I faced a similar choice last fall when my lease was up on my 2015 Model S. I decided, after much agonizing and a bit of shopping, to keep my car. In my case, I felt the car had advantages -- gray leather seats we liked, no longer available; sunroof, possibly no longer available; coil suspension, no longer available; and it had been very reliable. I knew, or suspected, that I could buy a used Model S with comparable mileage and features for somewhat less. But buying used is always a risk, it takes considerable time and energy, and I never found exactly the car I would have wanted. (I will admit to having been very particular.) I had read all too many truly horrible stories of difficult and unsatisfying experiences with buying used cars through Tesla. I ended up concluding that whatever premium I was paying would be worth it in the sense of keeping a car we liked and avoiding the time and effort to locate something else.
Since then, however, it seems as if prices of used cars have fallen further, and people seem to be getting incredible deals on inventory cars. So, if I had the money and had the opportunity again, my decision might have been different.
By the way, I also had a lease through US Bank, and would comment that buying out the lease from them was not as easy as one might have expected. They should be making it easy, right? After all, it saves them from having to sell a car. But their process has some pain points, and it took me an unreasonable amount of time, especially after they made some blunders in the paperwork.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do!
