Work commute doubling...keep the Prius?

1) your battery is warrantied for 8 years/100,000 miles in TX, some other states 10/150,000, so you have at least 66,000 worry free miles. Even after that, the batteries are very reliable, as they have to be to not bankrupt Toyota with a 10/150,000 warranty.

2) In TX, your major determinant will be heat. Use A/C, it not only keeps you cool, it keeps the battery cool. Parking in shade/indoors is good. If you are descending a long downhill in the heat, use B mode from the top, that adds less heat to the battery. The Prius has windoews tinted to be 50 state compliant, in Texas you can tint darker Tint Laws

3) When you reach 250,000 miles and the battery does die, consider a used battery out of a Prius that was totaled in a head on collision.

http://hiwaay.net/%7Ebzwilson/prius/pri_2010_800.jpg

 

Your mileage goes *up* the longer your commute, as the warm-up time becomes a smaller percentage of your ride. An '14 Prius with 34K is a perfect car for a long commute. Also, the Prius is an extremely efficient real-world highway car. The hybrid system does a great job of keeping the engine in its most efficient sweet spot on the highway - something most people don't realize. There isn't a more efficient car on the road (other than a gen-4 Prius!) for a long commute at any speed - doesn't matter if it's 45 or 85 MPH.

 

I don't know.
Simplistically, you own a 2 year old Prius (IMO practically new) and your driving demands are going to increase.

I think it takes a lot of juggling to create a scenario where the idea of NOT keeping the Prius given those parameters makes sense.

Keep The Prius, and enjoy the efficiency when your round trip increases.

Worry about the battery failing, if and when it fails. And any way you cut it, you're a significant distance from that reality being a concern.

The depreciation of ANY vehicle, including the Prius, is the depreciation.
You either take that hit, with the benefit of long ownership and eventually no car payments...if you own it.
Or you are in a constant cycle of early trade in or sale, and constant car payment expense.

 

This decision isn't merely a financial one, otherwise there are much cheaper ways to accomplish the commute. You could carpool, or sell the Prius and buy a used Toyota Corolla.

The Prius has one of the most aerodynamic shapes, which matters a lot more at 85 MPH speeds than other factors. No car can achieve their highway rated MPG at such high speeds.

I'd try to carpool if possible, while looking into either a closer job, or moving closer to where I worked. Commuting sucks not only because of the expense of traveling, but in the unpaid driving time.

 

all of the above. keep the prius, and keep driving it yourself. anything else will cost you.

 

You should be driving the more efficient vehicle if you're putting in more miles than the wife. Battery longevity has little to do with use, and more to do with temperature and age. It's likely you will sell the vehicle long before it suffers any battery problems.

My wife and I alternate between the Prius and Acura depending on who needs to travel furthest that day, and who has access to plug in at the end of the day. I even taught her how to drive stick so she could drive all our vehicles.

She prefers the Prius, but that's because Portland traffic is a bear in a manual transmission. I prefer the TSX, although I'll be selling it for a used Leaf once the price completely falls out on 'em. Electricity here is cheap, even compared to cheap gas now. How are your rates in TX?

 

This is the bit responders, myself included, are not understanding.

If you're going to be putting on a lot of miles, use the Prius. Deal with battery issues or whatever when and if they arise.

The majority of members here seem to be high usage. My wife and I, both retired, are at the other end of the spectrum, but it's working for us too, just hoping it'll last us at least a decade.

 

48 mile round trip is hardly a super long commute. I've commuted that far for most of my career. Yes, it's nicer to be closer to home, but that's not an insane commute. The Prius is the perfect car for it. Keep it, drive it.

 

Read beyond the first sentence. He goes on to say his commute will increase to 108 miles round trip, and 28,000 miles per year. Racking up miles that quickly will rapidly depreciate the newer vehicle, which is one of the OP's main concerns.

From a financial standpoint, if a person intended to sell the Prius in just a couple years or so, then it makes sense to drive an older economy vehicle to put the commuting miles on.

I think it would be better to hold on to the Prius longer term, and just put the miles on it. Even better would be to move closer to work, or work closer to home.

Spending lots of time commuting is no way to live in the long run. A 90 minute commute (45 minutes each way) is about 15 full days out of every year. You have to factor in commuting time into your hourly wage or salary, because you wouldn't be spending that time on the road if it weren't for the need to commute to work.

 

Been there, done that with a 52 mile each way (104 mile) commute for two years... No matter how I did the math, it didn't make financial sense to sell my existing car and get another one. Your math may be different, but the psychological factor doesn't trump the financial one. That said, cars are for driving and 108 miles a day is a long time to spend in a car. You wouldn't want to be in an old beater junkbox.

 

I think carpooling is a great idea to offset the cost / added wear and tear of your car. There must be other people you work with in a similar situation (commute wise). You should find as many as you can that want to share the burden of the longer drive. Your average monthly miles may not increase or could even possibly decrease if you find a few people that can rotate driving.

 

I use my car for work and got it 7/15/2016, since then I have put 3844 miles on it. I am on target to put 36k miles in one year. I say keep it but thats just me