Clearly the author hasn’t run into a leasehackr
“Generally, two three-year leases will cost thousands more compared with buying a car (with a loan or with cash) and owning it over that same six-year period. And the savings increase for car buyers if they continue to hold on to the car, say, for another three years for nine years total—even factoring expected maintenance and repairs.”
“Generally” is the key word. My FIL put $8k from trade in as down payment / drove offs on a Forrester and has 42 months of $250 payments on top. This was signed over two years ago but that sounds like a bad deal to me.
We can’t all get leasehackr pricing…
Pretty much anytime you have a random article on leasing vs. buying you inevitably end up with one like this.
Written by folks who have little actual auto industry experience or knowledge and probably assume $500 over invoice is a bargain on any and every vehicle.
For a leasehackr, other than Porsche and a few select other brands, there’s typically some upside to leasing on most models.
Ah good ol Consumer Reports. I lost all trust for them when they went from loving the 2010 Lexus RX infotainment system to hating it. Then they did the same thing with Mazda’s system. They complain that everything is so difficult to use and has a learning curve. It’s like their target audience is legally blind 95 year olds.
They did this for the gear shifter of the XC40 as well.
If you got your hands on their subscriber demographics you’re probably not far off. There’s definitely some features and systems that are less intuitive than others but in most cases when they report complaints about particular features the problem is between the seat and the wheel.
I think their podcast/YouTube show is really good.
As for trust, it’s relative, right? It’s not like we trust any publication absolutely. CR is a non-profit. Their long-term cars are actually bought anonymously through dealerships just like everyone else, unlike pretty much every other publication that takes free press cars from the OEM after they’ve gone over them with a fine-tooth comb.
They’re a nonprofit but their reviewers have biases like any other human. And they have a constant hard-on for Subarus and Toyotas.
Their data on fuel economy and other figures I trust. Any comment on infotainment systems or controls? Nope they’re stuck in the Stone Age with regards to that
Maybe we’re talking about different things (the magazine vs the podcast)?
for the type of people that solicit quotes from a dealer or go into a dealership looking for a good deal, a lease will likely cost them more over a buy over a period of 6-9 years if they didn’t learn anything after the first time.
Ah I’m speaking with regards to the magazine. The podcast hosts are the same ones who do the reviews and critique controls and displays though.
All things being equal, it is better to buy and hold and take care of your car than to lease.
The TCO of all cars that were bought have come out lower than leased cars with the exception of some stupid deals like $200 Tundra.
In addition, you can buy a 2 year old car, which will have been right after the steepest part of the depreciation curve. Not sure you can efficiently lease a 2 year old vehicle.
Exit strategies for an owned vehicle are slightly better.
The XC40 shifter is HORRENDOUS.
Is the RX system like the one in the UX? B/c, if it is, it really does suck. And MB’s COMAND also stinks. Haven’t tried Volvo’s.
Similar but not exactly the same. Has the mouse-like controller versus the touchpad. My mom doesn’t mind it on her RX at all. My friend who has a C300 doesn’t seem to have an issue with COMAND.
Right, so diff strokes for diff folks. My parents have never complained about COMAND b/c they barely use it. My own personal experience w/ a UX loaner and using my parents C300 and GLC300 have made brands pretty much no-gos for my next car. Although maybe almost all brands will stink so much in 3 yrs (when I next plan to get a car) that it won’t matter. 
I do appreciate that Lexus and MB haven’t gone exclusively touch screen, though. I think touchscreens are just terrible.
I hated the mouse/joystick controller. They implemented that because they used the same older system that was a touch screen, when they moved the screen position it was too far to be used as a touch screen so they added the joystick. The amount of attention that requires for that system it’s borderline dangerous.
Volvo infotainment is my favorite among Nissan, Honda, Toyota, and Subaru’s offerings lately.
Sensus needs work for sure, and I understand that but it’s eye catching for people who get in the car, but could use some work, multi finger recognition is not enabled on my version afaik.
It’s really not that bad. Just have to remember you have to push the level down 2 times to get from reverse to drive.
I think if you have the time and determination, great new vehicle leases or purchase deals happen. Hence why unicorns exist.
However according to Cox auto and their research, most folks don’t really shop around, they visit less then 2 dealerships and sign and drive.
CS opinion on the matter reflects the majority of market unfortunately.