[stearns]

I think it all depends on your needs, at least that's my opinion. I know from a strictly numbers standpoint buying outright is probably the best, but when I was looking for a car 3.5 years ago, based on my situation, I wanted to spend $X a month to have a decent car and, more specifically, never need to worry about if the thing was going to start or if it would breakdown on a long drive. After checking with a few dealerships I found the perfect balance, paid an amount I was comfortable with, and after the best three years of the car were up I passed it off and got a new one with the best three years of this one ahead of me.

Don't know if that's really the most logical way to go about it, and I have had to deal with trying to explain this decision to many people who wanted my in depth analysis about why I leased instead of bought. When it comes down to it, I just say "I know what wanted, what I wanted to pay, and that is what I ended up with so I'm happy."

I also lease for 45k miles (15/yr), on my last lease I turned it in with 4k left to go despite trying my best to use them all, so I don't anticipate having mileage issues in the future. This is just my experience, I never intended on buying the car at the end of the lease so it's a little different than your situation, but it might provide a little info