I pose this question because BMW offers aggressive lease deals which I think still makes it financially better to lease even though I only drive 8k miles/yr. Am I wrong? It seems BMW offers unusually high residual value in their leases which I wouldn’t get if I purchased the car and sold it 3 years later.
some facts:
located in LA
reference car would be X5 or M5
I drive less miles than you and leasing still works out to be a better deal. You also get an under-mileage credit of up to $300 from BMWFS on your next BMW lease.
On the M5 and other high-end cars they occasionally offer low-mileage leases but they seem to have phased those out. 8k miles/year really isn’t far off from 10k.
Lease it. BMW residual values are typically inflated. Combined with the fact that you want to have the car for 3 years it wouldn’t be a wise move to purchase it
Lease it and offer it for transfer prior to the last six months, ask for some money back from the transfer person. Hopefully you’ll be able to command a premium on the transfer with the extra miles.