[SteveC]

In 2014, BMW were already offering 0% finance and various incentives totalling around £10K. Some dealers could be pushed as high as £12-13K total discount. So a brand new car with £83k list could be driven off the showroom floor for £70 - £71 k. The finance charges over 4 years, based on RRP are worth around £8K so the incentives totalled around £20K

After a 4 year lease, the car is worth say £25K, so your linear depreciation based on RRP is roughly speaking (83-20-25)/4 about £10k per year.

Most cars of a similar price will depreciate at more or less the same rate, unless its a GT3, GT4, 911R or 1M. M5s only look bad when you look at depreciation based solely on the RRP, but M5s haven't sold at RRP for several years.

If you take a 2014 F80 M3 or M4, most sold for close to RRP and lease cost were around 4.9%, so overall, depreciation is going to be similar to an M5 when you include finance charges.

Buying an older car, the absolute depreciation will be lower because the car costs less....the %age depreciation however will be similar.

New model releases only really affect late models from the previous generation due to more radical RRP erosion shortly before launch. However new models are usually launched without discounts and incentives and carry higher finance charges, both of which tend to support used car prices...The problem for older cars usually comes when the dealers start pricing newer models more aggressively. Its then that prices drop and some real bargains may be had.