Thinking of getting a 'used' Prius V- Any advice on what is the best year to buy What year to stay away from & what to look for before buying
The 2015-17s are the best, earlier 2012-14's had bad crash test results, poor rings, defective brake pumps/master cylinders and flaky inverters. The last two have 10 year customer support programs so a 14 has three years while a 12 could expire in less than a year. All have poor egr designs. A later 16-17 model is more likely to have safety tech although it was an option in all years. The 2017's are scarce because the Rav4 hybrids were more popular by then
I believe 2015 onward have the revised pistons/rings, with the aim of reducing long term oil consumption. You can verify by querying the ring part no for the various years, say at mcgeorge Toyota parts site.
