Leasing is just another way for renting the car. After the lease is up, you have nothing to show for. It is good for business people if they can make deduction or to people who change car every two years and could careless about the money. A lot of leases go to people who has no money for down payment and need the car right now. If you have some money to put down and plan to own the car for about five years then leasing does not make any sense. However, if the X5 needs a few hundreds dollars a month to keep it running then the OP made a good decision.
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