Why not buy a one year old from a rental car company?  They maintain their autos very well and sell them after 1-2 years.  I did that with a Toyota Corolla and had a fine time for 200K miles, then traded it in for another... Now, I only drive 5 miles to work, so it will be a long time til I trade in my Rav-4....30mpg and good in the snow...Not about to search for 40-50mpg.  I used to drive 40-50K+ miles per year.   Sometimes I felt like I drove for a living and stopped once in a while to make gas $ ;>) Paul <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td width=40%>"Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> Sent by: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org 08/11/2008 05:17 PM <table border> <tr valign=top> <td bgcolor=white> <div align=center>Please respond to Pianotech List <pianotech@ptg.org></div></table> <td width=59%> <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>To</div> <td>"Pianotech List" <pianotech@ptg.org> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>cc</div> <td> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>Subject</div> <td>Re: Prius mileage</table> <table> <tr valign=top> <td> <td></table> </table> I tend to agree with you Dean, but to each their own.....   I have never bought a new vehicle in my life. My wife has never bought a used vehicle in her life. She would not be able to sleep if she had to think about driving a used vehicle to work the next day. For myself, it would make me sick to my tummy to think of all the $$ wasted on a new vehicle. Whatever works. I suppose even the used ones start out new at some point......   Terry Farrell ----- Original Message -----   I don’t get why people buy new cars to save money. You can get a decent Honda for $5000 and plan on putting $1000 into it for new brakes or whatever. It’ll get in excess of 30 mpg which puts the cost at $200/mpg- way under anything on that list. My son is driving a ’94 Accord we got several years ago for $3300. It had 275k on it then and has nearly 400k on it now and is still worth nearly $2000. Other than exhaust, brakes and tires it has required no major maintenance. We had an ’84 Accord before that with nearly the same story only we got that one for free because it needed new brakes and was pretty ugly.   Buying a car like this makes it disposable. If you wreck it, throw it away and buy another. It eliminates the need for full coverage insurance saving even more money. Plus, here in Indiana, newer cars come with huge excise tax fees when it comes time to purchase license plates- like $1000/year. Counting insurance and excise fees that new car is going to cost $200-$300/month more than an older, thoroughly road tested vehicle without even taking into account the initial purchase price difference.   Why take a chance on an un-tested expensive new car? If you are looking to save money then a new car is definitely not the way to go.   Dean Dean May