[ejm3]

Leasing allows someone to drive a better car than they could otherwise afford.
That's why you go to the mall parking lot and its full of $60k-$70+k X5's & Q7's.

The downside is that you're always making payments and never have a period with no car payments.

If I were the OP I would not haver paid the lease off early and just made the monthly payments until the end of the lease. As they noted, unlike a purchase there's no benefit to paying it off early.
Then decide if you want to keep it. You may even be able to negotiate the buyout price at the end.

I don't lease but if you just want a fun toy like a Z4 for a few years and won't put many miles on it then it makes sense. Owning these cars out of warranty can be very expensive and many people just don't want to deal with it.