Choice between 2009 and 2010

I own a 2009 and love it, but given the choice you have, my recommendation to you would be to go with the 2010 with all the improvements that have been made. I say this really loving and enjoying my car. Presented with my own hard decision, I decided to get the 2009 because of the 0% interest finance and no sales tax at the time.

 

Why is the guy selling the 2009?

 

If it were me, I would go for the 2010; it has a lot of improved features.

 

If you are a pretty tall person, you may want to walk away from a Gen2 Prius. I'm talking about 5'11" to well over 6'.

Sometimes a Gen2 doesn't feel too bad in a showroom or on a 5 mile test drive, even for me at 6'2" tall, but after 3 months ownership I was fed up with the lack of seat travel and small seat bottom for me.

I put in over $500 to remount a used Prius seat, had custom cushions made, flipped rear view mirror to make it work, and it works well enough, but after some pain.

The 2010 is an ace for a tall person - it has really good legroom for long legs. Headroom is not quite as generous as its legroom, but a 6'5" dude likely would be ok in a 2010.

Stiffer chassis, more power and space make the 2010 nice, although some don't like the lack of map pockets on the doors nor center console.

But the 2010 is really good though. Arguably one of the best small-midsize cars on the market.

 

The interiors are quite different between Gen2 & Gen3. Sit in both of them and see which you prefer. The Gen3 has more adjustments (tilt/telescope steering, seat height, seat travel). It also has the flying buttress center console that a lot of Gen2 owners don't like. The Gen2 has 3-door SKS and rear-view camera, items that are only on the high end Gen3.

From my 2006 perspective, that flying buttress is intrusive. There is a real aftermarket opportunity for a retrofit to the Gen2 space utilization. And the new pockets in the doors are barely big enough to hold a soda can.

The Gen3 power train is a more refined design. More power, higher mileage, smoother.

Either car would be a good choice, so I'd go by how you react to the interior design. If you need the adjustablility of the seat/steering in the Gen3, then go with it. If you fit the Gen2, then I'd go with that.

 

Congrats I would have done the same thing but bought a new home cash instead

 

I think you made the right choice