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Trade in 2013 Prius?

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gus6464

Golden Member
I bought a 2013 Prius over a year ago as my job required me to drive a lot and the gas savings were superb on the Prius but 10 mos later I got a new job and I am now working from home. Now I don't drive the Prius nowhere near as much and I kinda want something that's more fun to drive but I don't want to lose the cargo space of the Prius so looking at a similar hatch. I am looking at the 2014 Impreza but I also checked out the XV Crosstrek as well and I am really digging it. The only thing that's keeping me on the fence on the XV is that the engine is not the peppiest but I love the handling of the AWD. We owe less than what the Prius is worth and the both the Impreza or XV would actually be less monthly than what we are paying for the Prius now. Any other hatchbacks I should be looking at that have the same cargo space as the Prius but that are a lot more fun to drive?
 
gus6464 said:
I bought a 2013 Prius over a year ago as my job required me to drive a lot and the gas savings were superb on the Prius but 10 mos later I got a new job and I am now working from home. Now I don't drive the Prius nowhere near as much and I kinda want something that's more fun to drive but I don't want to lose the cargo space of the Prius so looking at a similar hatch. I am looking at the 2014 Impreza but I also checked out the XV Crosstrek as well and I am really digging it. The only thing that's keeping me on the fence on the XV is that the engine is not the peppiest but I love the handling of the AWD. We owe less than what the Prius is worth and the both the Impreza or XV would actually be less monthly than what we are paying for the Prius now. Any other hatchbacks I should be looking at that have the same cargo space as the Prius but that are a lot more fun to drive?
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Are u sure ur realistic one the numbers? I know priuses are higher demand and value more. But u only been making a few payments on said car. Hard to see you being right side up so quickly.

Either way, I wouldn't do it. A Prius to a XV. Isn't doing anything at all. I rather keep the prius because both cars aren't that exciting. Now maybe if u were looking at one of the many hot hatches that are in the $25k range. I would see what you can sell your car first before considering anything.

Dealers don't exactly offer u fair money for ur car. If its worth $20k, they will offer $16k and go maybe a little more.
 
Porsche Panamera

TechArt-Porsche-Panamera-GrandGT-3.jpg


Lol, jk. I really don't think you can beat a mazda 3 hatchback in terms of handling in the under 25k segment for hatchbacks.

Well volkswagon gti's handle really well also
 
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T2urtle said:
Are u sure ur realistic one the numbers? I know priuses are higher demand and value more. But u only been making a few payments on said car. Hard to see you being right side up so quickly.

Either way, I wouldn't do it. A Prius to a XV. Isn't doing anything at all. I rather keep the prius because both cars aren't that exciting. Now maybe if u were looking at one of the many hot hatches that are in the $25k range. I would see what you can sell your car first before considering anything.

Dealers don't exactly offer u fair money for ur car. If its worth $20k, they will offer $16k and go maybe a little more.
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For the first 6mos we paid double the car payment and then after that we have been hovering in the 25-50% more range. Based on our last statement we owe 16k on the Prius and it's worth around 18k.

Another hatch I am considering checking out as well is the Focus ST as according to truecar it sells for about 21k in my area and has about the same cargo room.
 
Going from a Prius to an XV Crosstrek is pointless as the HP improvement isn't even significantly more than the Prius and when you consider the parasitic losses of an AWD drivetrain, you're probably in the same performance range. The vehicles are similarly priced but you'd be downgrading to a vehicle with a worse resale value, worse maintenance costs and not measurably "more fun" so to speak. I don't know what you expect out of your vehicle to make it "fun" but the XV Crosstrek isn't any more tossable than the Prius as they have identical Slalom times of 60mph and they weigh exactly the same.

You'd have to do a much more significant performance upgrade to make switching vehicles even something worth considering... this isn't one of those times. The Prius you got should be reliable for the next 10 years no question (assuming you change the oil), the same cannot be said about the Subaru you're considering what with their belt driven CVT transmissions and various accessory belts, constant transmission fluid changes (oh yes CVT very particular about that!) and other crap.


A Focus ST is a little bit different story. As for the whole Cargo room thing, the Focus ST is a compact car while the Prius is a midsize car. The Focus has less legroom for rear passengers which means that when you fold down the seats, there will be less cargo room than the Prius. The only way to know if the car works for you is to go rent a Focus Hatchback and see for yourself.
 
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Keep the Prius. Reliability and Resale value versus a little more forward traction for a car you say you don't drive much is not a smart trade off.

For Shits and Giggles, stick an AWD badge on the Prius. With Winter tires, you shouldn't notice much of a difference 🙂
 
gus6464 said:
I bought a 2013 Prius over a year ago as my job required me to drive a lot and the gas savings were superb on the Prius but 10 mos later I got a new job and I am now working from home. Now I don't drive the Prius nowhere near as much and I kinda want something that's more fun to drive but I don't want to lose the cargo space of the Prius so looking at a similar hatch. I am looking at the 2014 Impreza but I also checked out the XV Crosstrek as well and I am really digging it. The only thing that's keeping me on the fence on the XV is that the engine is not the peppiest but I love the handling of the AWD. We owe less than what the Prius is worth and the both the Impreza or XV would actually be less monthly than what we are paying for the Prius now. Any other hatchbacks I should be looking at that have the same cargo space as the Prius but that are a lot more fun to drive?
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There's a hybrid xv now, and although the hybrid part doesn't give a lot of mpg improvement, if what I remember is correct it did give it some needed umph. Might be worth reading up on that just to see.
 
I just thought I should mention the Subaru WRX has a slalom speed of 61mph which isn't much better than a Prius @ 60mph. So at this point, the only thing he would be getting out of the WRX is a vehicle that has faster acceleration time, but that is it. It is short sighted to think in terms of "welp I don't drive as many miles, time to switch vehicles again" because I want to keep spending the same amount on maintenance costs instead of just enjoying the reduction in maintenance. Any Subaru let alone a WRX is going to have higher maintenance costs than a Prius because the Prius is the lowest maintenance cost vehicle you can buy aside from an Electric vehicle.
 
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Personally, I'd probably just keep the Prius. You aren't upside down in it but the extra money you have paid into the loan will just go out the window if you start all over with a new car loan.

Plus, you never know when you might change jobs or be commuting again.
 
You are losing a lot of money trading such a new car. If you want a more exciting ride I would just add the TRD performance parts to your prius (sway bar, lowering springs, 17" wheels). I have read that the sway bar makes the most difference, fairly cheap and easy to install looks like. I think you can skip the wheels (they are the most expensive part). There are probably other mods out there too.

Still it is a prius, so not like you can change it too much.
 
quikah said:
You are losing a lot of money trading such a new car. If you want a more exciting ride I would just add the TRD performance parts to your prius (sway bar, lowering springs, 17" wheels). I have read that the sway bar makes the most difference, fairly cheap and easy to install looks like. I think you can skip the wheels (they are the most expensive part). There are probably other mods out there too.

Still it is a prius, so not like you can change it too much.
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I have also read on Prius chat that the sway bar and lowering springs make a decent difference to the handling. They are both pretty cheap so I guess I will give that a try.
 
While it's never a smart financial idea to trade in a newer car...does it really matter if you can afford it?

Do what makes you happy as long as you don't go broke 🙂
 
We're trading in our 2012 Prius sometime in the second half of the year. Tired of it.. and the fiance hates driving it. Though we're looking at BMW, Audi and Lexus potential replacements.
 
tortillasoup said:
I just thought I should mention the Subaru WRX has a slalom speed of 61mph which isn't much better than a Prius @ 60mph. So at this point, the only thing he would be getting out of the WRX is a vehicle that has faster acceleration time, but that is it. It is short sighted to think in terms of "welp I don't drive as many miles, time to switch vehicles again" because I want to keep spending the same amount on maintenance costs instead of just enjoying the reduction in maintenance. Any Subaru let alone a WRX is going to have higher maintenance costs than a Prius because the Prius is the lowest maintenance cost vehicle you can buy aside from an Electric vehicle.
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Yup, only difference between a WRX and a Prius is accelleration /facepalm
 
NutBucket said:
While it's never a smart financial idea to trade in a newer car...does it really matter if you can afford it?

Do what makes you happy as long as you don't go broke 🙂
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That's my rationale as well and wife is ok with it as long as it's not a super expensive car. I made an appointment to test drive the Focus ST tomorrow. I figured if there was a hatch that was going to really make want to get rid of the Prius that would be the one.
 
gus6464 said:
That's my rationale as well and wife is ok with it as long as it's not a super expensive car. I made an appointment to test drive the Focus ST tomorrow. I figured if there was a hatch that was going to really make want to get rid of the Prius that would be the one.
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A test drive isn't going to be enough... You really need to "rent" a Focus Hatchback for a weekend. I know when I rented an '09 Prius and a '10 Prius (years apart) it was very enlightening and it helped me discover certain quirks each car had and basically led me to conclude that I'd rather have an '04-'09 Prius than a '10+ despite some key features the '10+ prius has.
 
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