Please recommend a Prius for my girlfriend and me (our first car)

Please greatly exuse my negativity.

But this is a Boyfriend/Girlfriend situation?

Potentially messy. Don't know how many court cases I've witnessed with Ex-Boyfriends/Girlfriends disputing who owns what or who paid for what...

If you are sure of your relationship? I'd get the regular Prius....

If you are not? Doesn't really matter- but make sure you've decided who's car it is, and who is going to be making the payments...

 

Drive em both, then make your choice. If you can, rent both for a weekend, it will give you better idea of how each car is to live with.
My opinion is that the Regular Prius pkg2, would be more versatile and would mean you would not have to rent a car for trips. I'm guessing, but if you option up a "c" to the level of a pk 2 regular Prius, the cost difference would be smaller than you think.
One piece of advice, if you have to have a car payment of more that 48 months, you can't afford the car. Good luck

 

These are used Gen 2 Prius on ebay near SF. I don't know any sellers or warrant how honest they are.

Toyota : Prius Toyota : Prius | eBay

Toyota : Prius Toyota : Prius | eBay

Toyota : Prius Toyota : Prius | eBay

Toyota : Prius Toyota : Prius | eBay

Toyota : Prius Toyota : Prius | eBay

 

I wanted to thank and +1 both of these lovely posters' comments. As someone who is in a similar stage of life, I'll add that I wish I had bought a used car rather than brand new a few years ago. Money is very tight for many years around now, and when your lovely new car depreciates in value thousands of dollars right after you drive it home...it sucks when your life changes in ways you can't anticipate and you want to think about a different kind of vehicle.

Additionally, while it may seem cynical or negative, The Electric Me is absolutely correct - ONE person needs to be the owner of that car. You may be sharing everything else from groceries to rent to germs, but again, when there's something you can't anticipate (and we've all had a relationship in life that we thought would go the distance and it didn't), you need to be confident of who owns what portion of your most expensive asset.

Not trying to rain on your parade! But I've been in similar shoes and hopefully can share my wisdom so you don't have to learn it the hard way, too.

 

I avoided the bf/gf part of the post because that was not OP's question, but this comment is spot on

 

If your finances are an issue, don't buy a Prius. Buy something like a Corolla or a Honda Fit. If you later get married, get better jobs, move to a more affordable area, then buy your Prius.

Which gets to the next issue others have mentioned: You are in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Let's assume you go through with this purchase and the two of you will equally be paying for the car. Have an agreement that if something happens to the relationship that you will first go to Kelley Blue Book (or something like that), and see if one of you want to buy out the other's 1/2. If not, then you'll sell it and split the proceeds. None of the emotional "I'm more attached to it than you are" arguments.

There are other issues: Will you split the insurance? If so, what if one person's insurance is higher than the other's, especially after someone has a wreck or gets a couple of tickets. Who pays the (possible) deductible? What happens if someone loses their job and can't pay his/her half of the payment? Repairs? Maintenance? Who pays if you get a flat tire?

Most marriages break up over money. I have a feeling co-habitation relationships are the same. My only position is to make sure you have your bases covered. I find that if you have enough money, these issues tend to work themselves out. If you are scrapping the bottom of the barrel to pay the rent, maybe public transportation is for you for the meantime.

Mike

 

I would only change Mike's post to: don't buy a *new* Prius.

Prius vs Corolla or Fit or Civic: if the question is least cost, then amount of use and years the car is kept matter the most.