Prius dying quicker than I had hoped - Thoughts on upgrade?

Unfortunately that's a tough situation.
I've been in a similar situation, not with a Toyota or Prius but with a Ford Escort Station wagon my mother bought, but I helped her maintain. At the time it had 60,000-70,000 miles on it, and had first a transmission break down. My thought was investing into fixing the transmission was worth it, because then my Mother would have a "good" transmission in a vehicle I thought I could expect much more life from. So I paid for that repair.

But then she never really reached a point of consistent reliability for any significant length of time. Seemed like every 2-3 months, I would get some phone call about some breakdown, resulting in further repair.
Then you get into the slippery slope of throwing good money after bad.

None of this long story helps the OP.

To be honest? I don't know.
The OP has already invested quite bit into this gambit. And what makes me nervous is that > $9000 for a 2008, 2009 Prius, doesn't really come with much more of a guarantee.

In that age and price range, you could get a Prius that is a bullet for another 100,000 miles or more, OR you could be looking at Hybrid Battery replacement or similar repairs that you have already witnessed.
IMO $9000 and a decade old kind of falls into a deep chasm of being a significant and possibly hurtful investment if it doesn't work out, BUT not enough of an investment to bump you up to the level of possibly much more reliable and much newer vehicles.

Guess this isn't a good answer, because my only answer is that you are in a difficult situation.
I think I would want to possibly save up, and get to the point where I was looking at much newer vehicles, if reliability is the priority.

 

I would love to have a timer or thermostat to cool the battery in my PiP after I get home in the summer. I often just sit in READY to let the fan run a while if I hear it running when I get home. I would think a timer would be safer for the 12V.

But we digress. Have you made any decisions yet, @jta98z?

 

How did you switch the fan speed?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I like the way your thinking sir! I listen to Dave Ramsey on YouTube and he was saying it doesn’t make financial sense for people to justify spending $20–25k on a car when their old one needs to get fixed (add the higher insurance cost, ongoing maintenance, and cost to own). Even when stuff breaks on it when you factor in all of the cost of a new car, it doesn’t make sense financially. I agree with much of the thinking. To debt free is important goal so you can build wealth.

 

Even if it ends up dead-even financially or slightly behind, I'd opt to stay with your present car, for several reasons:

1. Your calculations will miss unforseen expenses with new car, likely a few $100's at least. There's always more hands in your pocket than you anticipate.

2. You have a familiar, broken-in car, you know it's ins-and-outs. It's stressful buying new. Sometimes the newer car can have "features" added turn out to be a royal pain, and the manufacturer has quietly stripped-out other items, or made them optional.

3. One less car in the resale stream, or scrap yard, likely keep it going longer. Good for the planet.

 

Here is the custom PID for that:

Gen2 Prius: Custom PIDs for Torque (Android App) with formulas | Page 24 | PriusChat

 

Park that thing in the really bad part of town, leave the keys on the seat. Wait 3 weeks, call it in stolen.

Buy a new car, buy my car. It's for sale.