I know this question might have been asked before but I’d love to get your wisdom about this in my situation. Currently, I’m leasing a BMW X1 2018 for $24X monthly and the lease will finish next month. So my next car will be a 36 months lease or I’m open to purchase. I’m looking for a small or midsize SUV and considering BMW X1/X3, Audi Etron/Q5, MB GLB/GLC and/or similar SUVs.
A good deal for a 2020 loaner X1 will end up monthly of 300-350 which is around 11-13k for 3 yrs. RV for X1 loaner after 3 yrs is 57%. Anything else will be higher. If I do not care about monthly payment and want to optimize for overall cost (e.g., finance and sell after 3 yrs), will it makes sense to lease?
How do you calculate if lease is beneficial based on cost analysis and how do you compare lease vs buy? Thanks in advance for all replies and I know I asked a very general highly parametric question.
This has been asked and answered many times but here are my 2c… If you’re going to keep a vehicle longer than 8 years, it makes sense to buy it. Most likely you’ll come out ahead. The caveat is if you have major out of pocket repairs. It’s almost always cheaper to buy provided you’re ok keeping a vehicle a long time. I’m not and that’s why I lease.
My reading of the BMW threads more than others it is going to differ. Some months the lease incentives are $3000-$4000 more than purchase incentives. Pretty sure it was like that with the MDX in January. Going to be hard to make up that difference in 3 years if you are looking to sell after 3 years anyways.
This all comes down to if you’re more interested in features or brand recognition. If you’re looking at a stripped loaner x1, it sounds like brand name is your priority, which is fine. In that case, your options are very limited if you’re trying to minimize cost. This, a base model q3, etc.
If you want the most features for your dollar, you should probably be looking at offerings from kia/hyundai/honda/etc
I have been trying to figure this out and I honestly think BMW’s just depreciate too much for a purchase to make sense. I base that in many hours getting Carvana buy prices for many past years of different BMW models. I don’t know about Benz or Audi, but I suspect similar.
The one brand that seems like buying is the only way to go is Porsche. On a base 2018 Macan, Carvana will give you 76% of MSRP in my zip code. Even if you only ended up with 5% off at purchase, that is cheaper than buying a heavily discounted BMW that resells at 50% of MSRP in three years. And note that the BMW seems to get a big depreciation shock at year four, so holding it a bit longer doesn’t help.
If you’re not too stuck on brand, I would say go for Mazda. The CX-5’s lease pretty well and come pretty well equipped, especially the 2021’s with the updated infotainment system makes it a lot better than the 2020’s. Tons of features and drives well. Could always get it with the turbo if you really need to power too. Lease not buy.
It doesn’t really matter what I recommend. Search the Marketplace and Shared Deals subs for Lexus NX, Acura RDX, Infiniti QX50, etc and see which offers the best value.
I also add that it is the same with Tesla cars. Since their depreciation is lower and they don’t offer lots of lease incentives, it is almost always better to buy.
For BMW, I think it makes sense to lease if the monthly pay rate is good. Currently 2018 X1 goes for 60-65% of MSRP which is about 30-35% depreciation. This is equal to about 15k depreciation over 3 yrs.
