@GGray
Without derailing the thread further, I rather enjoyed my short time in a lease. I had a BWM that was 12 years old, and it was starting to fall apart. I was at a different job than now, making far less money. I wanted a fun car that was cheap, so that I could save up for a better car in a few years. I only traveled 8,000 miles a year so a lease looked like a great option.
Well I picked up a 2013 Jetta 2.5SE 5 speed with $1,000 down and 180/month for 36 months. This was dirt cheap! I could pay for this and save a few hundred a month for a new car (didn't know it would be a GTI at that time).
2 years later I got a new job and traveled over 2,000 miles a month. That would have killed my lease, so I traded it in with all the cash I saved up, payed $1,000 in negative equity, and put down around 14 grand that I saved during that time.
$6400 was a very small price to pay for 2 years for a new car, never had to worry about maintenance, no tag, title, taxes, none of that crap.
TL;DR leasing works well in some situations.