Hi all, and apologies if this has been tackled before (I did review as many recent threads as I could...) I'm trying to find and buy a Prius in the $4000-5000 range. I see many 2007s with 150K+, a few 2008s with mileage from 130-220K and one 2009 that has 174K in my price range generally through individuals and a couple from dealers. This is our first Prius so definitely still learning, not quite confident about discerning the good from the ugly. How do we decide which will be the best deal, given car age and most of them over 100K miles? Our hope is to get 3 years or 35-45K out of the vehicle, money wise, we'll be able to do a little maintenance within the year (but a dead battery would be tough to replace if it happened quick). Any advice is welcome and TIA!
welcome! number of owners, carfax, toyota owners website for vin service history and finally a full check up at a dealer or your favorite hybrid mechanic. all that being said, nothing can guarantee you won't have major expenses on a car that old, and prius is the most expensive of cars to repair all the best!
You say “our”, can one of you do automotive repairs? The problem is you can’t tell when something expensive is going to break on a Prius. 1 member here from Sacramento bought a Prius in that age range and had traction battery trouble a few weeks later. And he got his from a dealer. Sometimes the reason these are for sale is because the battery is failing.
1. Try to buy from original owners that will have some history of the car, good maintenance, and regular timely oil changes. 2. Try to look for one that already has a replacement battery FROM TOYOTA, even if the price is higher than a comparable car 3. And finally try to get one with no more than 150k - 175k miles. It can only go downhill after 220k miles (without regular maintenance and replacement parts)
