nberry:
Christian, leasing is not for everyone. Look at this way. You are burning I guess about $5000 a month or $60,000 a year for your various mode of transportation. In one year for that money you could OWN a Cayenne. In two years ($120,000) you could OWN a Turbo. In three years buy a good used super car. And this does not include money saved for you children education.
Leasing to driving the latest car model can get very expensive.
You are wrong (in my case). A car looses a substantial value over the first three years of ownership. I like to drive the latest models most of the time, so keeping a car longer than three or four years is out of the question for me.
Let me do some math: My Cayenne GTS has a new car value of 123k EUR, rebate was 11%, so this makes aprox. 110k EUR. My down payment for the lease was 40k EUR and I pay 350 EUR (incl. VAT) per month for three years.
52600 EUR for a three year lease period, this makes 17533 EUR per year or 1461 EUR per month. So the car would, theoretically, have a remaining value of 57400 EUR after the three years lease. If I would have bought the car, would I get 57400 EUR for it after three years of ownership? I highly doubt it, especially since in three years, the facelift is out, the Macan will be available too and the next generation of the Cayenne will just be around the corner. Maybe 45-50k EUR if I am lucky and the fuel prices didn't go through the roof. Yes, I would need to sell it after three years to be able to finance my next car.
For me, this makes a lot of sense. For other people, who keep their cars longer than three or four years, it may not.
I also like the fact that after three years, I just leave the car at the dealer and I'm done with it. No worries, nothing since the residual value is not my concern.
I drive my cars with a lot of pleasure and I love them but I'm not married to them. The next model is almost always better, faster, etc., you get my point.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche Panamera Turbo S, Cayenne GTS (958), BMW X3 35d (2012), Mini Cooper S Countryman All4