tdog09

So my special ordered IS350 should be due in any week now (elapsed time:3 months 1 week), and wanted to get some opinions on this.

Should I lease or finance the car? I got the dealer to come down 2000 off MSRP, but dont have any residual or actual lease information, but am asking a "general" question.

I dont know how long I'll keep the 350 for (atleast 2 yrs). I say that bc I'm really excited about the IS coupe/convertible, but dont actually know if i would or be able to purchase it.

My original and current decision is to finance, but dont know if i'd be able to sell it for a good price(future depreciation percentages) in a few yrs if i opt to get the new mondel.

Anybody thinking the same as me on future IS models? What do you all think?
Thanks.

bagwell

lease rates on the IS suck....I thought if a car retained value well lease rates would be great right?....wrong. I see people paying some crazy money to lease it which is nuts....just finance it at a good rate and your worries are over....put enough down to be able to sell it in a 2-3 years if necessary.

diablo1

The IS has a good residual of around 61-62%, from what I remember. The reason lease rates aren't that good is because they aren't offering any special financing on the car. With the way they are selling right now, they don't need to. However, the fact that they are not offering financing deals applies equally to leasing or buying - you can't get cheap financing to lease or to buy.

A general rule is, buy if you are going to keep it for around 5 years or longer. Lease if you're going to keep it 3 years or less. In the middle, I guess you could do either one...


Search this site and Google for more details. There are + and - to either option.

Lem144

Go here and do a comparison:

http://www.edmunds.com/apps/calc/CalculatorController