I just got an Ioniq 5 a little over a month ago and did pay with cash (ie no tax credit). The quoted lease interest rate was an insane 8%+ even with an 825 credit rating and I didn’t realize you could simply buy out a lease early like a regular loan until well after the purchase.

I didn’t think the credit made a difference to my purchase decision because my income phased it out anyway, but I hadn’t realized you could back door it through the lease with an immediate buyout. That’s a really neat trick, and if I’d known that I’d have paid a lot more attention to whether they were offering that $7500-back lease deal when I bought mine.

I’m not even bitter. The HI5 is well worth the full price I dropped for the Limited if only for that beautiful AR HUD it has; HUDs have been a #1 must-have safety feature for me ever since buying a Genesis with one years ago. But props to you for figuring out how to end run around the process and get the HI5 and a great deal!