16 years old with a 2009 Prius

That's what dad's are for. I'm not sure what your family situation is like, but until i was done with college, my dad would always help me repair my vehicle. We would throw it in the garage and work on it together. I think you'll be fine to last you through college. Any repairs are most likely minor for 95% of prius customers up until 200k miles. At least, mine has 170k miles on it and hasn't needed anything beyond normal like suspension bits and such.

I wish they had hybrid's when i was your age. We would always drive around on fumes in my escort, and even ran out of fuel once 2 miles from the house. It was always a game to see how far we could push the needle past E(empty). You'll appreciate the fuel economy being a student.

 

Totally agree with Prius’ “Camping Feature” which is not printed on the sticker.
There are many situations when you may like to camp in Prius: Rain, Extremely hot/cold weather, or not want to pay too much for camping site. Try camp in Prius!
You just leave the engine at READY state, keep the heat/ac on overnight, fresh air in, with a cracking open window. It will only cost a gal or two gases.
You can park your car in a 24 HR open store/restaurant parking lot, so you’ve got convenient restroom and even early morning coffee and breakfast. I’ve done it, because all camp sites were full, and we were really tired.
Ideally you put a memory foam mattress top to make it more comfortable. Two regular size adults can sleep well with backseat fold flat.

If you planning just camp in Prius, you can save lots of camping gears, hassles, setting up/wrap up time, and have a lot more fun on the trip.

After doing that in a couple of group camping, especially after a humid hot and then rainy one, three friends told me that Prius will be their next car, just for the camping “feature”.

The biggest difference between the Prius and a regular wagon or minivan, is that Prius engine only runs once a while, the others has to run continually, to provide a/c or heat.

 

o/p was going to drive down and get it a week ago after the 3-5" of snow cleared. must've bben a blizzard in tennesee.

 

Car: 2007 Prius (basic)
I just replaced my Ecopia EP100 tires (Bridgestone) with 65k mile warranty. Here is the data of the old tires:
*Number of miles: 80,200 miles (we still has 3/16" tread left) over 5 years
*MPG: 54.5 (averaged over about 20,000 miles and consistent with before). The mpg was identical to older tires.

I replaced them with Ecopias EP422 in April 2014:
*Price of replacement Ecopias: $85/tire + labor and taxes => $528 total cost for all four tires, free rotation/balance.
* new MPG: 54.2 over the first few tankfuls... not yet settled down or averaged over seasons.

Needless to say, I'm pleasantly pleased with this tire family.

About driver (my spouse):
mid-50's age, agriculture tech (i.e. not related to Firestone where I purchased them)
Central Coast California: includes coastal low rolling hills and 2000 ft mountains when going to San Francisco. In addition, typical travel ranges Napa Valley to Santa Barbara

 

i wonder what happen to the hipster?

 

My [theoretical] kids are getting $1000 beaters and paying for ALL of their car insurance when they reach driving age. I'm not even a parent and I know that's how my values will be. You're supposed to give your kids lousy (but safe) cars... and make them earn an awesome one. I was a spoiled brat and never learned this as a kid, I must admit...

Driving to school and around town? Frankly, a Prius seems completely pointless. You have no need for a hybrid.

I know I am being extraordinarily negative (and perhaps a little cruel) about this, but are my points that unfair? 16 year old driving around town in an '09? Get a used Corolla and save your parents a boatload of money.

 

When you have actual children of driving age instead of a theoretical concept to deal with, you might reconsider the concept of a $1K beater. Such a vehicle is not likely to have very good safety equipment and unfortunately, a new driver is at high accident risk.

According to kbb.com a 2009 Prius with 115K miles has a market value of ~$8K. That seems a reasonable vehicle for a new driver, with state-of-the-art safety equipment, airbags everywhere, ABS/VSC, etc.


Kelley Blue Book

 

First of all, I think it was fairly obvious that my "$1000" figure wasn't an exact one. You know what I meant by that... Cheap cars. There are plenty of late model civics, camrys, and corollas etc. with airbags and ABS for a few grand or less. And if that isn't enough for them, they can use their own savings to make up the difference! $8000? Not at my current income. God willing I make enough money in 20 years or so to afford my child such a luxury... and bless this girl's parents that they apparently can.

More important than quibbling over dollar figures... the main point remains about wastefulness. It seems this girl won't be putting much mileage on the car... most 16 year olds don't... why spend money on technology that you hardly use? I still say give her a beater while she's a kid and let her earn a Prius when she gets a big girl job... I stand by my previous point.

And I gladly admit, as was true in the first post, that I am standing in harsh judgment of people I don't even know. In my defense: welcome to the internet.

 

any updates?? nice car for a first ,,,, my first was a mustang,,, I learned the hard way until I find toyotas reliability

 

I hear over and over again that you can get a late model Corolla or Civic for a few thousand. My question is, where? An 09 Corolla bare bones with 95k is $10k according to KBB. I'm sure a similar Civic is comparable in price.

 

LOL, the cheapest used toyota without 100-200k miles I was able to buy for my kid was $6500. It wasn't even corolla. it was a base yaris hatchback.

 

You'd think people on this site would have heard of Craigslist and classified ads before.

The mecca for "high mile beaters for a few grand." Yeah, they're gonna be aging, imperfect cars. But enough safety and convenience to carry a sixteen year old around town for a few years? I think so... Perhaps my use of the term "late model" was a bit careless, but it doesn't take away from my original point.

 

Most parents care about their children enough to make sure that they are in a safe car. I don't believe a $1,000 beater would qualify as a safe car. These people are getting the car that they feel safe with and it's really no ones business how they spend their own money.

 

I have never read something that oozes with that much jealousy!
Welcome to the internet!

 

Please show us these finds? Here's a basic economic lesson for you:
Cars depreciate until a certain point. There's a certain point when all of the bits and pieces of the car (the hinges, the glass, the nuts and bolts, belts, tires, and especially metal itself) is going to be the limit where depreciation reaches, and unless you want her to go to coparts and look at cars that are missing half of its engine from an accident, she's never going to find a drivable car under $5000 because that is the limit of the car's intrinsic (scrap) value.

 

My dad made me responsible for all of the costs to own and operate a car when I turned 16. I bought my first car, a '74 Dodge Monaco with 100K miles for $800. In addition to securing a job that allowed me to pay for everything, I had to maintain my grades in HS. If I became unable to financially afford it or slipped in my studies, the car would have been taken away.

Of course, incomes were at least 1/5 of today's values, so the equivalent price would have been $4k by current standards. The same applied to all of the costs for maintenance, insurance, etc.

This was a valuable experience for me, because I learned the value and responsibility of owning something substantial like a car at an early age. It became painfully evident what I needed to do if I wanted to have "things" as I went forward in my life.

 

Oozing with jealousy?

Dude... my first car was a Maxima. That amazing V6 engine. Then I had a Camry with Toyota's nearly identical V6. Powerful, reliable, enough room for me and my friends. I wouldn't trade those miles for the world, buddy...

The difference nowadays: I earned my Prius (and the Impreza I had before it for that matter). I already told you I was a spoiled brat during high school and college... cars were handed to me, and in hindsight, my parents should have demanded more... I will demand more from my children, because I want them to understand the value of a dollar as soon as it's appropriate.

 

You guys are way off topic here!!! We all grew up differently. Jasongoalie, like many things in life, we all start off with certain ideals about how we want to do things, but in practice they change as we understand more and experience more. You don't have kids yet, you are in the ideals stage. Things could change.

I was nearly a straight A student in high school. So my dad gave me his crappy jetta beater car. It wasn't much, had bad compression and leaked oil everywhere. But I took meticulous care of it. It was mine, and I liked having a car, many of my friends didn't. It finally died while I was in college, I commuted, worked full time and had to buy a new car. I was strapped, it sucked paying for school and a car. My life would still have been hard, but much less stressful without the car and insurance. My grades started to slip due to many half done projects, my quality of work was not my best. At those stress levels, I think most people would have quit school. I stayed because it was all I had, but I was so stressed for time. It just wasn't good for me. A compromise in between would have been great.

As far a Prius as a car to last through college. Its a great choice, low maintenance, frugal on fuel, not too fast, practical 4 door hatch design. Resale sucks because people are afraid of repairs, so that means low purchase price. Its perfect, especially when having no gas money. Been there, done that in school.

HTC One_M8 ?

 

That's not in question, and never was. Of course any kid would benefit from a reliable car with low maintenance costs and even lower fuel costs.

But as you already know, I'm questioning whether or not it's the right thing to do, even if $8000 is a drop in the bucket for mom and dad. Sure, I don't have kids of my own, but I've already lived through the receiving end of being regaled with high quality cars in my younger years... which is just as important, if not moreso.

I didn't truly learn how to earn a car until I bought that Subaru... I was 24... that's too late. My kids will at least have SOME automotive-related responsibilities the moment they learn to drive. Are they subject to change over the next 20 years? Absolutely. But I know my starting point.

 

Perhaps for some parents, the idea of buying $8000 of Prius II is a great idea because it's more likely to keep their offspring alive in the event of them being in a potentially fatal collision? How much is the safety of ones child worth in this increasingly dangerous world that we live in? The price of a "beater"? $1000? Some may quite rightly decide that they can afford much more - with safety being the primary reason. If I could afford to give my daughter a Prius II for a first car while she was at Uni, I most certainly would. Just a thought.