Hi there, So a few months ago I bought a low mileage (120k) 2004 Prius with a hybrid battery very recently replaced by a new Toyota OEM battery and I love it. Put on a Cat Shield and got it tinted and its been great. Getting 45-46mpg with AC on all the time in this SoCal heat. My wife was hesitant at first but she loves it enough now that she wants a Prius for herself! We have 2 kids, a toddler and a 2 month old. We've been making it work driving around in my Prius, but its been a bit tight in the backseat for my wife. She'll be driving her's roughly 400 miles a week, toting our kids and their gear. I know the Gen 3 Prius' trunk space is 50% bigger than a Gen 2's, but the V's is 2x the size as a Gen 2! V's mpg is 6ish less than the Gen 3 Prius. My budget ($12kish) dictates a late Gen3 Prius or Prius V. I know to only get a 2014 (if after piston and ring redesign) or 2015 Gen 3 Prius. I use this forum and Carcomplaints to determine what years to avoid and what years to target. Carcomplaints shows the 2014 V to have the least issues but I've seen a couple threads with posters here on the forum that say that's not the case. I found a great deal on a 2014 V 3 in my area. 1 owner, clean Carfax, 81k miles for $12k at a private dealership. Always serviced on time at a Toyota dealership. All this to ask 1. What are your thoughts on a 2014 V? 2. Would you recommend I go for a V or a regular Prius? Thanks!
A 2015-17 v is better from the piston ring standpoint and it gets a better crash rating. A 2015 hatchback is ok as well but a 2016 up hatchback is better due to the redesigned gen4 engine. Piston rings are only one issue with gen3. Brake booster, inverter and egr clogging are big issues as well. If you buy the 2014 v be sure the last six digits of the vin are higher than shown below.
Thank you for the advice. The 2014 V sold within an hour or 2 of listing anyway. I'll be targeting your recommended 2015-17 V's or possibly a 2015-17 hatchback, I'll just have to be patient as not many V's come up meeting my criteria.
One piece of info that I left out was that this 14 V's VIN was higher than the cutoff VIN he posted, so it had the redesigned piston ring. So mechanically speaking, wouldn't that be the same as any 2015-17? If not, I'm open to learning about it. I do realize this generation has clogged EGR issues (can be remedied with regular cleaning), as well as brake booster and inverter problems. Do we know this to be true for 2015-17s too?
The 15-17 years are a little bit nicer all around, because of the "Facelift". The rings issue is a big one, but I did an oil change on my 2013 V last week (bad ring design). At 98k miles, and it was down less than 1/4 of a quart in 5K miles. Cleaning out the EGR + EGR cooler + Intake manifold is not a small job. You have to remove the Windshield wiper assembly to access the cooler. I am not convinced that fixing the rings solves the EGR cooler getting plugged up, since I am not using oil, and yet my EGR Cooler was pretty plugged up. See the thread below: My Major Surgery saga on my 2013 Prius V. IMHO, the four big problems are somewhat unrelated to each other. Fixing the Piston rings can still mean a blown head gasket when the EGR circuit plugs up. It just happens 50k miles later than it otherwise would.
