The ABS issue ( link ) got me thinking. Was looking at an expensive bill and hopefully dodged it. When is a good time to sell or trade-in the Prius? It has 122k miles relatively low mileage for 10-yr old car and has been our work-horse. If we do sell, what should we replace it with - we like Hybrids, would be open to EVs but hesistant to spend 40k on a new one. Any thoughts or anyone who had Gen 3, what was your next vehicle ?
prius and camry are pretty expensive, and hard to come by. if you qualify for the fed tax credit, here's a list of vehicles that qualify. hard to say the best time to trade in, might be now though. we picked up a chevy bolt last fall for $23,500. after tax credits, but they aren't making anymore until 2025. these guys still have a couple: VehicleSearchResults
Well ideally when your wife looked at the sexy generation 3 would have been the time to poo poo that whole idea but you have to know and all of that if you've come from a long list of Toyota cars from the '60s '70s and '80s you wouldn't even give this a second thought because you know what Toyota's about but 2009 Ford Toyota became about a whole lot of nonsense It's like the Gen Z version of Toyota no good these people think that everything needs $5,000 worth of work every time you get in it they've trained these people very well and they've implemented planned obsolescence so well like Toyota does things they do that well it's fubard the whole company thank God I'm not going to have to be buying any new cars the rest of my life I feel really bad for people. But this is just my experience so it really doesn't matter I expect things at others don't I guess.
Used vehicle valuations are high and just starting to drop, but demand is still very high- so prices are dropping from stupid crazy down to merely crazy. New vehicle prices are high, and also recently started dropping... but have more chance of dropping further (as a percentage) and competitively between brands. To say it another way: I read the market as having more pent-up demand for $5k-10k used cars than there is for $30k new cars. You can afford to wait a little while to see fewer premium charges / deeper discounts on new cars without losing much more value on your car.
the problem is, fuel efficient cars aren't dropping. neither new nor used, and when they do, the equation will still be similar, so it probably doesn't matter from a financial point of view. theoretically, if you can wait until supply increases, you will have more model choices and a shorter waiting period if any. but we're into covid 4 years and other problems have developed affecting supply, so who knows how long that will be?
I'm in the same boat as the OP with the same year and similar mileage. I'd like a buy a preowned Prime, but they don't seem to depreciate much. I'm going to sit on the sidelines until the preowned Prime prices are more in line to what I'm willing to pay. If I need a new hybrid battery, then I'll get a new one at the dealer, not a rebuilt one from a 3rd party vendor. In theory, I won't be able to recoup the entire cost of the battery when I eventually sell my Prius, however I believe I can easily get half of the cost back. From what I read, 2020 and newer Prii will have the 10/150k warranty on the hybrid battery. I won't consider anything older since I'm not in a CARB state. I don't think Florida is a CARB state, either.
FL isn't a CARB state, you are right on that. what's your target budget for pre-owned Prime? is it Prius prime or Rav4 prime?
I don’t have an exact budget, but if I buy a preowned Toyota, there’s a certain discount I’m expecting off a new car price, but the market isn’t there. I won’t compromise on getting the 10/150k warranty on the hybrid battery. So I’ll have to wait for the ‘20’s models to drop in price. RAV4 Primes will be harder to buy because of the demand. Eventually, Toyota will have a larger lineup of Primes, which will bring down the used prices. In my part of the country, there’s a preowned ‘24 Prius Prime for sale with 300 miles for $47,000. Ugh.
EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) components and intake manifold ever been cleaned? Good time to also change the water pump (aka engine coolant pump) and thermostat.
It's next on my list but I haven't seen a consensus on when to change them, other than to do both at the same time. Is there usually a warning that it's nearing the end of it's useful life? I don't have a scan gauge to see the temperature.
“Before 150k miles” is what I’ve heard here, for water pump, depending on your risk tolerance. Maybe consider how long you may have the vehicle: if it’s only going to happen once, regardless, sooner would be better than later.
