A lot of that depends on the state you live in. Some states force you to pay sales tax on the total MSRP even though you are only leasing it for 3 years. In these states it is a suckers bet to lease the car. In other states they prorate the sales tax, based on what you are actually paying. (Unfortunately if they give you 5k lease cash or whatever you pay sales tax on that too) in these states it *could* be a better deal to lease the car. You need to pay very close attention to the details and see what the finance rate is and what the residual is. Do the math and see if it makes sense. The benefit to leasing is you are letting the dealer take the risk on the depreciation. If you want the car at the end of the lease you can always choose to buy it. If the car is worth less than your residual give the car back to the dealer and buy it back at the lower cost. If it is worth more, just buy out the lease and you are ahead of the game. The downside of the lease is they can be pretty petty about giving the car back, any miles over, or scratches or dings or custom tints or whatever else they can ding you with they definitely will, so you have to be super careful if you think you might give it back.
No, when you bring back the car at the end of the lease you have the option to buy it for whatever the residual was.
The lease contract you have means you can buy it for the residual no matter what. So in my example let's say I trashed the car and put 100k on the odometer I either have to buy it for the original residual of 17k or give the car back and pay all the penalties they assess which can be super excessive. The standard seems to be between 10-12 cents per mile if you are over, but I have seen some as high as 28 cents per mile over. That can add up super quick... Like I mentioned before they are super picky about any damage beyond "normal wear and tear" 200 for a scratches rim, 300 for a ding, 300 for a scratch, 250 for stained carpet, etc. the only exception is if you buy another car from them, I've seen them let some things slide if they can profit from you some other way..
Have them give you the numbers for both and do the math and see what makes more sense.. if you know you are going to keep it for at least 6 years, my guess would be buying it will be cheaper in the long run. (Assuming you have the credit to get a good rate and can pay it off in no longer than 60 months)The only other thing to check, is some companies will force you to get gap coverage if you lease. (Gap coverage pays the difference between what the car is worth, and what you owe if it gets totaled)
what do you feel about leasing is a gamble?
Normally I would agree with you, but right now, I believe it would be stupid to buy it, even if you are planning on keeping it forever. Don't let me tell you how to spend your money, but I believe you are interested in the 2.0, correct? Let's look at the numbers.
Leases generally have higher finance costs than a car loan, say, through your credit union. Plus, if you exceed the mileage limitations, the overage fees can pile up fast. My preference has always been to take care of my new car and drive it until it rusts apart. At some point it's fully paid off or depreciated and then you're only paying for maintenance and occasional repairs and your property tax is relatively low. However, with a significant part of the Stinger's value tied up in electronic technology, when the main unit goes, it will not be like going to NAPA for a new cap and rotor. If the main electronic unit dies, getting and installing a replacement (if they're even available) will be prohibitively expensive earlier in the car's "life" than frugal Yankees like I am used to.
Ouch, that residual is even worse than I thought it might be. Kia is estimating that after 3 years and 30k miles the car will lose between 46% and 49% of it's value. (Depending on model)
