Deal Check - Ioniq 5 Limited - Lease or Buy?

[tr5]

First off, thank you to this community for helping me prepare for my conversation with the dealer this morning. Made me feel much more in control over the details. Looking to get your feedback on the lease offer, and whether a purchase of the same vehicle might be a better fit in my case.

–Lease–

I received the following lease quote for a 2026 Ioniq 5 Limited RWD this morning:

• 1. MSRP $47,724
  2. Dealer discount (incl. Costco): $3,000
  3. Selling price: $44,724
  4. Miles: 7,500 (I’d likely increase this to 10k for another $20-30 monthly)
  5. Months: 24
  6. Residual: 71% ($33,884)
  7. MF: 0.00239
  8. Total Rebates: $5,000
  9. Customer Cash: $4,000
  10. Due on delivery: $5,943.01 (incl. tax)
  11. Monthly: $298 (incl. tax)

Leasehackr score of 8 suggests it is good, but not excellent?

–Purchase–

The dealer was strongly pushing towards purchase vs. lease. My initial reaction was the assumption that buying a new car is never a good idea financially, but I’d like to get your thoughts to the actual numbers.

Out the door price for the same vehicle as above: $39k

Assuming a depreciation to $26k within 2 years, this would put the total cost of ownership at a similar $13k as the lease. Potential pros for the purchase for me:

• Flexibility to modify: With the lease, I’d have to live with the Bose sound or with minimally invasive upgrades (DSP/Amp), but a purchase would allow me to go down the rabbithole of having a proper setup + deadening installed. Extra cost, but also extra enjoyment.
• Flexibility to sell earlier or later: If I decide to sell after 1 year, I’d have to eat the higher initial depreciation but it would not be as complex as getting out of a lease early. If I decided to keep the vehicle for 4 years, that would make the financials more appealing.

–Your feedback–

Since I am new to leasing and buying cars, I’d love to get your feedback if my reasoning above sounds right, and whether there are any “gotchas” I missed with either option. Also, do you see additional room for negotiation on either of these?

Thank you!

[boozinix]

Just find a good broker. Seriously.

Or spend 30 mins and have a serious conversation with 3-5 dealerships. You are in nor-cal and talking to 3-5 you will see how the math changes

That being said, I think this is a absolutely terrible deal, but more importantly, you should never buy this vehicle. The real world residuals are in the shittter and its almost always gonna be better to lease it