Absolutely. There is so much more to a lease (or conventional financing for that matter) than the interest rate alone. Residual is probably the most important aspect of a lease that is most often overlooked. Is your 2% lease rate really that great when your residual is 25% higher than the actual value of your car at the end of your 36/48 month term ? BMW does a great job of getting people to lease vehicles at 3-5% interest rates only to laden them with very high residuals at the end of the lease term. When financing a vehicle it is important to look at the "whole picture" and not one single aspect.

 

Indeed, but I just find it a good starting point... and it worked out well on my Mazda CX-7. I don't know of any other $44,000 vehicle I could have leased for 24 months @ $599 a month (2.9%)

Actually, F-150's are cheaper of course... 50k F-150 can be leased for $600 ish for 24 as well. But aside from that, not much out there.

The RDX, for example, was $450 more per month.

 

Just a question. If your just leasing and not wanting to buy it out at the end of the term, wouldn't a higher residual be better? Wouldn't that mean lower lease payments? If BMW has a high residual value at the end of the lease term, wouldn't that also mean that the car is worth more?

 

Yep, and its definitely making a difference.

a 3 series BMW leases out favourably over any other comparable luxury car.

It can be as much as $200 less per month given equal selling prices compared to cars like the G35, IS350, Acura TL, etc.

I have a feeling i'll either get a 135 coupe or a 328xi / 335xi sedan next time i lease.