Need advice on possible trade in.

Check your oil level.


2013 Toyota Prius V Owners Manual and Warranty - Toyota Owners

Your manual is a little different than mine, but here's what yours says:

It is especially important to both
routinely check your vehicle’s engine oil
level (once a month) and regularly
replace the engine oil and oil filter (see
the Maintenance Log section of this
booklet to determine how often you
should change your vehicle’s oil and
filter). Failure to do so can cause oil
starvation and or oil gelling, which can
result in severe damage to your vehicle
and require costly repairs that are not
covered by the New Vehicle Limited
Warranty.

They bolded it for a reason....


I mentioned it for 2 reasons:

1. People don't.
This is often what separates a 1 owner 200,000 mile car from one of the many Priuses that "suddenly" use an excessive amount of oil.
Other things help to a varying degree such as the EGR cooler design, sump capacity, piston ring material, and 10,000 mile oil change interval (OCI.)
The oil level check isn't all that demanding.
Check semi-occasionally and make sure that the sump level is between the dots.
Easy Peasy.


2. The schedule of maintenance has a lot of information, and it contains all of the basics to get your car most of the way through it's manufacturer's life cycle which is about the length of the super titanium extended warranty. There are some other checks that can be done to help you get to the end of the car's economical service life which is probably closer to 15 years or about 250,000 miles.

Those are different goals, with different winners (OEM or YOU) and require a little different strategery which sometimes includes maintenance like brake fluid replacement, CVT, and EGR maintenance that do NOT appear on the Manufacturers maintenance schedule....but here is the thing:
FLUSH is something you do with a bathroom appliance, and any mechanic that "suggests" that a service be done that does NOT appear in the maintenance schedule should be viewed with suspicion....and this service requires an explanation.
Sometimes?
There is a good reason.
Many times, there isn't.

KNOWING which is which is valuable......like saving you from a "maintenance" bill with a comma in it.

Good luck!!

 

That reminds me, I need to check my oil today.

 

Putting one car loan on top of another one is a bad deal. What I would recommend is keeping the V and try to add an additional $100 a month on your car payment effectively making taking it from a seven year loan down to maybe a four year loan. Anytime you owe on something always plan on paying more each month to shorten the loan. I did a 30 year home mortgage and turned it into a 15 year.
At the rate you are putting miles on the car you will run out of car before you run out of payments. If you can ever get debt free you won't want to be in debt again.

 

It was still full. After 3400 miles since I last changed it.

 

It sounds like you're doing everything right with the station wagon except maybe buying some hand tools and doing some of the service items yourself. The fact that you check your oil and (presumably) tire pressures and you're taking ownership of the ownership thing puts you out waaaaaay ahead of the pack.
The one thing that I keep hearing from you is a fear of a four figure repair bill, which can be completely eliminated by having a four figure repair fund and knowing when you need to spend that and why.
It's not as much fun as buying season tickets or a vaca with the tax refund.....but hey....once you have an emergency fund in place you'll be able to treat yourself better in 2020.

You're driving a 200,000 mile car, easy as heck!
Probably closer to 250 if you want to drive an old car that long, and until you get the house paid for........which is one helluva lot smarter than buying new cars every few years....especially if you have other silly things to pay for like college and retirement.

I didn't examine your schedule of maintenance, but you're probably due for plugs, etc at 120,000.
Develop a strategy for paying for that or even doing it your self....and get advice on this site from multiple people about what should be done and what should not.
Get a detailed quote from the dealer and run it by some of the more experienced folks in the forum before you schedule the service.
If nothing else it will let the dealer's service department know that you're looking at the maintenance schedule and that you might be one of the few people that they shouldn't mess around with.

Good Luck!!

 

I couldn't find a low mileage used one in my area at the time. I was leaning towards the V because of my two kids, and the more boxy shape can carry more stuff.