Quote:
Originally Posted by DDR MFS
I leased my E92 at got it for around 52K with payments in the low 500s and that is where I want to keep my M2. That said, in doing research and with me wanting to keep the car long term, the inclination is to finance or do BMW Select. I read on here and in other reliable car publications that the M2 generally does not lease well. Is there any credibility to this? Also putting down that much on a lease I know is bone headed, but just want make sure I am not negating a good option based on voodoo.
Thanks so much and cannot wait to get back to the Roundel and enjoy this beast of a machine.
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The issue with leasing an M2 is the residual - BMW's residuals on the M2 are lower than on other models. I don't believe this is because BMW believes the car will depreciate abnormally, and secondary market numbers show that the M2 ironically actually depreciates slower than its other models, at least so far. It's just that demand has been so strong for the M2 that BMW has not had to subsidize its leases in any way, so the M2 residuals have been set lower than "normal".
For someone who intends to keep the car beyond the lease term, all this means is that you're shifting more of the cost of the car to the front 3 years, to the lease term, and leaving a lower buyout figure at the end. That's all that's happening...you're shifting a larger % of the cost to the front 3 years and leaving less for the post-lease period. For some of us, depending on your financial situation, that can be a good thing. But for someone who intends to ONLY keep the car for the lease term, it means higher payments for those 3 years. Of course, most people overlook the fact that in making those higher payments you likely create an equity position at the end of the 3 years, wherein the car is worth more than its buyout and you can then capture that equity and basically recapture the extra money you've been paying for 3 years, but many people who lease don't want to be bothered with any of that - they just want to hand over the keys after 3 years and get something else without any fuss.
This is what people refer to when they talk about avoiding lease deals on the M2 - the low residuals which create higher lease payments, which creates an equity situation at the end of the lease (car worth more than buyout) which, if you don't capture that equity, is left on the table for the benefit of BMW. This won't apply to you, as you plan on keeping it long term.
You also want to make sure that your dealer is charging a fair money factor on the lease, no differently than you'd want to make sure they're charging a fair interest rate on a loan.