Personally I would not pay $70k for any sedan: my Lincoln cost less than half that and has everything I need, and if I wanted "premium" and status the XF is only $50K and the XF-S is only $65k. I don't own SUVs (although many many friends do)because I just don't like a heavy vehicles - 3500 lbs seems as big as I want (the Lincoln weighs 3470).

As to leasing vs buying, I've looked at it and they net outvery littledifference over short or long periods: if you shop well and trade every three years, sayyou're ultimately going to pay about the same whether you lease or buy: leasing you have no trade in value at the end of three years and buying you have a bit -- sometimes leasing is a bit more conveinent though. One advantage of leasing is that the payments are lower (I personally think 70% of buyers who lease do it for that reason alone) but the dis-advantage is you are "upside down" (owe more than the car is worth if you decide to trade) for the entire period of the lease -- until the full period is over, if you trade early, you will typically have to pay something. Regardless, Ialways lease one car for business reasons -- its easier to tax-deducta good portion of its costas a lease rather than if buying (whether cash or financed).

 

What's wrong with having the best of both worlds [sm=gears.gif]

[IMG]local://upfiles/4832/66DA9E20C3484CE1932810CB49B0580B.jpg[/IMG]

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with BMW at all. Great stuff. Different headspace.

 

We each pick what we like best. I drove a 5 series and both the C and e class, and preferred the Lincoln I just bought, particularly given the cost differential.

 

to each his own...I'd never own another bimmer.

 

cool, then get a bimmer

 

20/20.

My current daily driver is a 2004 M3. I love this car and put about $30K of performance mods into it to enjoy it more on road trips (you folks south of the border have THE best secondary highways) and some track days. Sure, it's pushing 480bhp and has a great suspension and an ok back seat for storage. For the money, it is a great drive - you can feel the drive.

But then, after a car show, I took a 996TT and 997TT for test drives. It was a whole new world of driving for a 55+ old geezer. Wow, a completely different driving experience - even my wife in the passenger seat loved it! So I have one arriving soon (not soon enough!) and I will pass on the M3 to another happy driver (at considerable loss re mod costs). My point here (you are probably asking) is that I realized that while I was modifying the M to be more and more there is a ceiling for this kind of car. When I drove the TT it hit me that this was the kind of car and driving experience I was "trying" for and here it was right out of the box (mods bring their own challenges). I had actually never thought of buying a Porsche, as I was one of the many who buy the myth they are unrealiable and need lots of tuning. They are expensive, for sure, but it seems you get what you pay for here. So, from my experience it's a good idea to reach as high as you can now otherwise you will later wish you had reached higher and may end up on the modification treadmill. If I had known what I know now (actually, what I'm beginning to know) I would have checked out Porsche long ago and in the long run it would have been a lot cheaper than trading up through the BMW ranks and into mods. Hindsight is always 20/20.
There you have it from a newbie. Still, driving a BMW or Porsche , if this is all we have to worry about - no problems.