Car Lease

We have many threads on the forum dealing with this so use the search button.

1) Usually there isn't a PCP option for individual customers.  However, you can lease a car vs. financing to own it
2) Personally, if the time period in Bahrain is going to be long, I would advise to finance a car so you can own it after a few years.  Almost all banks or dealers can arrange a car loan and on a 3-5 year basis, you can generally get a better / higher quality car than a lease while matching the lease monthly payments
3) Bahrain is much smaller than the UAE.  So the second hand car market is a bit of a hit and miss.  The demand is generally for Japanese cars so these tend to hold value much better than american or German cars.  I would give it a miss as you are here for a long stay and it's not worth the hassle.  Unless you want to get a good deal on an expensive car but then you would pay more for maintenance when it goes out of warranty in a few years
4) Compared to western standards, the driving is a bit chaotic but still nothing like Saudi. A 4*4 would probably afford more safety as fuel costs are still not as high as elsewhere in the world

Wow thank you for the in-depth reply much much appreciated!