prius or rav4?

For the wife. Only drives ~7-8k /yr. No kids yet but probably soon. Snowy a few months/ yr but gets along fine with snow tires and FWD now.

2010 Prius Base (basic) , 70k mi $12.5k

2009 Rav4 Limited (leather, nav, heated seats, etc) 30k mi, V6, AWD, $15.5k

Rav4 would certainly be nicer, more power, more cargo room, AWD. Prius is cheaper and will be cheaper to own. Plan to keep either one as long as possible. The prius saves very roughly $1k/yr in gas over the Rav4

What about safety? I am concerned about the wife and any future childern. Rav4 is bigger, more mass = better? The wife lost her current car to a rear ending from a hummer H2. There are A LOT of trucks and suvs in my area (probably 60ish % of vehicles on the road here) I just worry about her in a small car (prius) during a collision with something larger.

We would pay cash for either car, the Rav4 would "hurt" a little more though.

Thoughts?

Since you are planning on children I will go Rav4. The Prius trunk is not that roomy. It will work for one kid, but beyond that, it will become frustrating if you take family road trips in it. Regarding safety, mass is helpful...

Or you could buy the Prius and use the money you save in gas in addition to what you sell the Prius for to purchase the rav4 when the kids come along. You are eventually going to get into a larger vehicle. Drive the small one as long as possible. The cheaper running costs will make it easier to get into the larger one when the time comes. The Prius is safe enough...But of course nothing is really safe enough when it will transport a loved one

Having said all of that, I am a firm believer in not buying more car than you need. Since the Prius is all the car you need now and is more easily afforded, i will go with that--unless your wifee is already with child:)

They make a bigger, mini-vannish Prius variant now, don't they?

I know you said 2009, but I have to advocate for the OG Rav4. Because 3S-FE.

I don't have the tech to back this up, but a friend who is service manager at a shop that does a lot of hybrids likens maintenance and repair costs of Hybrids to those of luxury cars. The idea being that perhaps some of the gas savings will be offset by other costs of ownership.

I also really enjoyed my old Rav-4, and would still have it had it not been crushed by a tree. Some of the newer models have kinda soft suspension though.

i have a Rav4l now and it is nice enough. We have a guy that sells us hoses come to the shop and a Prius is his sales vehicle. Way over 100K on this thing. You get more vertical room in the Rav being an SUV but I would bet the floor space is about the same. You could go either way.

I don't like the 70K on the Prius vs the 30K on the Rav but then again I don't like the higher price nor the AWD on the Rav. My money would go to the Prius on this one, unless you just need the ride height.

RoughandReady: The Prius V is what you are thinking about.

kreb wrote: I don't have the tech to back this up, but a friend who is service manager at a shop that does a lot of hybrids likens maintenance and repair costs of Hybrids to those of luxury cars. The idea being that perhaps some of the gas savings will be offset by other costs of ownership. I also really enjoyed my old Rav-4, and would still have it had it not been crushed by a tree. Some of the newer models have kinda soft suspension though.

Our 07 Prius has 130k on it. I've replaced the water pump. Cost was $350 installed from the stealership. That's it for non-wear items. Add oil and gas and go. We finally did front brake pads at 115k miles. That was $30.

RoughandReady wrote: They make a bigger, mini-vannish Prius variant now, don't they?

They do have a wagon-like Prius (Prius5 I think?), but it's comparable to say a Jetta Sportwagen sized car. The backseats aren't comfortable for long distance road trips and there isn't enough luggage space if you expect to put 3-4 people in the car and a weekend of luggage. I had a neighbor that had one, only reason I would have been near one of those hateful, wretched, miserable, awful, lousy, soulless, rolling appliances.

Yeah prius V is over our budget. They came out in 2012 and the cheapest used ones I've seen are still in the low 20's. It would be nice but just not in the cards now.

Thanks for the advice. Probably leaning towards the prius for now.