I don't think I can get too excited about personalizing my xB - I just remembered we lease it. - $2000 down, $200 month x 4 years. Then I will switch it out for a later model if I'm still in love with the boxes. which I think I will be..... Do most of you buy or lease? Just wondering..

 

buy. its the only way to go. why pay for something and have all these restrictions like not being able to drive so many miles in a year just so you can return it and start all over on payments on a new car. where as when you buy it all that money you put into it stays in it for you, saving you money in the long run.

 

Leasing is one of the biggest ripoffs in the world. Leasing is good for those that want more car than they can afford.
Look at it this way. You'll have $11,600 invested to drive it for 4 years. Can't Really enjoy it ie: no modding or long trips. Then you have to give it back in very good condition or pay penalties. For about another $100 a month it would have been yours to keep forever and you'd have something to show for your money.
Mine will be paid off in less than a year. woot woot.

 

There was a time that I was VERY big on leasing. It still can make sense in certain situations. In general though, its not as attractive as it once was. Toyota got burned several years ago with cars coming off lease that were not worth the residual value. When this happens, Toyota lost that money at auction. There was a time when Toyota was loosing millions every month on off-lease vehicles. The same happened to Nissan and it almost sent them into bankruptcy. Toyota survived it easily, but learned from it. They have set the residuals much lower than they once were. Lower residuals means higher payments.

So, why lease? If you know you're going to want a new car in 3 years and you are worried about having negative equity at trade-in, leasing makes perfect sense. Unless you abuse it, you will not owe more money than its worth at the end of the lease. You can quickly and simply move into a new vehicle. Lease payments are still a little lower than a buy but not by as much as they once were.

 

i know a while back, my mom had a lease on one of hers and the dealer told her if she decided she wanted it, all she had to do was just finish paying for it at the end of the lease and keep it.

 

You can certainly buy the car at the end of the lease term. The residual value is in your contract I would imagine. You might even be able to get it cheaper at that point if you negotiate. The real problem with a lease is the restricted mileage that is in the contracts. If you drive over the 12 or 15 k a year in your lease your car will be worth a lot less and you will have to come up with the lump sum. You can always keep the OEM parts after any mod and put them back on when you turn it in.

 

leasing has always been a bad deal for the consumer generally...uless your okay with constant payments and know your gonna buy every few years a new car

 

Just got my xB yesterday. We went to the dealer thinking we were just going to lease one. But we ended up buying it. Looking at all the numbers in the long run just made sense to buy it instead of leasing it!

 

Leased, but modding like crazy. This was a keeper from the start. Just wanted a little lower payment. Saving up during that time to buy out the lease when the 5 years is up.

 

you can do that, but its VERY expensive. If you "just finish paying for it", you have to refinance the residual. In order to keep the payments close to what they were on the lease, you generally have to finance the thing for another 3 to 4 years. That means paying for the same car for 7 or more years! That 7+ years worth of interest payments.

 

if you dont plan on driving them alot a lease is for you, but what is the point then?
also its not always the case of "Leasing is good for those that want more car than they can afford" some people lease cars because they want a new car every other year or so, but in general its a rip off. you have no equity, if any, and basically your renting a car. and the penatlies are huge, i had a freind who leased a truck, and had no choice but to exceed the 15k milage a year, he turned it in with over 30,000 miles extra at 15 cents a mile. YIKES

 

at the end of the lease i think you could buy it out

 

if you r used to trading every couple of yrs then it may pay to look into a lease. unless you pay off ur car, most of it will be negative equity at resale or trade-in. look at what you want to accomplish with ur car. if u want to mod one out with a lease, be sure keep oem parts so that u can replace them when the lease is up. that is money that you may be able to recoup by either reusing the parts or selling them. if ur looking for inexpensive transportation and wont put more than 12-15k miles per yr. the best thing to do is talk with people with a similiar situation and see what they like/dislike about their situation. if u do lease and decide to purchase the car after the lease is up, that is an option but you may end up paying more for the used car plus the cost of lease than it would have been to just purchase it to begin with. talk with a salesperson you feel you can trust and they can help u decide.

 

in his case it was not worth it........
most people dont buy out the residual of the lease, its not worth it.

 

i bought mine. 281/month for 60 months. i just came out of a 4yr lease on a 2002 subaru WRX. biggest mistake ever. over 16000+downpayment on that car is gone, and i have nothing to show for it. oh well.. i bought the xB 2 weeks ago and i'm more than happy with it, even though its like 3 times slower than my WRX was.