[RockCrusher]

Briefly online at BMW Financial and clicked on the lease payout button.

Lease payout for my 2026 i4 xDrive40 is $62,175.00. Good from today to June 3.

Have to say I'm tempted. Very tempted.

[thereef510]

I’ve only ever leased one car, our second x5, planned on keeping on leasing cars but then covid changed the market and BMWs design language so we ended up keeping the car after the lease ended. Can you explain why this is tempting for you to pay the 62k? What advantages are you getting from doing this?

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by thereef510

I’ve only ever leased one car, our second x5, planned on keeping on leasing cars but then covid changed the market and BMWs design language so we ended up keeping the car after the lease ended. Can you explain why this is tempting for you to pay the 62k? What advantages are you getting from doing this?

Good questions.

It is tempting because if I buy the car I can drive it as much as I want to without the worry of going over the (10K/year) mileage limit.

I'm not used to being on a short leash -- so to speak -- when it comes to how much I can drive a car.

And I want to drive the car more. It is an awesome car. Were it not I would have no problem treating it like an appliance and after 3 years walk away.

While I read it is possible to buy miles before the lease ends I can't know what the cost would be if I say waited until a few months before the lease ends. I could be in for a nasty surprise.

I could buy the miles now -- assuming the cost is within my comfort level -- but how many miles to buy?

If I let the lease run to its end I pay $25,043.40. ($695.65 times 36.) I put nothing down on the lease. To drive the car off the lot required I first make the first lease payment.

If I want to buy the car at the end of the lease then I've paid $25K and I have to pay the residual cost. From BMW Financial the residual cost is $42K.

With the $25K in lease payments it a $67K car.

The car stickered for $71,815 and the price was negotiated down considerably from that.

As for the negotiated value of the car I don't recall the numbers -- I could get up and dig up the paperwork -- but that I can buy the car right now for $62,175 gives one a good idea of how low the price got to before I signed on the dotted line

I save $5K if I buy the car now vs. waiting until the end of lease.

But of course this assumes I still love the car as much at the end of the lease as I do just weeks into the lease.

The monthly lease payment is not a hardship. But it is a monthly payment which I have only had rarely and I have always paid the note off early -- in just a couple of months. After years of avoiding any monthly payment for even a few months the 35 months of remaining lease payments is a bit of a bother.

Maybe my feelings towards making in this case lease payments needs some work...

I would welcome anything you can provide that would/could change my feelings about buying the car.

Added:

Got the customer payoff info from my files:
Residual: $40,216.40 (Above I gave this as $42K.)
Outstanding balance: $22,240.42
Unearned amount: ($1,207.07)
Purchase option fee: $300.00
Other charges: $624.71
Total Payoff good through June 3: $62,174.46

[note46]

You can drive any lease car as much as you want. For BMW they charge you an extra $0.20 (maybe .25?) per mile over the contract allowance. In the past I was always given an opportunity (from BMW Financial) before the lease end to purchase additional miles at a discount (I remember $0.18/mi but there was a minimum I had to buy). as always YMMV

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by note46

You can drive any lease car as much as you want. For BMW they charge you an extra $0.20 (maybe .25?) per mile over the contract allowance. In the past I was always given an opportunity (from BMW Financial) before the lease end to purchase additional miles at a discount (I remember $0.18/mi but there was a minimum I had to buy). as always YMMV

That YMMV is the key...

My research (searching) found the $0.20/mile cost. In fact that $0.18/mile cost came up but was under some special program.

$0.18/mile to $0.20/mile is tolerable. But what assurance do I have that would be the price closer to lease end?

Maybe I'm being overly cautious but I would not feel comfortable adding miles to the car without knowing what the cost/mile would be unless I bought the miles now and knowing the price before I handed over my money.

But then the number of miles to buy becomes an issue.

What doesn't help is that as I think about buying extra miles i can feel the the desire to use the car in such a way that I don't/won't need the extra miles.

In fact with this in mind I have managed in the last few days to cool my jets and adapt a more restricted use of the car. Treating it more like an appliance rather than an ultimate driving machine.

So conforming to the restriction on miles isn't as difficult a task as it had seemed to me at first.

Which tips the scales in favor of not buying the car and instead just let the lease continue.

[clarknm]

I have to believe you signed something with the rate, I didn’t end up leasing so I can’t confirm that. But, check your paperwork..

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by clarknm

I have to believe you signed something with the rate, I didn’t end up leasing so I can’t confirm that. But, check your paperwork..

Ok. I looked. $0.25/mile.

[RockCrusher]

Got phone call from a guy at the BMW dealer. License plate, registration ready to pick up at the dealer.

Got there and signed for the package and opened it up and there was the registration and the check for the Honda Ridgeline.

After the license plate had been fitted was talking things over with a couple of the guys there about buying the car. Was told that if I want to buy the car at the end of the lease it doesn't matter how many miles over the limit I am I won't be penalized.

Or if I wanted to buy a car *now* an i4 xDrive40 could be ordered and when it comes in the dealer can move me from the lease to a purchase. I didn't ask for details but my spidy sense is telling me this would be expensive.

Or I could drive the car another year and then move to a 2027 iX3 based on a newer platform with a larger battery with ~400 miles range and an 800-volt battery capable of fast (DC) charging up to 400kW and adding 175 miles of range in 10 minutes.

A bit of research on the iX3 is it will have a lot of AI (Open the charging port Hal. Sorry Dave I can't do that...) and on the surface that's a negative.

But there are options besides just staying within the 10K miles/year limit for 3 years...