<prompt> Human: I am in a bit of a mess. I have a 2005 Land Cruiser with 212k on the clock in fair condition. I drive an average of 2300 miles per month bringing gas cost to over 400 monthly. CEL is on because of a faulty O2 sensor, est 180 to repair. I owe 16.5k on the car due to prior lemons and have received offers from dealers of as high as 6.5k. There are 4 years left on the loan, and I expect Ill have to budget a significant amount for repairs. I was hoping to take out an unsecured loan to sell the car, cover the auto loan, and have enough leftover for a beater Prius. But my credit union wont approve any more unsecured credit, so this option is off the table.Another option is to buy a new Prius allow me to try and justify more debt. Im attacking my debt with the snowball method, so the new Prius would go on a 72 month loan. Gas savings for equal miles driven would be approximately 300 monthly, with a 100 higher monthly car payment, netting around 200 in monthly savings to contribute towards smaller debts. The maintenance and repair costs are also effectively zerod out for a number of years as my local Toyota dealer does free oil changes and rotations. They offered to value my Land Cruiser at 11,500, 5 grand higher than any other dealer, effectively cutting my negative equity in half, to put me in a 24k bottom-of-the-line Prius.The expected depreciation with my 6 month loan will put me right back at 9k negative equity right around the 2 year mark. But I at least will have a car that I know will last me another 4 years at that point. 3 years from now, the LC is projected to reach the 300k mile mark which is a scary thought.Given option A driving a beater is off the table, and anything new thats cheaper than the Prius price range of 23k is non-approvable due to the ratio of negative equity, is it justifiable to purchase the new car to allow myself to start attacking the smaller debts more quickly and give me something that I can guaranteed run into the ground over the next 6 years, rather than facing a crisis of a dead vehicle in my Land Cruiser along with higher operating expenses?If there are any other options you think I should consider, Id love to hear.EDIT: Id also forgot to mention that having a fuel efficient car would open the opportunity to do Lyft or pizza delivery. I think pizza delivery in particular would be a good side pay for hours worked, while Lyft is more flexible.  <response>: the answer to debt is never MORE DEBT. 