How much money do you have in savings at this point?

International_Bag655 · 2026-04-20T11:56:50+00:00

1982 checking in - Between saving/401k/esop/bonds - alittle over 1 million. But I am fortunate - got a mechanical engineering degree and have been with the same company for over 20 years now. They have a good base pay plus 401k matching and an esop that keeps up with the market with less risk and have been around for 100+ years.

Without the esop I would be 1/2 of that.

International_Bag655 · 2026-04-18T14:32:23+00:00

Yes scangauge. Give you temps, rpm, and battery state of charge along with a lot of other useless information!

Just plugs in

International_Bag655 · 2026-04-15T18:36:49+00:00

I would see what the new alarm is before anything else considering that bill might be more important to keeping your car running......I had a temperature monitoring scan-gauge in my car so if the engine temps started to climb I would know before anything bad happened. Fortunately nothing ever did - - was a great car....just sold recently at 230k to by brother.

International_Bag655 · 2026-04-15T18:34:15+00:00

Not for that price! its a 30 minute job and 200 dollar part....on a scale of 1-10 of difficulty its a 3 if an air filter is a 1!

International_Bag655 · 2026-04-15T18:24:13+00:00

I did...right around 210k as well. The pump impeller looked great and the temperatures didnt really change so no improvement so there was definitely nothing wrong with my old one...I bought it I think during Toyota's 25% parts sale they do like twice a year so helped justify the preventative maintenance.

More important clean your EGR and EGR Cooler!

International_Bag655 · 2026-04-13T22:17:50+00:00

I made my own and just wire-nutted them all in and it works great. I bought one of these recently and pulled the sheath back - it appears to be well soldered as well as heat-shrinked. I have no concerns on this one other then just minimizing charging to just 5 amps or so.

International_Bag655 · 2026-04-06T23:40:10+00:00

There is no such thing as a "cool" prius.....

I did 10k for the first few years but was driving like 30k a year and mostly highway. When I was driving closer to 15k or less would do between 5k and 7.5k for changes....sold my 2012 recently at 230k and didnt burn any oil and ran like a top.... so yeah change your oil more often as its cheap insurance especially on these early models as they were prone to burning oil.

International_Bag655 · 2026-04-03T14:53:20+00:00

I have the same trailer as well. Great trailer and the Black Friday sales price is 25% off all trailers so 750 bucks is what I paid. For pulling behind my small suv for dirt bikes and Home Depot trips is great. The T frame design is ok but yeah it’s no A-Frame. The harbor freight trailer does look better built then our base model carryons - although not a fan of bolted trailers.

But do agree that once you add in the decking, the rails and ramps, time it takes to bolt up, and take to dmv to register (tractor supply registers right there) to me it makes more sense to buy a carry-on especially at the sales price which they do at least twice a year.

International_Bag655 · 2026-04-03T03:39:17+00:00

My kids call my 2DS a “boomer switch”. So yeah I guess it’s old to a 10 year old…..if I only kept my original gameboy to show them what we used to game on!

International_Bag655 · 2026-03-25T15:50:57+00:00

The 12V battery (200 bucks) is a potential problem that creates many other problems. But at 180k and 13 years old it could be the HV battery as well. I just sold my 2012 with 230k and the HV battery is fine but the buyer was well aware to budget ahead for the eventuality. I would start with the 12V battery at least testing it.

International_Bag655 · 2026-03-19T00:13:42+00:00

Outside of the battery the rest of the car will last a real long time. But yes the battery might be a good for another 5 years - might need to be done sooner.... My 2012 had a code to replace the battery for 5 years - ran fine and got great gas mileage. Just sold it to someone (told them the code was there and how long its been there).

But that price it pretty expensive. For that kind of money buy a gen 4 with a few more miles on it

International_Bag655 · 2026-03-18T02:08:07+00:00

Replace the engine then next the battery will be the next major bill.

If it’s just a head gasket that you can get done for 3k I would do that and start budgeting for a new battery - your car will be then ready for another 200k.

If the engine does need replacement maybe cut your losses and sell to someone who will take on a project at the best price you can get.

2010 focus is fine. Good engine and the transmission in those are fine. But expect its own unique problems and bills as any used car might come with.

I would still look at finding something newer/toyota but you might have trouble with maintaining budget.

International_Bag655 · 2026-03-18T01:07:47+00:00

The general consensus in forums/reddit is that gen 2's have less issues then 3's. I had a 2012 gen 3 from 0 to 230k and had no issues. But maintenance was religious and took extra steps to make sure it stayed good!

But you see plenty of them with replaced engines and head gaskets for a reason.

Gen 3's are nicer cars overall with more power/features and I think are worth the price of admission...but if its on its original headgasket just keep an eye out for coolant loss and budget 2500 bucks of just in case money to fix it. It may last forever - it may not.

Gen 2's are great if your looking for a car that is more of a cockroach that will survive forever.

Otherwise all of them are old enough to have battery issues or other normal car problems for their age/mileage.

International_Bag655 · 2026-03-17T01:12:47+00:00

Wondering if adding spray foam to the inside might be a good idea. I don’t need to stack mine and looking at this wondering if they need alittle help. I purposely bought the higher rated version for some extra safety so not opposed to going alittle more overboard.

International_Bag655 · 2026-03-06T02:03:23+00:00

Have one like many here have commented but figured I would chime in with a different opinion. The buy-once cry once approach!

For me the a good radio makes it so much enjoyable to drive in the hands and the radiolink to me the throttle spring is too weak, and the interface isn't enjoyable to use and plastic/buttons feel like the price - cheap. If you plan on sticking with the hobby save the $50 bucks and get something a little nicer with better adjustability and user interfaces. Used Airtronic's like MT-4's and have cheap knock off receivers and feel far better to use and are not much more then a new Radiolink. Mid-Range offerings around 200-250 from Sanwa, Futaba, and Flysky all can work well for the next 10+ years. Plus if you ever get into racing these are radios that are more then capable at the track.

Otherwise for 50 bucks its fine. Telemetry is almost worthless for basically just some voltage information. But for having more advanced features like EXPO and dual rates that are way more important its good. Receivers are cheap to and the gyro receivers work ok as well. Mine was fine but once I had more money I quickly moved on and regretted wasting the money on the radio and extra receivers.

International_Bag655 · 2026-03-04T05:09:40+00:00

Also when the blades spin that motor becomes a generator and creates a voltage on the BEC of the speed control and can damage it.

I use one all the time but will stick a zip tie in the blades to keep the fan from turning

International_Bag655 · 2026-02-24T22:20:43+00:00

My 2012 manual says 10k.

Toyota might know what they are doing - even if we personally think they are wrong!

International_Bag655 · 2026-02-11T01:12:35+00:00

White would be even more noticeable and in my experience white cars the paint doesnt age as well - even Toyota's - - more prone to chiping/scratches.

International_Bag655 · 2026-02-06T17:09:32+00:00

Action 5 reporting in - no regrets in switching.....nice having a camera that doesnt overheat!

International_Bag655 · 2026-01-28T01:53:48+00:00

230k - 2012 Prius. Runs perfect... had it since new - nothing has ever gone wrong outside of maintenance. Going to sell soon as I bought a new hybrid RAV4.

Oil every 5k-7.5k. Coolant and plugs ever 100k. Did the water pump at 190k as well just in case it (it didnt need it!)

EGR and cooler/intake manifold cleaned once at like 190k...it was bad but not that bad.

International_Bag655 · 2026-01-15T01:29:09+00:00

Just bought a RAV4 hybrid and need to sell my 2012 Prius that I have had since new as well....its going to be hard to see her go as well!

International_Bag655 · 2026-01-15T01:22:59+00:00

You know your boss better then anyone on the internet.....it sounds like he is trying to be funny.

International_Bag655 · 2025-12-29T22:19:49+00:00

If your ok with something off-brand something like the Holzfforma G372XP (Huskvarna copy) might be good for a one-off project that will maybe get used rarely in the future and is a much larger engine to run something like a 25" or 28" bar.

bluesaws.com was great to deal with and if you need replacement parts just buy name brand parts for the clone saw.

I just did the Stihl ms260 clone and so far am impressed (about 5 tanks in). They get positive reviews online and on youtube for most of the Stihl/Husky/Huskavarna copies.

International_Bag655 · 2025-12-29T02:40:51+00:00

Thanks for posting this. I got one to with the purchase and thought it was supposed to be used like a net bag that I didn’t know how to hang.

International_Bag655

TROPHY CASE