Buy vs Lease - Travel Car

[TromboneAl]

DW & I leased a car for her a 1997 Mazda Miata in 1998 for real cheap, like $1K down and $100 a month, they were trying to get rid of them as there was a new model coming out in 1999. We were not sure if a 2 seater would work as we still had one child at home. We called it our one year test drive.

...bought a new 1997 Miata in 1999 for way under MSRP, like 30% off. Still have the car...

The one-year test drive sounds like a good idea. It also let's us do a rough estimate of the economics of leasing.

You spent $2,200 for one year on that lease: $2,200 per year.

The MSRP for the Miata back then was $19,575, so you paid about $14,000, and had it for 13 years: $1,000 per year + maintenance costs.

From this page:

Annual maintenance costs? [Archive] - MX-5 Miata Forum

a rough estimate for annual maintenance is about $800.

Of course, it gets complicated with inflation, etc. But roughly

Lease $2,200/year
Buy $1,800/year

With that math, leasing looks pretty good, because you always have a pretty new car. But I'm sure there are other factors I haven't considered.

 

[73ss454]

Two things Al, At some point you will not have a car payment if you buy and always have one when you lease. There is also maintenance on a lease but usually not as much.

 

[TromboneAl]

Of course another option is to occasionally rent a fun car. We used this one for a day:



We much prefer driving the echo versus the mustang. The latter was strong, but felt heavy and less nimble.

In SF, you can rent this Lamborghini for $1,500 (per day -- includes 100 miles):

Dream Cars West | Los Angeles Exotic Car Rentals | the San Francisco Bay area Luxury Car Rentals

 

[harley]

While it's true that hybrids really excel in city mpg, they also generally get higher highway mpg than gas ICE cars. Where there are models that are sold in hybrid and gas powered (ie, Fusion, Camry, Civic) city and highway mpg are significantly higher. I'm not aware of any gas car that can match a Prius or a Civic Hybrid among others on the highway or city. OTOH diesels CAN match hybrids on the highway, but gas powered cars don't all else equal. Not only EPA ratings, but the various real world mpg sites confirm relatively better mpg for hybrids (and diesels), see for yourself.

I was surprised to find out this is true. I thought hybrids just got "regular" mileage on long highway trips. But I personally drove a Prius 700 miles yesterday at an average speed (not counting gas and bathroom stops) of about 73 mph. We got a little over 46 mpg on the trip. So obviously the highway mileage issue won't be a show stopper if I ever decide to replace the diesel VW. The cost might though.

As an aside, the reason we took my cousin's Prius is that there were three 6'+ guys in the car. The Beetle has a back seat more suitable to our 4 small dogs. The Prius had a surprising amount of legroom in the back, and even more surprising in a modern small car, plenty of headroom. Not bad.