When to sell Gen II and upgrade?

I think you should keep driving the car until it has a major failure: transaxle, inverter, or traction battery as examples. Then, if you can DIY repair it at a reasonable cost, do so.

If not, tow it to a salvage yard, turn over the title, and be done with it.

 

The best time to sell would have been right before the 2010s came out, but that was awhile ago now.

It sounds like it's in good shape and you're keeping up with the maintenance, so your current car should serve you well for a long time. It's cheaper to just keep driving it until, as Patrick says, something majorly expensive happens.

 

The days of "sell at 100k, because major repairs are coming your way any day now" do not exist for this car.

Do keep up with maintenance though.
If you wanted to be paranoid you could send off the engine and transmission oils for analysis.

 

Consumer Reports prefers the Gen II over the Gen III, so I agree with Patrick. Keep driving it.

 

The way the thought process works is simple;

What you really want to do in your heart (emotions), your brain will try to come up with facts to support it.

Just you asking this question tells me you have been thinking of getting a new car (emotion), but know deep down inside (logic), it really isn't the best move.

uhmmm....which one will win? ...the HEART? or the BRAIN?

Keep us posted. (if your heart wins, and you want to sell your 06, let me know)..lol

 

i've been wondering the same thing myself since the gen III's came out. what were your thoughts and feelings after the test drive?

 

Buy a Gen III now and sell the II in a month to get the most $$ for it. If you can't own both, sell the II now.

 

I'm in the "drive it into the ground" camp.

 

Point to ponder from a conservation point of view. If we buy the Prius to save energy and to avoid the consequences of its overuse, but buy a new car every 4 years instead of 7 or 10, are we really sacrificing anything for a greater good?

Then again, maybe we just do it to save dough on gas.

In any case, I say drive it till it dies

 

:thumb:

 

:first:

 

I want my cars to last (virtually) forever. Here's why.

A. The primary purpose of any car is to get you from point A to point B. Does your present Prius do that? If so, what do you gain, really, from buying a new car?
B. Despite the foregoing, there are a few good, quantifiable reasons to get a new vehicle. Like $6 gas and a need for better fuel economy. Going fom a Suburban to a Prius is a huge improvement in fuel economy. Going from a Prius II to a Prius III would be a negligible improvement.
C. Is your present Prius worth an investment in preventive maintenance? Would $500 invested for transmission, inverter, radiator, wheel alignment and other service every 60k miles give you the peace of mind that a new vehicle would give you?
D. Think of the savings you get from driving an older car. Lower license and registration fees, lower insurance, no car payments, etc. With proper maintenance you could save that money for another 5 or 6 years.
E. When you see someone in a new Prius, think what it would feel like to make a $300 payment every month and a pay a large annual registratin fee each year - just to get from point A to point B. Imagine that, when they look over at you, they're probably envious that your Prius does everything theirs does at minimal cost. That's the real satisfaction of driving a pristine older car, for me at least.

If you keep reminding yourself of A, D and E, you'll (almost) never get another car. Hope this helps.

 

I have a 2006 and will keep it until it's no longer economical to do so.

 

I've heard it put another way... Homo Sapiens isn't the rational animal... we're the rationalizing animal.

If it were me I'd drive it 'til I couldn't anymore. When that is depends on lots of things including how important reliability is for you.

Since I almost only buy used cars (although I bought the prius new) my wish would be that when I'm ready for my next prius that there's someone like you that has a low mileage well maintained prius that wants something new and will sell me their something-not-so-new for a good price.

 

If you can afford it, get yourself a new car. GEEEZZZ Life is too short. Don't you deserve it?

 

I have read all of Consumer Reports reviews of the Gen III and I cannot locate the review that prefers Gen II over Gen III. Maybe I missed it. What issue was it in? I also subscribe to their online reviews and cannot locate it there either.