I've leased cars in two situations. One, when I could run the entire cost of the car through a business, and my accountant recommended that we lease them rather than buy them. Two, when I wanted to get into a new to market car, intending to own it for the long haul IF IT PROVED TO BE A GOOD CAR. I have done that twice. Once with a 1989 BMW 325ix, and once with a 1998 Volvo V70R. I bought both cars when the lease term was up, at what I think were good prices. I was able to work out a CPO warranty on the BMW, and ended up selling it at about 90K miles before it expired. We drove the Volvo to close to 150K miles. 30K/year or more. Worked out well.
One of the vehicles that we have come to have as a "regular" in our garage is a Toyota Land Cruiser. I bought two of them, a 1995, and a 2000, when both came off lease {somebody else's lease}. They were required to maintain them at a dealer, and Toyota could print out every service record. Both came form rust free parts of the country, sourced by a local dealer friend. Both through in CPO warranties to 100K miles, back when they were really underpriced for that vehicle. My first repair, a headlight and relay cost the full price of the warranty!
Our son is thinking about a new truck, and he may lease one, as there are some outrageous deals out there, and some negotiation to be had. His plan would be to buy it at the end of the lease term, if it proves to be a good one. But, he's also looking at used, off lease, booked up, with a CPO warranty. He can deduct some of the use of his vehicle.
I think a lot of it depends on the vehicle, the deal, and the terms. My brother went through a time period when they were leasing Audi's, which included free maintenance for the full three year term. Made a lot of sense for him at the time. He had an Audi 5000 V8 that he bought after the lease and immediately flipped for a $7K profit.
Yeah, not all the same. Agree with that point for sure. The gap risk on any new car is a real one, too. You never know.