Trouble justifying new Prius

Maybe just wait a year and snatch up a used one for cheaper. Soon as you drive it off the lot BAM depreciation..

 

Buy it and drive the work truck only when you need it, and get a new 12 I doubt you'll regret it. (Easy for me to say it's not my money and notice I drive a pkg 2).

 

It seems to me that you are asking for economic help with out giving us the most basic economic information, how many miles a year will you drive it, versus what MPG you are driving now.

If you buy a a Prius and park it in front of your business, it never pays for itself.

 

The Prius is a great extra car as long as it will be driven enough to justify the added expence of the car in fuel savings ..... from the way we have been able to use our Prius it looks like we will put 20k on it this year - so it has replaced miles at 13-25 with miles at 55 -- many using premium fuel. We needed the car so we did not just purchase the car for the fuel savings.

 

how about an 09 w/nav and low mileage?

 

How much? Where are you located

 

Are you selling a 09?

 

The 2010 will have the screen as well, if you get a car with the Navigation system. The 2010 you looked at doesn't come with a Nav system as an option, you have to get a package 3 - 5 to get it (and not all package 3 - 5 have that option).

I'd say if you can afford it, get the Prius and use the truck when you need a job that requires a truck. This will keep the miles much lower on your truck and you will get a lot longer life out of it.

I'll tell you something, having your engine shut off at a stop light NEVER gets old.

You will also discover something else too, slow and go highway traffic won't bother you nearly as much as it does now. When you have worked on your Pulse and Glide techniques, slow and go is a great opportunity to get Fantasic gas mileage. While every other person in traffic is grumbling about it, you'll be in a good mood.

The smart key is habit forming. Touch the door latch, open the door, get in your car, hit the power button and drive. No need to ever take the key out of your pocket/purse (in the case of your wife). It took me awhile to "remember" that when I get in my wife's Sienna that I have to take the key OUT of my pocket and put it into the ignition to start it up. 27 years of driving (using a key) unlearned in about 1 month. I still, occasionally, get in her van, buckle up and THEN remember to take the key out of my pocket. sigh....

With certain packages, you get bluetooth. It still amazes me how many "luxury" cars I see on the road with their drivers illegally talking on the phone (not hands free) that don't have bluetooth.

The list goes on.

 

Rent a Prius for a week from Enterprise or someboy else
play with the tech for a week - get it out of your system and move on...

unless you get a Prius v(ersatile) crossover - you'll still need the van cause the hatchbatch is going to be too small for two kids and any sizeable dog for a one day road trip. If you get a Prius v - you can dump the van and still play Captain Picard on your road trips.

tech vs money?
if you don't have enough money then money wins
if you have enough money tech usually wins.

 

The way I justified the price for a Prius was that after reading various articles, the concensus was that you must keep the car about 8-10 years with average miles (for the savings on gas) to break even on the price (versus buying a Corolla or similar). I keep my cars until the wheels fall off, and even then, I try to fix it. So, I justified the price for a Prius. If I planned on getting rid of it in 4-5 years, I don't think you'd get any better benefit than from any other car.

 

Just buy it - You'll not regret it - Too many wonderful things about it - compared to the cost of running my wife's minivan the same # miles, I have saved over $10K in gas alone, not to mention that because of the regen brakes I never even had to have a brake job (Oh, did I mention that it has over 107K miles?). I put new floor mats in it & gave it to my wife (sold the minivan) and she feels like it's a new car - I then bought a second Prius (2012) for our new main transportation - we'll put about 25K mi/yr on it too. I can't say enough about how much I love both the '08 and '12. Go for it.

BlackBerry 9930 ?

 

My vote is buy it. But as the other fellow said, go rent one for a while, crank on some miles to make sure this is really the vehicle you want. I drove rental Prii from mid 2009 thru March of 2012 and racked up over 20k miles. That was all it took to sell me on the car.

Mike

 

Realize the Nav and Etune on the 2012 ain't that great! If you can get a good deal on a 2010 III that lacks that (like mine), just add a good aftermarket system like OttoNavi or Advent for a few hundred bucks and you'll be set!

 

I am retired and my wife travels for business meetings. I drive her around the country when it is feasible for driving to get to various meetings. The Prius is our main rental vehicle when we can get them. It was the best long term test drive I could have ever gotten. When the time came that we could afford buying one, my wife said go order what you want but do not come back later and complain that I should have gotten this or that option or accessory as she did not want to hear any whining Between renting a whole lot of Prii and the awesome people on Prius Chat, I was able to figure out what I wanted to order and got 'er done last March.

Mike

 

Buy it. I drive 41 miles to work and 41 back. I do it with about a gallon and a half of gas, the cheapest real gas I can find. I have the solar and nav and love it. Its a 2011 with 35k on it already and it still drives like new. Even the tires are in great shape. Just do it.