Author Topic: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?  (Read 4782 times)

onecoolcat

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Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« on: March 03, 2015, 02:46:06 PM »
I have a 2010 Dodge Challenger SE which gets about 18/22 mpg.  I just moved further away from my office so my commute went from 5 miles round trip to 35 and I will be expected to use my own car to travel to various counties for work (say about an extra 75 miles a week ontop of my daily commute).  I will be putting on about 14-15k a year in miles going forward.  I like my car but its bulky and I'm not big into the whole image thing of having a sexy car.  I'm into the environment and saving money so converting to a Prius seems like common sense.  I figured I could trade my Challenger in for a 2010 Prius straight-up since my challenger has 65k miles and is in good to excellent shape (a couple small scratches in the paint job and missing a floor mat).  Does it seem like a good idea to you?  If so, what's the best way of going about this sort of trade?  Buy a Prius from Craigslist then sell my Challenger on the same or go to a CarMax type of dealership?

I think I will use either the Prius or the Challenger for another 5 years.
« Last Edit: March 03, 2015, 02:49:24 PM by OneCoolCat »

dunhamjr

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Re: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2015, 02:48:25 PM »
yes you absolutely should.

are you really going to commute 35miles/day at 22mpg instead of getting up in the 50's?

my car is paid but only gets 20mpg... i am only driving about 2k/yr though, so the impact of my change would be much smaller than yours will be.
and even i feel like i should probably be driving something more efficient.
« Last Edit: March 03, 2015, 03:15:19 PM by dunhamjr »

jmusic

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Re: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2015, 06:54:43 PM »
I hope you're not talking about a car stealership.  Here's what I recommend:

1.  Take your car to CarMax if there's one nearby.  They can give you an offer that you can shop around, and you don't even have to pretend to be looking for a new car.  It'll probably be as much or more than any other dealer.
2.  Try to sell your other car on Craigslist for private party value.  That car is fairly popular with a certain demographic, so it should go pretty quickly.  If it doesn't go in a few weeks, then sell to CarMax.
3.  Buy an economy car (also on Craigslist).  You really don't have to get a Prius; similar sized conventional cars will still get ~35mpg and there's surprisingly little $$ difference between 35 and 50. 

my car is paid but only gets 20mpg... i am only driving about 2k/yr though, so the impact of my change would be much smaller than yours will be.
and even i feel like i should probably be driving something more efficient.

With your low utilization, it'd probably take 5 years just to pay the transaction costs if you switch...

dunhamjr

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Re: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2015, 11:56:58 PM »
With your low utilization, it'd probably take 5 years just to pay the transaction costs if you switch...

one reason i havent switched.

but i am also a car guy, so i know the bug to get something different will hit me hard enough sooner or later (i have had this car 3 years, had the last one 3.5yrs), that i will feel the need to make a change.

thurston howell iv

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Re: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2015, 05:40:04 AM »
I'm a car guy too so I feel your pain. Yet, I make it a point to come here to keep my bearings.... I have some hot rods tucked away for the winter. (I know I need to sell them but it's painful) My dd is a ratty little civic. I'd prefer a comfy luxury/sport car and think about it all the time until I come here and think about my future and the fact the the civic gets such great mpg. My commute is 70 miles a day. (no way around that).

My .02= Sell the Challenger on craigslist or go to a Challenger enthusiast forum. It's a target audience. Don't sell to Carmax. They'll lowball you. (I asked them to price my Audi. It was spotless. They offered $2500, I sold it private party for $7500).

Find a prius or old civic hx on craigslist. I purchased mine with 150k and paid $2300- It currently has like 241k on it with minimal expenditures. You can find them for $3k or less. Prius will cost much more.
On the Civic Hx (the mpg model), if you drive properly you can get 40-50+mpg (see ecomodder.com) I get 38-43 depending. There's guys getting upwards of 70mpg!
Registration and insurance on a cheap car is also cheap.

There's lots of older mpg cars out there and if you're a car guy and like to tinker (ecomodding might fill the void)
Good Luck.

Sid Hoffman

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Re: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2015, 08:59:03 AM »
I honestly had no idea what a Challenger is worth so I looked on KBB and I'm seeing a "Very Good" condition 2010 Challenger SE with 50,000 miles has a trade-in value around $15,400 for the zip code I entered.  Private party is listed as $17,200.  I've owned a 3rd gen Prius (2010+) and the handling is much improved over the 2nd gen, plus it has a little more power thanks to the 1.8 liter engine versus the older 1.5 liter in the 2nd gen Prius.  Since the OP is used to having a genuinely sporty car, the 3rd gen Prius would probably make the transition easier and feel less like he just moved about 7 rungs down the sportiness ladder of driving.

If the OP is looking to mainly trade straight across, I would say he could easily shop CPO Priuses in the $16-18k range and use his current trade-in as negotiation leverage.  The dealer will (of course) say things like it's only worth $12k in trade-in, blah blah blah.  If you run all the numbers and know you're offering a fair trade, then you simply stick to your guns and tell them that the only way to close the deal is to complete it as a trade in, or trade + X number of dollars.  Then you are simultaneously working your own trade-in value as well as their set price on the Prius.  Some dealers will also use No Negotiation pricing, so having the negotiation be about your trade-in gives you the leverage you need.  I think this is a very valid tactic.

Another thing is that some places have unique registration or sales tax rules.  For example in Arizona you must pay sales tax on car purchases.  It's lower than the consumer goods rate of 9%, but still something like 6%.  However if you have a trade in, that wipes out sales tax.  So a $16,000 trade in wipes out $960 worth of sales tax.  Suddenly your $16,000 car is really worth almost $17k just because of sales tax laws.

As for carmax, my sister has sold cars to them that split the difference between KBB trade-in and private party.  I've been offered slightly below KBB trade-in on both cars I took to them, but ultimately took them up 1 time (I was buying a car from them, so I got that value of sales tax advantage) and sold the other private party.  However the one I did private party they offered me $7000 and I got $9000 private party, negotiated down from $9500 list price.  It's more work and more risk to sell cars private party, so that's a factor too.  I'm not against doing it (obviously, as I have sold private party before) but I'm also a proponent of really weighing your options and not getting yourself mentally locked in to one route or another.

wtjbatman

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Re: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2015, 09:04:45 AM »
The correct thing to do is trade it in for a Challenger Hellcat. With those 700 horses you can just drive over anyone in a Prius who questions the practicality of your daily driver.

Exflyboy

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Re: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2015, 09:47:46 AM »
The correct thing to do is trade it in for a Challenger Hellcat. With those 700 horses you can just drive over anyone in a Prius who questions the practicality of your daily driver.

OMG I hope you have your toungue firmly in your cheek..:)

wtjbatman

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Re: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2015, 10:25:30 AM »
The correct thing to do is trade it in for a Challenger Hellcat. With those 700 horses you can just drive over anyone in a Prius who questions the practicality of your daily driver.

OMG I hope you have your toungue firmly in your cheek..:)

Sorry I can't hear your girly lamentations over the sound of this beast revving.

No seriously I can't hear you. I think I've gone deaf :(

Forcus

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Re: Should I trade my 2010 Challenger SE in for a Prius?
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2015, 10:35:08 AM »
I think you should get rid of the Challenger and agree with other posters on how to do it.

I'm not sure I would go to a Prius if you are a car guy or enjoy driving.

The Prius is enjoyable for people who appreciate a certain kind of performance.

I'd lean towards something sporty that gets excellent MPG.
- 1.0 3 cylinder Ford Fiesta - over 40 mpg rated and there are now tunes and other parts available to get very close to 200 HP
- Mazda MX5 (any year)
- Fiat 500
- Chevy Sonic
- Mazda 3
- etc.

I'm not leaving out others on purpose these were just off the top of my head. All get over 30 mpg highway with several of them over 40.