if you go to
www.leasetrader.com, you can find a bunch of leased cars people are trying to get out from under. even if you just use it as a guide, it might give you the ballpark you're looking for. Here's my long-winded opinion and cold-hard-math-experience.
Basically, leasing is ideal for people a) who want to put minimum down payment and/or b) minimum monthly payment. Also, people (like me) who swap wheels every 1 - 3 years and always want to be driving a new car can save on taxes, finance charges, and depreciation. With a lease, you still pay taxes, still pay finance (called a money factor), so you basically pay expected depreciation (based on the negotiated purchase price - residual value + money factor + taxes + any add'l fees. The last car I leased was a 2002 VW Golf. Payments on the ~$17.5k car were $235/mo. + $25/mo. taxes = $260/mo. for 48 months with very little cash down and 12k miles a year. Without counting Uncle Sam, that's $11,280 in payments just to drive a car. If I had purchased the same car on a 5 year loan @ 3.99%, my payments would have been $322.21/mo. for a grand total of $19,332 (assuming TTL&F are paid up front in cash, if rolled in my payments would have been $346/mo for a grand total of ~$20,800.) So basically, over the same 48 months, I would have saved $4320 in payment dollars going with a lease. At month 48 on the purchase, I'd still owe $3700 on the car... and i expect it would be worth around $8000 retail. If I sold it for that, I'd have $4300 in equity... the exact same amount I saved by leasing... all the while having lower monthly payments, but no equity at the end of 4 years... unless i went over 48k miles or had any excess wear and tear. However, I wouldn't have had to worry about trying to sell it or getting raped on a trade. And more importantly, with leasing, I only had monthly obligations on my credit. With a purchase, I'd have $17.5+ of cold, hard debt on my credit report. I'm not a big fan of debt at all, and it's killing me to stare at that right now with my MP3. However, I plan to sell it soon and get something else, something much easier to do when you're paying to own the car, not to lease it.
