Toyota Prius: '04 Prius after 3.5 years

We bought this loaded car in Oct '03 with no price premium,
installed leather, tinting, XM-radio, and upgraded speakers, and
not long thereafter bought quieter tires. We also added about
66# of strategic silencing materials, which really made a
difference. I've never been happier with a car purchase.

We're right at 40,000 miles. Our fuel consumption since purchase
has been about 44mpg. Unscheduled maintenance has been zero, but
we paid $950 for the Toyota extended warranty anyway.

I plan to keep the car until 2011, because the CA HOV stickers
are good until then - and frankly, that one feature by itself
adds immense satisfaction to owning the car. Yesterday I drove
250 miles in S California freeway traffic, and saved at least an
hour thanks to the HOV lanes and ramps.

It took more than 18 months for the car to depreciate to a price
below that which we paid for it...

Wow!

Michael Pardee wrote: 

Hah! I understand perfectly - one predecessor to my Prius was a
Porsche (incredibly fast, lots of fun, 15mpg downhill). For the
first year, that Prius had more prestige...

I am reluctant to give up those HOV-lane privileges, which run
until 2011, for the sake of the 2010 model. Does anyone know if
CA is considering a further issue?

anon