I was thinking about leasing a S2000 for 3 years so that I could have lower payments while my wife was in law school and not working. After the lease was up I was going to pay of the rest possibly in cash but most likely financed over another 2-3 years. Is this a bad idea in respect to interest? Or will the interest paid be about the same as 6 year finance since I will be buying the car in the end? Also I plan to put about 6-7K down at lease signing as a cap reduction. What do you all think, this would be my first lease and I am not sure if this plan is going to cost me a lot more in the end. Thanks

 

you'll most likely end up paying more - how much more depends on a variety of factors in your lease.

 

I second that. There are many factors to consider here, but actually, you could end up spending less . If you trust your dealer, have him work up exactly what you are talking about on a buy vs lease worksheet, total all the taxes and everything and see how it plays out. If you don't trust your dealer, you're screwed, it will be very hard for you to calculate every factor on your own.

On a side note, I leased my car and am very proud of the fact that I will save a heap of money in the end (do a search and you'll find my many comments on the subject) because of the high residual value of the S2K, but I don't marry cars either, I'll flog this one and get a new one when the warrantee runs out...simple.

Andrew