Regret, Shame, New Used Prius, Elation, and Reflection.

Well, I'm back in Prius world. I just bought a 2005 Prius in excellent (JBL with 6 disc changer and the added bonus of a cassette player; HID's and fog lights too!) shape with 217,000 miles on it for $3,200 cash. Carfax revealed an impeccable maintenance history, something like 66 entries spanning the entire 217K run. All sorts of excellent details inclusive of consistent oil changes throughout, all dealer serviced. For example, the front brake pads and rotors where changed at 157K miles. When I test drove it, it even had one of those "your next oil change" stickers in the upper left corner for a date and mileage not yet achieved. Between that, the interior, and test drive, I knew this particular one was likely a good risk. In the prior weeks, I looked at about 5 Gen 2's and most were in less than ideal shape even with 100K less miles. Some were even appalling.

Back in 2005, I bought 2004 Seaside Pearl base model (I'm talking REALLY base, didn't even have a rear wiper, which is something I've never seen in any other Prius than this particular one) and drove it for 7 years. One of the best investments I ever made. Carried me right through the gas crisis, and I ended up trading it in after about 147K miles. Still on the original factory brakes. I had just gotten sick of seeing the same interior for 7 years. Plus, my future wife in 2006 was so enthralled with my Prius, she got one of her own in the summer of 2007, and drove that one for 9 years. So, for many years we were a two Pri family.

Over time, we each developed varying grades of regret in trading them off. They were just such practical, useful, comfortable, economical, and fun vehicles for which we could never really fully line up all these characteristics and find them all in another vehicle. My wife ultimately traded hers in for a Volt, which she ended up really regretting. She developed an absolute hate for the Volt for a litany of reasons that just kept growing. Ultimately she traded the Volt in for a MINI (her current vehicle), and absolutely loves it, but still regrets the Prius.

I've had all sorts of vehicles since, luxury pick ups, high end BMW's, and currently, a ridiculously
fun to drive brand new Mustang GT with essentially a track package. It truly is an absolute riot to drive. Kermit the Frog green with stripes and it's a 6 speed with 460HP from the factory. It's like having your own personal Space Mountain roller coaster ride!

...but we both felt like we drifted away a little too much from daily vehicular practicality. While the GT is a riot to drive, it's not exactly great for toting our dogs around. The MINI can't really take too many bags of mulch from the store, etc., etc..

So, what to do? First world solution: buy another car! At first, I contemplated a used Leaf. However its fatal flaw is battery replacement is so cost prohibitive, it's effectively non-replaceable. Sure, I found some shop in Seattle that does it, but nowhere anywhere near Atlanta. Conversely, Prius batteries seem to be easy to find and install. A shop the next town over claims replacement and installation for $1K and this is what I keep hearing from various sources.

I was actually a little adverse to another Prius (this is where the shame comes in). After all, 7 years of being in it, then a few more years of the wife's, I wasn't sure I would like it too much. So began the hours of scouring AutoTrader and Craigslist.

Then one day, this past Tuesday, I found a Craigslist ad for a used Prius in my price range (I was looking to spend up to 5K, but the lesser, the better) about 2 miles from my house which looked ok in the pics. The others I had looked at weren't in great shape and all were 20+ miles away. Figured I'd stop over during my lunch break and check it out. A more or less last ditch Prius effort as I was moving on to Honda Civic territory.

I get there, and it's a small lot with a hodge-podge of vehicles. Basically a repair shop that just happens to also sell cars. The Prius I saw in the ad was, as usual in my case, worse in person. Then I saw the '05 next to it that looked really clean. I asked if that one was for sale, and he said it was, they just hadn't gotten around to putting it up on Craigslist. As soon as I opened the door, I could tell this one was well cared for. The interior was excellent for a 15 year old vehicle, and it smelled exactly like mine and my wife's did, so I knew it was nonsmoker owned. Took it for a test drive, and knew this one was IT. Made offer, paid, did the paperwork, and drove it home.

I can't tell you how overjoyed my wife and I are to have a Prius back in the house again! Neither of us thought we could be this happy over a used car, but we are. It's like an old long lost friend has returned.
I do admit my joy is a little bit tampered by the mileage. At 217K miles, that's a lot, but it runs perfectly and has that excellent documented maintenance history. At 3200 bucks, I really can't complain. If anything, I actually feel like I got more value than what a paid. We've been driving it around everyday since. It has really shown us what we've been missing on so many levels. So many things we took for granted when we had them have become outrageously clear now.

So, that's my long winded return to the Prius fold story...

 

A couple of pics...