Hey guys and gals So I'm thinking of getting a Prius Understand the advantage of this car and want to look around to figure out in what I'm getting in I'm aiming a second gen or early 3 gen with hopefully less than 60k miles I will be reading for a while and evetualy posting some comments/questions Have already read the "what every newb should know" and found it inspiring for the simplicity and the details... Looking promising If you have a few "must read" thread, please feel to point them out That's it for now Ciao LOP
When I had a Gen 2 I wrote the following link on who should NOT own a Prius. Some issues (flexible sized gas tanks, draconian traction control are less of a problem now in the gen 3 and 4 era, but it is still a concern if you run out of gas a lot, or spin the tires a lot in your current lifestyle. The Gen 4 12 volt battery is under the hood. considering a Prius | PriusChat
Since I don't know French, I will stick to English to welcome you and wish you all the best in finding a good, low-mileage Prius. +1 to the thread JimboPalmer suggests above. I would just add that it took us about a year to learn how to drive our Gen III efficiently, so if you have any friends with a Gen II or Gen III, you might ask to ride with them a bit to catch hints on how to drive a Prius well. Otherwise, expect a bit of a learning curve in getting the best from your Prius, but the solid reliability of either Gen II or Gen III makes them a good bet for a used car in my book, assuming they have been decently maintained and not abused. Cheers!
Thank you all for your comments Have being reading few things, more specifically Jimbo Palmer "... should not have a prius" Interesting ! But also, have being reading a lot about owner who dismantle their car to diagnose a battery problem, and it looks a bit overwhelming ... Since I don't plant on doing much work on my car (no time or knowledge), do dealer, in general, are capable of doing an honnest job or are they (in general) in the dark about hybrid and are we the guiney pig for those mechanic to learn how to fix those problem ? Also, I understand that forum are for peolple who are in need of help, so it's only natural to find a lot of post regarding malfunction of one sort or another, but in general, do Prius have a good reliability record ? Again, thank's for the welcome ! Lours_Polaire
Dealerships vary from one in Winnipeg, Manitoba, who charged us nothing for an oil change and gave us a free Toyota cooler and water bottle as plating gifts as we left for Alaska (!!), to others who are not as good. It might be wise to Ask around to see how satisfied Prius owners are with your local dealer. But in general all the evidence I have seen points to Gen II and Gen III Prii as being VERY reliable on average. I remember a post from a Toyota employee who worked at the parts counter at a dealership, who said that after years of selling just wiper blades and some other minor thing to Gen II Prius owners each year, he finally decided to buy one! More objectively, check the repair ratings from Consumer Reports for accurate, large sample size data that you can trust.
iirc, prius is the most reliable car on the road. as for dealers, some are better than others, but they all have trained prius master mechanics. of course, you won't get repairs like some of the diy'ers here, but they can generally diagnose and do parts replacement. they also have access to toyota engineers if stumped.
