when should you trade in your Prius,before it becomes a money pit?

The is the right view of what makes something a money pit.

I always hear people say that to them, a car isn't worth repairing when the repairs exceed the value of the car. Like if a car was worth nothing but parts, and you needed a new traction battery. But that's irrelevant.

All you have to do is compare repair costs against the costs of buying a replacement car. The value of the current car is worthless beyond using that value to calculate the profit from a sale/trade-in for your calculation.

After you do that basic analysis, it's then a question of if personal factors weigh the decision in any way. Really want a new car? That's worth something. Limited cash flow or savings pile for possible big repairs that don't come in nice monthly bills? Etc.

Given the desirability and cost of the Prius, new and used, it's going to be a ton of miles before the car becomes a money pit.

 

What is peace of mind worth? Buying a new car you know what the monthly expenses will be. Driving an old car may be nice to not have a car payment but bamm a $2,000 repair bill comes and you got problems.

 

We got the Prius in 2004 when my wife's previous car (bought in 1989) was "nickel-and-diming" us to death.

 

But, in 15 years technology will have evolved, so that even the 2013 Prius will seem very obsolete. Oh boy ONLY 45mpg? You mean you have to steer it yourself?

 

I agree. In fact the Gen 4 will make the Gen 3 an old hat.

 

If you absolutely can not stand that color, don't buy it. I don't believe it is so hard to find a used Prius with your favorite color, especially if you buy from dealer. I don't mind paying $500 to $1000 more for my favorite color, and if you are lucky, you might even get a better deal. So, good luck!

 

Tech advance seems likely, but I was only talking about money.

 

Nice wheels!

 

I guess you have a Pontiac Aztek. . .

 

The Tesla is pretty heavy because of the batteries. And then you turn the corner. . .ugh. Compared to the Elise, it's a bulldozer. In short, it's not as lithe as the Elise.

 

Don't know, don't care. I DIY replaced the original pump as a preventive measure for about $90 at 120k miles, and I'll do the same at 250k miles if needed. I hope to be faster the second time around

While some people try to figure costs assuming every squeak deserves a trip to the dealer, I am much more interested in costs I cannot take care of with inexpensive spare parts and a few hours of my time.

Disclaimer: if I have reached the 30th percentile in mechanical ability I've improved, courtesy of PC and my wonderful Prius

 

Never driven a roadster, but I've driven an Elise and an Exige S260 and am in line for a Model S.

 

My '95 SC400 (made by Toyota), which I've had since '98, has 320K miles on it and has had not major repairs. In fact, repairs over it's life total less than $1000. From a capex standpoint, it's the cheapest car to drive I've ever had.

I fully expect our Prius to rearch 300K too without major repairs otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Only time will tell.

 

Good luck! Our Prius had to have 2 major repairs before it reached 100K miles: Inverter Coolant Pump, and Steering.

 

Somehow after owning one, I'm just not that impressed. Mileage, yeah great. All else, Meh,

 

Ha, I almost bought that car in 2007, but finally I settled with LS400 98', due to its 5 speed transmission and newer engine (same as 2001 - 2003 LS430), and the refreshment of the body style. Both are excellent cars in my view. Sometimes I love my LS400 better than Prius. At 183K, still not burning oil. My Prius consumes 1qt/2K since 150K.

 

The inverter pump was covered by recall and therefore shouldn't count. Also, $600 for an inverter pump is ridiculous, even though I see dealers charging this all the time. What was the deal with the steering?

Avi

 

Ewww, you have to put gasoline in it?

 

The Prius Money Pit is pretty shallow for me. I'm still using the 2001. The "REAL" decision point of when to buy a new car is when the wise one of the family (hint-not me) refuses to drive a vehicle that has become unreliable. The only exception is that I get a free pass on Lead Acid Battery replacements. Otherwise, any consecutive failures out of the blue failing to start or run smoothly means car shopping time has arrived.

Like I said earlier, the 2001 has been amazingly reliable for a first year of a completely new design.

 

Nope, it failed years BEFORE the recall, so it counts. On the plus side is the Toyota did re-imburse me after the recall was issued.

As for the steering, see my earlier posts in this thread (short synopsis: earlier recall performed using sub-standard parts which broke; repaired with new sub-standard parts which broke again; new recall out on steering so I hope that Toyota will re-imburse me for the previous post-1st recall repair.)