Was on BMWUSA a few days ago and noticed how cheap Leases on the 5-Series' have got. If I remember correctly, a few months ago, they were considerably more expensive.

The E's 'official" Lease is $599 with $4700 down, while the 528's is $539 with $3600-ish down, and the 535's is $569 with $3800 down.

The real kicker, however, is that their residuals are crazy low compared to M-B's. M-B says its car is "worth" around $33-35K after a 33 month Lease (last months plan) if you wanted to buy it out (P1 E350) while BMW's buyout for the 528 is $29K and the 535i $30K. Either 5-Series' are depreciating more wildly, or with BMW's Lease, you get a crazy good rate to not only Lease, but even to buy out. Am I missing something? Is there a catch? Usually low Leases come with artificially high residual values, but here, both seem very low per the MSRP price.

I have a feeling this is due to the tremendous market share the W212 has taken from the F10 (new) 5-Series, as the "E line" outsold the "5 line" during even its debut year in the U.S pretty significantly, and especially as it comes off the heels of the E60 (previous) 5-Series slaughtering the W211 E-Class in U.S Sales.

I thought M-B was giving the E away with the crazy low Lease deals posted here, but it seems like BMW is upping the ante?

 

I think the leases are highly subsidized but there are also a lot of factory rebates right now on purchases. The 2013's are coming in and it's the time of year where all manufaturers are clearing the decks.

 

There are many ways to tilt a lease to look better...looking at a $ value for residuals and comparing them is pretty useless....what you care about is the % of MSRP. You compare leases by adding up all the checks you will write including any up front charges, any lease termination charges, subtracting any money that comes back to you (e.g. multiple security deposits) and then dividing by the number of months in the lease to get the true monthly cost of the lease. I can't tell from the numbers quoted here which is better....and all of the cases quoted are irrelevant because no one should ever put money down on a lease unless it's a one pay lease.

Generally speaking the best leases in recent years in this class of cars are the infinitis...good residuals and dealer cash, but mercedes today gives you $3000 off if you drive another car (conquest) plus $2000 if you have a relationship with mercedes finance, plus $1000 if you are a member of the MBCA and alternate deals, so you can lease a $60K e bluetec for under $500 a month without too much haggling. I don't know if you can lease any 5 series BMW for under $500 right now (note: I'm talking no money down and maintenance included in the lease).

You really have to ignore all the newspaper/tv ads and go to each dealer to find out where the "sweet spot" is. It's not as easy as it sounds because you have to look at all the models you might consider, then you have to look at all lease lengths you would consider and you actually have to get the dealer to run every one of the cases. If you are leasing, I can help a little....don't bother going to Jaguar, Porsche or Audi dealers. I have never found any of them to be even competitively close to Mercedes, BMW, Infiniti. Can't comment on Lexus....never found one I liked.

 

That's the weird thing. Usually when one part is subsidized (payment), the residual is inflated.

On the BMW boards I asked the question of whether anybody's getting deals like these, and their deals posted are MUCH higher. 535i's with M Sport for over $700-$800 with down in many cases. I got the same quote (over $7) awhile back when I went to test drive a 535i M Sport.

My car is my first choice in this segment clearly, but for $589 a month (saying the M Sport Package would add just $20 onto the posted $569 price) and very importantly, a guaranteed option to buy at Lease end for just $30-ishK which is far less than my current $38K, it's be hard to not to jump the shark.

 

Mercedes is going aggressive with the conquest cash. $3k on E class that helps a lot when you mix it with the 70% residual for the 24 month program.
It's cheaper to drive a E350 P1 Sport than a 528i Prem Sport.

 

Go for it. You've obviously got a crush on the car, starting a thread on a BMW in a Mercedes forum and mentioning the 5 series with every other breath. Get it over with already.

 

I think it is now with the 24 month Lease coming into effect. Last month it was the 33 month Lease with basically the same down and payments, yet a $33-$35K residual. What really gets my goat about this comparo isn't the monthly, as both are significantly artificially cheap relative to their MSRP values, but it's the residual/buyout, of which I plan to consider when my Lease is up if nothing else gets my goat for a "reasonable" enough price. I can't wrap my head around the residual of a 535i even considering its basically similar if not slightly less. Seems like there's some "catches" they'll stick you with.