Well, I havent been on here in a few weeks, but thought I should tell you what happend to our baby Prius. You see, my father and I were on our way to Chase bank in Logan. I was going down route 10 where an 18 wheeler had an "OVER SIZED LOAD" on the back. It was stopped in the middle of the road and was going about 3 mph and the load started to sway back and fourth. In fear that the load was going to fall on us and crush us, I flooerd the gas pedal and started to pass him. Well low and behold, someone was backing out of their driveway in a white Chevy Lumina and WACK! I seen the hood rise, but no airbags deployed. I have no pictures guys, im sorry. But what suprised me was none of us had to go to the hospital. The Prius performed awesome, but the only thing that was hurt was my spirit. I cried when they towed it away, knowing I had killed her. Im looking for another Gen 2, I was looking at a few Gen 3 Prius'es (prii) but they are out of my budget. I am in school right now, and I want to buy one on my own, so I have been looking on autotrader and found some really good deals. If I want to get a Prius by myself, I will have to maybe get an 04' or 05'. I hope I can get the same options I had on the 08', and I noticed the 04' and 05' Prius have slightly different headlights, and taillights, so I'm going to replace those with the 2006 through 2009 model head and tail lights. Wish me luck guys, I'm gonna need it! And I have one last question, do thes the Gen 2 Prius have electric A/C? If I'm not mistaken, when I would turn on the A/C in my 08' Prius, the engine would turn on.
It's just a car. Glad to hear you and your father are ok. The A/C is the same on all the 2004-2009 models. I'd consider keeping the tail lights, a lot of people prefer the ones on the 2004-2005. The big difference IMO is the change in dash and door panels from the 2005 to 2006 model. Some like the textured look and some do not.
I would skip the '04-'05 if possible. There were a few issues worked out in the later models. Plus, there were various interior components made out of a softer material in the later models mentioned by F8L. With an '04-'05 on the used market a number of likely maintenance issues arise that should not come up for awhile in a later model.
Yes, I have noticed that for myself aswell, the dashboard and door panels had a wood texture to them, the 04' and 05' was just a smooth easy to scratch plastic. And the MID display was also clearer (package #2 and up) if you got the base 2006 model though, then you will have the pixle, boxy, display.
It is always powered by the battery but when the load is high enough the engine will come on to recharge the battery.
From one kid to another, I'm glad to hear you're ok and already ready to buy another Prius. I had 2 near accidents myself last week. Good luck.
