, I understand .... you are right 72 months is a long time. But at least you got a low interest rate. Suprised you could get a 4% loan for a 6 year term.