Hi Joy et al,

My thought is this, the Prius though an interesting
homogony of dissimilar engineering and tech wizardry
is cool - it is a maintenance time bomb.  No one has
managed to get a CVT to live for as long or as well as
a manual/traditional automatic.  The car has three
CPU's and the battery system is still relatively new.
To my knowledge there is no exit strategy with regard
to reclamation when its service life is over.

Hybrids are appealing, but like two minutes on a
three-minute egg.. Not quite done yet :-)

My opinion is based on the problems/challenges my
co-worker has had with his 2004 Prius.

Stick with the Vanagon, get a few tools and the
Bentley and learn to be more self sufficient.  The
vast majortiy of things that expire on a vanagon
aren't difficult to repair/replace (caveats-water
pump, head gaskets and heavy stuff <-- which you would
have on any car you drive).

If it's mechanical eventually it will have to be fixed
no matter what it is :-)

Best regards,
Brian from Salem, Or

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