I’m thinking about getting a Prius (I’m looking at a 2007-2009 for around $7000) and want to make sure I have the basic premis. The hybrid battery will “normally” go out after about +/-10 years, going to a dealer will cost $3000+. Is there a simple plug and play aftermarket alternative to going to the dealer that someone that’s not terribly handy could do? I currently have a 3rd gen Avalon that I really like but I’m intrigued by the Prius, I’m not looking for a new hobby but I’m not opposed to spending a couple thousand (in preventative maintenance) to making it road worthy for a few years. I’m located close to Tucson, Az and wouldn’t be opposed to dropping it off in Phoenix if there was someone in that area that was competent.
welcome! @2k1Toaster has a new aftermarket battery for $1,600. you can check his threads or private message him. anything cheaper will not be reliable. keep in mind that an older prius has potential very expensive repairs. mostly because very few mechanics know how to work on them, and there is little competition to the dealer. all the best!
Thanks! I just watched the Chris Fix video and it looks fairly straight forward. The $5-7k cars seems to be the sweet spot on value but I’d agree there is a higher chance of issues, I’m hoping to find an older low mileage Prius but I’m not oppose to spending $10-12k on a newer model.
Read through the 300k plus thread and see how many times people with more than 300k miles say they replaced the battery. You'll find it's actually pretty rare. You can read through the 200k plus thread as well and find exact same thing (very rare to go bad). You'll even find people with more than 500k miles on original battery lol. Long story short it is a very reliable car. In my opinion the most reliable car ever produced. It takes about 45 minutes to remove the battery and another 45 minutes to install a different battery. You can go on car-part.com and get a used one for about $500. So it is $500 and 1.5 hours of labor if you are going the cheap route. But my guess you won't run into that issue for a long time. 299,999+ Mile Club | Page 58 | PriusChat 200,000 Mile Club | Page 35 | PriusChat
