Hey all, just got approved by the mods to post here and am looking at placing an order in on my first mini. I'm currently driving a 2000 TT and want out of it before it turns into a money pit.

Anyway, enough about me, I've been running a lot of numbers lately and am curious what others are seeing as far as leases are concerned. I've found great prices from leasecompare.com (no, this isn't an ad, they just had good prices -- much better than miniusa) but I'm not sure how realistic it is. I've priced out a car to be about 31,707 on the mini site and plan on putting something like 3k down for 12k mi/yr. Anyone have similar build options?

Just looking for ammo before I go in to hammer out some numbers... thanks!

-M

 

ZugZug,
No lease numbers, but I'm jumping from my 2001 Audi TT to a Clubman. Should be in next week. I'm pretty excited. I loved the Audi, but my family outgrew it. I couldn't step up to a A5, the new TT is overpriced, and the A3 would depreciate like a rock. I'll probably look back at the Audi 30 years from now and remember it fondly, but I needed the size and the risk of the older car wasn't worth it anymore. The Clubman was one of the few cars I could find myself getting excited about. There are a lot of used early TT's out there. You might not get as much for it as you will hope. Why lease when you've had your other car this long?

Jon W.

 

Why lease?

 

I know exactly what you mean about risk. With 130k miles, my car is getting dangerously close to needing lots of maintenance. I feel the same way about the Clubman as you do also, all Minis actually. I've only had this car for about 4 years. So the question as to why I'd lease to both of you is just that I like the idea of a lease. I've already come to terms that I will always have a car payment if that means that I can always have a newer car that I like. I like the idea that if in three years, there is something else out there (which there most likely will be -- VW Scirocco, please come to the USA) I can just start making payments on something else. Not to mention at this point in my life, a lot can happen in three years and a Clubman might not suit me then. IMO, 8.5% for a lease vs. 5% to buy seems like just a drop in the bucket.

 

Zug, your mileage is where mine was when the "money pit" factor appeared. That's when I went Clubman.

 

Wow, My Audi only has 45k on it. I can't imagine it at 130k. The interest rate probably wouldn't be as much of a factor on a loan, but since you are floating a higher balance for a longer period of time, you actually spend more money on lease interest, in addition to the higher rate. Given how well these cars hold their value, I would imagine the savings on both fronts wouldn't make the lease rate as competetive as you would hope.

Does anyone know what percentage of Mini owners lease?

 

I'm just looking at the 130K miles in 4 years and wondering how you are going to manage only driving 12k per year. Parking a car for mileage while making patyments wouldn't be any fun at all.

 

Like I said before, I got the car 4 years ago. It's a 2000 model year. It currently has 130k miles on it, but I didn't buy it with 0 miles on the odometer. It is an interesting point though, as I still didn't put only 12k miles on it a year. Then again, I also drove about 100 miles a day then...