SAguirre

I am not doing this to be nosy, I am very curious to see what how the percentages will fall. I have the impression that most W211s out there are leased. This might mean that in a few years there will be a glut of them on the market and hurt resale value. I might be totally wrong, but I think that it would be interesting to see.

If you financed it or leased it, I would be interested in knowing for how long (don’t disclose specifics unless you want to!). This also includes those who purchased their W211 used.

Thanks for your participation!

Steve A

konigstiger

Cash - Valentine's Day gift for my wife.

DWP

The third option could be "financed it but will/did pay it off within the first year."

Yeah, I've been fanged before for suggesting improvements to the wording of polls, but I never learn ... especially since the suggestion covers my situation.

HELL ONA HARLEY

50% down and financed the rest for 5 years.... Perhaps if work is good I may get to pay it off earlier...

Omegaonne

business lease 48 months.

brlazar2

50% down.......balance financed over 36 mnths.........smart? i dunno.........if i keep it as long as my 95 c36 amg ....then yes ( 9+) yrs......if not, expensive error................my business territory has been shrinking(a good thing ), and while i never qualified for leases due to excess mileage, i am on target to only put 17000 miles on it my 1st yr.......making leasing attractive........oh well.......live and learn, crash and burn as the saying goes......

Ducman

Girlfriend gave it to me,she paid cash.

SAguirre

NOW THAT IS A GIRLFRIEND!! I had to pay cash for my own car! That is really unfair!

Steve

JimPurdy

Financed for 36 months and paid it off within 12 months.

topspin4hand

Bought this sucker the week after I finished my residency ... about 15% down and financed the rest over 5 yrs.

sacguy

50% down, finance balance on automobile secured home equity loan (for tax deductibility) 4 year term.

mojosounds

Replacement company car - $10,000 down, finance 60 months. Plan is to sell the businesses within 18 months, and purchase the CDI from the company.

plocjim

Traded in the '97 C Class (that was a cash buy) and put in cash for about 50% - wrote a check from home equity for the rest. Paid that off when the Fed started raising rates again. Even at 4.74% it seems like it's not cheap money anymore!

etenn

Paid Cash. No financing of any kind involved.

Brian_I.

39-month lease. ~$600/mo. I have always bought my previous cars cash but since I end up selling them off and getting a new one so soon I always end up losing so much money. I figure if I'm going to be driving a new car every 1-3 years I might as well just pay for the portion I am going to use.

I'm no finance guru so I might be wrong but oh well I'm only 26, live and learn.

After my lease is up I might buy it and then turn around and sell it for a small profit.

SAguirre

I hope to get a bigger sampling in the next few days with this thread, but I think that a pattern is starting to emerge. I heard that Lexus had a huge number of leases and led the luxury car brand in this way.

I thought that there would be a greater percentage of leases than has showed up so far. I am also surprised at the high percentage of cash buyers! Not to shabby.

If anyone is part of a BMW forum, it would be interesting if the same survey could be run there. I wonder if the buyers will disperse in the same way?

Thanks for your input! For all of you who have not voted, please vote!

Steve A.