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I finally chose between a new car and keeping my old clunker running
After watching my 2006 Honda Civic hit 200k miles last year, I got hit with this huge anxiety about what to do. I could either buy a newer used car that gets better gas mileage, or keep dumping money into repairs on my old one. The environmental guilt was real too, since a new car means more manufacturing waste. I ended up going with a 2019 Prius from a dealer in Portland, thinking it was the greener choice. But now I'm sitting here wondering if the carbon footprint from building that Prius was actually worse than just patching up my old Civic for another few years. Has anyone else wrestled with this same kinda decision about their car?
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parker_palmer441mo ago
Nobody's talking about how long you plan to keep the Prius. If you run it into the ground for 15+ years like the Civic, the carbon math probably works out fine. But if you trade it in after 5 years, then yeah, the manufacturing waste was a loss. Also check if the battery replacement cost and environmental impact of that is something you factored in. Either way, repairing the old car has its own hidden waste from all the parts shipping and packaging over the years.
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sandra_bennett591mo ago
And yeah, @parker_palmer44 hit on something I've been chewing on. I had a 2010 Civic that I kept until the transmission literally fell out at 190k miles. That thing was a clunker but it felt like I earned my carbon footprint back after year 7 or 8. Now I'm looking at a Prius and wondering if I'll actually stick with it that long. Battery replacement is the big unknown for me. I heard Toyota warranties them for 10 years or 150k miles but after that it's like $3000 to swap out. If you're planning to drive it into the ground like a Civic you're probably fine but if you're like me and get bored after 5 years then yeah the math changes. Just keep the old car running if you can get another 3-4 years out of it and save up for a newer model later.
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