135i - Good deal on lease ?

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

Hans, I live in NYC, and a 1 series or 3 series has zero "bling factor". (At least to me it doesn't) They are fun cars to drive, thats all.

If you lose your job, and your car payment is a problem, (whether you lease or finance) you are driving too much car.

True that. I forgot to mention another group I've categorized (making fun of myself there) some people just want or need a new car every few years because it makes sense for them, and leasing is the best way for them to do that. I'm not knocking leasing, just expressing my latent resentment for the "get something for nothing" mentality that seems pervasive these days. (houses, healthcare... you know... BMWs for 300 bucks a month)

I put too many miles on my daily driver so leasing doesn't make sense for me. Plus I just like the feeling that "it's mine!" and have full freedom to keep the car, or sell it tomorrow if I want..... I've been known to be impulsive, although advanced age is curing that.....

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

At the end of three years, I am free to do whatever I want. If leasing still makes sense to me, I will do that. I can buy new, I can buy used... I will have a larger sum of cash left in savings waiting on the sidelines.

Also, if you only put 5k on a 135i, then your payments are going to be double that of a lease.

The OP said the lease deal is $626/mo. I'm paying $660/mo. Hardly double.

Originally Posted by Pete Teoh

The OP said the lease deal is $626/mo. I'm paying $660/mo. Hardly double.

Pete, you paying that for 5 years + the down payment. If you had a 3 year loan, your payment would be around $1000 a month.

So in year 4, you will have a $660 a month payment for a car WITHOUT a warranty? Good luck with that

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

Pete, you paying that for 5 years + the down payment. If you had a 3 year loan, your payment would be around $1000 a month.

So in year 4, you will have a $660 a month payment for a car WITHOUT a warranty? Good luck with that

What do you do after your lease ends? Does your need for a car cease? If you continue to need a car you will continue to have a payment. You'll just be paying for a different car. You can also bet on the same class of car costing more in 3 years, so your payment will be higher at that point.

After 5 years I can stop paying for a car if I choose. If you're leasing you don't have that option unless you no longer need a car. You're guaranteed a perpetual car payment when you lease.

Originally Posted by Pete Teoh

What do you do after your lease ends? Does your need for a car cease? If you continue to need a car you will continue to have a payment. You'll just be paying for a different car. You can also bet on the same class of car costing more in 3 years, so your payment will be higher at that point.

After 5 years I can stop paying for a car if I choose. If you're leasing you don't have that option unless you no longer need a car. You're guaranteed a perpetual car payment when you lease.

Agreed, I always have a payment for as long as I agree to. Known risk... Unlike someone who pays a larger payment out of warranty and can have an instrument cluster fail, and be in the hole for $2500.

I actually don't NEED a car. I live in NYC, and a car to me is a luxury item. I drive a car for pleasure.

As far as payments going up, that is a risk both people who lease and people who buy both assume. MSRP's go up, but it is important to note that in bad economic times, better deals are offered. Dealerships are doing deals at far less profit today than 3 years ago. BMWFS offering crazy low money factors, trunk money, and most importantly artificially high residual values which are far greater than you could ever sell your car for.

Hell, you could lease a 45k 135i for well under $500 a month. Just a few months ago, this was not the case.

I'm not against buying a car when it makes sense. If I was happy with a car that was just getting me from point a to b, I probably would buy a 2 year old honda or toyota.

But no way would I want to own a bmw, especially this n54 engine outside of the warranty.

Let's agree to disagree. At the end of the day, you feel more comfortable buying, and I feel more comfortable leasing.

I own a car. It's a Toyota and it's paid-for. I also have enough saved to buy any car under $30k without any loanss. However, I still lease. I LOVE getting a new BMW every few years or so. As someone pointed out, the residuals are too high so I end up paying a lot less and no down payment versus a purchase. Even better, the whole time the car is under warranty and I add the wheel/tire coverage which means zero out of pocket expenses other than my fixed cost, currently $600/month on my '07 Z4 3.0si with every option but nav and automatic tranny. Next August the residual will be 28k which is more than I could get for it right now if I sold it myself.

My Z4 has needed at least one major repair each year I owned it (yes, a xenon headlamp that costs $1k is major and so is a valvetronic motor and so is a new DME). I don't want to own a modern BMW out of warranty. My E30 was super low-cost, my E36 not so and my E46 had a bad clutch at 46k miles when the previous two cars had original clutches at 140k.

If I lose my job between now and then, I either pay for it out of savings, try to transfer the lease to someone interested in a great convertible with no money down for 8 months or just take it to the dealership with a check for the 7k or so that I owe them. And I'd drive my Toyota.

However, since I just made some good sales, instead I'm shopping for an ED 135 convertible. While I'm tempted to take advantage of the 3% rate, I know that in 3 years I'll still be "under" on my loan, while paying much more and fighting the bug to purchase yet another Bimmer. Lease is very convenient for those of us who like changing cars often. We must either lease, buy used, or waste away tons of money taking depreciation hits on new cars that we're selling or trading-in two years later.

Is it financially the best idea? Absolutely not. If I want to make the best financial decision, I'll buy a 3-year old Honda Accord or Toyota Corolla. Let some other sucker eat the depreciation and own an ultra-reliable car that my local gas station can fix. A BMW is a luxury, a toy that I get myself as a reward because I love driving and I love driving BMWs. I can afford to do so.

I love the whole leasing versus buying argument. It is funny.

Bottom line, sometimes it makes sense to lease and sometimes it makes sense to buy. It really depends on how the car is being subsidized by the manufacturer and the purchaser's desired length of "ownership" for the vehicle.

I just leased a 2010 bmw 135i. The MSRP was 38k on it, I ended up putting 6k down and walked away with a 352dollar payment @ 12k miles per year

Originally Posted by guenelin

I own a car. It's a Toyota and it's paid-for. I also have enough saved to buy any car under $30k without any loanss. However, I still lease. I LOVE getting a new BMW every few years or so. As someone pointed out, the residuals are too high so I end up paying a lot less and no down payment versus a purchase. Even better, the whole time the car is under warranty and I add the wheel/tire coverage which means zero out of pocket expenses other than my fixed cost, currently $600/month on my '07 Z4 3.0si with every option but nav and automatic tranny. Next August the residual will be 28k which is more than I could get for it right now if I sold it myself.

My Z4 has needed at least one major repair each year I owned it (yes, a xenon headlamp that costs $1k is major and so is a valvetronic motor and so is a new DME). I don't want to own a modern BMW out of warranty. My E30 was super low-cost, my E36 not so and my E46 had a bad clutch at 46k miles when the previous two cars had original clutches at 140k.

If I lose my job between now and then, I either pay for it out of savings, try to transfer the lease to someone interested in a great convertible with no money down for 8 months or just take it to the dealership with a check for the 7k or so that I owe them. And I'd drive my Toyota.

However, since I just made some good sales, instead I'm shopping for an ED 135 convertible. While I'm tempted to take advantage of the 3% rate, I know that in 3 years I'll still be "under" on my loan, while paying much more and fighting the bug to purchase yet another Bimmer. Lease is very convenient for those of us who like changing cars often. We must either lease, buy used, or waste away tons of money taking depreciation hits on new cars that we're selling or trading-in two years later.

Is it financially the best idea? Absolutely not. If I want to make the best financial decision, I'll buy a 3-year old Honda Accord or Toyota Corolla. Let some other sucker eat the depreciation and own an ultra-reliable car that my local gas station can fix. A BMW is a luxury, a toy that I get myself as a reward because I love driving and I love driving BMWs. I can afford to do so.

Quoted for TRUTH

This

Originally Posted by guenelin

I own a car. It's a Toyota and it's paid-for. I also have enough saved to buy any car under $30k without any loanss. However, I still lease. I LOVE getting a new BMW every few years or so. As someone pointed out, the residuals are too high so I end up paying a lot less and no down payment versus a purchase. Even better, the whole time the car is under warranty and I add the wheel/tire coverage which means zero out of pocket expenses other than my fixed cost, currently $600/month on my '07 Z4 3.0si with every option but nav and automatic tranny. Next August the residual will be 28k which is more than I could get for it right now if I sold it myself.

My Z4 has needed at least one major repair each year I owned it (yes, a xenon headlamp that costs $1k is major and so is a valvetronic motor and so is a new DME). I don't want to own a modern BMW out of warranty. My E30 was super low-cost, my E36 not so and my E46 had a bad clutch at 46k miles when the previous two cars had original clutches at 140k.

If I lose my job between now and then, I either pay for it out of savings, try to transfer the lease to someone interested in a great convertible with no money down for 8 months or just take it to the dealership with a check for the 7k or so that I owe them. And I'd drive my Toyota.

However, since I just made some good sales, instead I'm shopping for an ED 135 convertible. While I'm tempted to take advantage of the 3% rate, I know that in 3 years I'll still be "under" on my loan, while paying much more and fighting the bug to purchase yet another Bimmer. Lease is very convenient for those of us who like changing cars often. We must either lease, buy used, or waste away tons of money taking depreciation hits on new cars that we're selling or trading-in two years later.

Is it financially the best idea? Absolutely not. If I want to make the best financial decision, I'll buy a 3-year old Honda Accord or Toyota Corolla. Let some other sucker eat the depreciation and own an ultra-reliable car that my local gas station can fix. A BMW is a luxury, a toy that I get myself as a reward because I love driving and I love driving BMWs. I can afford to do so.

Originally Posted by Hans Delbruck

It's like Democrats and Republicans. We'll never agree. The people I know who lease cars are simply driving more car than they can afford, but then I live in LA, land of poseurs driving BMWs for $299/month lease deals. It's all about the lowest monthly payment for the highest bling value. Their lives are completely financed; they are pwnd by the bank. Some lose their jobs and then have nothing. They live paycheck to paycheck, payment to payment. The people I know who have money in the bank pay cash for their cars, or perhaps take advantage of super low interest rates. The thought of being stuck in a perpetual car payment, which is what happens when a lease ends, is scary to me.

I respectfully disagree with your comment. When I was younger I didn't have a lot of money and I used to buy pre-owned cars outright for cash since usually I could score a great deal on Pre-owned Porsche or a BMW. Sometimes I would finance a car for as long as I could to get the lowest possible payment.
The problem was I would end up with car that was 6 years old that would have very high mileage. Usually when the car came of warranty the money I would pay on the car payment I was giving it back to the mechanics. I couldn't keep the cars dealer maintained because the service was usually more than the book value of the car. I still somehow managed to sell my cars to someone for decent deal so I could buy something newer.

As my business started to grow I started to purchase new cars outright for cash, but I found myself after about 24 months I would start looking at a newer or a different model car. I then found myself trying to sell the car, people who would call me at all times of the day only to find out the car was more than they could afford or didn't have the money in the first place. Usually the only people who we are able to purchase the car back from me were the dealers on a trade in.

After speaking to my accountant I decided to lease my next car and have leased 5 different cars in the last five years. I don't need to hassle I take advantage of the write off and I get to drive new cars. I keep my cars in pristine condition and soon as I get bored I move on to the newest model.

I would never go back to buying, as far as the guys driving around in $299. Cars I can't see how much of bling factor that has, and as far anyone I know who has money they usually lease unless they have bad credit or no credit.

I did however purchase a Rubicon for our home in the Caribbean; I didn't really have much of choice on that decision.