His money.
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Perhaps a chopper. The aerial kind?
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Not disagreeing, but if we are going to keep circling back to “why does everyone day the deal sucks”, the answer is going to continue to be “because the car sucks”.
A chopper? Why not a Cesna? Helicopters just lease terribly. You should probably look into a submarine. Any spy balloon will give you a better TCO then a hovercraft. But if you really want an elephant, this hangglider looks great.
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Actually the car doesn’t suck. I have owned both a Pathfinder and Explorer and the Pathfinder felt like a toy compared to the Explorer. Not to mention my desire to support an American brand. Mostly all but @z0lt3c have simply replied with, the deal sucks, but no numbers. I asked for numbers. Numbers don’t lie, they have no emotions. Nearly all the responses to my repeated request for numbers to tell me why this is not just a bad deal, but an atrocious deal, have been emotional.
It has been a lively discussion though! Enjoying it!
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He should definitely get a Pathfinder then. 
Spy balloon don’t have a great warranty and their susceptibility to AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles seems like too much of a liability.
Out of curiosity, have you owned the current gen of either of these? Every time i drive a current gen explorer, I am amazed how much of a step down Ford took compared to previous gens.
The big issue money wise comes in a couple flavors… you have an effective monthly much higher on a lease vs purchase, you have a poor value compared to competitors, and you have a very restrictive lessor, which eliminates many of the potential advantages of leasing (sometimes a higher cost is justifiable if youre getting something out of it.)
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Chopper = lots and lots of parking spots.
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This is not even close to true.
Please substantiate. The finance vs lease calc shows about $5000 higher tco for leasing. I havent validated all the numbers used, but it would be abnormal for a Ford lease to auddenly be the prudent option.
Exactly. He wants a explorer. Let him get it. His money. If he can afford it and he happy then so be it. Done deal. On to the next one.
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The finance effective monthly is lower on the finance and indeed, I’d probably go that route. My true preference would have been an Aviator but in comparing the Explorer Platinum and the Aviator Standard numbers the Explorer is a better deal of the two.
The lease payment is $768/mo effective ($0 DAS)
At 84mo @ 4.99% with $0 down, a $60,830 loan is $859/mo.
Obviously, lower finance terms would be even more per month.
I would not want to be selling an Explorer in 3 years…
To all the folks recommending other cars/SUVs, why not just comment on the deal?
We all know that Fords lease horribly for the most part. But again, that is subjective since we are on a lease hacking forum.
To OP - If you like the car and the deal, go for it.
EDIT: There may not be a lot of data points on Explorer leases, but at least OP is getting a discount and a rebate on the lease.
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That isnt the effective monthly on a purchase, as it doesnt factor in selling the vehicle at the end.
My take on it was that everyone was initially suggesting other cars b/c the lease structure on those simply made for a better value on a similarly priced car. But no one was quite explicitly saying that, and, if the OP hadn’t been following the various Pathfinder and the 1-2 Macan threads, I could understand why they were confused.
I didn’t think anyone was saying that the Explorer itself “sucks” until your post, TBH.
Sorry I forgot you had a crystal ball.
One must make reasonable assumptions about value at sale when doing that comparison, but if youre comparing effective cost, the disposition value is highly relevant.
