Lease is ending, thinking of buying my 2009 Prius

My recommendation is "Buy It". I love the Prius and I love it even more after yesterday when gas jumped .37 a gallon in one day. I cannot stand the volatility of oil prices. I wish I could afford PHEV mod. I would love to completely fire the oil companies.

 

2009 is the most stable/reliable Prius on the road right now. Buy it if you plan to keep it for another 10 years. Don't buy it if you think you will trade in a couple years, given the economic disadvantage of having to purchase the car that you have been leasing.

 

My situation was very similar to yours.
I had a leased 2009 where the contract ended today.
I loved that car, totally reliable and everything one could ask for really.
In spite of that, I decided to get the 2012 and start a new 3 year lease.

To me it seemed like a worthy update.
This new one has some nice new features and really has improved design-wise. Both on the out-and inside of it

 

I would buy it in a heart beat. G11's rock. Hal

 

that depends on your residual value you can own it for, and the resale value it has. If the residual is less than you can get it for, do it. If not, let toyota have it and get a fresh lease. IMHO

 

If it is not too personal, what is the residual?
That info would make a big difference in doing the number crunching.

 

Get a Gen III instead, it's a better car than the Gen II in many ways.

 

Gen III is a much, much, much better looking car on the outside (especially my barca red V), but after years inside the Gen II and 8 months in a gen III I had to get rid of the gen III and return to a gen II cause the inside is garbage, the cupholders are stupid, nav screen is too low for safe driving, floating scandanavian dash is too claustrophobic and has too many unnecessary buttons, and it is missing a few key climate control buttons on the steering wheel. I do miss the way the LED headlights looked at night and how relaxing laser cruise control is, but I spend much more time inside the prius than outside looking at it so I made the right choice going back.

my only gripes about the gen II was light grey or beige interior is difficult to keep clean, roof shape means no respectable shop will put in a moonroof and the outside can be described as nerdy at best.

Hopefully some clever guy on prius chat will figure out how to put the gen III bod panels on a gen II Here's a hint, your lease agreement already has a predetermined end of lease purchase price, but you may be able to still buy it for thousands less by negotiating directly with the leasing agency, not the dealer. Leasing is only makes fiscal sense if you own a business and it will be your business vehicle for tax purposes, otherwise always buy, buy, buy!!

 

I have an 09, but with about 75k miles - no issues other than replacing wear items and a new 12 volt battery. If you like yours buy it - you will never have a better "used car" opportunity - you know all of its foibles and know how it has been treated.

 

Hey SJ,

Here is my two cents worth. My wife and I bought a '09 Gen 2 Prius that came in off of a lease last March. At that time the car had 43K on it. We are now at 50K and have only seen one issue which was the coolant valve causing the CEL to light up.

As other's have said, the Gen II Prius is a solid car, well built and should last many years if it is taken care of and maintained.

So, IMHO if you can get a good price to buy it and you really LIKE the car, pull the trigger.

Just my two cent's worth.

Ron