Leasing is obviously a better deal for the buyer, because, well, because the banker and dealer are grinning from ear to ear when you go for the lease option.
If what Cleaner posted is true (about $4000 up front, 2 year lease), this deal works out (for the mathematically challenged) to:
$4000 up front
$5 a day (or $149 a month or whatever it is, so I'll use $5 per day)
$5 per day, times 365 days, times 2 years = $3650.
So, your up front costs are more than what you're even paying during the lease! It works out to $10 per day in the long run. ($10.48 actually, assuming $5 per day, 2 years)
So, $5/day = $10.48/day. Too bad they're so careful with advertisements that they always add in the "does not include 10% down, tax, title,.... feeees"
I still can't figure out why people lease though... $5 a day may be worth it, that's what caught my attention for this thread, but $300 a month for something I won't own? No way. I see some people in this thread remembered to add in the insurance costs... right now, I'm hardly paying anything for insurance (for 2 cars, I pay $60ish a month... wife writes the check so I don't know it exactly, it may be a bit less). This deal would raise my car costs from $50 a month average (maintenance, oil, wax, etc) by a huge amount, since I'd then be obligated to purchase all sorts of insurance that in all likelihood, I won't use. If I replace both of my cars with leased cars, I'd have to spend an extra $9000 per year for something I wouldn't own (including the extra insurance). Gee, I just convinced myself that I'll continue taking 5 or 6 vacations a year at the expense of owning an older car. Did I convince anyone else? Seems to me the people in Hot Deals wouldn't be throwing their money away on cars that depreciate in value. I do have to get rid of the gas hogging SUV though. After I sell it, I can get a car 4 or 5 years newer for only about a grand more than what I can sell the SUV for. (Far less than the upfront costs of the Mustang) (and save that grand in gas costs in 3 years)-making it another hot deal for me