Longevity

We have driven Honda's since 1989. We were searching for a small wagon to replace our 97 Odyssey. The 97 Odyssey was not the bigger vans that the Odyssey has become but rather a small, 4 cylinder station wagon. We recently bought a 2015 Prius V and it is our first Toyota.

I am a retired electrical engineer who worked for 30 years in the automotive industry as a contractor. I have worked in all the manufacturer's U.S. plants including both Honda and Toyota. In my opinion, they are both committed to making great cars. Some of the other car companies, not so much.

I don't know what your car buying philosophy is but mine has been that you buy reliable cars, maintain them well and keep them until the first major repair (over $1000 and something that I couldn't do myself). It is much cheaper, both insurance and payment wise, than buying replacement vehicles every few years. My 85 and 89 Accords and 97 Odyssey were all driven over 20 years and 250,000 miles before a major repair was required.

There are probably many people on this site that have had good long term results with Toyota vehicles.

 

Another HV battery is in your future so explore those options and costs and see if that's OK for you. This is an issue every 2 gen owner has faced or is about to face.

After that decision is made and IF you are going to keep it, replace the inverter pump, they're cheap: under $50 so mainly labor to replace if you're not a DIY'er. If you haven't yet, I would also replace the belt and water pump on the gas engine, spark plugs, air filter, and clean the MAF and throttle body. Coolant change too. Most of this general advice for any vehicle hitting 10 years old and 100+ K miles.

Don't be too concerned about trade-in price. They will always low ball you no matter what the condition once a car is this old.

GOOD LUCK!

 

welcome!
if you diy, or have a hybrid savvy reasonably priced mechanic, you can hang onto it as long as you want.

you can check kbb.com for value, and plug in older years with more mileage to get an idea what yours will be worth down the road.

if you go to a dealer for service, i would consider trading up soon.

with my encouragement, my daughter just sold her 2008 package 2 w/ 130k for $5,000. and bought a new suburb impreza. i wasn't concerned about costs, but the increasing possibilities of breaking down, as she spends weekends 200 miles away in a very rural area.

 

At the amount you currently drive it should last at least another 10 years with a new battery somewhere in there. That would make you 82. I don’t think you should worry about trade in value.

 

I concur.

You CAN drive it until it starts to become too unreliable or expensive to maintain
MY guess would be that this car has AT least another 5-10 years at your current rate (12K/yr?)
Plan on replacing some stuff and start a maintenance fund.

Huh?
No offense but it would be smarter to drive the car until it's worth about $1,000....saving money for another car along the way.
Trading a decent car will only benefit person that you trade the car TO.
That's why there is (excuse me while I check.....) a $2000 spread between the trade-in value for your car, and the street price for your car....where you live.
Source: kbb.com

WHAT that means is that the person that you trade the car TO will probably profit by about $2,000.
Oh...they'll make you THINK you did OK by perhaps over charging you for the next car but people in the car trading business MAKE MONEY by trading cars.
That can be honorable, but even if it is, they still have to make their money on ONE side of the deal.....either with the new car or the old one.
The reason why YOUR town perhaps has more than one or two used car dealerships is NOT because it is an unprofitable business to be in.....

So....
You seem like a 'red' and 'Very Good' to me but I chose 'silver' and 'average' just to play the averages.
Your car's trade-in value range is something like $2500-3800 and the private sales range is something like $5300-7500...in your town.

On the other hand.....
If you start now and save $150 a month and drive your car for the next 5 years, cash flowing the repairs then you will have $9000 in your pocket and if your car is still operable and doesn't smell like the seats of a NYC taxi, you can probably still get a thou for it as well.
Do that a few times, clubbing up a little every 10 years and before you know it you'll be in that rarefied air of people who can afford to buy a new car with cash.....because everything in life that is REALLY important (house, college, retirement) will have already been paid for by NOT making "easy" car payments for the next 40 years.

Or?
You can wait a year or two and haggle with somebody who makes their living by trading cars with people and LOSE every time you get a newer car.


...your call.
Good Luck!

 

Owners can routinely get 200K out of these cars. At some point, the maintenance becomes expensive, particularly if you are paying somebody to do it.

Keep up with the service intervals in the manual, have the car inspected regularly for early failure signs (i.e the CV joint boot that comes loose or tears and can be repaired prior to the joint failing). Best advice would be find a good independent mechanic and stick with them if you don't work on the car yourself.

 

Welcome to PC.
Your car is 10 years old. I would think there is not much trade-in value left in it. If it is running great and you are happy with the car, keep it until it die. In my area, even a most reliable car dies from rust by 15 years old. It can go anytime after 10 years. Plan accordingly.