I am new to the form. Planning to buy used Prius plus(This is what it is called here in Norway), wondering if there is anything special I have to keep my eye on. Recently I just found very nice example which is used as taxi. 2012 module, it is premium line (equal to US Prius v 5 I think). I would like to add the link, but I was not allowed to do it as a new member. Car has 200,000 KM on odometer, has full service history, everything works just as it is according to delar. My question is, are there anything special that I have to check ? or look carefully ? Is this hight mileage going to be problem ? asking price is close to 16300 USD. All advice will be appreciated ! Thanks !
I would think twice for that price and mileage, but our US used car market may be lower than yours. The inverters have failed on some of these models, although a recent software update has been offered by Toyota to hopefully avoid overstressing that component. The HV battery is a concern as would be any mechanical problem on this relatively complex car. If it were here, I would look for something in the 100,000 km range for that money or buy a new one for less than $10,000 more.
Thanks for the advice, cars are expensive here(ridiculously), brand new top model costs close to 52000 USD. I have asked for technical check at Norwegian Automobile Federation, which offerers independent check on all components. Will also have to check with toyota that if the car has Hybrid Battery Extended Care(if you keep doing service at toyota, they will extend warranty for hybird battery 1 year every time you do it). So if all those looks ok, will it be good buy ? I mean in that case I will have warranty on battery for 1 year, if I keep doing service at Toyota it will be extended. Just uploaded some pictures from dealer. BTW: car is registered December 17th 2012, so it is actually 2013 module. Other then battery, anything else to look at ? Thanks ! .
Have the 12v battery tested and or replaced depending when that was last done. Check the tire depth remaining, and alignment. See if the veh. Maintenance history will be provided or at least oil change history... Was it serviced at the dealer, and if so they might have the printout of the veh history, but if it was a taxi maybe not. It seems most well maintained 3rd gen Prius are getting 200k+/- Miles out of the HV Battery, so you should be good for a while at least hopefully since yours would be at 200k km which is roughly 125k Miles...but if you plan on keeping the car pls plan accordingly and budget for a new HV battery eventually. Oh, and meant to ask, solar roof? Or wrapped? Looks awesome!!
Him Thanks for your advice. Car is used as taxi from 17 Dec 2012 until now, it is serviced at the dealer all the time. As I said in that case I will always have one year extended battery(Hybird) warranty until that car gets 10 years old(that is if I keep doing maintenance at dealer). My concern is more on the other mechanical parts, like engine and gear box , specially gear box, if there is any reported example of failing gear box ? or even engine ? It has dual solar roof yes. here is more pic's. Thanks !
There are no gears, transmission is CVT, so no real worries there. And it's a hybrid so the engine is never really stressed too hard since well pretty much half the time the engine is not running and you can't blow the engine since redline is restricted to a certain safe rpm. Prius are solid and very reliable cars. Do the basic maintenance and your golden. Others will probably chime in and advse on a few other things to check and what's needed maintenance wise on a higher mileage Prius...
Thank you , that makes me more confident on this Prius waiting for the check reports to come, if there is no big problems, I think i will just buy it
I would replace the 12v battery if its still the original. Don't wait for it to die, which it will surely do.
I recall being in Scandinavia and hearing the taxes on new vehicles and being astounded. So any comparison of your prices to our prices is useless. Maintenance history? Look at the major services. Were things specified in the major services listed as done? Have the rotors and brake pads thicknesses measured. Taxi use can be rough on them. While Prius vehicles are gentle on brakes, they can still wear and you will want to know what the state of yours are to know when you'll have to replace them. Any history of brake fluid replacement? Date on sidewalls of tires? Tread depth in 3 places (left, right, center) in tread of tires? v's are reliable. But any car 4 years old and 200km can have problems.
mikefocke: Thanks for your advice. Unfortunately somebody offered better price to the dealer, so car was sold before I mange to get technical test reports. As all you mentioned about service history, when I checked it, It was not as satisfactory as I was expected, It was missing couple of services which made me hesitate to make final decision. Anyway it was sold, But I found an other example which is as nice as that white one but with more detailed service history. And dealer is asking for almost same price, I ordered technical check again on this one, if technical report comes good, I will just buy it I think. Here are some pics. This one is missing front parking sensor (extra one) compare to that white one, but it has nice and clean service history from Toyota. Hybrid battery has one year extended warranty until 01/sep/2016. This should be a good buy right ?
Blizzard_Persona, I didn't. I was out traveling for month, cat one was sold as well. I am back to the track and hunting Prius plus again
I'd suggest you get a newer than 2012 prius v - solely for the traction control defeat button (not sure what year it was introduced but the 2012 models don't have them) I'm assuming Norwegian winters are worse than Canadian winters and there have been occasions where I wish I could get a little bit more wheel spin before traction control shuts the power off. Before people ask - yes I've got winter tires & yes I know how to drive in the snow - last car was a two seater rear wheel drive car with less ground clearance than the prius and IMO it was better in the snow.
Texas, USA recent purchase: 2012 v 5, 115,000 miles, silver/ash, mint interior, a few leading edge chips, one body penetration ($90 repair), and near new Hankook tires, from a Toyota dealer, $11,700 including the dealership $199 doc fee. We looked quite a bit over a month or so and this one was about the lowest list price for mileage and condition. I did need to fly to get it and drive home, another $600 or so. Your cost at list price over there would buy a 2013 v 5 with about 50,000 miles on it over here. But, you get to live in Norway.
