I hate to say this but you sound like someone who wants something all the time but can't have it. Instead, you should wait it out just like your father advises. You are too young to be driving a 330i. Not only that, you don't have the money right either. How are you going to support your current life if you already blew all of your money on a car. I think you need to realize that there are more important things in life. I also think you need a reality check as well. Grow up kid. You have plenty of time later to drive a BMW.

I can afford $600 a month for a car payment.

If I finance the $40K 330Ci I want, it will be way over the $600 as I have decided to give my sister my '99 Civic coupe.

Basically, what I'm saying is I'm starting with nothing.

If I lease, going thru bmwusa.com's lease calculator (I hope it's pretty accurate in its estimates), I would pay around $550-$600 a month for 36 months, 10K miles which is pretty much perfect for me. That is if I put down around $3000 which I will do by working at a fancy restaurant until I start my real job sometime during the summer.

I will most likely drive more than 10K miles a year. Probably around 15K+. But realistically, the more I travel as a business consultant the less I will be driving, but I'm not going to count on that.

Now I know I will be paying a hefty price for going over the 10K limit. So you ask, why am I setting the terms of the lease to 10K? Well, to keep the payments low!

So to avoid the wear and tear charge, I am hoping BMW allows me to buy the car at the end of three years at the residual value and disregard the overage in miles.

My question to you guys is... does BMW in fact allow this?

Any other pieces of a soon-to-be BMW driver would be greatly appreciated. You guys are a great resource.

Thanks!