Should I Buy It?

Buying a 5 year old car to save money.

 

Sounds like a nice package. I know the Prius is reliable... but do you really want to buy a used car with 126,000 miles? It all depends on the price I guess. If I were you, I'd pass it unless the price is outstanding.

 

I suggest you look for a small Toyota (for example, Corolla, Yaris, and Echo models) or the Honda equivalents, so that you can buy a newer model year while fitting into your budget. If you are not capable of DIY repair and are not prepared to pay four-digits every time you need the Prius to be repaired, that is not the car for you. Good luck.

 

Hey Shadow - Have you been searching cars.com and craigslist? I just bought a used 2010 Prius V w/Nav and 20,000 miles for $19,900 this week. It is in great shape physically (some minor scratches and a small dent). Its 3k below book value. I got it from a Mom and Pop shop that listed it on craigslist as a dealer-owned car.

With your budget, I think you should be able to do better than a 5-6 year old model with 126,000 miles. Of course, the price is going to hold or go up if gas hits $4 this summer.

 

Please, please, please...this is NOT an attack on the OP..and I admit it's off topic. So delete away if anyone wants....

But what is it about The Prius that makes married men always preface the purchase with...It's My Wifes Car...or The Wife Made Me Buy It..or some similar phrase?

I know Toyota's advertising has been "feminine", I know many of the stereotypes attached to Prius...

But IMO if YOU and your wife are buying a Prius...then YOU are buying a Prius....

It just kind of bothers me because it sounds like an appology or a cop out. Like, I wouldn't of bought it..BUT.....

I occasionally visit other automotive websites and seldom do people come in with new purchases and state upfront that it was the Wifes Idea....

What is it about The Prius that seems to make some men want to deflect the purchase?

This is I think exactly why I wish Toyota would add just a tad of masculinity to some Prius advertising...fair or not...I think the dancing flowers and knitted cozys...make some men nervous...

To the OP...I'm NOT talking about just you...or even you..but I've since I've hung around Prius Chat I've been suprised at the number of times men, seem to default to a defensive and deflective attitude about ownership and purchase of a Prius...usually aiming it towards being the wifes purchase and idea...

Why can't it be an equal purchase from a position of partnership...and/or why even mention that it is the wifes idea?

End Rant...for now....

and sorry to the OP.....

 

A reasonable question. The OP said that the idea came from his wife, and there is nothing wrong with that. In an equal partnership you would expect that 50% of the time the wife would come up with the idea while the other 50% of the time the husband would initiate the suggestion.

Perhaps another question might be why, in the other forums you are looking at, the men cannot admit that their wife came up with a good idea?

 

No Patrick. Electric is right. If you're on f#@ ing PriusChat or buying a Prius, own up to it and be a man like the rest of us.

 

Sounds like a very good sound decision to me.!!!!!!

 

I am an enthusiastic Prius owner, active on PriusChat and not in any sense complaining about my Prius. None the less when asked "Why did you buy a Prius" my number one reason is that my wife wanted some type of Hybrid.

Making her happy yields benefits I value.

I thought I was going to need a larger car, and so resisted the Prius until I walked up to one from the rear, it had much more cargo space than the front of the car suggested.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...502-2010-prius-school-project.html#post979468

My pet peeve is not 'My wife wants a Prius' it is 'Should I buy a car for Guys, or a car for Adults?' Can't us guys be adults, too?

 

I've never heard that "Toyota's are notorious for overpriced maintenance and parts" more than any other make (at least Japanese). If you want that, go buy German.

As for expensive HID headlights, I used to have an 02 Nissan Maxima. HIDs were standard on all 02-03 Maximas and unfortunately, we commonly stolen if you lived in NY or NJ. A new pair would be $1200+ on top of repairs to any body or electrical damage that was done. As for Prius HID light repair prices, see Luscious Garage | Blog | Prius headlight problem, D4R HID bulbs *still overpriced, not covered under warranty*. If don't you want the trouble, get one w/o HIDs.

My 06 Prius HIDs are still fine (knock on wood).

The Element doesn't get very good mileage and because it's being discontinued (Honda Element to be discontinued after 2011 model year - Los Angeles Times), you'll likely take a big hit on depreciation.

The Accord Hybrid was a performance hybrid (with a V6 engine) and got nowhere near the gas mileage of a Prius. EPA ratings on an 07 HAH per http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm were 24 city/32 highway, 27 combined.

If you're looking for efficiency, try looking at:
Most fuel-efficient cars
ConsumerReports.org - Most fuel-efficient cars
Best & worst cars review, fuel-efficient vehicles
Best & worst cars review, best city/highway mpg

If you're going to buy a used Prius, I suggest looking at one w/less equipment, lower mileage and some warranty left to keep within your budget.

 

I would think twice about a Element.No more next year! They also are like a brick and are very fuel inefficient. Keep looking for a well priced 2G Prius. Triple the FE over a Element. Prius is one of the most trouble free cars on our roads. Don't be deterred by what you read here, because you won't find a better car than a Prius. So keep looking. Hal

 

Last June I bought an '05 Prius for my wife with 117K miles on it. It is a pkg 6, out of warranty, and <$9000. I also own an '04 that I bought in April '09 at 48.5K miles. It now has ~75K miles on it. I bought the extended warranty on the '04 and now regret it. They didn't offer one on the '05 with >100K miles but I'm not afraid of it at all. I expect to get close to 200K miles out of each with no major repairs.

So far I've put ~$1235 in maintenance and misc items in the '04 over the last year and 8 months. The bulk of that was replacing tires and about $306 for the 60K mile maintenance. Half of that went toward getting the front disks resurfaced because they were rusted and pitted from lack of use.

I've put about $725 in on the '05. more than half of that went for new tires.

 

+1. Toyota parts and maintenance are not overpriced. They're just like every other car company. If anything, they're more reasonable. So I have no idea where you heard that. Completely false.

And you're comparing an Element to a Prius? Makes no sense to me.

 

OP - while the Prius is a great car and overall very reliable just remember that you are looking at a car with 126k on the odometer. Any car with this many miles is a bit of a crapshoot.

The cars that I'd recommend are the Chevy Prism or the Pontiac Vibe - the Prism is essentially a Toyota Corolla and the Vibe a Matrix built in the NUMI plant that GM and Toyota shared - the GM badges on the car means that it sells for less than an equivalent Toyota. I have a couple friends with Prisms and they are rock-solid cars that typically sell for very decent prices.

 

As a data point, the OP might be interested to look at the maintenance history of the Priuses at Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity - Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

Agreed about the crapshoot part at 126K miles.

As for the Chevy Prizm (proper spelling), it was discontinued in 02, so the OP would be looking at a pretty old car. Yep, the Prizm, Vibe and some Corollas were built at the former NUMMI plant which was joint venture between GM and Toyota.

 

Please don't appologize. My comment was a rant. And probably should of been posted in the FHOP forum as a rant. I think the "The Prius is The Little Womans Car" attitude question has been building in me, for a while and your post was just the one I snapped in....

Plus, I'd say I try not to pose questions, with the answers stubbornly already in place in my mind.

On some level, just because I don't personally like the "It's The Little Womans Car" attitude...even if someone admits to that reality, what's wrong with it?

You could argue the entire converse. I do support The Prius. I like the Prius. So I get defensive when I sense someone attaching what I think is an unfair definition or gender bias to The Prius.

But I suppose, that "I don't particularly like The Prius, I'm buying it for/because of The Wife....is an argueably valid position to purchase a Prius from....even if I don't particularly like the attitude or it doesn't synch with my personal sensibilities.

So anyway...whatever your motivation for considering Prius...no need to appologize...

The rest of your posts are interesting. I spent the past year evaluating my next auto purchase. I guess I'm geeky like you as I like The Element as well, I admit I like it's boxy styling...it's size and it's potential utility. What kept The Element from not being a purchase for me? It just isn't efficient enough. I've often wished that Honda made a Hybrid Element...

Toyota is going to release a Bigger Prius...which might combine some of what I like about Prius, with some of what I like about The Element...so I'm looking forward to that product.

I understand what you are saying about potential maintenance. Plus potential maintenance cost. There are options, you can discover them here...but in general a Prius purchase ties most people into dealing with maintenance through the dealership and Toyota. There are postives and negatives to that reality.

It may not be a popular thing to say in Prius Chat, but despite my respect and admiration for Prius, if I was budgeting less than 10,000 for a used car purchase, I probably would look at a more conventional automobile...because I think I could get a product in better shape for that money...a used Prius in the >10,000 dollar range would make me very nervous about it's potential reliabilty.

Another thing to keep in mind? Whatever purchase you make is not written in stone. You could buy an Element...drive it for a year...someday trade it in on a Prius....

So what I'm saying is whatever you decide today? Keep Prius in mind for the future....that's more or less what I'm doing.