wantonsoup said:"ish". By that I mean, when you figure the "down payment" which is really just another fee, the lease fee, and the money factor which is figured on the total car price, it's way more expensive to lease a car with a cap cost of $15k than to buy a car selling for $15k. Many thousands of dollars more. Assuming you could sell the SL outright for $16k after 36 months you've have lost about $2k with a lease.
Check out my post above (here)
The down payment is not a fee. Its the first month's payment + plus a down payment on the principle.
As far as I can see looking at the math (I'm new to leases) the only fee is the acquisition fee of $595. Everything else lines up with a purchase. Money Factor * 2400 = APR. In the deal listed above, it looks like nissan is selling the car for about $1k under MSRP and giving you a money factor that equals about 3.6% APR. Which is about about a half point or a point higher than a loan. I believe most states charge sales tax on the lease payment, so that $296/mo lease is probably more like $310-$320.
So the difference between a lease and a purchase is the acquisition fee, the purchase option fee (if you buy it after the lease) and the difference in the interest rate. On the advantages of the lease, you don't pay sales tax on the full vehicle price up front and nissan is fronting you the tax rebate. Even if you adjust your withholdings there's still some value in how it works with the lease, because that $7500 starts working for you the moment you sign the lease, not as you earn it.
Someone correct me if I got any of this wrong. Like I said, I'm new to leases as I think in general they are a bad idea, but this might be the exception.