Trying to figure out my first car soon... Gen 2 or Gen 3?

Not sure what to tell you. I was lurking on priuschat a month or two prior to buying our 2010, new, and hear about the issues and fixes well ahead of time.

I DIY the basics, and some intermediates as well. I am not in the camp that believes head gasket failure is inevitable, think there’s a moderately involved cleaning chore that’ll prevent that. If done and repeated timely. Brake booster and hybrid battery, will have to wait and see.

We tank up every month or two, for $30-40 CDN. About what we spend on organic, whole-bean coffee.

Any used gen 3 (model year 2010-2015) for sale though there’s a fair-to-good chance it’s being ditched. That could be applicable to most any used car these days though. I’d research, save up more, buy new.

for your 20 minute commute, is transit impractical?

 

saving 400 a year would buy an expensive repair in 5-10 years. another consideration mentioned earlier is that anyone can repair a corolla

 

and you have to look at the market near you and compare prices for similar years, miles and options

 

Let's assume for a moment that those fuel/maintenance/insurance costs are real.

That's a $158 spread between the Corolla and the Prius.

Go talk to anyone who ever spent $3k on a brake booster or $4k on engine replacement and ask them if they would rather have paid an extra $13 per month to not be at risk for those problems.

 

I was a late comer to hybrids. The total cost of ownership (TCO) is what finally won me out, but only with Toyota....and even then it had to be a new vehicle so that I could control maintenance and repair. For example...folks used to believe the Prius brake fluid, transmission fluid, antifreeze were life-time and that it was good to wait 10,000 mile to change your oil. Bottom line...older used Prii will cost more to fix than older used shyte boxes...even if you do the work yourself.

I wish you luck at this stage of your life...whatever you decide here.

 

all the best!

 

I've been buying used cars in Facebook Marketplace and remember "majority of people don't sell/trade their car because they're worth keeping". Most of the Prius sold are either from a wreck (totaled or too much $$ to repair), got random catalytic codes (which can be erased and hidden for a period of time from scanners) Impending repairs due to random warning lights going on and off (buyers problem) Owners of these types of cars don't do preventive maintenance at all just the basic oil change (even rare for fluid changes)