I was browsing swapalease.com and saw the residuals on thos cars. Most were very cheap, many between $12-14K, if you had not already leased the car for several years. I am just dreaming here, but wish I could meet or find somebody who would sell me their off lease RX-8 next year for close to that residual value, if they were going to be giving it back anyway. This is the only way I can get an 8 as I cannot afford $20K for a used car. Maybe I need to start putting some flyers on RX-8 winsheilds when I see them around town. It would be nice to actually own one of these after lurking these boards since 2004. Any thoughts? How can I find these? My budget is going to be about 15K. I have seen some for this already, but they are 2004's.

 

Your silence confirms my insanity. I guess I would have to be in the business or just no somebody that would be willing to do me the favor. swapalease ona car with 12 months left on the lease has an advantage, it lets me decide if I want the car or not. Most have a lot of time left and are not good deals at all. Anybody here have a lease ending sometime next year?

 

Good luck on the search. I have a feeling most are working to own or already own the vehicle and if they would sell, sell slightly higher. as you said though, the trick is obviously finding someone in a lease...

 

Dude, sac up and pay what the car is worth if you really want it.

What you're looking for is a dummy who doesn't know the value of his own car. Lease residuals are contract valuation tools and not necessarily indicative of actuall market values.

If you can afford $15K, you can afford to save a little longer and pay $16-18K for a low mileage '04.

 

wow, are the residuals really that low? i'm returning my lease in 2 weeks but my residual is a lot higher ($21,500); I think it's because I have a fully loaded vehicle with everything including the Navi and 6 cd changer. The only thing I don't have is the cargo nets. It's a 2004 with 21,000 miles...

 

I just bought my 8 last week. It was a 3rd party lease buy out. It's a 2004 MT Sport (16K miles) and I'm pretty sure the residual was around 17,900.