Looking for some advice from the lease experts, or folks who have bought their cars out of the lease/kept it after the lease ended.

The lease on my X5 is up in March of 2011. I've been struggling with whether or not I want to purchase the car or potentially even convert now from a lease to a purchase. If purchased now the buyout is $47k. If purchased at the end of the lease the buyout is $41k.

I had considered doing a 3 year loan but surprisingly the best rate BMW FS offers when doing this is 6% (which seems incredibly high compared to rates available through credit unions - 2.99-3.99%).

Anyway, all in all buying the car either now or at the end of the lease seems like a bit of bad financial move. Any opinions?


The reason I'm considering doing this is my first 2005 X5 replaced an M5. And while I have become really accustomed to the convenience of owning an SUV, I miss having a sportier car. So I'm wanting to have the X5, and then purchase a 911. The easy thing to do would be to get into a lease on a 2011 50i. But then in the back of my mind I'll always want that 911.

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Current Cars:

2008 X5 4.8i - Blk/Saddle
2001 330Ci - Titanium/Black Sport/Premium

Past Cars:
1993 325is Blk/Blk Sport
1995 M3 Blk/Blk
1997 328iC Blk/Blk Sport/Premium
1998 M3 Silver/Black
2001 M5 /Black/Black/Sport
2005 X5 3.0i - Blk/Blk Sport/Premium