Lowest mile Gen 2 Prius. 5,156 miles. Back on the road after sitting 12 years.

In October 2025 I acquired a very unique Barcelona Red 2006 Prius.

It is the lowest mile Gen 2 Prius on the road: as of today it has 5,156 miles on the odometer.

The previous owner only put 5,128 miles on it during its first 7 years of life.

And during those years it was treated to 13 oil changes, going 200 to 700 miles between visits. The last one was in October 2013 at 4,889 miles.

After this oil change, the owner purchased a 2013 Plug-In Prius. The 2006 was parked in the back of the driveway and never driven again.

Over the next 12 years it sat outside on a concrete pad with lichen growing on the exterior, generations of mice coming and going, and generally getting covered with debris.

I acquired it from the original owner when they wanted it out of the driveway. It was not running when I bought it and I have been slowly bringing it back to life.

There is much more to this story like the fact that it also had a $10,000+ Hymotion L5 PHEV pack installed by the Toyota dealership in July of 2009 at 1,522 miles.

For now I have been focusing on the interior, removing mouse nests, cleaning, sanitizing, and generally restoring it.

The engine compartment and exterior are next in the queue.

I have hundreds of photos of my progress.

I wanted to post a bit about it and am happy to answer questions as I add more documentation.

 

I have worked on hybrids and EVs for over 20 years. Definitely have worked on Hymotion systems during that time. Most of the time it was taking them out after they've died for one reason or another.

I hadn't seen any for quite a while. I was really surprised when I opened the back of this car and saw the Hymotion system.

As expected, it wasn't operable. After a lot of troubleshooting and searching through the car and wire harness I found the main problem. Mice had taken up residence *inside* the system itself and chewed off a temperature sensor wire.

Fortunately I have extra Hymotion modules in storage, and I was able to plug in a different temperature sensor to get the system running.
Edited to add a pics, including a pic of one of creators of the Hymotion System, Ricardo Bazzarella (left) and me (right) when he came to Green Drive Expo 2009.

 

When I arrived to pick it up, as expected, the hybrid battery had low voltage, so I used my grid charger to charge and balance the battery pack.

Unbelievably, it tested out just fine. In fact it showed 91% Health using the Dr Prius app's Life Expectancy test.

Pretty amazing for a battery that sat for 12 years.

 

He simply didn't drive very much.

And when he bought a 2013 plug-in Prius, the red Prius was stuck in the back of his driveway, with the 2013 parked in front of it.

He really loved the red Prius so he hung onto it all these years.

One last things he told me before I took it away was to make sure I gave it a good oil change.

 

Do you really think so?
I've only seen two auctions for low mile Priuses on cars and bids.
$8,550 69,000 miles 7/10/2025
$10,500 39,000 miles 7/3/2025

For comparison a 14,000 mile 2000 Citrus Honda Insight went for $23,500 last month. But that's a pretty low production, enthusiast car.

And I've never seen a Prius on Bring a Trailer.

I was offered $10,000 by a local dealership just from the initial photos and verbal description of It's condition.

 

@TinyTim
The original owner is a trustworthy guy. And there were other family members that confirmed the low miles even before I got to turn on the car.

It was in a local neighborhood and always serviced at the dealership. The online Toyota record match up with what I found in person.

For example the last oil change on record was 10/13/2013 at 4,889 miles. The oil change window sticker says next service is April 13, 2014 or 9,889 miles, whichever comes first. This matches up with the old recommendation of getting and would change every 6 months or 5,000 miles.

I also spoke with the Toyota tech that installed the Hymotion system at 1,552 miles. He knows this car well, and immediately remember it and knew the owner's name before I even told him.

 

Aww, c'mon now. Now you're just pulling my leg.

If a collectors' auction site like Bring a Trailer has never even listed a Prius, I'm guessing that they don't know if there's a collectors' market for it?

If I went to sell it today, I'm not sure that someone would pay even $20,000 - $30,000 for a generic car like the Prius, no matter how low of miles. But I'd be happy to be wrong. Maybe I'm out of touch on these things.

Anyone else want to chime in here on price?

In the meantime I'm going to clean up the engine compartment, headlights etc tomorrow.

 

On that note, there was an anecdote about when this car came into the dealership for some body work

As part of the prep work the tech said, at the time, there was like 300 pounds of pennies in the back.