Yannis,

So you're saying Volvos are so unreliable they shouldn't be driven more than 39 months at a time? What happened to the Volvo concept of 'reliability?'

If one leases a car for 10 years, they'd pay about $73,000 based on the 39 month lease numbers presented on the VCNA web site (comes out to roughly $24.2k per lease period by the time the drive off fees, tax, payments, and disposal fees are added up. Then multiply by 3 to get the 10 year figure.). One would have to drive less than 12,000 miles a year otherwise the penalty miles would cause that figure to go even higher.

OK, so if one is only driving 12,000 miles a year, why not keep the car for 10 years? Let's compare outright purchase (at least the way I'd do it): $45k car, $20k down, $25k financed at 5%. Total paid: $53,000.

Difference between lease and purchase: $20k. Plus there'd be about a $5k residual value of the purchased car, so the buyer comes out ahead by about $25k.


If I keep the car for 10 years, I'd have to pay $25k in repair bills just to break even with the lease.

Now if you're telling me the car won't last for 10 years, then it's not cost effective to purchase. But then again, why should I buy this brand if it won't hold up well for at least 10 years? I'm not saying there won't be any repair bills, but I hope to hell there wouldn't be $25k worth.

Because, guess what: that $25k goes to the down payment on the next car . . .