I had the same search for a 08/09 two years ago. There were none locally, so I ended up getting a 2008 in Maryland (I live in Minnesota). It did make for a pretty amazing trip to fly out and drive my dream back home. I probably had a smile all the way back.

I did search heavily for 6 months to find the right deal. I really was hung up on getting either of the limited packages 09 Silver Ice or 08 UltraMarine. I ended up getting the 2008 UltraMarine and am thankful I was patient enough to wait. My wife kept sending me listing locally for 06/07s that were cheaper, but not what I was looking for.

Fyi, mine has 72k on it now, and still feels new.

 

Does Color Matter? i know when i was looking it was the 08' Blue Ultra Marine ONLY (or Bermuda Blue Metallic, not really sure which of these its actually called) Lol! Besides that it HAD to have relatively Low miles & in Really Nice Shape! i'm pretty **** about my vehicles (i Don't do Mud AT ALL) my buddies kid me about having an H2 & Not off-roading it but that's just ME! Lol! also, me personally why would you pay an Extra 10k or more for an 09' when its the same as an 08' (jmo). and as far as ANYTHING older than an 08' i wouldn't give a 2nd thought & i've had both! Anything older than an 08' is waaaaaay to Slow & Sluggish to me! i know some guys may like the interior of the older H2's but to me that's just as much as an improvement as the 6.2 liter engine! NO COMPARISON! at least that's MY opinion! GL & let us know how it turns out! like someone else said though, i would try & buy from an individual other than a Used Car Dealership, CANNOT Trust Anything they say, just trying to move inventory is ALL they want to do!

 

Thanks for the reply.

Private is out. I need to sell my truck & due to cash flow, I can't buy, then sell. I need a running vehicle, so I'd rather do a trade & just get rid of the POS. It's just not on the table. Not sure why everyone harps on that since I said it's not something I can consider. As well, there's no 2008s that I'm interested in or can afford that are in driving distance & I can't take time off to make a drive (personal reasons, not going into it). If you & anyone else who wants me to buy privately wants to spot me the cash so I can do so, I'll be more than happy to take it.

I just had a dealer buy a car from us in term for an H3 (I'll be posting pics when I receive it). Trust me, whatever I get from a dealership is better than the car. If you only knew! Again, no H3 Alphas in driving distance & we had no interest in the inline 5.

Unfortunately, life isn't simple. I wish it was & wish there was a hummer on every corner to cherry pick.

I'll be going with an 08 most likely. I've seen one 09 I could buy locally. The price isn't listed & it has 42k miles. I'm guessing 65k+ which is not even in the ballpark of what I want to spend. I've seen 09s in the same price range as 08s though. Not really sure why there's an overwhelming opinion 2009s go for more. It's all based on mileage.

 

I think the prices for 09's are so high because. It was the last year of production and they didn't produce very many. I looked up production numbers on Wikipedia when I was looking for mine and I think it said just 900 were produced for 09.

 

It's actually only 600!

Strangely, the excel doc linked in the article states only 325. Not really sure what the truth is. We probably can guess that no matter what, less than 1000 were made for sure.

I've seen them w/ similar millage (70k to 90k) around the $40k mark. 08s are the same. Check autotrader. There's only $1k to $3k difference at times, but so many factors go into it (condition, mileage, bling, etc), that it's hard to say.

A lot of the 09s were babied, so that's probably why we see more high priced vehicles in that year, but at the same time, I've seen some that are 20k miles or less! Again, it's more about mileage.