Roscoe_t
Well-Known Member
I may draw some catcalls for this suggestion, but a 2004-2009 Toyota Prius. My wife's car is an '07 that she has driven for 11 years. The Prius is in the top three of the most reliable cars Toyota has ever made. You can get 50 mpg driving around town. It's high roofline means entry and exit is easy for everybody, including my 90-year-old mother in law. It's a hatchback with fold-down rear seats, providing a surprising amount of cargo space.
We bought ours used with 35k miles. Non-DiY repairs since that time have been front wheel bearings, and the main traction battery about 5k miles ago. The cost of that battery, a factory Toyota part installed by an independent mechanic in our driveway, was $2800. It took about an hour. In retrospect I probably could have DiY'ed that, but the tech got me a good deal on the battery.
My wife loves the car, wants to drive it forever. It has 155k miles on it and uses no oil. Nothing leaks on the drivetrain or in the cabin.
Find a Gen 2 Prius in good overall shape with a bad battery, buy it at a discount, fix it, and drive for a decade or more.
We bought ours used with 35k miles. Non-DiY repairs since that time have been front wheel bearings, and the main traction battery about 5k miles ago. The cost of that battery, a factory Toyota part installed by an independent mechanic in our driveway, was $2800. It took about an hour. In retrospect I probably could have DiY'ed that, but the tech got me a good deal on the battery.
My wife loves the car, wants to drive it forever. It has 155k miles on it and uses no oil. Nothing leaks on the drivetrain or in the cabin.
Find a Gen 2 Prius in good overall shape with a bad battery, buy it at a discount, fix it, and drive for a decade or more.
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