What to look for when buying a used Prius

[roflwaffle]

That's a little pricey unless the hybrid battery has been replaced at a dealer ($tealer) recently. I've seen 2009s for $4k with ~200k miles and paperwork for HV battery replacement from a $tealer.

I bought my friend's 2007 a little over a year ago with 190k miles for a generous $1500 (the $tealership only offered her $1000 after the hybrid battery "went").

Granted, the HV battery is showing it's age (I've had to replace two modules, one when I picked it up and another maybe 5 months ago), the interior was super dirty, the clearcoat is peeling, it uses a little oil, and it has the intermittent dead instrument cluster/display issue (easy enough to fix, but I haven't gotten around to it), so I felt like I gave her a fair/generous price overall.

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Honda's latest hybrids do just this, but with extremely efficient gas engines - that's how the Accord hybrid works, and the soon-to-market clarity. By just using the engine as a generator, with a battery as a buffer, you can always run it at its most efficient RPM and load, giving it practically diesel efficiency due to leaving the throttle plate wide open and running Atkinson cycle.

However, the engineers also realized there are certain circumstances where the engine would deliver better economy if directly connected to the wheels, since there are conversion losses when going room mechanical to electrical, then back to mechanical energy. So, Honda also put in a light weight fixed single-speed clutched gear, allowing direct drive when the car is at the right speeds.

Reviewers were seeing in excess of 80mpg in lower speed driving conditions.

I think the Accord hybrid is one of the few cars that can at times get better MPG than the plug-in Prius. Granted, that's only at 30mph, but it's still pretty good.

https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/fi...apriusphev.pdf
https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/fi...ondaaccord.pdf

[Magician]

It's not high... it's well below book value for even a private seller. I did buy it... I'm a car guru and this one is in unbelievable condition for a car with so many miles. The first owner drove it from Kansas to Canada weekly and thus put a ton of highway miles on it. As we all know, highway miles are very, very friendly on the health of a car.
BTW, you're friend got an unbelievable deal if he bought it as you stated. Hopefully his is in good of condition as mine.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by Magician

It's not high... it's well below book value for even a private seller.

KBB isn't very accurate the older and more miles a vehicle has. The local market is a much better gauge, though a quick look at Prii on your local Craigslist shows prices a little higher than I'd expect.

313k is still a lot of miles, even for a Prius. Even if the powertrain is fine, the rest of the car will probably need some love. It'll be interesting to see how much more life you can get out of it.

[Magician]

Well.. I bought my daughter a 13 year old civic with 200k miles on it... 4 years later the car has had no other maintenance needed besides oil changes and a timing belt and water pump that I installed myself. Car runs and rides like a car with well under 100k miles... the first owner Drove 100 miles a day round trip to their job... highway miles... best miles for a car.
This Prius was very well maintained and the highway treated it well.

Fortunately, I'm as skilled as many mechanics with my background.⭐️

[S Keith]

I realize I'm late to the party, but I have a few things to add.

$2900 for a car of that mileage is high.

I've recently had transactions on 06 and 08 models here in the Phoenix area for around $4300 from original owners with 120-130K miles on them.

I deal with different Prius owners on a weekly basis and have a lot of exposure to their battery and overall reliability. Here's what I tell friends and family:

Regardless of the deal you get, are you okay with spending another $2000 on it the day after you buy it? If yes, then buy.

If no, I then extend the time frame to 90 days, 6 months and 1 year to find their comfort level. Then I go into the following:

The Prius is a fantastically reliable car. It is also substantially more complex than ICE-only with multiple EXPENSIVE additional failure points. If you're okay with additional potential failures that will either involve thousands of dollars in repairs or several hundred dollars and a lot of hard work, then a used Prius is a good idea.

I talk to a good number of people that have owned their 150K+ mile prius for less than a year and are already dealing with a major failure.

The worst so far was just a few weeks ago - a family that bought a 210K mile prius that had a transaxle failure after just two months. If you can replace a transaxle yourself, it's only $500-700 salvage. As most can't, your best option is a reputable independent shop that will source a salvage one for you and install for about $2000. They paid $2600 for the car.

[mwebb]

as a flagrant heretic to the religion of
prius
i question why bother ?

the VW TDi with PD with standard transmission is much better overall at everything than a prius

and the TDi will easily run away from a prius on the road any road
so
the prius reminds me of my dad's rambler station wagon from the 60s
with an additional a heavy dose of " pathetic to drive "

what is the attraction ?

?????

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by S Keith

The Prius is a fantastically reliable car. It is also substantially more complex than ICE-only with multiple EXPENSIVE additional failure points. If you're okay with additional potential failures that will either involve thousands of dollars in repairs or several hundred dollars and a lot of hard work, then a used Prius is a good idea.

Since I consider long-term reliability and ease of maintenance, those expensive failure points are what lead me quite uncomfortable with the idea of a high-mileage Prius. And its high-voltage system is not exactly something for beginners to deal with.

Originally Posted by mwebb

as a flagrant heretic to the religion of
prius
i question why bother ?

the VW TDi with PD with standard transmission is much better overall at everything than a prius

and the TDi will easily run away from a prius on the road any road
so
the prius reminds me of my dad's rambler station wagon from the 60s
with an additional a heavy dose of " pathetic to drive "

what is the attraction ?

?????

You know, many people don't want to shift gears by their own anymore, and Diesel is pointed out as "dirty" despite the adaptability of them to run on pure vegetable oils which are even more efficient than ethanol.

[sidecar]

Originally Posted by mwebb

what is the attraction ?

?????

Im guessing we had a different range of cars offered here in oz, but all of the 1.9 diesel Golf I saw (and there werent many) about the vintage of my Prii were over $8k and listed as 5 l/100km with a 0-100kph something similar. So what are we doing? swapping battery BS for turbo & injector servicing?

[IMG]Prius Fuel 008_internet by Rob Riley, on Flickr[/IMG]

70 Sheoak Mylor 164 wheels trimmed_internet by Rob Riley, on Flickr

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by mwebb

as a flagrant heretic to the religion of
prius
i question why bother ?

the VW TDi with PD with standard transmission is much better overall at everything than a prius

and the TDi will easily run away from a prius on the road any road
so
the prius reminds me of my dad's rambler station wagon from the 60s
with an additional a heavy dose of " pathetic to drive "

what is the attraction ?

?????

I'll believe it when I see it. When the NREL tested the VW Polo Bluemotion, the results were good, but nothing to write home about. I doubt any TDI, or any car really, is going to do everything better than other cars.