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I’ve been seriously contemplating buying a new to us car this year. But then I learned about the new Prius 2023 and how handsome it looks. It is tempting to splurge on a brand-new one this year. Now that I have the money, I no longer need to settle for the cheapest. Besides, the Toyota Prius C, a smaller defunct model, is the most reliable car I’ve ever driven.

And this has caused me to reflect upon the not-so-great cars that I’ve driven in the past and how much they cost me. Not to mention updating this post that I first published in 2018.

Without further ado:

1981 Volkswagen Scirocco

I inherited this car from my parents who bought it from my brother-in-law, who imported it from Germany. I drove this car in the ’90s while attending college and many years after.

The car was the ultimate “chick magnet”– I have lots of memories with this car. One such memory, unfortunately, is accidentally burning my right hand with hot pressurized coolant after I dumbly opened the cap of an overheated radiator (ouch!!!). PTSD is probably the reason why I’m wearing goggles. To this day, I’m so grateful that I didn’t burn my relatively beautiful face.

Having the privilege to drive a car to college in the Philippines is one thing; driving an exotic one (very few Sciroccos exist in the country) is another. The problem that I had was buying the replacement parts. I had to buy them from a European car parts specialist at a premium. Of course, this was before shopping on the web became an option.

The car was relatively fuel-efficient as filling it up with 20 pesos worth of gasoline (around 1 US dollar in 1990) was more than enough to drive me to school 10 kilometers away and back in heavy traffic. At least that’s how I remember it as back then I didn’t always have the money to fill up the whole tank.

It’s the same car I drove when my eldest son was born. Having a 2-door car was a big hassle when you have a baby– my son always ended up in his mother’s arms in the front seat. Shocking by western standards, but this was before seat belts was required in the country, let alone child seats!

The thing started dying when a reckless 17-year-old rammed into it after ignoring a stop sign. Fortunately, we all survived the accident, or I would not have lived to start this blog.

Years driven	1990-1997
Purchase price	N/A (inherited)
Rough total cost of ownership	N/A (parents paid for most maintenance)
Cause of death	Car crash (no replacement parts)
Takeaway #1	Parts availability is important.
Takeaway #2	Don't buy a 2-door car if you have kids.
Takeaway #3	Don't remove radiator cap while car is hot.

1983 Plymouth Reliant

This is the first car that I owned after migrating to the states in 1997. On paper, I bought it for a mere $1 (for tax purposes). But it’s actually a “gift” from my other brother-in-law who was very happy to finally get rid of his junk.

The car didn’t have a working air conditioner or a heater, but that didn’t stop me from driving this beater for well over a year.  I had to drive this with either the windows slightly down in the summer or completely up in the winter. Bundling up really well while driving was necessary as temperatures can go well below freezing where I live.

Not only did the thing look old– it sounded old too. Upon hearing the engine struggle, my nice coworkers had to wait for me to leave the parking lot just in case I needed help. For the same reason, I got pulled over more than once by cops asking for vehicle inspection papers, which I didn’t have– I had to pay a fine.

What’s funny is the fine was much less than the amount I would have spent getting the thing in shape to pass the inspection. So I continued to operate the vehicle illegally for more than a year. Fortunately, I didn’t get into an accident, or I would have faced a much heavier fine or worse thrown in prison.

The bright side is I didn’t have any car payments– I was able to save up for a down payment on my next car.

Years driven	1997-1998
Purchase price	$1
Financing cost	N/A
Rough total cost of ownership	< $2,000 (I didn't own this car long enough)
Cause of death	It was already a zombie when I was driving it.
Takeaway #1	Driving clunker cars (fully paid!) can help you pay cash for a newer car.
Takeaway #2	Never drive illegally, you can get arrested.
Takeaway #3	Have your old cars inspected. Cops are on a lookout for older cars.

1996 Mercury Sable

It was a two-year-old used car that I bought for around $16,500. The original MSRP was around $20,000. What I did know back then is that American cars tend to depreciate more than their Japanese counterparts— I’m getting more for the price.

What I didn’t pay much attention to was the cost of financing.  So I took out a $14,500 auto loan at 12% interest payable in 60 months– my down payment was $2,000. Fortunately, this was before I ruined my credit. Otherwise, the interest rate would have easily been over 20%.

But all I cared about was that I can afford the monthly payments, which were around $350 a month.

Big mistake. For the first time in my life, I had debt– I haven’t gotten my green card yet (I was on a temporary H1B working visa), let alone my citizenship, but I was on my way to becoming a “normal” American, which is one who is saddled with consumer debt.

Had I continued to drive the clunker to save money by buying a more reliable $6,000 car (with cash!) and invested the $350 monthly on an S&P 500 Index fund, I would have saved $24,000 by the end of the 5-year-term as the S&P averaged over 11% over the same period. I would have saved enough money for a down payment for a house!

The bigger mistake is that I didn’t take good care of the car as much as I should have. I could have kept it much longer than the seven years that I owned it. I didn’t follow the regular maintenance schedule– 3,000-mile oil changes became 12,000 miles. And that didn’t help to lower the operation cost of this vehicle. At 20 miles per gallon, it wasn’t fuel-efficient by today’s standards. Fortunately, gasoline prices were very affordable back when I was driving this vehicle.

It’s a wonder that I was able to drive this car coast-to-coast twice. This was the car that I drove for more than 50,000 miles in one year. This beast can run fast, really fast. There was this one time in rural Kansas that I got pulled over by two different cops within the span of 30 minutes. I ended up showing the second cop a freshly issued speeding ticket from the first. He ended up reducing the fine to a much lesser seatbelt violation as a compromise even though I was wearing a seatbelt.

I wanted to keep the Sable as it was a decent car. But it suddenly died in the middle of the highway while I was driving to work, one winter day in 2005. Fortunately, I was able to maneuver it to safety.

Years driven	1998 - 2005
Purchase price	$16,500
Rough total cost of ownership	$45,000 or $6,500 per year (including financing)
Cause of death	Neglect
Takeaway #1	Avoid financing a car. Pay cash as much as possible.
Takeaway #2	Buy used cars to lower financing costs, especially if your credit is not yet established.
Takeaway #3	Neglect your car and your car will neglect you.
Takeaway #4	Don't drive fast in rural Kansas.

2006 Honda Civic LX

When the mechanic told me that the Sable’s engine needed to be replaced, I decided that it was time to buy a fuel-efficient car. We’ve been saving for this emergency for the longest time anyway. But I have to admit, I was excited to finally buy my first brand-new car that I can pay in full.

I went to the dealership hoping to get a good deal so I can pay cash, but I chickened out the last minute and opted to get a loan instead. I ended up having consumer debt again. But this time, I had a bigger down payment, shorter-term, and lower interest rate as my credit had been fully repaired.

Related: Awesome credit, you must have it!

Being much wiser, I also paid the 2-year loan ahead of schedule, paying it off completely within 6 months saving me hundreds of dollars in interest payments.

The worst feeling that you’ll ever experience with a brand new car is your first accident like when I accidentally hit a curb with my Civic’s bumper creating a big dent the size of a football. Good thing I found a quick and easy solution on YouTube that requires the use of an ordinary hair dryer.

The car was more reliable than the Sable. But it didn’t come without problems. The cheap plastic material in the interior breaks easily and I had to replace a bad sun visor. I also had the power windows fixed and the air-conditioner replaced by the dealer.

This is the car that I drove for over 130,000 miles in the span of 6 years.

Years driven	2006 - 2012
Purchase price	$17,100
Rough total cost of ownership	$35,000 or $5,800 per year (including financing)
Cause of death	N/A-- my son inherited it.
Takeaway #1	If you have to take out a loan, pay it off sooner.
Takeaway #2	Smaller cars have lower operating costs.
Takeaway #3	You can use a hair dryer to fix a bumper dent.

2012 Toyota Prius C 

My eldest son needed a car for college, and my old Civic was the ideal car for him. It was also the perfect opportunity to replace it with an even more efficient car– the Prius C, which I wanted as I have a very long commute (80 miles roundtrip).

Related: When buying a hybrid car makes sense

Before 2023, the Prius was one of the ugliest cars that you can buy. But what matters to me is the fuel-efficiency. The Prius C, in particular, was ranked as the most fuel-efficient hybrid vehicle on the planet when it was first released. It was rated 46 mpg on the highway and 53 mpg in the city. I was able to recoup the premium that I paid for buying a hybrid in the form of lower operating costs in just two years.

I wanted to buy a used regular Prius, but it was a bit pricier. The thought of buying a used hybrid battery seemed very risky.  I later realized, after driving the thing for over 180,000 miles, that the battery is very reliable. It still works as well as it had when it was new.

Unlike my other cars, I  paid for this car in cash. No car payments mean I have more money for more important things like my kids’ college education and retirement. Not only that, owing the bank money sucks– you don’t really own the thing until it is paid in full.

The thing almost got totaled in 2013 when I got sandwiched between two cars sustaining $13,000 in damages. I also got maliciously sued in the process. Fortunately, I was adequately insured. I didn’t have to pay anything besides the $500 deductible.

Related: Drive carefully, don’t skimp on insurance

Years driven	2012-present
Purchase price.	$20,885 (paid cash)
Rough total cost of ownership	$30,000 or $5,000 per year
Takeaway #1	Cash is king. Save up and pay cash for a new car.
Takeaway #2	Hybrids are worth it only if you have a very long commute.
Takeaway #3	Pick fuel-efficiency over good looks.

Not a single repair was recommended before or after the accident, not even once. So there’s probably a lot of truth that Toyotas are the most reliable cars that you can buy. Of course, I have driven other cars, but they don’t count; they were either rented or owned by my wife.

Hope this post raises awareness of the overall cost of owning a car and not just the purchase price.

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