Im in Australia, in 15 years I've done about 248,500 kms in my car. How would a Prius compare?

Indeed.

@bauhaus , is there a reason you need the car to be new? If fuel economy is a consideration for financial reasons, then would it not make more sense to buy a two-year-old car and let someone else take the $10,000 hit?

 

I'm in the same position, but I was paying about A$1,000 for fully comp on my Prius, and I think I pay about $1200 on the Merc. I think NSW is more expensive than Victoria, though. Possibly because Sydney drivers are completely clueless. Perhaps the insurance companies took one look at the M4 out to Western Sydney and raised our premiums.

@Tideland Prius , one thing worth bearing in mind is that @bauhaus ' "fully comp" might not be the same as yours. I'm not sure about the situation in Victoria. But in New South Wales, we have CTP (Compulsory Third Party), which is a condition of vehicle licensing. Depending on various factors, CTP is around A$500 to A$1000 per year. Fully comp - or even fire and theft - is something you can choose to buy or not buy. When you say in New South Wales how much your paying for "fully comp", that's not including our CTP.

Heresy for this site, I know, but a two-year-old Hyundai or Kia would have as much warranty on it as a brand-new Toyota.

And if you've survived with a 15-year-old Hyundai, you should find a two-year-old car trouble-free, especially if it's Japanese or Korean. Cars these days are not like they were when you last bought a car: unless you're wilfully looking for a s---tbox (or accidentally walk into your local Fiat-Chrysler, Great Wall, Citroen or Haval dealer), you should be OK.

 

Edmunds.com has an excellent True Cost to Own calculator that takes into account depreciation, insurance, maintenance, and fuel. I do not know of an Australian analog. However, we can do an extrapolation.

The Accent has a TCO of $30,000 while a Prius has a TCO of $34,000 over 5 years and 75,000 miles. Of course this is on cheap US fuel prices which as Bisco said may never make the Prius more affordable. But what about double for Australian fuel prices? That will make TCO for the Accent and the Prius $37,000. That means beyond year 5 and greater than 75,000 miles will favor the Prius... roughly speaking.

Additional: just noticed OP is asking about a Corolla and Camry. A Camry will be a near immediate payback since it costs the same as a Prius. A Corolla has the same TCO as the Accent because its depreciation curve is less steep. So 5 years for Corolla and immediately for Camry... again roughly speaking.

 

According to @alanclarkeau 's post, petrol in Australia is about $5.50 per US gallon.