I'll keep mine till the wheels fall off, if thats 10 yrs or 15 thats fine with me ... at currently $4.17 a Gal.. i get 48mpg average, why sale it !
I plan on keeping mine at least for ten years. Already have seven. As the 2004's start to get older, it will be interesting to see how the hybrid batteries do.
I have a Camry hybrid and a Prius. Given the price of fuel, I will be keeping them a loooooooong time.
I plan on keeping mine for at least 10 years. If I start having problems with it, or if a reasonably priced alternative that achieves 75-80mpg hits the market, I might part with it sooner.
Ten years, unless something with better fuel economy comes along. The main reason that I bought the Prius was fuel economy, but as a techno-nerd, I am in love with all the tech in this car. I may have to buy another one (used) so that I can play with it!
When the gas prices started going up back in 2003? I switched to motorcycle, purchased Ninja 250 for it. Great little commuter, 70MPG, cheap to buy, cheap long lasting tires, easy to service. Used family minivan only when weather did not permit riding. With ~16-20,000 annual moto commute miles, the rest on van my avg was ~54MPG combined.
You forgot PHENOMINALLY fun to ride! The EX-250 is probably the best commuting bike on the planet if you live where it's warm, and you're not afraid to ride it on the interstate!
This is my third car (2010 Pri bought in october 2010). I kept the other 2 for 11 years and 10 years. Would like to keep this one at least that long too.
I'll keep my 2010 for another 2 years and 3 months until he lease is up. Then I'll examine gas prices and if its feasible and I can make a few bucks I'll buy it out and sell it, a garage kept 3 yeard old prius with approx. 20k miles with high gas prices would be worth a pretty penny. If its a hassle I'll just return and likely get the prius plug-in.
We plan to keep my wife's 10 years. We had planned the same thing on her Honda Odyssey but the upkeep meant a 4K plus transmission and other work. Since she travels for work and needs something reliable we got rid of that after 8 years. Mine is leased for work. I don't know what I will get when the lease is up. I drive less than 10 miles a day on average and I have an 08 Silverado Crew Cab (bad weather and a feel like it/ baseball vehicle) and a 00 Trans Am (summer car) so my Prius is a "medium" weather car. I love the Prius except for the brakes. They suck.
Ideally I look at around 12 years. You can certainly keep car longer than that I just feel that ~10 or so years there is enough improvement in safety to make that worth upgrading as long as the budget allows.
till 2013 ...should this event occur. I plan to head to my local costco today to buy aluminum foil in bulk and wrap my beloved Prius. j/k!..... hmmm? I hope? Those of us with solar roofs will have a field day. All kidding aside, I plan to keep this car till I notice first signs of engine or transmission problems or if I end up having another kid...needing the extra room.
I usually keep a car 5 years or so. There is just something about a new car that just makes me trade in my old one for. I tend to buy only Japanese cars because of the their high and stable resale value. I have a luxury European car that I now don't really drive much and the only thing that keeps me from selling it is the poor resale value. It does require more maintenance than a Japanese car but so far has been very reliable also.
In fact, I'd consider getting rid of this when the lease expires, but only if I replaced it with another one, plug-in, or a pure EV or something similar. I certainly envision us keeping a hyper-efficient vehicle for at least one of our cars.