lease / buy question

[ssaq]

..so my 27 month lease is coming to an end. Too bad for me as I got what i think was a great deal..06 330xi every option except auto, for $415/mo, w/no cap reduction (w/7MSDs, and done ED).

Now lease rates and residuals are much worse than in '05 (and will be even worse for the 09 E90's) Clearly lease factors got worse at the same time as financing factors got better (from buyers perspective)...My instinct is that financing is now the way to go from a financial point of view.. is this the general consensus now?


secondly, i had leased the '06 out of state so that i'd be able to put down the MSD's which saved me $. Is there anything that can be done to improve financing rates? or is it purely based on my financials. If there's nothing that can be done, prob best for me to get it locally this time (basically for the loaner)...


Thanks all!

[mclaren]

Car companies have lost their ass on leases because their optimistic residuals proved to be way too high. So now they are giving incentives to buy like the .9% financing deal available. This transfers the risk of a big drop in price to the buyer. I have said on this board several times that one of the best things about leasing is the free option to walk or in some cases buy the car. The buy or lease question is still difficult since buying a depreciating asset isn't a great idea. But given the lower residuals and the low financing cost it is a much closer question now than it was in 2006 when I leased my Z4.

[Excitmnt94]

^ agreed