Which Prius for lowest cost per mile

[diffusate]

Our 2007 Prius with 125k miles was recently stolen. Got an insurance payout and need to replace it, but can't decide what year to shop for. In my area a similar 2007 with similar milage is about $6500. Something like a 2013 with 80,000 miles is $12,000. Of course will be paying cash.

I don't really care how much the car is up front, just want the total per-mile cost to be as low as possible. Who is good on the math on whether it's worth "buying" up those 50,000 fewer miles for $6-7k. Anyone have any insight?

[BicycleB]

Thoughts, if not insight.
1. There's a spectrum of older & cheaper is better. A 2007 can still be on that spectrum.
2. Obviously older could mean more repairs, but probably not as much as the purchase cost difference. Probably.
3. The one advantage of a 2013 in my personal view is that around 2012, I hear the plug in electric Prius become available. I want!
4. Re 3, the eco impact of electric depends in part on your driving (more miles, more impact) and the carbon emissions of your power system.

I calculate the impact of purchase cost roughly as follows:
Depreciation = (12,000 - 6,500)/6 years = 5500/6 = $917/year.
Cost of capital = 5% (12,000+6,500)/2 = 5% (18,500)/2 = 5% (9,250) = $462/year.
Financing cost for owning newer vehicle = 917 + 462 = $1381/year.

That's the cost of the newer car. But what's the cost of the older one? Maybe:
Depreciation = (6,500 - 3,000)/6 years = 3500/6 = $583/year.
Cost of capital = 5% (6,500+3,000)/2 = 5% (9,500)/2 = 5% (4750) = $237/year.
Financing cost for owning older vehicle = 583 + 237 = $820/year.

So maybe a financing difference of 1381 - 820 = 561/year. Would the repairs of the older vehicle be $560/year higher than the 2013 model?

I'm guessing not, but my calculation assumes that the 2007 is still running six years from now. If not, maybe a guess $500 for its final value instead of $3000 might be more accurate. In which case the older car might not be cheaper after all.

Not sure that helps.

[Falke401]

We have an 07 and an 09 Prius.  Both around 250K miles.  The 09 (Newer body style) is all around more quiet and comfortable.  Both have had similar maintenance costs, which has been very basic and usual maintenance.  Between the two, it could really be luck of the draw if the car has to go in the shop.  The newer one should get slightly better MPG.  I cant compare our MPG because of two different drivers and driving patterns for the vehicles. 

Overall, I would get the newer and lower mileage Prius since you do not care about upfront costs.   I would think the total cost per mile would be slightly lower due to less time and possibly miles on the car.  Over time, things like weather seals and window motors are more likely to fail and need replaced.   

[Travis]

I bought a 2008 Prius in 2015 with 160,000 for $9000 out the door from a dealership (and I probably overpaid).  I'll cross over 200,000 next week so I've gone 40,000 miles in four years. Mine has been a surface street commuter with a cross-country vacation trip thrown in every six months.  The previous owner rode that vehicle hard.  Looking at my car's history even before I bought it, since it hit 90,000 miles the water pump, struts, battery, and tires have been replaced (maybe $2000 total).  I'm still on the original battery pack.  Do you recall what repairs you put into your 2007?  It doesn't look like you put a lot of miles on yours, so you might be 3-4 years from any major repairs on the 80,000 miles model.  If you're comparing price/miles on the odometer if you can find a 2007 with such low mileage I'd go with that.  It's a more lightly driven car and might already have a few things replaced whereas the 2013 car is going to have things wearing out in a couple years.  Having said all that, the Prius family went through significant changes between the 2007 and 2013 models so my calculations might be apples/oranges.

[Laura Ingalls]

A ‘13 will have more safety features and have more useful life left in it.  I dislike the car buying process so I would go that way.  I might even go newer and get a ‘16 coming off lease in my current lower driving mode that might last me 15 years. 

Also some of the ‘10 have oil consumption problems. 

[FLAFI]

I drive a 2016 4th generation Prius. The best car I've ever owned. The suspension was reworked with the 4th generation making it a solid highway car.  With a .24 drag coefficient, it's relatively quite at highway speeds. It will run on electric power up to 72 mph, particularly on flat roads or going downhill. I routinely get 57 to 59 mpg in suburban driving and 50 to 52 mpg cruising on the interstate.         

[Buffaloski Boris]

Don’t know about insight, but how about an opinion?

I’m a yuuuuge fan of very well broken in vehicles that are driven until they’re wrecked or no longer driveable. But that doesn’t help to decide what’s the optimal time to pick one up? I think optimal in this case is to do the opposite of what the “herd” is doing. In this case the “herd” is on average getting rid of their debt-mobiles after 6 years. So in my mind there’s probably a sweet spot for vehicles that are right around that age or maybe a tad older.  Cars that are significantly older are probably fetching a relative premium from clunker connoisseurs such as myself.

So I’d go with a car that’s in that 6-8 year old age range where the mileage is as low as you can find it, within reason. You can play some with online price guides with different mileages versus price to get an idea of what’s a reasonable low mileage premium.

[Loretta]

I drive a 2016 4th generation Prius. The best car I've ever owned. The suspension was reworked with the 4th generation making it a solid highway car.  With a .24 drag coefficient, it's relatively quite at highway speeds. It will run on electric power up to 72 mph, particularly on flat roads or going downhill. I routinely get 57 to 59 mpg in suburban driving and 50 to 52 mpg cruising on the interstate.       

I also have a 2016 Prius and I honestly wish I’d bought a Prius yearrrrrs ago.  In my June dashboard view I am averaging 62 MPG and I’m not doing any extreme driving tricks to get the 62.  Because of all the technology going into a Prius, I would try to go with a 4th generation at least, as I would want to avoid the high maintenance costs on an older model if it wasn’t maintained.  Sorry your Prius got stolen!

[SwitchActiveDWG]

2012 Prius driver here. Solid vehicle two years into ownership. Currently 120k miles. If I were buying now I'd look at 2012-2016.

[Slow&Steady]

I have owned a 2006, a 2008, and just purchased a 2010.

The 2006 was totaled by a teen driver last year at around 300-320k miles (not sure because I didn't drive it very often after it became the teen car).  Bought it brand new, we did replace the battery (with a refurbished one) after it sit for 6+months without being driven.  I loved that car and really wish we still had it. (Purchase Price + Fuel Cost + Maintenance)/miles = ($25,000 + $15,000 + $9,000)/300,000 = $0.16/mile

The 2008 was sold to a nephew who needed a car.  Bought it in 2015 with 50k miles and a re-built title for $6.5k, we probably only put about 25k miles on it before we sold it to him for $3k.  Again, I wish we still had it, report from nephew is that he loves it (gas and insurance are super cheap). (Purchase Price + Fuel Cost + Maintenance)/miles = ($3,500 + $1,390 + $150)/25,000 = $0.20/mile

The 2010 we have only had for about 1.5 months, it was purchased with just shy of 200k miles.  We are putting new shocks/struts on it today actually and hopefully I will enjoy it more after that but I HATE the center console of that generation.  I also hate that if SO and I both have a water bottle or some other drink with us we have to slide the console thing back into the kids lap (car seat) to use the 2nd cup holder, or let the water bottle roll around in the floor.  This is a small issue in the grand scheme of things but it is really annoying since the Prius has always been our family/road trip car.   Bought it for $4.5k, putting $300-500 into shocks/struts so total will be closer to $5k. Not going to do a $/mile right now because it will be very skewed, since we have only had it for 1.5 months.

So my 2 cents, if the 2007 is in good shape I would stick with that generation or skip over the generation with the ridiculous center console that is in the 2013 (gen 3 2009-2015, I think).

If you want to do straight $/mile cost for you I would pick a # miles that you think you will drive either car for and figure it out assuming you will sale/total/get stolen at a certain mileage.
(Purchase Price + Fuel Cost + Maintenance)/miles - Lets assume you will drive both cars until 250k miles, I will use a fuel cost of $2.5/gal (and average mpg of 45), and maintenance of $30 every 5,000 miles for oil change/tire rotation (do them yourself) and tires every 50k miles @ $600.

2007
($6,500+$6950+ ($750+$1200))/125,000 = $0.12/mile

2013
($12,000+$9450+($1020+$1800))/170,000 = $0.14/mile

[pdxvandal]

Prii are hard to kill. I own a 2008 that I purchased on the East Coast for $3,200. It needed tires, a 12V battery and the brakes were worn, but it has been the best car purchase I've made (I've made many).

I drove it across the country on a move West two summers ago. It's still kicking with 292,000 miles. Everything on it works -- blows cold AC, power windows, nice stereo, cruise control. It's starting to burn a lot of oil, but oil isn't that expensive. I have the money to buy a newer car, but now it's just an experiment at this point to see how long this one will live. Plus, I take public transit to work most days, so I'm probably putting on about 6-7k per year on this car now. Maybe it'll be around in 7 years when my daughter hits driving age. It's been a good ROI for me as far as cars go.

[APowers]

Don’t know about insight, but how about an opinion?

I’m a yuuuuge fan of very well broken in vehicles that are driven until they’re wrecked or no longer driveable. But that doesn’t help to decide what’s the optimal time to pick one up? I think optimal in this case is to do the opposite of what the “herd” is doing. In this case the “herd” is on average getting rid of their debt-mobiles after 6 years. So in my mind there’s probably a sweet spot for vehicles that are right around that age or maybe a tad older.  Cars that are significantly older are probably fetching a relative premium from clunker connoisseurs such as myself.

So I’d go with a car that’s in that 6-8 year old age range where the mileage is as low as you can find it, within reason. You can play some with online price guides with different mileages versus price to get an idea of what’s a reasonable low mileage premium.

Came here for some good number analysis. Instead, found a new favourite phrase "clunker connoisseur". Thanks!

[Falke401]

Why would you ONLY be concerned about cost per mile?  Did you ever consider a Leaf or something similar if initial vehicle price is not an issue?  I would imagine an electric vehicles would save more in the specific category for price for mile.  They don't require gas, oil, transmission fluids and such.  Word on the street are they are relatively reliable, but I do not have any data to back it up. 

[diffusate]

Thanks for the response everyone! They actually just found my car. A little dinged up, but not totaled. Will be sticking with the 2007 until it bites the dust.

[acepedro45]

Awesome ending to this now-hypothetical debate! Do you have to give back the insurance money?

[Car Jack]

Thanks for the response everyone! They actually just found my car. A little dinged up, but not totaled. Will be sticking with the 2007 until it bites the dust.

That's good news.

I was also baffled why someone would steal one of these.  The only thing I could come up with is that the thieves thought the battery packs were lithium ion, while they're not, they're niMetHy.  Lithium Ion can be sold to electronic scrap yards for the same price/pound as lead acid.  (I eScrap, so know this for sure).  Any Ni based battery is worth zero.