I'm trying to be careful here and not sound like I know what's right for your situation. But I still stand by what I've said, which is that leases generally are not the best choice for consumers. It's simple really, leasing a new car means you are paying for the full depreciation over the lease term. One exception is that in the past, BMW USA would artificially inflate its RV to sell cars. This made their leases quite attractive compared to their class competitors, but it also means their captive lease unit would be stuck with the cars after the lease ended. With the inflated RV, it made almost no sense for the lessee to buy out the car. People would also argue that you'd have to be mentally ill to own and operate a German car out of warranty. That may have been well true at a time, but even then, there is a huge difference between a car with 36k miles on the odometer than one with over 100k miles.
I certainly would not support someone with a typical retail job having a car lease payment (within their means) as that is an inefficient use of discretionary income. Let's be real here, it's not like cars suddenly become clunkers at the 36 month mark. I sort of miss my 2000 Honda Accord. While I didn't put many miles on the odo, it was cheap to operate. Besides several sets of tires and other routine maintenance over 17 years, I believe the only actual repair of a parts failure was of the fuel sensors.
There could be an argument for leasing a slowly-depreciating car such as Hondas, Toyotas, or Tesla Model 3 if the residual value is right and the money factor is low. But realize you're still paying for depreciation; it just happens to be less on a percentage basis for certain autos.
In modern cars, even at 100k miles, you still have a pretty good car in most cases, surprisingly...that's about the time you have to change out the spark plugs for the first time!
The way I look at cars is based on two things:
1. What's your budget?
2. What do you want?
A lot of people get really wrapped up in the economic aspect as the sole lens at which to look at cars with. But as we all know, the one rule of finances is, "you can buy anything you can responsibly afford." Which then leads into, what do you
want, given your available budget? Just reliable transportation? Just transportation, period? A fun car? An off-road vehicle? A trunk to go to Home Depot on a regular basis?
For a long time, my budget only allowed for rolling piles of garbage, haha. Later, after I got a steady income from a full-time job post-graduation, my goal was to have an extremely reliable vehicle. I work in freelance IT & drive to customer sites all day long, so my car can't be down, because that kills my schedule. Based on how many miles I drove at the time I was leasing vehicles, leasing made a lot of sense for my situation.
Is leasing the bottom-line,
absolute most economical way to have a reliable vehicle in your life? Definitely not! Owning a reliable used car that you can do the work on yourself is probably #1, followed by a late-model vehicle where the depreciation is paid off, such as an off-lease vehicle. Of course, post-lease, you'll have to start looking at new tires, brakes, and some other work, which can run you a grand, but then you're good to go for awhile after that.
Personally, I absolutely loved leasing & would still do it, but I'm running about 25k miles a year right now, which is a bit of a stretch for most lease deals. Technically, yup, you are eating the depreciation. In practice, finance-wise, those leased vehicles that ran under $300 a month (with tax etc.) split into less than $75 a week, which met my personal budget at the time nicely - compact vehicle, good gas mileage, budget-friendly price for what I had allocated, etc. I wasn't hung up on "owning" a vehicle; my primary metric was having reliable transportation for my work commute & finding the right price to fit my budget. I had been through a number of unreliable clunkers prior to leasing for 10 or 15 years & didn't want to have downtime issues with being in the shop all the time (then I got burned on my Renegade, but that's a separate story! lol). So my vehicle lens is simple:
1. What's your available budget? (by choice, in terms of what you choose to allocate to it, or by force, based on tight budget constraints)
2. What do you personally want? (type of car, new or used, gas or electric, etc.)
If your goal is (1) to have a low-cost vehicle, and (2) you don't want a monthly payment, there are plenty of options out there. I often tell people who don't have a far commute to buy a used Nissan Leaf. In my area, off-lease Leafs are going in the $8k to $12k range with 40k miles on them. My buddy leased & then bought his Leaf & put 100k miles on it with zero expenses outside of windshield wipers (he didn't have to buy new tires until around 105k miles, somehow!), so if you can handle the charge time (hours) & the limited range (80-ish miles on the older models), then it's kind of a hard deal to beat! Likewise, I have a buddy with an older Honda Civic, but it's easy & cheap to work on, and has lasted him 250k+ miles so far, and it's over 20 years old!
The same thing applies to "fun" cars. I have a few buddies who drive BMW's, especially specific older models, because they love the. They definitely don't make sense financially, but again - budget & goals are the driving metrics for any car purchase or lease. I have customers who have $150k Teslas, which, if you're trying to save money on gas by driving electric, makes absolutely
zero sense, lol. But, they have the available finances & a personal desire for that specific ride, so more power to them! Anyway, leasing makes a lot of sense - in
some situations. A late-model, well-maintained used car is probably one of the best financial choices out there if you just need fairly reliable transportation on a budget, but again - budget & goals, that's the name of the game, and buying an off-lease Corolla or Camry is just one option for one particular situation.
Part of the reason I look at things this way is because people are horrible with their money. This leads to skewed perspectives & an unwillingness to sacrifice one thing for another thing. For example, there was a girl I used to work with who would always ask me how I could afford a lease payment every month, as she sipped on her $7 daily Starbucks drink. That's $140/mo right there, which you could make at home for like a dollar. I think a pack of cigarettes goes for $9 in my state; I have friends who smoke a pack a day, so the math works out to almost $280/mo; my last Honda Civic lease in 2015 was $234/mo.
So it's not just about looking at cars as the cheapest possible best deal on a whatever car (which most people do, by default), or about looking at it from a budget & goals perspective (my approach), but also about looking at your finances & determining the priorities (which nobody wants to do, lol). I also have friends who go out drinking every weekend & consistently spend $100 a weekend on booze. $400 a month right there, that's a Mustang payment! Not to mention the cost of fast-food, vending machines, and eating out in general...that can easily be plus or minus $500 to $1,000 a month for many people. But that may also cramp your social life to the point where it's not worth it. Priorities.