Cheap beater vs swapalease
 

So the women of my house have decided that we should have a 4th car this summer.

The two options are

A: I find a ~$5k ish decent runner that one of the girls uses over the summer and I sell it in the fall.

or

B: I take on a lease for a 2015 335GT (nicely optioned, M-Sport, performance power pack, tech, etc.) from May/June through Feb 2019. Lease payment (after cash from transferrer) would be about $450/month. The lease is way low on miles, so we could drive it over 2k /miles per month and not worry about going over.

If we do B, my wife would drive the 335 as her daily, which I think she'd like much better than the X5 and whichever girl was driving less that day would take the X5 while the other used the e46. Insurance on option be would be about $90/month more than Option A.

Option A has the possibility of being much cheaper, but is not without risks.

I personally prefer option B for a number of reasons.
1. it is pretty much fixed cost, assuming no major issues at lease turn in. *This is my biggest concern with the lease option. I've never leased before and don't know what to expect at turn in from a dealer nickel/dime perspective.

2. It benefits my wife more than the teenage girls, and she is more deserving of benefits.

3. There is not the hassle of finding a car, negotiating, buying then turning around and selling to the craigslist crowd shortly there after.

4. No major maintenance risks, the lease car is fully warranted and *should* just run without worry. I am concerned that I'll be responsible with keeping the beater reliably running for the next 4 months and anything that goes wrong will be my fault.

Anyway, anybody have any thoughts on one direction vs the other? (And thanks JST for the PM reply it was insightful on BMW lease turn ins).

My E91 Lease went pretty well. Admittedly my car was babied and it looked immaculate with 18k miles when I returned it.

That said, I'd consider the following:

1) I'd have to be put at ease with respect to assuming liabilities/responsibilities from the original lessee.
2) There is a ~$350 disposition fee at turn-in. Make sure you factor that in.
3) Note body damage and tire wear. That could get costly.

The worst point of Option B is more long-term budgetary damage by setting a new normal. Depending on state you also pay sales tax on lease payments, AFAIK (even if the previous leasee paid their due).

Option A is the more interesting route for something to tinker with but needs time and may end up being painful if that's a short commodity and money isn't.

Buying and selling cars is annoying. If you're sure it's a temporary vehicle I'd go B.

Are there any cars in A that you might want to keep longer if you like it?

Could we interest you in a Cayman? You could drive it all summer and probably sell at a profit. :)

Or a wagon!

Ooo. The wagon is a great idea.

#Rabbithole

A secondary concern of mine is if we own a fourth car, the pressure will be great to allow one (or both) of the girls to take said car back to college with them . I am 100% against the idea of either of them having a car that I own, insure and am liable for on a college campus with people doing college things. I am not sure I'd successfully win that position, especially if the extra car was already 'just sitting there'.

Even if the battle was won, the potential relationship damage would be high.

Long story short, yes Matt's e91 would be perfect for me to live in when I'm divorced.

I hear nissan leafs are cheap.

:lol:

Good luck charging that on a college campus.

I see rows of chargers at the local college parking lot. :dunno:

EDIT:
Edit II:

I just realized the included image on the page with the statement above has a Prius parked across 2 lanes at a charger. :lol:

https://www.towson.edu/parking/images/charger-car-h.jpg

We are having a similar discussion in my household trying to figure out if my daughter will take her car to school next fall but my feelings are a little different. I feel that she should take the car since I am paying for it anyway and it would just sit in the driveway doing nothing. I'd feel if it sat at home I'm wasting my money.

Back to your original question I think option B is a safer option in many respects, first off a 2015 BMW is a safer car, it is also going to be more reliable and like others mentioned you don't have the hassle of trying to sell it.

As far as the consequences when turning the car in the first thing we need to know who is the leasing company ... if it is BMW I can tell you they are very lenient. I returned my 550 with a few scratched up rims and there was no issue. If it is a local bank or a 3rd party leasing company I would be very careful, many of them nit pick the heck out of the car ... I made that mistake once 20+ yrs ago and have since insisted on the Manufacturer as the leasing company.

I would argue the reliability of any modern BMW with my own stack of receipts as evidence to the contrary.

I have a 1999 Honda CR-V available for cheap that runs and drives.

I had a car in college and it was fine. But I was super responsible. Still am...

There ya go, the perfect college rig.

Lots of room for stuff, not too powerful, Honda-reliability.

Yea... we're not talking about the more responsible of my two girls...

Her college is ~300 miles away, so it would take her 6 days to drive there. Unless of course that was your point... in which case "BRILLIANT"

It is BMWFS, and the liency level is what I'm trying to figure out. I've heard mostly easy/positive, with a few horror stories.

I hear you on that, but it would be fully warrantied and if it broke, I'd get a loaner, so minimal inconvenience.

Have done 2 leases now with BMWFS and they were very lenient at turn-in. Never had any issues and I had both cars in NYC.

Completely crazy idea- what if you bought a "depreciation proof" type car like a 1M for the summer (give your daughter one of the other cars) then sold it when your done?

buy a Honda Civic from carmax (with a warranty) and sell it back to carmax when you are done.

Just to update this thread, we're going with the swap lease 335gt. I should have the car next week. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm kind of excited to try it and think my wife will like the GT a lot.

The buy a Honda Civic at Carmax and sell it back to them when we're done was an interesting idea as well and might be an option next summer. This year, I really don't want to *OWN* four cars.

Gee, I thought you might buy Rumatt's wagon. ;)

Nahhh, I like being happily married.

Gotcha!

Great news Josh ... sounds like a fun deal ... can't wait to see the pics and write up.

Congrats! Pics when you get it.

Nice! Can't wait to see pics!

careful what you wish for, I always found the 3gt to be pretty homely. I am curious how comfortable the back seat is, whether the dog will fit in the hatch and if I can feel any discernible difference with the BMW performance pack on an N55.

Edit: Listing was here:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho....php?t=1254742

The first thing I do will be removing the fake M badge. I may even bring a pair of channel locks with me and do it in the parking lot when I get the car.

M badge is silly and has to go. And what's with those Stuka-like pix? Nonetheless, should be a nice addition to the fleet.

:bustingup Yes, terrible.

Is the plan still to return the car when the lease is up?

Can you take/post some real photos of the rear seat/hatch area?

Enjoy!

Yea, the pictures and fake M badge do suck. I had the current lease holder send me more pics off line and they were all of similar viewpoints. He sent a walk around video and the whole thing was shot from about a foot away. I don't think he was trying to conceal anything, just was an awful I-phone photographer.



The idea is this will be my wife's daily driver for the summer, and the girls will have access to the e46 wagon and the X5 as needed.

We've been PILING on miles on the X5, (bought it Feb 2017 with ~46k... it now has 85k) so this will also give us a chance to slow down on the wear and tear of that vehicle.

I didn't realize this, but the GT is based on the long wheelbase 3 series platform sold in China, so it is 4.3" longer than the f31 wagon. I think the rear seat room will be great. I'll post some pics with kid(s) in the back and the dog in the hatch when I get it home. Ultimately, I'd much prefer a true 3 wagon, but this thing is cheap (when you factor in the $$$$ sweetener he is throwing in) and I hate that the 3 wagon doesn't get the N55. I expect the wife will like it a lot. I haven't driven one, but reviews make it sound similar to the e61.

The plan right now is to turn it in at end of lease (Feb 5, 2019). I don't know what the residual is on the lease, but I'm wondering if we really like it if we can work out a trade of the X5 + some limited cash for it. Looking at how low the prices are on used ones and how few BMW sold, I would think they would rather have a nicely equipped X5 on the lot compared to a GT. If not, no biggie, we pay the $350 disposition fee and walk away happy (Hopefully turn in is painless).

I can't really explain it, but there is something incredibly appealing to a short term lease. The car has to be much less of a 'perfect fit' when you're only going use it for 8 months. I don't care that it is ugly, don't fret that the interior is black and exterior is silver (don't like that color combo at all). I didn't need to spend 3 months trying to find the perfect one at the best deal.

I can see that for sure.

It makes a lot of sense to me, and you have me ready to scan the swapalease website tonight when I get home.

I rode in someone's 328 GT once, and yes, the backseat room was near Limo-like. Way more than a 3 wagon due to the longer wheelbase. Too bad they had to make it so homely because it does check so many boxes otherwise.

I thought about the 550GT for quite awhile. Homely, but with a bunch of advantages. We had three dogs at the time, though, and that seemed like a non-starter with the hatch gizmo.

There is quite a range of lease swap 'deals' that range from very expensive to great deals. There are a few 5ers listed on the fest right now, that's where I found this one.

BMW makes the lease swap pretty painless. There is a $500 fee (which the current leasee paid) and a couple of forms. The process takes 2 - 4wks, but most of the time is their processing. I had very little to do.

Mabel fits, but barely. Drives great and is really quick. Backseat is very comfortable for two adult men with the front seats at my normal driving position. Put 350miles on it today and feel good. I'll post more pix later.

Cute pup! Yeah, the rake of the roof in back takes away a lot of dog head height. We worried about that going from the E46 wagon to the E91. The 5 wagon was the best. X5 is fine, but we have to hoist dogs up there. They could just hop in the wagons.

We've had the car for a couple of weeks now and been able to identify its pros and cons. It isn't a bad platform, but the hatchback takes away so much utility that it isn't a viable option to replace the x5. It's really a shame that BMW didn't use this platform and engine for the 3 wagon, that car would have been really good.

Pros:
The engine with the PPK is excellent and the car is very, very quick.

When the comfort/sport button is in sport and the transmission is in regular drive (not sport drive) the car launches smoothly without any of the delay or harsh over throttle of the x5. In the other modes it is either too jumpy or too mushy, but at least there is a configuration that i can drive smoothly in. I still hate driving the X5 because I can never get a smooth launch.

It rides well even with run-flats and is plenty capable for a daily driver.

The back seat is great for 2 adults. Excellent leg room and head room. The car is noticeably less wide than the X5, so I think three across would be snug, but the added legroom over the regular three is noticeable.

The interior layout is good and the front seats (M-Sport) are very comfortable and BMW familiar. It has a lot of new tech over the 2013 car, most of which is well configured, easy to use and convenient.

Cons:
The hatchback is stupid...stupid, stupid, stupid. It does nothing better than a wagon back end and gains very little over the sedan. Last weekend we had the dog and two kids going up to the lake and there was no choice but to take the X5. I personally think the sloping rear end looks worse than either the sedan or wagon variants as well.

The electric steering is light, but still very quick off center. It is much more susceptible to minor twitches compared to all my 'old' BMWs where the steering weight required more intentional inputs. It doesn't have much feedback. I didn't miss that too much at first because the chassis still communicates well, but the more I drive the more I sense the numbness.

Overall:
My wife is enjoying it as a daily driver and likes it much more than the X5. She is still getting used to the sight lines and thinks it has much worse blindspots, but I haven't had an issue getting mirrors adjusted properly. If the lease turn in goes well, it will have been a good deal for us.

I was hoping it would do 'wagon duty' and give us an option to dump the x5 and keep this at the end of term, but that's just not going to happen.

* And just for the record, the M badge was removed immediately upon getting it home.