jtc55

the best thing to do w/ cars that depreciate a lot is to lease them. that way when your lease is up, u just return the car w/o worrying about selling ur depreciated car.

Dema

I agree lease payment for C63 should be high, $1500 or something. I'd recommend to lease E63, your payments can be under $1K. I do estimates based on E550 where I was quoted for $890.

Jim Brady

Go to the mb web site (www.mbusa.com) and see how much you have to put down to get a E63 at 1000 @ mo. You would be amazed.
A C63 with 5000 down will by 1100 plus tax for the math challenged.
Jimmy

Slater126

The only flaw in that logic is that when you lease, you are paying the depreciation. That's what the lease payment is based on, plus an interest rate. The best thing to do with cars that depreciate a lot is wait a few years and buy them for 1/2 the original price with low mileage.

jtc55

i agree w/ what u are saying if u want a used car but for people who wants a new car that depreciates quickly, leasing is a better option.

NOTA4RE

right on target. I bought my SL55 one year old with 8k miles on it for 90k. I saved 50k off the sticker. I just sold the car after a year of use for 75k. Total cost of use 15k. If I had leased the car new I would have experienced nothing more than I did on the good side. If I had leased I bet my payment would have been way more than 2k a month probably close to 3k a month. So for the same 12 month period I would have paid 24k-36k not the 15k I did paid. I would have also been locked into a car for 24-36 months which would have been 12-24 months longer than the excitement of owning the car would last.

Dema

People lease because do not have $90K cash on hands. Certainly then more money you have, than less you pay.

BTW What mileage it had when you sold SL55?

NOTA4RE

Almost 20k on the clock.

NY C32

Financing is the alternative for those who would otherwise pay cash (if they had it). Leasing is a completely different option as there are other implications to consider.

Dema

Obviously your payment will be higher at financing. So if we return to math, your ownership cost for one year will be higher as well. You have also a risk to do not sell a car quickly, so you can lose even more money.

Slater126

Yes, where the car depreciates quickly, it really doesn't matter from a "balance sheet" perspective whether you buy or lease or put down a lot of money. One way or other you will pay for the depreciation but your payment will be lower if you lease because you're only paying one component of the ownership (the depreciation). And it will be lower if you put money down because you reduce the amount you're financing and aren't paying interest on it.

When leasing though, you generally want to get the car with the highest residual value possible because your payment will be lower. I've nothing against leasing and have done it twice -- '98 Civic EX (250/mo) and currently a '06 RSX Type-S (290/mo). Those payments are so low because the cars had high residual values. A Scion Tc which had a considerably lower MSRP than the RSX had a lease payment of nearly 100/month higher! So you can often get a better car for less if you lease -- depending on the market segment you're looking at of course. Unfortunately, with luxury German cars, it usually doesn't much matter. They all go down pretty fast. Leasing makes most sense for people who tend to switch cars every few years.

GBlansten

If I get this car I will definitely lease it with zero down and do it through my business.

DruMMinStUd06

I agree...I remember when they had the lease special on the E63. I don't see how a car that is over $20k lower in price will have a significantly higher monthly payment? Someone break it down for me please.