Usually the maintenance on brand new cars for the first 36k miles (typical lease term) is minimal. Like a few oil changes and tire rotations minimal so ~$500 or

Usually the maintenance on brand new cars for the first 36k miles (typical lease term) is minimal. Like a few oil changes and tire rotations minimal so ~$500 or so over 3 years. The dealer may include some of that anyhow, lease or loan. So comparing a lease vs. loan of the same exact vehicle for maintenance costs isn't terribly helpful in the short term. The items that will need frequent maintenance are your brakes and tires. I've had 2 leased cars need tires before turning in the lease (there's tire tread depth requirements for lease turn-in). In one case I bought used tires cheaply ($100) that barely met the requirement and turned it in since new tires were like $800 or so. Leasing is a good option for cars where the brand is known for really expensive repairs (i.e. luxury or German made) and you want to try out that brand for 2-3 years and have zero strings attached at the end if you don't like it. If you have a budget of $X per month and just want to always have a car under warranty and maintenance covered then leasing will give you that peace of mind, at an added cost. Your key things at lease end that will cost you are scratches, paint or fabric issues larger than a credit card/dollar bill (depends on lease), tire tread depth and mileage over the lease terms. Long term maintenance for higher quality cars is going to make the total cost of ownership of a car be much cheaper than leasing. Pick a right sized Toyota, take a loan out and do all the scheduled maintenance at the right times and you could easily see that car get 200k miles before larger issues happen.