Although we just bought a 2010 Honda Insight, my wife is driving it mostly. We don't have the budget for another new car, but I'd sure like a hybrid. I've noticed with gas prices down, used Prius's are very cheap now. I've specifically noticed the GEN 1 models going for $4,000 to $5,000 on craigslist in my area. Now, I used to own a 2003 Prius for a few months before it was wrecked. After that, I wasn't able to buy a new one because the 2004s were all the rage and the waiting lists were long and prices were high. So I am pretty familiar with the GEN 1 prius as far as its features and stuff. But, from a perspective of buying a used one, is there any particular advantage to the GEN 2 that would be worth the few extra thousand Dollars extra cost? To put it another way, if you had a 2003 Prius and a 2004 Prius and both had the same mileage and condition, but the 2004 costs a few thousand more, which is the better deal? (besides the looks of the car, obviously)
adric22, to follow on to a discussion on a 2001 Prius 'with problems' (another thread) I'd say that for almost all shoppers, the improvements in the HV battery at the 2003/2004 transition should be an important factor. The earlier one is showing more problems than the later. If you are prepared to face such issues, then saving the thousands in your scenario might lead you to the 2003. Otherwise, the newer. In fact I am reluctant to indict the 2001-2003 HV battery, because I still believe that the majority of them are doing just fine. But we spend a lot of time here trying to understand and resolve problems for the ones that aren't.
Gen2 battery cells are better and should last longer. Follow this link to find more technical details. See the feature section for the improvements made in Gen2 over Gen1. Gen2 is bigger, faster, more fuel efficient and lower emission. It also has electric A/C so you can use it without having the gas engine on. Another advantage of the electric A/C is that the compressor can run at any speed (not belt driven tied down to engine RPM). The A/C in gen2 is state of the art. It has solar, humidity, multiple temp sensors and only use the power it needs. It is smarter than the energy Star A/C. I can not go over every aspect of it so I am going to leave you with the excellent article from Toyota. http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/environment/ths2/index.html or PDF version.
The 2003 would have most of the early bugs worked out although the traction battery remains an older technology. The 2004 has the newer battery but there have been a small number of early manufacturing defects that have shown up that were subsequently fixed. In 2005, my choices were limited and I went with a 2003. But in 2009, I would have to trade-off risks vs costs but I'd probably go with the 2004 because of the better utility of a hatchback and higher power available. Bob Wilson
