Originally Posted by 5Xwen

Well, that's exactly my point. The future value of any vehicle (X5, C300, etc.) can't be accurately predicted. So unless you are confident that you will keep the car vehicle for 5+ years - why not lease?

Let's say that the X5 in question was leased 4 years ago and BMW Financial Servies used 45% residual that was common back then. Now you want a new car and the current value is only 38%. Wow, you saved ~ $3,500 plus you had no trade-in issues. OTOH, what if the current value for the X5 was now 50%. Wow, you can buy the car from BMW and sell/trade it for a nice profit of ~ $2,500.

Leasing is not for everyone, however if you only drive around 15K miles/year and you are uncertain of your future automotive needs (or like to get shinny new cars like the C300) - leasing is a good idea.