Sold my Prius; the Prius experience through my eyes

I keep seeing the Prius getting bad press and I wanted to share my experience with the car; just in case anyone cares lol. I traded in my 2006 Prius a couple of months ago and I fortunately did so a few days before all this bad Toyota press began. I first had a 2005 model for 40k miles, then upgraded to a 2006 with more features. I kept the '06 for over 3 years and 70k+ miles of "hard" driving (including being rear-ended by a semi); I am not easy on my cars. I loved my Prius' and am tired of hearing constant media attempts to cheapen the value of the car.

Why did I trade it in for a non-Prius? A few reasons. First off, I am only 28 years old and am on my 24th car- safe to say I don't keep a car for usually more than 1.5 years. 2nd, I wanted to sell the car while I still had a semi-decent re-sale value and before I had even more miles. 3rd, I had a high (high for me) interest rate at 7.025% and a higher car payment than I was comfortable with. Lastly, while I still owned the Prius, I had leased a Mini Cooper S and fell in love with its performance. When I made a move out of SoCal and away from any Mini service center, I sold the Mini and as time went by, missed having a FUN car to drive around. The Prius was great at all around versatility, but wasn't FUN.

The Prius was roomy, had decent acceleration, and spoiled me with an avg MPG of 47 (sometimes higher when I didn't drive like crazy). An interesting tidbit I found about driving the car was that I was always defending the car; people heard negative rumors about the car (before all this recall drama) and I was always sticking up for the car. Also, I often heard people that had owned a Prius and were constantly told by their Toyota dealer that the Prius required expensive maintenance and they would spend $100's at each service appointment. That is a shame; that a dealer could ruin someones experience of the Prius and make it seem high maintenance when in reality it is CHEAPER to maintain than a "regular" car. All I ever did was change the oil and filter, air filters, and tire rotations. I never spent more than $30 for an oil change, changed the air filters myself, and America's Tire rotated for free. I know this isn't a Prius only problem, or Toyota only; I wish Manufacturers would closely monitor the practices of their dealers- I believe the average consumer has an impression of a car or manufacturer based on a dealership experience and little to do with the actual brand. I have had a variety of car brands and I overlooked many issues with cars if I was treated fairly by the dealer; on the flip side, any minor issue that occured and was met with a rude service department or dealer, weighed negatively in my mind and wouldn't make me want to recommend that car. I believe the "average" consumer just wants transportation- they don't really care about one company vs another; but when they get treated badly by a dealer or know someone that has been, they think of the brand as bad. Often times people talk negatively about a car because it was unreliable; what they don't mention is they bought it from "Bob's Used Tin Cans" and it had 150k miles on it.

Now I have a non-Prius car that is FUN to drive, is somewhat practical in size, and only gets around 25 MPG on a good day. Plus, the car is a 2007, was certified, and I got 3.9% financing! I didn't ask before buying the car how much the scheduled maintenance was- now I find out the basic oil change is $80, and tires are around $170 EACH. Also, the car requires premium fuel. Do I miss my Prius? Yes and No. I don't miss the high payment or the "boring" drive, but I do miss the every day ease of the car and cheap maintenance. I think I probably would have opted for a 2010 Prius if I could have gotten the package I wanted. I wanted Bluetooth, Back up camera, and solar sun roof; you can only get the back up camera by spending $1000k's on a NAV package- not bad if you want the NAV, but I can't STAND the factory NAV.

So there you have it; my $.02 on my Prius experience. Would I buy another Prius down the road or recommend it? Absolutely!

 

a_gray_prius- I bought a VW GTI so far it has been tons of fun. Good advice to bring oil to them; I will have to try that.

Marla- The Prius really was a good car all around. Mine was black with tinted windows- I at least "felt" cool lol. The Mini? Best car EVER! I love to drive and it is a drivers car! I didn't realize when I moved that the local BMW dealer wasn't approved to service it- the nearest Mini dealer was 200+ miles away; not convenient. If they ever open a Mini dealer closer to where I live, I will buy again.

 

Hatfield- I sold the Mini a while ago; the GTI is what I have now.

Richard- Not all of the vehicles I have owned have been new (most were used). If you are going to add up the interest and taxes paid you must include an amount for maintenance and repairs I would have incurred by keeping a car for a long period of time. I generally drive 35k+ miles per year. Transmissions, engines etc get expensive. Take my current 2006 Escape; I have 82,000 miles currently and a 100k mile warranty- I don't plan on keeping it beyond the warranty.

 

Great conversation- love it!

First off addressing VW reliability- I know, this is one of my concerns- I have never known of a VW to be reliable or cheap to fix. BUT, this vehicle is certified, so I have a bumper-bumper warranty for another 50k miles. I plan to sell it prior to paying for repairs. Luckily, the GTI is built in Germany, NOT Mexico like most VW's, so reliability is slightly better.

Second, my finances lol. Yes, I bought my first car at age 16 for $800. Until then I had riden the school bus to where I worked and then got a ride home. I worked full time throughout high school and bought all of my vehicles. MOST of the 24 vehicles were not new, so you can't say I lost $4,000 on each car, or that I paid tremendous taxes. Some of the glamorous vehicles I will list here: 1988 Toyota Corolla, 1984 Mercury Lynx diesel, 1991 Nissan pickup, 1995 Nissan pickup, 1973 VW Beetle etc. Many of the vehicles I paid cash for. I have bought and sold 3 homes, and currently own 2 homes; one rental. My property investments have done well for me so I am able to have travel and car money. I love cars- even cheap little odd cars can be fun and serve a purpose. Keep in mind I usually own TWO cars at one time; a car and a truck. One to go on long trips and be efficient, the other to go camping, 4wheeling etc. Just for fun, I will list out the vehicles I have owned so you can see how extravagant I live hahaha:

1984 Mercury Lynx diesel, 1991 Nissan pickup, 1998 Chevy S-10 (LEMON), 1995 Nissan pickup, 2000 Ford Focus, 1973 Beetle (restored and then sold), 2001 Ford Ranger, 2001 Ford Focus, 2001 Ford Escape, 1988 Toyota Corolla, 2003 Hyundai Elantra GT, 1999 Nissan Frontier, 2002 Hyundai Accent, 2005 Ford Escape, 2005 Prius, 1984 Toyota pickup, 2003 Ford Explorer Sport Trac, 2002 Ford Ranger, 2006 Prius, 2009 Toyota Yaris, 1999 Toyota Rav4, 2009 Mini Cooper S, 2006 Ford Escape, 2007 VW GTI.

A select few of these cars I bought because they were a HOT deal; drove them short term and sold for more than I bought them for.