Originally Posted by AudiQ5sleeper

your best solution is finance the car. im paying 680 to own my car on a 60 month term.

Originally Posted by doobs41378

His car is listed at around 52k so he would be at $900 plus per month if financing. Unless he put 13k down he could not be close to your number.

Originally Posted by doobs41378

His car is listed at around 52k so he would be at $900 plus per month if financing. Unless he put 13k down he could not be close to your number.

Originally Posted by NCSailing

During my lease negotiation of the Q5 3.0T, I qualified for Tier1 rates and I ran two scenarios. Lease over 3 years, purchase over 5. The lease over 3 years saved me about $120/month which works out to only $3,600 savings over the 3-year period. Audi's do not lease particularly well because the factory does not artificially inflate the residual. A higher residual (like BMW uses) will mean that you are financing less and, therefore, lower payments. Audi's lease are structured to approximate the real value of the vehicle at the lease turn-in point. BMW drives payment deals with leases in excess of the real market residual meaning that their vehicles lease well--but, you are stuck with the BMW until the end of the lease for sure since, at any point in the lease, the real value of the vehicle is well below the inflated residual and the lessor (you) would have to come up with the delta to get out.

The ultimate question that any lease vs. buy decision with an Audi comes down to whether you see yourself keeping the car beyond 5-years. At the end of 5-years, yes, you will own a car worth between $20 and $25K (really depends upon the model you choose and your mileage)--but, during the last two years of payments under the loan (beyond the 3-year lease), you will have paid approximately $15,000 in payments and when added to the delta on a 3-year lease plus the first 2 years of your next car lease, you have paid about $23K more than leasing (yes, leasing 2 cars over a 5-year period) to ultimately own a car worth about the same amount. You haven't "lost" the $23K--but, your asset is worth about the extra money you paid and you have a 5-year old car. I can show this to you on a piece of paper. My wife who is a lawyer made me walk her thru the math ten times and, in the end, she is now a lease believer.

For me, I choose the lease. I save $3,600 over a 3-year period and then I am out into a new ride. Zero maintenance during that period as I added AudiCare which actually reduced my lease rate and added $7/month to my payment.

I think cars, by and large, are depreciating assets and there are very few cars worth driving more than 5 years unless you are prepared to deal with repair bills. But, I do have friends that push their rides 6 to 9 years. If that is you, then leasing may not be a good idea. I like to have a car with no expenses for 3 years and just as the warranty starts to come off, roll into the next one. With the way that technology is moving (navigation systems, etc.), I find that I can't own cars that long. Imagine owning your iphone (or Samsung) for 5-years.... I do know people that wear a badge of courage with a 4-year old phone---but, I can't go more than 18 to 24 months.

Cheers and good luck!