I have found a Prius that I can afford and it only has 47,000 miles!! The thing is, it's more than 11 years old. It's a 2009 VVTi Spirit, registered Sept 2009. I would absolutely love to own as Prius but the thought of paying out for a new battery scares me. I have heard that they can go 200k miles before needing a new one, but if I'm buying a car that's already 11+ years old, am I shaving a lot of miles off that figure? How much are Toyota dealers currently charging for battery replacements? Anything else you think I should consider before shelling out?
If you or a friend like to learn new things and y'all have a little bit of auto repair experience, as well as experience working with rechargeable batteries this website can help you fix anything that goes wrong with your Prius in an affordable way. But if you don't want to be A DIY repair person and expect to just take the car into a shop the cost of even simple repairs can get outrageously expensive, so buying a Prius might not be worth it.
agree. there's just no way to know. low miles are usually a bad thing for the battery, and good for everything else. is that a gen 3? if so, i would read up here on the egr/head gasket issue. not sure if europe has the same set up. call around and ask for battery replacement costs, and figure at least part of it into the price of the car.
11 year old battery won't have much left to it. Extremely difficult to judge remaining lifespan but I'm never optimistic at that end of the calendar. On the other hand 47k miles may mean a nice clean interior and few nicks in the paint. Good luck!
Agree also with the other replies. I have 4 Priuses all with much higher mileage than 47k. I wouldn't hesitate to buy the 2009. But, keeping your car in a garage instead of outside is, in my humble opinion, a big plus. Also, depending on vehicle regulations - do you require annual "safety" inspections and/or smog checks(?) - can be a big factor. I have been able to keep my Priuses (mostly) running while I get around to fixing things, but these state inspections can create problems. High voltage batteries can be a significant expense depending upon the availability of spare modules or batteries in your area/location. If there are plentiful sources and/or smart, "geek"-type places which will do battery work at reasonable price - if you can't or don't want to do it yourself - then you're ok too. Just FYI my 2004 with 225k miles has no problem with the HV battery, even though it has a few other problems. Your mileage may vary ;-)
