Vampyregirl: here's a long distance motorcycle wave in passing.
TreeFarmer wrote:...
Would you mind sharing your experience with us as to cost?
...
Leasing probably makes sense for some people and not others. I leased a car once and I think it wasn't a great idea. I traded in a crumby car + $1000 on an $18,000 car (this was 1995), so lets call that $3000 down.
The lease term was 4 years and the payment was $250/month. At the end of the term, I was kinda broke having just gotten out of grad school, so I decided to finance the remainder: 4 years at $200/month. In total, I paid $21,600 + $3000 for my $18k car.
I did learn a good lesson however. About a year before I had that car paid off, I got to thinking I could probably get a new car (my situation had improved a bit by then), but I just never got around to going to a dealer. Then one day, the title for my car came in the mail -- I realized I'd never make another payment on it again and suddenly I stopped viewing it as my "crumby old car" -- and started seeing it as MY car.
I loved that car for the first 30 days it was new, and I've loved that car since paying it off. I still drive it and it's been [s]four[/s] five years since I made a car payment. When it goes, I'll buy my next one cash. Having no payment feels great.