Looking to purchase a gen 3 with 150k-200k miles on it. Are there any major services or parts that have shown to go bad up in this range. Am I looking at any $1k+ likely repairs? I understand anything can go wrong and higher risk with more mileage but just curious if from past experience there has been a common theme of issues with this amount of miles.
yes. the biggest issue is clogged egr/oil burning/blown head gasket. see pertinent threads. brake actuator and inverter are secondary, but fairly prevalent here. battery is always near the top of the list after ten years. all the best!
I'm looking into one as well. It's a 2013 Prius Two I believe. Good price at about $5800 so there can be some room there for repairs. What would you estimate the costs for the things you mentioned? If these Priuses when they get old are burning oil I know that can be an expensive repair. Also, the battery replacement is an expensive repair as well.
welcome! how many miles on her? at the dealer, egr is a grande, brake actuator $2,500., inverter is very unusual, but there is the whole concept of safety, which has no fix, and a battery is $2,500.-$4,000. diy with salvage is free, $200. and $2,000. in that order.
Which year are you looking at buying? I'd look into the warranty for the hybrid battery. In California it was ten years or 150k miles, and about a month after I bought my 2010 the battery needed replacing. Thankfully at 145k miles it happened just in time. Less fun, I also needed a new water pump as that died too. I'm also due for new spark plugs and various fluid changes. If you're handy you can take care of most, if not all, of these things yourself. Otherwise the water pump was an expensive service, around $900 at the dealership. I also cleaned out the EGR and it was a major pain, but as mine was completely clogged it needed to be done. If you're looking at one with 150-200k miles you should be look into cleaning that as well.
When looking at photos/actual vehicles, pay close attention to coolant level. If the coolant is low, the head gasket is already leaking.
