Hello I am selling my 2015 Prius to get out of a payment (buying my first house etc) I looked at a 2004 Prius with 170,000 miles, Nav, keyless etc. 1 Owner car with service records every 5,000 miles at the dealer (trans flush every 50,000, brakes done at 160K, a ton of service records, 43 service records total) Checked the 12V and hooked up to my scangauge which pulled no codes, drove great and rode smooth. NOW. Cosmetically the interior and exterior look good (no body rust, no major dents or scratches, no CC failure) However, the car lived its life in Pennsylvania. The undercarriage has some surface rust but mostly the rear swaybar looks pretty severely rusted away. (we dont get this type of stuff in S.C) Is this a car to avoid, or is this common place for the northern prius that held winter duty??
Usually be wary of cars that have lived their lives in states that snow and use salt. If one thing is rusted or corroded, there are bound to be other things as well.
The sway bar is the least of your problems. Look for more structural items like floor pans and the degree of rust. Use a screw driver and poke to see the amount of rust. If it hits and resists its just surface rust but if it pokes in....well its not just cosmetic but thru and thru. You will have to evaluate the condition of the body in this case as even thought his car runs great the body may give out before the engine does as one scenario of sorts.
