Am I still rolling the dice on a 2012/2013 Prius v Three/Two?

I chose the Prius V precisely because of the large cargo compartment.

When traveling, you can comfortably settle in for the night along the entire length.

 

The 2017 v with updated rings and pistons is the best v by far. The others are a lose lose.

The Camry hybrid has a better drivetrain.

The other v's will likely cost you a $2500 brake booster, a $2500-$6000 hg/engine, a stranding due to a still covered inverter, excessive oil burning due to low tension rings and poor crash test results. Not one of these is mitigated by Toyota dealer maintenance with 10km bulk oil changes and no ppi will id faults yet to come.

 

Depends. Are you willing/able to DIY the EGR cleaning?

 

Those prices seem quite high. I happen to be lucky with my 2013 Prius v 3 purchase. I bought it with 80k miles and the prior owner had oil changes done at 5k mile intervals. The service records were all recorded on Carfax by his local Toyota dealer. I've done all the maintenance routines suggested on this forum. I currently have 223k miles and it runs great. If you choose the v, make sure you do a thorough examination of the service records. Best of luck!


iPhone ?

 

Those prices seem high. I wouldn't expect to get that much in a private sale for our 2012 Prius v Five which has every option including the Technology package, is at 55,000 miles, dealer over maintained with 5K or annual oil changes, additional winter wheels and tires, garaged night and day and looking like it just rolled off the showroom floor. I guess I'll find out later this year when I sell it. it's covered less than 1,000 miles/year since 2020 and its primary driver (my wife) hasn't driven it since 2023. I'll be taking it to the Toyota dealer soon for its annual oil change. We usually gift/sell our cast off vehicles to family/friends but none of them want this Prius. I think it is a marvelous vehicle in concept but it falls short on safety, ride quality, noise level and front seat comfort. But it's great for carrying my wife's wheelchair so we use it only for trips to local medical facilities. Valets seem to appreciate its small size. IMO, its two best features are its adaptive cruise control and quad LED headlights. I'm still disappointed that its Entune and Safety Connect services were discontinued.

 

You can probably sell it for $4,000.


iPhone ?

 

I wouldn't consider the 2012 or 2013. Just too many expensive things are happening to those lately.

The 2017 or the Camry will seem cheap in comparison.

 

Depends on mileage (low is better) and upkeep (complete MX history and intervals are better) and your intended use case (moderate is better).

 

The problem is 2012 and 2013 v's have a litany of expensive problems for the used buyer that could exceed $10k plus the safety issue that is hard to quantify if a crash sends you to the er.

So reliability and safety are being traded for cost.

 

Locally, there is a $10,000 split between the higher 2017 v 2/3 and the lower 2012 v 2/3, both at around 100,000 miles.

So, locally, it’s the certainty of an initial $10,000 capital cost savings versus the cumulative probability and cost of expensive maintenance events later.