Lease or buy?

[chilliwilli]

What are your thoughts and or experiences with leasing an X5?
Considering leasing a new 4.4 over purchasing.

This is what the dealer offered me:
$4,500 down
$648/month for 36 months

[Kierre]

I wouldn't buy an X5 now, because they are too far into their production life span. The new X5 is on the horizon, and your brand new X5 would be old news so to speak as soon as the new one hits the streets. I would agree with a lease for 2 or 3 years, allowing the new X5 to be broken in for a year or so (remember the X5s catching fire). Lease it and have fun!

[somewhereinla]

$648 with which options?

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by Kierre

I wouldn't buy an X5 now, because they are too far into their production life span. The new X5 is on the horizon, and your brand new X5 would be old news so to speak as soon as the new one hits the streets....

Maybe so, but unless they have done some disguised magic, the current/old X looks a whole lot better than the spy pics of the "new X", imo.

[motordavid]

I agree w/somewhereinla:
what options, what resid., etc.
Dunno, but I've not been able to make leasing
work out for me, arith-wise, w/no write off or
co. car deal...$9500 per year before you turn
the key, add ins., gas, etc.? Whew.
A lil'past my rationale. GL,md

[CND]

As an Accountant I get asked this a lot.

This is my answer.

If you turn cars over, do not get attached to a vehical, own a business (pref a corporation), do not drive high miles, and have a comfortable discresionary income then lease.

If you plan of keeping a car for a while, have enough money where cost is not an issue, can take advantage of depreciation, or buy used then purchase.

In other words is is case by case.

[somewhereinla]

The way I see it, and I might be completely wrong, is...with most options the car will cost around 60k plus taxes. a lease will cost you about around 28k+tax over 3 years(of course taxes are about half since you pay taxes on the 28k not the 60k). So the question is will the car be worth 32k in 3 years? right now a used 2002 4.4 goes for around 40k (give or take 2k), which makes me think that buying is a better deal. BMWs keep their value well, even when a new model comes out which will be the case with the new x5 coming out in end of 2006. If you were buying a jeep, I would recomend leasing.

[chilliwilli]

Originally Posted by somewhereinla

$648 with which options?

-Sports package
-Premium package
-Cold weather
-19" alloy wheels style 132
-6 disk cd changer

What do you guys think? I'm a bit skeptical about leasing. I've heard many horror stories. I'd like to hear from anyone who has leased before or are considering leasing. Pros and cons. I've only got a few days to give the stealer an answer about leasing a new 4.4i

[Thunder22]

Originally Posted by chilliwilli

-Sports package
-Premium package
-Cold weather
-19" alloy wheels style 132
-6 disk cd changer

What do you guys think? I'm a bit skeptical about leasing. I've heard many horror stories. I'd like to hear from anyone who has leased before or are considering leasing. Pros and cons. I've only got a few days to give the stealer an answer about leasing a new 4.4i

NEVER put money down on a lease, you're throwing money away. That $4500 is straight profit to the dealer. The most you should be paying up front is tax, registration, first month, security, and destination charge. That's it. You need to ask the dealer what the "lease factor" is, which is the interest rate, it should be something like .0125 at most, which translates into 2.5% APR if my memory serves me right. My '04 4.4i has sport/premium/cold, no money down, lease factor of .0125, 39 month lease, 10k miles a year and my payment is $672 (not including sales tax). You also need to find out what the residual % is to be able to make a valid comparison, off the top of my head my residual is somewhere in the high 50% like 58%, I'ld have to look it up on my contract (which i don't have handy)

Leaseing a BMW is a good idea, you get a lot of car with maintenance included for a lot less a month than if you did traditional financing (assuming you're not buying the car outright with cash up front), as long as you keep the miles under the allocation and you plan on keeping the car for at least 3 years. BMW will NOT let you out of your lease one you sign on the dotted line, you're responsible for 36 months of payments and they hold you to it. That being said, you CAN assign the lease to someone else if they have good credit and bmw approves them, there is a fee to bmw for about $300 to transfer it.

[AutoXer]

Really really hard without knowing your personal and tax situation. I have purchased cars that I intend to keep for a long time, still have a '99 740il. I purchased my X5 last year because I can use the Section 179 depreciation write-off in my business, otherwise I would have leased it. I leased a Boxster four years ago because I did not intend to hold it for the long term. So I have leased and purchased depending on the car and what I intend it for.

On these high end cars, without knowing your situation, I would recommend lease because I don't like to own them long term because the maintenance and repair costs are high, and I would rather sink that money into the car rather than fixing them. Just my 2 cents worth on this topic.