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'04 Prius after 3.5 years
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Toyota Prius - - Best car on the road 

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'04 Prius after 3.5 years nunamus 05-04-2007
Posted by nunamus on May 4, 2007, 12:58 pm
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We bought this loaded car in Oct '03 with no price premium,
installed leather, tinting, XM-radio, and upgraded speakers, and
not long thereafter bought quieter tires. We also added about
66# of strategic silencing materials, which really made a
difference. I've never been happier with a car purchase.

We're right at 40,000 miles. Our fuel consumption since purchase
has been about 44mpg. Unscheduled maintenance has been zero, but
we paid $950 for the Toyota extended warranty anyway.

I plan to keep the car until 2011, because the CA HOV stickers
are good until then - and frankly, that one feature by itself
adds immense satisfaction to owning the car. Yesterday I drove
250 miles in S California freeway traffic, and saved at least an
hour thanks to the HOV lanes and ramps.

It took more than 18 months for the car to depreciate to a price
below that which we paid for it...

Wow!

Posted by Michael Pardee on May 5, 2007, 8:34 am
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<snip>
>
> It took more than 18 months for the car to depreciate to a price below
> that which we paid for it...
>

How can that be? I recall when we bought our 2002 new that depreciation was
expected to be more than average! And that it would take 200K miles to pay
off the hybrid cost at $1.50 per gallon. ;-)

FWIW, after 5 years it is still my favorite car of all time. The Lotus was
more fun to drive, but the maintenance was a real damper on the fun.

Mike




Posted by nunamus on May 7, 2007, 1:22 pm
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Michael Pardee wrote:
> <snip>
>> It took more than 18 months for the car to depreciate to a price below
>> that which we paid for it...
>>
>
> How can that be? I recall when we bought our 2002 new that depreciation was
> expected to be more than average! And that it would take 200K miles to pay
> off the hybrid cost at $1.50 per gallon. ;-)
>
> FWIW, after 5 years it is still my favorite car of all time. The Lotus was
> more fun to drive, but the maintenance was a real damper on the fun.
>
> Mike
>
>
>

Hah! I understand perfectly - one predecessor to my Prius was a
Porsche (incredibly fast, lots of fun, 15mpg downhill). For the
first year, that Prius had more prestige...

I am reluctant to give up those HOV-lane privileges, which run
until 2011, for the sake of the 2010 model. Does anyone know if
CA is considering a further issue?

anon

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