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Originally Posted by cwickberg
Nice set up although the brown interior and orange exterior are not my personal choices, it looks better than I would have thought.... I wish I could have gotten the matte wood on my X1, it looks great...
Interested in your choice of opticoat and cost, especially for a car you do not own, but rather rent...I am considering adding opticoat on our X1, and am considering a longer term ownership...Perhaps 5+ years or so
Was your opticoat expensive? Did you look at other coatings as well...? It seems you are rather diligent in your research, ( as am I...) so always looking for opinions on folks who have thought things through.
Oh and BTW, I also looked at the VW TDI sport wagon, and in fact rented one for several days...Just was not as fun to drive as the X1!
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My detailer, who I have a long-standing solid relationship with, charged me $500 for the Opti-Coat, which is about $250 more than the usual new car detail and sealant I usually get that includes some paint correction, clay-barring, and a complete alcohol wipe down prior to application (all essential for Opti-Coat). So, I figured it as a $250 extra cost, spread out over three years, which seemed very reasonable. Especially when you consider I am saving myself from a minimum of 11 times of waxing the car/getting it waxed, and the greater ease I will have when washing the car, which I do quite frequently (always hand wash, of course). Plus in our climate, having car that
always resists dirt and is hydrophobic can go a long way in keeping the car looking great through the winter. If it lives up to it's promise it's easily worth it. Plus, I leave behind a car for a future buyer that has an immaculate, swirl-free finish. Doing some good in the world, ha.
My detailer is a big fan of Opti-Coat so I didn't research the alternative much at all. If it's something he has a lot of experience with, then it would be wise to throw a pitch right in his wheelhouse. I was more concerned in just making sure Opti-Coat was truly as good as it sounds, and that does indeed seem to be the consensus. I know he'll stand behind his work and make it right if issues arise.
I understand where you are coming from about a lease being a rental, but honestly if you ever sell a car, then really isn't it the same 'rental' as a lease? The car is mine, I pay for it, and then when I don't want it, it's not mine—same as if you directly buy and then sell a car. Some might bring up the ability to mod a car they buy vs. lease, but really doing mods always hurts the car's value, whether it is at lease return or when selling a car—and whatever you do to remove mods can be done in a lease or a sale. The primary difference is that I'm not paying equity into it that I expect to get back later. I've realized over time that I can make better investments with the money that would otherwise be going into paying equity on a vehicle that I can't touch until I sell it years later. Not to mention the hassle of getting top dollar selling a used car or the risk you take with minor accidents reducing value of car, or unexpected dips in the car's resale value, etc.
Anyway, for me lease vs. buy just comes down to how long you plan to own it. For whatever reason I've found I get the new car itch about every three years, so leases work perfectly for me. This is at least partly because with each purchase I move up market a bit, so in theory maybe one day that will plateau and I'll be more into owning for something longer like 5 years. But maybe not.
