To buy or lease your E89?

[nicknaz]

Euro delivery is great for sure. You get exactly what you want, a nice vacation and a great discount without having to negotiate (i.e. $500-$750 over euro delivery invoice is a standard deal, while trying to achieve the same price on a car on the lot will require timing and negotiating)

@R1robot, After 1 year with my car I would say don't get it if track performance is an aspect you really care about. Think of E89 as an expensive way to get a 135/335 performance (and somewhat worse performance at that, since some of those cars come with more cooling and bigger brakes), not a cheap way to get Boxster S performance. You should get it if you really like the styling or really want a hardtop convertible.

Also, you can lease used cars, but the rates aren't that great because it is from a specialty finance company and not BMW FS. You are better off leasing a new E89

[R1robot]

Track performance isn't important, though i will likely track it once just to see how it behaves like i do with all my other vehicles. But it will mostly be my daily driver. I already tracked my current Z4 a year ago and it feels very nimble on PS2's. It's not the fastest car but its competent enough for a 2.5 and though the E89 is heavier on paper, i expect a similar if not better experience.

[Malfunction]

In my case, I wanted to lease. It worked out that the finance rates were so much better than the lease rates here in Canada that I made the decision to purchase. I think it comes down to dollars and cents.

The Boxster was on the short list, but with the options I wanted I would have had to settle for the non S version. Which does not really compare power wise.

While I have not tracked the car, I have not found it lacking in anyway.

Good luck!

[Hoa]

if you switch cars all the time and dont drive much, leasing it will be the best deal. that way, you guarantee yourself a set amount and you can exit the lease by letting someone else taking over it. when you buy, you dont know what is the value of the vehicle until you sell it. the market can go up and down in value for your vehicle as well so you take a risk. purchasing will require you to put some money down if you want your monthly payments to be low.

[jparnes1]

Originally Posted by Hoa

if you switch cars all the time and dont drive much, leasing it will be the best deal. that way, you guarantee yourself a set amount and you can exit the lease by letting someone else taking over it. when you buy, you dont know what is the value of the vehicle until you sell it. the market can go up and down in value for your vehicle as well so you take a risk. purchasing will require you to put some money down if you want your monthly payments to be low.

You may not know what the value is when you want to sell, but you have equity in the car, which you never have with a lease. I understand that leasing makes it more affordable to get into an expensive car, but it is never a "better deal" over buying in the long run.

[Rjscharer]

For me,lease deals are too good to pass up. Last week,leased a 2013 35is that stickered at $70,650 with $900 down plus first month's payment for $582 per month,36 months,10k per year. Payment included Floida tax. That is crazy.

[jpwolfe31]

I went through the lease buy process in detail just recently with our 535iGT.

Based on our driving, I calculated that if I purchased I would have to hold the car nine years to get the same monthly cost as leasing provided.

Major factors were:

(i) the low miles expected (10,000 per year),
(ii) the great residual offered (65%),
(iii) the low mf (0.00127) (and even lower with a higher security deposit),
(iv) the high cost of a three year extended warranty on this model ($4,580 after discount),
(v) CA sales tax (9%) and
(vi) the cost of maintenance (after year four est $1000 per year) and repairs (after year seven est $1500 per year). And these might be low estimates.

At the end of 9 years, I thought this $61,000 MSRP car would be worth about $12,000 and factored this in as well.

Total monthly cost of a purchase was $630. My monthly lease with tax was $580, and with the up front leasing costs taken into account, the monthly leasing cost averaged $630 over the life of the lease.

I did not buy lease return insurance and did not factor in any deductions for damage. However, we have been able to keep our cars in relatively good shape in the past. Also, if you own it, you generally have to fix it as well.

If I held the purchased car for seven years, my cost worked out to $720 per month.

[nicknaz]

+1 on the analysis jpwolfe

[jparnes1]

So, if I'm reading this correctly, the total monthly cost of lease vs. ownership are both $630 with additional costs for ownership being those of repairs/maintenance. If the anticipated value of the car after 9 years is $12,000, I would say that buys a lot of repairs and maintenance.
Seems like if (and this is a big if) you can drive under the mileage limit on a lease, then it's a wash either way, and I stand corrected. But 10K a year is pretty low for the average driver.

[fisherman]

I've never leased, but am considering doing a cost analysis next time around. I use my Z for limited miles, and would have no problem keeping mileage under the lease limit.
One question for those who have done the cost comparisons....do you factor in the value of money , and possible investment returns ? In other words, if I pay $ 60 K cash versus leasing, that's $60 K out of my investments that's not getting interest, or stock market returns. If someone could average 6-8 % per year on invested money, that would be $ 3600- $ 4800 per year in lost income if the $ 60 K was used to buy the car up front. Do you factor this issue in to the comparison ?

[CeEl]

Yes, it's called a net present value (NPV) analysis. Check the help in Excel or use Google...

[jparnes1]

Originally Posted by fisherman

I've never leased, but am considering doing a cost analysis next time around. I use my Z for limited miles, and would have no problem keeping mileage under the lease limit.
One question for those who have done the cost comparisons....do you factor in the value of money , and possible investment returns ? In other words, if I pay $ 60 K cash versus leasing, that's $60 K out of my investments that's not getting interest, or stock market returns. If someone could average 6-8 % per year on invested money, that would be $ 3600- $ 4800 per year in lost income if the $ 60 K was used to buy the car up front. Do you factor this issue in to the comparison ?

Yes, but if you pay cash for the car, you don't incur any finance charges. So where are you making more money at the present time, in the market or on your loan? That's all you need know. For 2013 so far, you're better off paying loan interest since the market has been performing so well.

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by jparnes1

I would say that buys a lot of repairs and maintenance.
Seems like if (and this is a big if) you can drive under the mileage limit on a lease, then it's a wash either way, and I stand corrected. But 10K a year is pretty low for the average driver.

Yea, there is an element of guessing for the repairs for sure.

One other minor factor, is that the lease limit is a non issue if your overage is due to business travel. I worked it out and the IRS reimbursement rate covers the fuel and extra miles charge.

And there is the possibility that BMW FS will forgive the mileage overage anyway, so the reimbursement could just be pocketed instead of used to offset a lease end charge.

I used to think leasing was strictly worse than buying (driven mostly by cultural attitude towards "rent" vs. "own") but have found it is actually a lot more nuanced of a discussion and that for BMW leasing could in fact be better financially except for a very long holding period

[jparnes1]

Nuanced, indeed. Personally, I don't drive for work, so no deduction there. And I guess you wouldn't know if BMW FS will eat the overage until its time to turn it in. Anyway, I've always held on to cars for around 10 years and this Z4 maybe even longer as I only drive it half the year.

[Hoa]

Originally Posted by jparnes1

You may not know what the value is when you want to sell, but you have equity in the car, which you never have with a lease. I understand that leasing makes it more affordable to get into an expensive car, but it is never a "better deal" over buying in the long run.

that is why i said if you swap cars all the time then leasing is better. you pay for it as you use it.

[markmatthews]

To my understanding with $0 down in both cases a lease will always give you a much lower monthly payment, assuming you get rid of your car after 36 months (I've never kept any of my cars for more than 1 year lol)

With that said I don't understand too much about leasing and am about to start a new thread...just need to wait for my 1 post and 24 hours requirement to be up.

[vert2go]

Originally Posted by Rjscharer

For me,lease deals are too good to pass up. Last week,leased a 2013 35is that stickered at $70,650 with $900 down plus first month's payment for $582 per month,36 months,10k per year. Payment included Floida tax. That is crazy.

How many MSD?