Re: quattro-digest V4 #260

["Mitchel Freedman" <freedman@passport.ca>]

Fellow digesters...


After 5 loooong tortuous months my car - A4Q2.8 B on T leather is only two
short weeks away. Light at the end of the tunnel as it were. And now that I
have to come up with $50K (CAD) to pay for it my spider  senses are a
tingling and suggesting (quietly) that I lease the vehicle instead. I have
the cash available - but I tend to change cars every three years or so.
Also with  Turbos, and an S4, 210 hp engine  on the horizon (?) I'd
probably upgrade .... In a lease situation I would 'walk away' after the
lease expires. 

And so my questions are as follows for any of you who can offer sound
advice (not advice about sound. I already took care of that - didn't buy
the BOSE) :

1. On average how much does the 97 A4 2.8 5 speed ( loaded) depreciate over
a three year period - the time I would consider for a lease ?

2.  Any idea of the expected resale value of said car after three years - I
need something to compare to residual values the leasing companies are
offering. 

I kind of figure it this way :

If the residual value (or buy back amount) is approximately equal to the
depreciated value over three years then my cost to drive the car - in
reality - is the financing charges of the lease. Do I have this right ?
With the money I don't plow into buying the car my cash flow improves. I
can actually invest the money in GICs or equities and come out ahead ,
perhaps. You might be able to tel I don't lease very often. Where's the
flaw in my logic ?

Thanks. Mitch