I've leased cars before. I've purchased cars before. I've also kept cars for a long time before. So I don't want to get into a debate about "what a waste of money" type of discussion.

Any of you continue to lease your cars? So a new car every 3 years? How long have you been leasing? I like to hear your reasons for leasing and continue to lease year after year.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/car-talk-5/

 

I had a good experience leasing a 2015 VW Passat but that was a second car so I ended up way below on miles

I am considering it again as I would like a more fun car but don’t want to be stuck paying off a whole loan for something I don’t want to keep a long time.

I am also curious what the sweet spot on lease length is though. 36 months was too long for me. I was ready to switch after 30.

 

Both my MDX and TLX are leases. Quite frankly, I get bored in fairly short order. Usually by month 28-29, I start looking forward to the next pick-up. Sidenote: Most of my leases were turned in well before the 36 month termination; my 16 TLX was turned in with 6 months to go thanks to dealer cash and Acura's pull ahead initiative.

At this point, I'd only outright purchase something a car if it's somewhat rare and/or has the potential of being a collectible (I.e.: Audi RS4, Camaro SS, etc,...) OR a daily something basic for family hauling duties (i.e.: the used Honda Odyssey I'm currently shopping for)

With 19 months to go on my 17 MDX, I'm more pretty focused on seeing what's in store with the 4G MDX. Granted, it'll probably lease poorly when it does debut.

 

I wish i could lease cars for 12 months.... i mean i could... but it will be expensive AF.

 

I currently lease my wife's car. Been leasing for nearly 10 years...usually swap out early. Not opposed to buying, but we like variety. I'm happy with my car and driving it til it chokes, but I like the options to try different things with my wifes cars.

 

My wife and I always bought cars until recently. I realized I never keep my car past 5 years so just went with a good lease deal this time to see how it is.

And I would have never purchased a Jaguar, the only way was to lease with full maintenance and warranty for full 39 months. An epic lease deal did help me pull the trigger too.

 

I’m on my 2nd BMW lease. You should check out leasehackr.com for tips and tricks.

 

Cars are becoming overly complex and i think if I was in the market for anything besides a Toyota I would lease. That would be especially true if I wanted something European or American.

 

You don't drive a Subata

Also, how do you keep getting your username changed?

 

it depends on the situation and personal needs. A lot of people are still stuck in the mindset that "you will have nothing to show for after 3 years of lease!" I laugh every time i hear that.
Generally speaking, if you drive less than 15k miles a year and you are changing cars every 3-4 years anyways and most importantly, you are sick of paying for the upside downs every time you buy your next car, then maybe it is time for you to lease.
If you are the type who drive the car till the wheels fall off and are prepared to pay for some major repairs when things do break, then buy it.

 

People still buy cars?

...jk

i feel like it’s really a mileage thing / geographical thing. Bigger / denser the city, less mileage and more public transportation in the suburban areas. leasing becomes more and more prevalent. Like a NY Times auto section in Sunday’s paper has ads galore and 90% of them advertise lease deals. It’s weird in the tri state area. Cars on the road are generally new/er but it’s mostly people because people are leasing since they put so little miles. My wife and I in the burbs put 8k miles on one car and 2k on the second car (which we need for kid emergency stuff). I’m actually at a dilemma that I’d be overpaying for a 7.5k mile lease so I bought an old car in cash. And half the time I drive it it’s to charge the battery.

 

Looked at it, but did the numbers. Continuing to lease means making car payments every single month for the rest of your life. I'm too poor to do that and I do not own a company to write off the lease payments.

I can see it if I bought something unreliable but why would I do that?

 

That is only true if you are not planning to buy another Brand New car for rest of your life or worse, pay cash... (will lose 30% within 1 hour of purchase)

 

Not really. I keep my cars a long time, my last Honda was just shy of 15 years. Repairs? I had far less than $4000 over the life of the car...do the work myself and do it right.

Leasing my Acura would run me $725 a month in my market. Twelve years later (if the lease rate does not go up in the subsequent leases), would run me almost $105,000. My Acura ran me just over $43,000.

 

+1 I've bought and leased cars and even when I buy a car, I always look at how much it's costing me per month. For example I buy a car for $30k and sell it in 5 years for $15k. That depreciation cost me $15k in 5 years or $250 per month. I've found that the depreciation curve makes sense when buying new and keep a car longer than 6 years. Of course this is different if I buy used.

 

what kind of market are you in that will cost you $725 to lease a RDX? I can lease a well equipped 540i m sport for $725

and keeping a car for 15 years is pretty much driving till the wheels fall off.

 

Here you go. 2019 RDX A-Spec...



Not my cars. My friend now has my 1999 Honda CR-V that I sold him when it was almost 14 years old. It'll be 20 years old this October with well over 186,000 miles and it still looks like new. Still no rust considering our harsh winters. I know something about cars :wink: and know how to look after them.

 

Some people make way more than enough money to enjoy new cars every two to three years with new technology without ever worrying about the maintenance nor repairs. Kudos to them if that's what they want.

 

I am not sure where you got those #s since you are in Canada (km). But in the US, you can lease a RDX loaded for around $500 a month.

 

For sure, but your purchase price will also be lower, so the ratios almost work out the same. I still would not want to spend that much every month forever.

 

I would've considered leasing my BRZ, as it's six years old and only has 36k miles. But I like to mod my vehicles.

That said, if I'm buying then I'm only going used. Seeing exactly how much the value dropped in the first two years was an eye opener.

Leasing makes sense for a lot of luxury vehicles >$50k or so. Most of them have resale values that plummet quickly.

 

I can attest to that. My C had a sticker price of $50k, bought CPO with 16k miles for ~$27k.
Indirect experience, my grandmother's 2007 S550 had a sticker price somewhere around $115k, sold after about 6.5 years with under 40k on it for $35k.

 

Car depreciation are calculated by %.... obviously the more expensive the car is the more $$ amount it will lose and almost all cars have the highest depreciation % in the first 3 years of ownership.

Buy off lease 3 years old cars are the best as far as $$ goes....But i personally want new.

 

Which only makes a difference if you sell or trade-in your vehicles. If you keep them till they nearly drop, that would not apply which is why I look for reliable vehicles. People forget you only lose out by trading in...dealers are not there to make friends, they are there to make money. As for driving a luxury vehicle, everything has a cost, but I'd sooner be in my Acura RDX than in a Honda Civic.