Ugh, sure, never actually owning a car via leasing isn’t throwing money away? Look at current Jetta leases on their cheapest model. $129 per month for 24 months. OP just got hit with $1800 to sell it, which means his monthly payments were actually 75% more than he thought.
If you look at my posts, I tend to by a couple year used (still plenty of warranty) and drive the car for a few years without payments. The last three cars I’ve purchased were Toyotas/Lexus. Great at holding value. I have one payment right now on a car with 35k miles and two cars with no payments and barely 100k miles. I’m sure I’ll pay a lot less overall than always leasing and always paying. I also sell my cars myself. On the last three I sold, I got $8k total over trade in quotes.
If you guys love leasing, have at it.