[elhigh]

Guys,

My '98 Forester is getting on my last nerve. I don't even care what trade in value it has left and at over 370K miles, I don't think there's much in any case. It's been okay but the fuel mileage was never great, 25 mpg highway is a stellar result from it lately and it's just too thirsty to justify.

I'm looking for a Prius, preferably newer than '05 but I work for a charity, so when the prices climb as the vehicle gets younger, it gets out of reach pretty quickly. I can't easily go much north of about $8500-9000, but there are even a couple of 2010 models near me for as little as $5000, which makes me wonder what's wrong with them in spite of their good looks.

So there's the big question: Any special tripping hazards I should look for when shopping Prii? I know my HCH pretty well but my knowledge of Prii is mostly anecdotal.

I'm going to take my OBDII adapter and pull codes from the cars I look at, see if there's anything lurking, check to see if the CEL got reset recently (if that can be determined)