Drove a new 2016 Prius today

Which one?

 

lease never made sense to me....at the end you have nothing to show for your investment, not even a ride home and they always find some way to charge you more money when you turn the car in.

 

Which level matters. $400+ on a 2016 lease is a lot to pay when you can lease a 2015 two for $179/month right now, provided you can find one I guess.

 

I couldn't agree more. However, with the vehicles costing as much money as they are, today at any luxury dealer 80% of the transactions are leases. The reason I believe, lower amount to get into the vehicle and lower monthly payment vs purchasing. I also believe people get tired of their vehicle at some point and after 3 years you stop by and roll out with another new vehicle. You also get the latest safety technology (good thing).

Years ago I leased a Mercedes Benz (big mistake), went over mileage. Vehicle was priced too high for purchase at end of lease (residual) and ended up writing a $2,500 check to get out. Never again.

 

Leased a BMW once. Like n.j.prius we had to write a big check at the end because of excess mileage. Never again.

Hard to say about the $14,000 residual, depends on the model, length of lease, and mileage allowance.

Could be reasonable, though. Our 2010 iv with 60k miles is worth about $13,000 on trade-in according to KBB.

 

need more details...

 

When a new vehicle comes out the manufacturer and dealers are going to try and make as much money as they can. Toyota Financial sets the lease rates that the dealers charge. Initially rates are going to be sky high as in the example above. Give it a month or two and rates to lease the 2016 Prius will have come down substantially. When inventories start to build at the dealerships then you will see some real deals.