The same market that rightfully shunned large SUVs and pickup trucks in a blink of an eye as soon as gas prices surpassed the $3.50 a gallon mark has made hybrid cars so popular, that in many cases dealers/private sellers are asking over 35 grand for a used Toyota Prius as the Japanese carmaker cannot satisfy the demand. If you head over to For the record, we checked out used Prius prices on Autotrader, Cars.com and Craigslist. Surprisingly, there were hundreds of cars priced thousands of dollars over
If you want to save money, just go buy a normal compact car. For example, a similarly sized all-new Toyota Corolla XLE sedan with an automatic gearbox has an MSRP of $17,550 (the base model costs $15,250). According to the fueleconomy.gov site, if you drive an average of 15,000 miles a year (based on 45% highway, 55% city) with a fuel price of $ 4.08 per gallon, the Corolla will cost you $2,038 annually while a Prius, $1,328.
If you chose the Prius, then in 5 years you’ll have theoretically saved $3,550. That’s still not enough to cover the price difference between the official MSRP of the two cars which is $6,220, let alone the spiked prices dealers are asking for a… used Prius.
Heck, even if in the unrealistic scenario that gas prices in the
