How comfortable are you working on the car yourself? I suspect much of Andy's cost was labor. If you can do the work yourself, perhaps pick up a spare ballast or two from a junkyard?
I forgot to rest the trip meter when I left the dealership but when I filled it up today it had 110 miles on the trip meter. 1.18 gallons of gas. No sh*t. I was blown away. about 93 mpg or better when you consider it was a while before I reset the meter. And I thought I wasnt that good at pulsing and gliding.
I'm sure you have done well, but 93mpg sounds too good. A 'quirk' of the gen2 Prius is that there is a fuel bladder in the tank. It's there to control passive emissions and get the car its AT-PZEV rating. But because it is a stretchy material subject to differences in temperature, it makes the car one of the most variable on amount per fill up. You probably got a short fill this time
I don't mean to bring you down, but prep you for when your average mpg from multiple tanks isn't has high.
Another thing to think about is the cost of replacement batteries . $2588 for 2nd gen. when this article was written....think how much fuel and repairs you could get for that. If you buy used does the warranty carry over?
Consider driving what you have til it drops and maybe picking up a few tips that your not currently doing below (last 3 tanks in a grand marquis over 25)....good luck and good mileage...
The battery falls under the emission warranty; which is 8yr/100k mi for federal and 10yr/150k mi for CARB. There is no difference between the a federal and CARB Prius besides where it is registered. In order to keep warranty costs low, the system is designed to exceed those limits.
In the event that the battery needs work outside warranty, there are shops that will replace just the bad cells in the pack for a lot less cash.
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