What is the most comparable car to a Gen 2 Prius in price, maintenance, mileage?

toyota really has no competition in the hybrid world, and it is difficult to find other 50 mpg vehicles.
there are some like Hyundai, but they don't have the track record, and probably not 20 years old yet.
chevy bolts were cheap for awhile, but have spiked with gas prices and the loss of the fed tax credit for new models.

 

50mpg vehicles exist but most are extremely old at this point with lots of rust.

you can hypermile many sticks to 50mpg but they are also all getting older and rarer

 

I had a Bronco II (SUV body on a Ranger, basically) of the '84–'88 vintage, and, well, it wasn't full of problems, but I don't think I'd compare it to a Prius. I had a couple alternator and starter rebuilds, and rebuilt the carb a few times—it kind of came out with a different personality each time, no matter how closely I followed the rebuild and adjustment steps—and I can't remember how many times I had to replace the position sensor on the EGR valve. On rare occasions, the valve itself would flake out before the position sensor did.

I replaced bearings in the transmission a few times, probably because I had a GF with a trailered sailboat at the time.

I was a fan of the way the calipers were mounted—very easy brake jobs, always sliding easily—and the way heater core replacement was a ten-minute job, and how you could take the whole air-conditioning system out intact, with the refrigerant still in it.

 

We put over 200k on a Hyundai Accent, in the end the repair tally was:

1 crank position sensor
1 hi-mount center stop lamp
3 ignition coils
1 headlight bulb
1 window crank handle

It needed a bit more maintenance than a Prius over the years, namely timing & accessory drive belts & brakes.

I remember that car very fondly for how easy it was to maintain, diagnose & repair.

It usually gave high-30s MPG, sometimes 40+ on long highway hauls.

Given how little it cost to buy and how much resale value it still had at the end, it still remains to be seen whether our current Prius will beat it for value.

 

My first Prius, a gen 1, was my next vehicle after that Bronco II.

That first Prius was also the first vehicle I had ever owned that I could just drive around, and do occasional, mostly predictable, preventive maintenance on, and not always wonder how much time I'd have to spend fixing it.

I almost didn't know how to act.

 

That was a 2007, 3-door hatchback model.

Honestly the only thing I did not like about the car was lousy crash safety scores.

 

Honda Fit

 

The Fit was a pretty special hatchback, in terms of hauling capacity. I don't know if the current model is still the same, but the design goal of the first generation was to locate the fuel tank under the front seats. That allowed the rear floor to be dropped low and flat. When you fold the rear seats down, you can get some obnoxiously large things into the back of those little cars.

Just to back up a few steps... if I needed to replace a 2nd generation Prius right now? I'd probably be looking at a 2016+ Elantra. They aren't hard or expensive to maintain, they're about the same size, they benefit from much newer crash & safety standards. The mileage isn't as good, but you can get them worked on in cheaper shops. The only reason they seem expensive now is because all cars got more expensive. But in the end, I think they offer a lot of value going forward.