Return The Lease Or Keep The R?
 

I've got a 2015 F-Type R lease. The lease was up 6 months ago, but I extended it the allowable 6 months as I couldn't decide whether I should keep the R or return her.

She's a gorgeous car, and I don't see anything on the market I would replace her with for the money. If I was to return the lease, I would not purchase another "toy". I daily drive a Ford F150 Raptor, so can get all my fun out with that on a daily basis. 17,000 miles on the clock...most of them from the first year.

My plan was to keep the R, and drive her sporadically from now on. For all of the apparent reasons, I feel that the R "might" have some future value in her (first year of the coupe, last year of the RWD, Italian Racing Red (arguably the best color, IMO), original owner with all of the paperwork + dealer order information from their system (screenshots and what not I asked them to print for my records), everything is going V6 turbo or electric these days and in the future, F-Type might stop production in a few years, etc). As some auto publications have put it, the 2015 R is a likely candidate for a future collector car. (But who knows.)

Last year when Jag was blowing out remaining inventory, I was offered an SVR for the same price I'm paying on this R...but I truly prefer this 2015 R to any other version of the F-Type throughout the years, so I declined.

I've got the loan paperwork sitting in my email waiting for a DocuSign to purchase the lease...but I keep going back and forth. Only because I'm in the middle of starting a new business right now am I questioning my decision. My heart says I will regret returning her (I've had a lot of cars and have no regrets trading in any of them...except this one I feel I would regret). My brain says it's pointless to have a $60k toy sitting in the garage and only putting 1-2k miles a year on her from now on.

Just looking for some input from you folks to help add some food to my thought processes. I've given myself a deadline of Monday to decide, otherwise I need to order the lease-end inspection.

What do you all think?

I think you've answered your own question! Unless you're really pressed for funds, you will, as you've admitted, regret getting rid of the car. Keep it - you know you want to! :D

+1

I say logically you should return it. You can always buy another one in a few years and probably make out better financially (car wise) if you still desire one. Yes, I realize you have kown this particular car since new, but there will be one down the road that was also treated correctly by it's owner. And that's the one you buy, at a much lower price in a few years.

Brain: if you can have all the necessary fun in a F150 raptor -> no additional funds need to be spent on car -> healthier bank account. I do think that one of the main draws of this car is its thrilling ability, exhaust and obviously speed/acceleration and styling. If you feel you get this from your raptor - return it. On another note - apart from the weight/size - do they really provide the same level of fun?! I am curious!

However, the caveat is that yes it could financially make sense if it becomes a collector's car. IMHO the unfortunate but frequent public belief of Jaguar cars as not reliable will likely outweigh the ability of even of its finest cars to truly appreciate in value. But - I would question this sentence [QUOTE][My brain says it's pointless to have a $60k toy sitting in the garage and only putting 1-2k miles a year on her from now on./QUOTE] This is what you want! a $60k car could become a $100k+ car if it becomes a collector's car down the road. 1-2k miles a year will uphold its rarity and appeal much better than if you put on 30k miles a year. That would probably bring the car closer to toast within 5 years at that rate.

Heart: Keep it! You may miss the crackles and pops and agility. If you give it back - let me know which dealer. How many miles on it?

Well, E-Types came from an unreliable time, but have you seen how much they cost now? ;)

Well, very true. Financially I could get another R or even an SVR for the same $ (if I leased again). I have family at a Jag dealer and thus my situation is a little different then most. With that said, getting a "better deal" isn't a motivating factor for me. It's having a 2015 R Coupe in Italian Racing Red that I'm after. Plus being original owner, and just the great memories of picking it up in FL and driving it home with my wife (when these things just came out and were pretty much unknown to most people) is a memory tied to this car, along with other memories, that can't be replaced by another similar or cheaper car.

[QUOTE=bluejaag;2001382]Brain: if you can have all the necessary fun in a F150 raptor -> no additional funds need to be spent on car -> healthier bank account. I do think that one of the main draws of this car is its thrilling ability, exhaust and obviously speed/acceleration and styling. If you feel you get this from your raptor - return it. On another note - apart from the weight/size - do they really provide the same level of fun?! I am curious!

However, the caveat is that yes it could financially make sense if it becomes a collector's car. IMHO the unfortunate but frequent public belief of Jaguar cars as not reliable will likely outweigh the ability of even of its finest cars to truly appreciate in value. But - I would question this sentence Well, to be clear, the Raptor and the F-Type are NOT on the same page. Not even close. The Raptor is kind of slow actually. Sure it's "fast" for a pickup, but it's just a great truck. I'm very active (snowmobile, mountain bike, scuba, etc) so having a truck is pretty much a must. And the Raptor is a great luxury type vehicle with some performance and all the needed hauling capacity I need. Plus...it can fly. And jumping a truck has been on my to-do list so happy to have knocked that off. As far as daily driving goes, the Raptor works for all aspects. The R is purely a toy. (Though I did pretty much daily drive it the first summer I had it.)

The R, with the crackling and popping is a beautiful beast that will not easily be replaced by any other car (IMO). Was a big Audi fan back in the day, but still couldn't see myself jumping into an R8 over the R.

Kind of, sort of pressed for funds. Under construction on the new business now so money is a bit tied up in that. So it's not like getting rid of the R helps me or keeping it hurts me in any way.

Ultimately...I'm in love with this R, and trying to talk myself out of it. I'm very much an analytical person who makes concise analytical decisions. This one is a heart vs. brain decision and the heart never wins with me. So my brain is trying to argue the heart is wrong right now. Haha.

You have to let your heart win occasionally. Otherwise we'd all be driving round in Kias! :D

By the time any particular F-Type is worth more than it is today, I will have been pushing up the daisies for a very long time. (no idea regarding the P7)

Holy crap. I have a 15 R Vert and daily drive a raptor. LOL

I don't know what state you live in but one thing to consider is that when you buy out the lease you will have to pay the full sales tax on the buyout amount. Here in CA we only pay the tax on the lease payment. So when leasing you never pay the total sales tax on the car.

My suggestion is to keep the car, but " R "might" have some future value" is the wrong reason to do so. There is absolutely no guarantee that this would happen, or that it would happen within 30 years.

You can get one in decent shape for about $75K. Now take E-type price at its lowest point, then invest these money in the stock market to compare return on investment. Even if you purchased perfect E-type at the lowest valuation and it needed nothing in maintenance, you are still not beating index fund.

For the money you could buy a pre-owned certified 2016 AWD R with another 5 years of warranty coverage - a far better investment from a cost of ownership standpoint. Jags however are not an investment - ever. They just lose value until they are valueless. No one wants a RWD only car, thus why Jaguar made an AWD version.

LOL

I'm in a similar situation, drive my F type very little, mostly because here in the LBC our roads are crap, and our population is ghetto, so I fear it will be keyed or worse in many areas I drive. I have a supercharged Tundra for my DD, and an SC M3 as the family hauler. So the F type is a 2K mile per year toy that gets washed more than driven.

I justify it as the previous owner took the huge depreciation hit and future depreciation will be slower. It's a known reliable example of a gorgeous car, in perfect condition, with the options, upgrades, and colors I wanted. Would be very difficult to replace, and I'm sure I'd regret it once gone.

Since your situation seems similar, I'd vote that you find a way to keep it......

Yup! Life is short. Gotta enjoy it.

By my best guess I'd say probably 400 of them in the US.

About 4,000 F-Types sold in the US in 2015, across all models (R, V8S, V6S, V6)….so I'm just figuring maybe 10% were the highest trim. Then you need to break it down by color.

As far as rare goes...well, the F-Type in general is rare compared to every other mass market produced car. 4k units a year is a very small amount. Of course it's not a one-off production limited to say 50 or 100 units, but still. It's rarer then most. As time goes by and units inevitably end up totaled or in the junk yard from abuse, there will be even less..