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

sorry didn't didn't know gen2 EGR differs there. Maybe that's why I read gen2 might be more reliable then gen3 I own as that is surely maintenance you need to do... can't edit/delete that post anymore.

 

Some might say I did things backwards but whatever, my personal experience that past year was I purchased a brand new 2018 prius 3 for 26000 my credit wasnt the best so I put 7,000.00 cash down making my payments 680 a month full coverage insurance 250 a month after a year of payments I said this is to much car was only getting 32mpg and at almost 1k a month I checked my payoff of 28000 still and I said screw it pick it up it was had around 4k miles at the time was ceramic pro coated and in showroom condition it was then sold at auction for 18k so the bank comes to me and says you owe us another 9k so I paid them 9k then a month later they say reconditioning fee of 3k is still due so I said fine heres 3k go away I'm not paying you anything else 2 months later I have on my credit report a repo and a bill for 900.00 i called them and said what's this thales said transfer fee when you made the payoff it was bank transfer and you owe us that I then said why didnt you tell me that instead of putting it on my credit their response was you said heres3k your not paying anything else.. never will I buy a new car again my 2004 is great I average 52mpg city and no b.s. not crazy payments no ally financial screwing me over etc

17k in the trash all for what.. plus 13 payments made..

 

Paid-off cars for the win!

 

We traded our 2005 at 145k mi on a 2011 leftover in March of 2012. No problems with the 2005 other than a habit of wearing tires strangely every 30k miles. Had alignment checked multiple times, along with shocks, wheel balance, and you name it. It still did strange things to tires. The reason we traded was that I drove a friend's 2010 for a few miles and noticed right away that it was a superior driving car in every respect, including better MPGs and interior ergonomics.

We stupidly sold our Red 2011 bomber with only 118k mi on the odo last Spring before we moved from Maine to Florida. Absolutely perfect Prius IV "solar" with a set of perfect Persona wheels I had bought for it years ago from a Prius Chat member. Both of our former Prius were never used in snow. We had a series of very cheap beater cars with snow tires for the salt season to abuse and eat away.

I only lasted 10 months without a Prius. Bought a nicely maintained 2014 a couple of weeks ago with very low 27k miles on it. Luckily we were able to pay for it. It's in like new condition and should last easily 250k miles or more with regular maintenance. I know the allure of a new car, but, if you have patience, you can find a great well maintained used example for about half the price (or less) of a new one. Depreciation is a horrible thing for anyone buying a new car, unless you are lucky enough to be rolling in money to burn. Cars, unless they are exotics, are usually a poor investment overall.

Keep a car as long as it runs well, is safe and doesn't consume your savings in repairs. Like someone else said, it does depend quite a bit on your luck with whatever car it is, and if you do have a good one, you can save a lot of money by making sure the required maintenance is performed on a timely basis. The longer your car lasts, the better off financially you'll be down the road.

 

Not understanding how. A 2018 Prius 3 would only get 32 mpg (Unless there was something wrong with it).

 

I'm starting to get a little worried about mine. I'm creeping up on 135,000 miles and knock on wood, I haven't had any issues with the car. Always got its scheduled maintenance done, did full EGR cleaning, installed an oil catch can. I'm still averaging 46 mpg lately (in the winter) and hopefully better numbers come the summer. Still sweat bullets everytime I drive, hoping nothing goes wrong. Maybe I'm over paranoid..

As of right now, they are a few Pri listed on carguru in my area that have low miles, recent model years that I'm tempting on trading my V in for. Girlfriend recently got a RAV4 which has now became the family hauler and my V I'm primarily using for work commutes and some small errand runs around town. The Prius C seems very attractive to me since I'm driving by myself alot more and I've driven the C before and liked how it handled. also tempted by the Corolla/Scion IM hatchback..still tho...I'm hesitant to do anything..

 

Low miles? 135,000 on a Prius is low miles.

 

If you want more info on the Prius and other versions check out this educational site: WeberAuto - YouTube

 

I own an independent automotive repair shop. I tell people this all the time. If you own it free and clear and you came back to me for 3 consecutive months because your car broke and it cost you $500 each visit you are still better off than mostly everybody at a red light. If you have to spend $1,500 one year to keep your car going, think how stupid it would be to spend 4 times that (average new car payment in the US) while every day getting hit with more and more depreciation.
Look, I know somebody has to do it for the rest of us that buy used- but be smart with your money. That's why most of us are here, because we are frugal and use our money for better things than a car payment. Sorry to get preachy, just my take. I hope you enjoy your 04. Btw first post hi all.

 

Never, just do regular maintenance, if something breaks up, fix it. By that way you learn more about how your car works and how to fix it. You can't throw away something that still works just because is going to fail at some point, complex machines fail. They are hard to fix, but not impossible, and since the Prius is less complex than normal ICE engines [smaller engine, less complexity] is going to break down less. The ICE engine on the Prius is just there to charge the battery, so there is barely any stress on it.

 

It's been a while, time for another update to my two previous posts. The aftermarket catalytic converter wasn't the best idea; I just replaced it with a new Toyota catalytic converter at 337,000 mi. Two things prompted me to replace it: (1) the gas mileage had begun to decline a little, and, more importantly (2) the check engine light had begun to come back on almost immediately after resetting it. To recap, allowing error codes to build up risks confusing the computer which can shut down the engine, so with an OBD2 transmitter and a phone app I would reset the check engine light when it came on (after checking to make sure there were no other problems besides the catalytic converter). Initially, it would last several hundred miles before triggering the code again. Gradually, it became more frequent until finally I couldn't even go a half mile before the light came on again. That made me nervous because I commute across the desert in south central Washington and with my luck, the next time it shut me down might be when I'm in the middle of nowhere during January when it's 15 degrees. However I found a little one-man muffler shop who replaced my converter with a Toyota one for $925 incl tax and it's been running great since then.
So, in summary, the only major work I've had done is: I replaced the hybrid battery at 205,000 mi and have the catalytic converter twice (once with a cheap after-market), and at 337,000 mi it's still running fine. What an amazing piece of machinery. A far cry from being a money pit (the genesis of this thread) considering how long I've driven it.

 

I keep a log of every expense on the car. 2019 was my most expensive year, replacing an HID headlight, replacing the battery pack with an OEM one, new tires and having have the car repaired after hitting a coyote carcass on the I-10 one night while driving across the desert. That year the Prius cost 46 cents a mile, the same projected cost of owning the average new car. Since then my cost of ownership dropped to 15 cents a mile in 2020 and 17 cents a mile in 2021. Including things over the years like replacing the rear hatch garnish, replacing a torn section of the driver's seat, buying the Prolong battery conditioning system, etc. the overall lifetime cost of ownership is below 40 cents a mile and gradually dropping.

Even with the car approaching the pricey 180k miles service that cost is not going to place this car in the category of a "money pit". The plan is to drive it until it drops or the overall cost of ownership rises to the level a replacement is projected to cost.

 

Gen 2 traded in at 97k as I was nervous about passing 100k - no issues with car
2nd Gen2 traded in at 157k still no issues with car

 

With a Gen 2 I thought I’d turn it in at the end of the lease. Then I didn’t! 613,000 and it’s still not time parts are still available and getting cheaper as people are letting them go after a couple 100,000 miles.
Now if you aren’t doing you own maintenance? Maybe someday??? Though the most expensive year of owning mine was the first year/ the payments plus depreciation tires $10,000. Now mind you Electra, my 2005, is sweet sixteen this year and if I spent half that on her every year from now until she hit 1,000,000 miles she would be thrilled.
Driving her 40,000 miles and investing $5,000 in repairs every year she costs me 22¢/mile and that is with gas at $4/gallon. My fathers WV Bug cost that much back in the 70’s
Add to that the savings of only liability Insurrance because,face it, they total Gen 2 for $2,000 these days.
NEVER Ever get rid of a car that puts that kind of money into your 401k


iPhone ?

 

I think one of the big issues is people replacing the hybrid battery with a new oem one. Repair or replace with a refurb for under $1000. Even if you only get 50% of the life of a new battery, you're still making out.

 

When it burns 3.9 quarts of oil every thousand miles. Hope this helps.

 

Isn't it funny that guy is so precise as to say it burns 3.9qt and not 4qt/1k miles, but he won't swap in a $600 free shipping engine from ebay. A local garage would charge maybe $400-$600 for the install.

 

The problem is that you will get 5% - 30% with these re-whatevers, so few are "making out". Plus it doesn't pan out to have an unreliable vehicle that always needs attention. In very short time psychologically you begin to resent the car.

 

I did see in another post that some dealers were selling new gen2 battery packs for around $1700. Honestly, I'm not sure I would go for that in my 2007. I would probably just buy a refurb, sell the car, and pick up a 5 speed mirage. Gas mileage would be close, and they cost next to nothing to run. It is a smaller, cheaper, and slower car, but would be much newer than a gen2 for about the same price.

I live in the Phoenix area - I could sell my gen2 with a bad battery for pretty much what I paid for it. Hopefully the battery in it, which is oem and only has 7 years and about 60k miles on it will last a couple years.

 

You mean 613,000 miles?