My X3 lease was supposed to end today, but I was able to get out of it a couple months early (April 10th) without penalty. Before leasing a new vehicle, I looked into buying the X3 but they only offered my the contractual lease-end buyout price on the contract, despite promising me in February it would be much less.

In addition to the '06 X3 lease, I was leasing an '06 X5 4.4i and, believe it or not, they offered my the same lease-end buyout for the X5 as the X3 - $26,000. The contractual price on the X5 was originally $37,000, so I clearly took advantage of getting the $65k X5 (CPO with extended maintenance) at the same purchase price as the X3.

Also looked into leasing a new X3. Horrendous money factor and residual values at this time. Would have been paying >$200/month more, for a lesser X3, than before.

Since the X1 will be coming out and hopefully a new X3 within the next year or so, I wouldn't want to buy the X3. It's the oldest model left in BMWs lineup and really not a great long-term investment.

Maybe think about buying a great CPO deal and wait until the new X3 or X1 come out?

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'09 Porsche Cayenne
Navigation, Turbo II Wheel Package, 20% tint, Eibach Lowering Springs, Extended Olive Wood Trim

'06 X5 4.4i
Premium Package, Cold Weather, Heated Steering Wheel, CD Player, Hi-Fi Stereo, Navigation

GONE: '06 X3 3.0
Premium, M-Sport, Cold Weather, Navigation, Sirius, Hard-wired Escort Passport 8500, 35% tint Dinan Pedals, Backup Monitoring