So about two years ago, I had to get rid of my 2008 Scion xB. I babied the car so much, and to this day, out of all the cars I've owned, it was my favorite. I got routine maintenance done, even had the engine rebuild under warranty when I got the recall notice about the oil consumption. I got the car back in 2011, it had 55 thousand miles on it. Then once it hit over 100,000 miles. The problems started to happen, one repair after another, I couldn't keep up with the costs. It started to turn into a money pit. At 130,000 miles, I was slammed with a repair bill of nearly $2000. My memory escapes me on what it was for, but needless to say, I was floored. I just couldn't afford that type of repair bill. What further more sucks is that I was nearly a few months away from paying the car off completely. So I went into the dealership next door, they didn't have many options for me other than a couple Prius. Which honestly, I knew nothing about other than they are fuel efficient. So with $300 down, I drove off the lot with a 2013 Prius V station wagon with 77 thousand miles. I went back to the my old Scion, grabbed my belongings and actually cried letting it go.

Fast forward to now, I'm at 112,700 miles on my Prius, I'm averaging between 44-55 mpg. Done regular maintenance. Haven't had a single issue out of her, car has a clean CarFax report, all maintenance before I had it was done at the dealership by the previous owner.. I like the car for what it is, however, I don't love it like I did my Scion. Even though the Scion's mpg isn't that great, especially compared to the Prius. I just loved that car so much. And now I'm thinking about trading in the Prius for a 2015 Scion xB 686 Parklan Edition with 42,000 miles with the price tag of $13.499. So...I'm thinking of contacting the dealer and seeing what my trade in options are for the Scion..

So my question is..am I making the right choice? I need advice.

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That's a question that only you can answer. I can tell you that your Prius V shares a lot of the same front suspension parts are the xB so you are still driving around on the same basic platform, just with a smaller, and more fuel efficient, engine.

 

Scion = cool.........I am Toyota person for long long time but Prius - no comment. Go for the xB IMO.

 

IMO I would go for the xB, but I might just be biased (Scion Fanatic). It really comes down to what you want.

 

OK, so on my 2005.5 xB, I had to zip-tie the rear bumper cover fascia thing to the frame, because one attachment point came loose. It was held by one of those plastic body clips. The plastic "arm" that extended to that fastening point was loose, and it was hanging low to the ground and make a scraping noise sometimes. One zip tie and problem solved. Also, I think the door lock/dome light relay has the blown transistor problem; I have no dome light at all. I suppose I should track down the fuses before I spend $100+ on that relay, used.

 

My understanding is Prius spark plugs are hard to very hard to access. The engine is rotated funny so what else is hard to get to. The brakes are complicated and expensive because of regenerative braking. Invariably I would end up with a battery near end of life.

Those are some reasons I don't mess with them but they're probably great cars if the owners are to be believed.