Author Topic: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?  (Read 3907 times)

kevj1085

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Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« on: July 27, 2017, 01:32:44 PM »
I'll try to make this simple...

I have a 2008 Prius w 142k miles on it.

Grandma has a 2007 Hyundai Elantra with 33k miles on it.

Mine has been kept outside in extreme heat its whole life, and I have driven it a lot. So far have had about 2k worth of maintenance in it over its life. It is our daily work driver.

My grandmothers Hyundai has been garage kept and BARELY driven, just to the store and back. 33k miles in 10 years.

I have been offered 2 choices. Keep my Prius and pocket the money she gets from selling the Hyundai (around 5k) OR sell the Prius maybe for $3500, pocket that, and get the Hyundai for free to be our new to us car.

Yes, that's my dilemma. On one hand it sounds amazing to get a FREE barely used car while pocketing $3500, but on the other hand I know reliability of the Prius is unmatched.

What would you all do? I'm having a really hard time making a decision and hopefully someone can help make it clear.

nouveauRiche

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2017, 01:36:44 PM »
I'd keep the Prius.  It's reliable & gets great gas mileage.  My $.02.

Lady SA

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2017, 01:44:19 PM »
I'm confused. Why is selling the Prius a necessary part of this plan? Your reference to "we" and "us" indicates you're married/in a committed relationship. Why not keep the prius AND get the free Hyundai as an extra car?

I'm just not understanding what seems like an arbitrary restriction to having only a single vehicle. Are there parking fees? Reluctance to deal with multiple cars? Changes to insurance? Knowing that would help us give better advice.

kevj1085

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2017, 01:52:45 PM »
Sorry, we have a F-150 as our other car. Now before everyone goes crazy let me just say lol we have a pop-up camper that we use for vacations and little getaway to camp in. We only have room for 2 cars and my wife and I work together so literally everywhere we go we carpool together. So one efficient car and one towing car.

Please don't suggest getting rid of the truck because at this point in time it isn't an option for me. I'm sticking strictly to either the Prius or Hyundai option.

kevj1085

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2017, 01:56:12 PM »
I'd keep the Prius.  It's reliable & gets great gas mileage.  My $.02.

It's reliable, for now. What happens when the hybrid battery goes kerplunk and we are left with a $3-4k battery replacement? In just one week ago I spent $1500 on 3 costly repairs to it (12v battery, water inverter pump, and combination meter) all in the same week.

It seems at least a barely used car even if 10 years old would realistically go longer. Even w 100k more miles it'd have 10k less miles than what my Prius does now.

The major upside I see to keeping the Prius though is that they already have someone willing to buy the Hyundai so it'd be an easy sell, and I wouldnt have to go through the hassle of cleaning the Prius up and dealing with Craigslist people (hated the experience last time I sold a car on it, even though I'd do it again if I HAD to).

ketchup

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2017, 01:56:56 PM »
I'm confused. Why is selling the Prius a necessary part of this plan? Your reference to "we" and "us" indicates you're married/in a committed relationship. Why not keep the prius AND get the free Hyundai as an extra car?

I'm just not understanding what seems like an arbitrary restriction to having only a single vehicle. Are there parking fees? Reluctance to deal with multiple cars? Changes to insurance? Knowing that would help us give better advice.
Not every couple needs two cars.  I'd rather have a few grand than a car I don't need.

I'd probably keep the Prius too.  Overall better reliability and gas mileage.  If the Prius exploded tomorrow, would a 2007 Elantra be your first choice of replacement?

Lady SA

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2017, 01:58:52 PM »
Gotcha. Did I read correctly that you would be the recipient of $5k if your grandma sold the Hyundai?

In that case I'd keep the Prius because I'd want the super efficiency and reliability and then get the $5k, which sounds like a win-win to me. Do you anticipate the prius needing any major repairs soon? Battery replacement? You say you're pretty rough on it. But the $5k would likely cover buying a new-to-you prius when your current one eventually craps out, so... again, win-win.

Depending on how far away the store is from her house, short trips can be very hard on engines. At least it is on my 2001 car :) No idea about '07 or '08 vehicles.

kevj1085

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2017, 02:00:22 PM »
I'm confused. Why is selling the Prius a necessary part of this plan? Your reference to "we" and "us" indicates you're married/in a committed relationship. Why not keep the prius AND get the free Hyundai as an extra car?

I'm just not understanding what seems like an arbitrary restriction to having only a single vehicle. Are there parking fees? Reluctance to deal with multiple cars? Changes to insurance? Knowing that would help us give better advice.
Not every couple needs two cars.  I'd rather have a few grand than a car I don't need.

I'd probably keep the Prius too.  Overall better reliability and gas mileage.  If the Prius exploded tomorrow, would a 2007 Elantra be your first choice of replacement?

If it was free? Yes. They are literally giving me the car if I want it, for free. To me it seems like an upgrade to waaay lower mileage at no cost.

Am I missing something about the Prius that people have determined over these years to be worth it even w high mileage? I'm not trying to be arrogant, just asking. I know people have driven them past 300k but that hybrid battery just scares me. Are there less parts to break down or something?

kevj1085

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2017, 02:03:10 PM »
Gotcha. Did I read correctly that you would be the recipient of $5k if your grandma sold the Hyundai?

Yes that is correct. They are wanting to put it sort of into an account for me that can be used for any repairs I'd need on the Prius. $5k is almost triple times and some the amount I have had to spend thus far the last 10 years on it maintenance wise. If I could see it going another 10 years the same, that'd be awesome to me.

Lady SA

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2017, 02:05:11 PM »
I'm confused. Why is selling the Prius a necessary part of this plan? Your reference to "we" and "us" indicates you're married/in a committed relationship. Why not keep the prius AND get the free Hyundai as an extra car?

I'm just not understanding what seems like an arbitrary restriction to having only a single vehicle. Are there parking fees? Reluctance to deal with multiple cars? Changes to insurance? Knowing that would help us give better advice.
Not every couple needs two cars.  I'd rather have a few grand than a car I don't need.

I'd probably keep the Prius too.  Overall better reliability and gas mileage.  If the Prius exploded tomorrow, would a 2007 Elantra be your first choice of replacement?

I agree. DH and I are a single car family, but if offered a completely free car I would actually keep both of them for a few months and see which I liked better and then get rid of the one I liked less. Also, personally, the allure of single car-dom is mostly because I'm not interested in paying for another car, but a totally free car might negate that. I asked the question more because I was trying to understand what was driving the only prius vs only hyundai tradeoff.

nouveauRiche

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2017, 04:40:23 PM »
I'd keep the Prius.  It's reliable & gets great gas mileage.  My $.02.

It's reliable, for now. What happens when the hybrid battery goes kerplunk and we are left with a $3-4k battery replacement? In just one week ago I spent $1500 on 3 costly repairs to it (12v battery, water inverter pump, and combination meter) all in the same week.

It seems at least a barely used car even if 10 years old would realistically go longer. Even w 100k more miles it'd have 10k less miles than what my Prius does now.

The major upside I see to keeping the Prius though is that they already have someone willing to buy the Hyundai so it'd be an easy sell, and I wouldnt have to go through the hassle of cleaning the Prius up and dealing with Craigslist people (hated the experience last time I sold a car on it, even though I'd do it again if I HAD to).

I think you can replace individual cells in the Prius battery.  I know someone who did this and it was a few hundred dollars (IIRC). 

We have a Prius and our mechanic told us, "If all cars were Priuses, I would retire." 

You may want to take my advice with a grain of salt, though.  I have long had the impression (bias) that Hyundais are unreliable.  YMMV (ha!  literally)
« Last Edit: July 27, 2017, 04:43:22 PM by nouveauRiche »

ketchup

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2017, 07:18:18 PM »
You may want to take my advice with a grain of salt, though.  I have long had the impression (bias) that Hyundais are unreliable.  YMMV (ha!  literally)
I had a Hyundai that finally gave out at 261,000 miles. I hear about Priuses hitting 200-300k all the time. Any decent car these days will last a long time if well maintained.

monarda

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2017, 08:16:51 PM »
We had a 2004 Prius that we sold at 252,000 miles.  We replaced the big battery one year before we sold it.
But any cars with that kind of high mileage start to need a LOT of repairs. Wheel bearings. Leaks in various places- like the master cylinder. Our AC went out. It still had life left, but was going to need a lot of $ put into it.  We sold it for $2000 and bought a used 2010 for $10,000.

150,000 miles is pretty young for a Prius. Given the timing, I'd keep it for a while longer and use grandma's car for repair funds. Casually keep an eye out for a Gen III Prius to upgrade. Now, nearly a year after selling our old one, we're really glad we have our 2010. Big improvement.

nouveauRiche

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #13 on: July 28, 2017, 06:59:19 AM »
You may want to take my advice with a grain of salt, though.  I have long had the impression (bias) that Hyundais are unreliable.  YMMV (ha!  literally)
I had a Hyundai that finally gave out at 261,000 miles. I hear about Priuses hitting 200-300k all the time. Any decent car these days will last a long time if well maintained.

Korean cars were known to be really unreliable in the 1980s - a step up from a Yugo.  I had one as a rental car in the early 1990s and stuff literally fell off of it (a hubcap and some interior knob that came off in my hand).

I had heard that they have improved drastically but my knee-jerk reaction is still "Don't buy one".  My bias, I willingly admit. 
« Last Edit: July 28, 2017, 07:01:26 AM by nouveauRiche »

Pigeon

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #14 on: July 28, 2017, 07:22:12 AM »
I'd take the Hyundai, given the mileage on both cars.  You are likely to get many miles out of it with very little maintenance cost.  The Prius might go another 100,000, but it's likely to require a lot of repair to do so.

czr

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #15 on: July 28, 2017, 07:52:19 AM »
Will you be driving the car or your spouse? Since they are in the same ballpark for value, I would drive the Elantra for a week and see if it drove better than the Prius but probably stick with what you have since the Prius looks better to my eye and it is more versatile.

kevj1085

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Re: Keep Prius or inherit barely used Hyundai?
« Reply #16 on: July 28, 2017, 08:05:50 AM »
So as a collective whole I'm seeing keep Prius so I can have the Hyundai as repair money fo Prius. That's what I'm going to do. To be honest I'm kind of intrigued to see how far it will go. Spending $1500 for 3 fixes last week wasn't fun, but to be honest 2 of those fixes were when we were on vacation in a different state so I kind of had to have an auto mechanic do them.

I found a product from priuschat.com that apparently conditions the cells in the hybrid battery, restoring mpg and keeping it running better. My plan here on is to garage park the Prius and baby it wherever I go. It's funny how when you're young you drive however you want regardless of what it does to the car, but now w a family and more mustachian view, my only focus on the car is to keep it alive.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!