i buy/finance my car because I want to be able to, few years down the road, maybe not 2-3 yrs but definitely 4-5 yrs; i'd have the car paid off and it actually has some equity and can be traded in for my next car as downpayment, if the car still running strong after i pay it out then i have a second car and then i can look to perhaps lease my other car, having this one as back up
i leased my last car and it became my major roadblock in getting my next car last year, it was a negative equity (wear and tear and over mileage cost) and that virtually eliminated much of my bargaining power, it wasn't a true "walk-away" lease in my case, I guess if u dont drive ur car as much as i do, it's still logical to lease and walk-away with a clean slate at lease end, i had to pay $2g+ at end of lease for mileage+wear and tear so leasing is not something for me
btw, i was over by about 5000km at 15cents/km and wear and tear was about $1500. it was an A4 and the AutoVIn inspector told me all the euros are the same with high mileage lease returns, so if u have a 80000km lease and u only drive it for 60000km, the inspection should be much more lenient (2 inspections, pre-return by a third party company and the day you return it at the dealership)
if i could lease again for my current car, i'd prolly be crusing in an M3....