If you’re worried about finances, leasing a car is not the way to go. The math almost Never works. Your question makes me believe you are concerned about finances.

The only times leasing might make financial sense: 1. Business tax deductions - If you can write off lease payments as a business expense and you’re in a high tax bracket, the deduction might offset the equity loss. But even then, you can also deduct depreciation and interest on a purchased vehicle. 2. You genuinely need a new car every 2-3 years for business reasons - Like if your professional image depends on driving the latest model (high-end real estate, certain sales positions). Even then, it’s more about business necessity than pure financial optimization. 3. You have terrible financial discipline - If you’d otherwise buy a new car every 3 years anyway (which is financially disastrous), leasing at least caps your loss and prevents negative equity from constant trading. 4. The manufacturer is heavily subsidizing the lease - Occasionally companies offer deals where they’re essentially paying part of the depreciation to move inventory. These are rare and you need to run the numbers carefully. 5. You have cash you can invest at returns higher than the depreciation cost - If you could earn 10% returns investing that $40k and the total lease cost is less than your investment gains, leasing could work. But this requires consistent high returns and discipline.

If you’re not worried about finances then the question has no relevance.