Hey Cool Car Fans,

I often get requests from people about finding a luxury sports vehicle, like a BMW or a Subaru WRX, but many times these vehicles are out of the person’s price range who is shopping for one and they can’t qualify for a new one.  Currently, I have a 2011 BMW 335i with X-drive listed for sale at JFRCars.com with a manual 6 speed transmission.

This particular vehicle needs nothing at this point and has a little over 98,000 miles on it currently.  These vehicles are very popular because of the twin turbo motors and many people love them as a daily driver, especially here in Colorado with the BMW X-drive AWD system.

Recently, I ran a scenario just to see how this vehicle would lease and I thought I would share it here at CoolCarGuy.com.  I was surprised that with nothing down someone could lease the vehicle for under $350 with good credit and I’ll share the details below in this article.  I am kicking around leasing it myself and using it as a another vehicle for my business.

These vehicles tend to hold their value pretty well and they have a pretty good residual value on the used market, which is why I wanted to run the the lease numbers.  Many people don’t think about the benefits of leasing a higher mileage used vehicle like this, so instead they run around looking for a cheap one where the payment will actually be more than on a lease.  The primary benefit is that you have a guaranteed buyer at the end of the lease because it’s a lease and you don’t have to worry about trying to sell it down the road and find a buyer if you just want to give it back to the leasing company.

The NADA Retail Book value on this vehicle at the time of this post is $21,350 even with these miles, but you can find them through the Dealer Auctions for less if you go with an automatic.  They are really hard to find in a 6 speed manual transmission, which is why I’m kicking around leasing it myself as a second vehicle.

Below are what the lease numbers look like and the structure of how this would lease here in Colorado, including the sales tax on the lease.

I put in a price of $20,900 and the current retail value of $21,350 to come up with the residual value and I figured just the first payment down and good credit of around a 750 FICO score.  I wanted to see what the numbers looked like for this vehicle or a vehicle like this one over 36 or 48 months and at 12,000 miles a year.

The chart above shows how the numbers came back and I was a bit surprised by them because the residual value is still pretty good for this vehicle with another 36,000 to 48,000 miles added onto the odometer.  The residual is what the person leasing it would be able to buy it for at the end of the lease. Keep in mind that this is with just $1,000 down, plus the first payment.

The base payment for 42 months is $332.72 a month, plus sales tax which is in this case I used 7.9% for a total payment of $359 a month.  Now this is for someone living in Colorado and that would be required in this lease scenario for this leasing company.  For 48 months the payment drops to $317.41 a month plus sales tax that equals $342.49 a month in this case.

There is a $795 lease acquisition fee, which is why the Adjusted Cap Cost is higher than the sales price of the vehicle.  I was surprised that a 2011 BMW 335xi like this one with 98,350 miles would actually lease this well with good credit and $1,000 down, plus the first payment and sales tax on the $1,000.  That isn’t very much money out of pocket to drive a loaded BMW for a low monthly payment.  Many people involved in Network Marketing companies often get a monthly car allowance and this is one that someone could easily afford while driving a luxury and performance brand.

If someone were going to finance the vehicle and they had the same 7.9% sales tax rate on the full amount of a purchase they would be financing $21,648 with $1,000 down.  Their payment would be $488.79 a month if they had a four percent interest rate based on 750 FICO score for a 2011 vehicle through many Credit Unions.  That is compared to $342.49 in this 48 month lease scenario above, so it’s almost $145 more a month, but the difference of course is they would own the vehicle at the end.  Still, this is about cash flow with the lease scenario and having more options at the end of the lease term because a person can still purchase it at the end or trade out of it or give it back to the leasing company.

Which is why I decided to crunch the numbers and see how it looked using a scenario for a used vehicle lease on a 2011 luxury and performance vehicle like this one.  The nice thing about this option is that it includes GAP insurance built into the lease and a person has a guaranteed buyer at the end of the lease or they can buy it out for $6,917.  They can do this even if they go over their 12,000 miles a year that they have allocated.  It’s a way for someone to drive a vehicle like this that they may not have an opportunity to purchase financially based on cash flow and I thought I would share it here since I’m kicking around doing this myself if it doesn’t sell quickly.

Year: 2011
Make: BMW
Model: 3-Series
Trim: 335i xDrive
Mileage: 98,350
Stock #: JB742572
VIN #: WBAPL5C5XBA742572
Trans: 6 Speed
Color: Black
Interior: Leather
Vehicle Type: Sedan
State: CO
Drive Train: AWD
Engine: 3.0L L6 DOHC 24V

Retail Price: $20,990 – SOLD!

Cool Car Guy Rating:  A Fun BMW Ride!

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy