Hello all and thank you for welcoming me to this forum. I hope to be a regular on here just like I am with my other Toyota vehicles. I did a brief search and did not really find what I needed to know about Prius vehicles. Let me fill you in, I have located a 2007 Prius, as far as I can tell it is a basic vehicle that I located via Craig's List. It is located at a private, small dealership in Tacoma, I live in Bremerton. The dealership has been very upfront to this point and even sent me the carfax for the car, shows pretty much nothing ever done to the car, nothing wrong , no accidents etc. Has had 2 previous owners and spent its entire life in Washington state. Only issue I could see was after about 65,000 miles there is no record of any periodic maintenance except at 170,000 the water pump was replaced. Between 65-170,000 there is not periodic mainteneace reported by carfax, except for registrations address changes stuff like that but I'm sure something had to be done. When I asked about the rpevious owners and if they took it in on trade the told me that they acquired it from my local dealer here in Bremerton. It had been traded in at my local Toyota dealer with 201,000 miles. They pretty much have a hard and fast rule, they wholesale out any vehicle that has that many miles, they don't even consider a sale to a customer, long story short now this little independent has it and is asking $8900. They have done all the required "safety" checks so I am going to check it out this weekend. I have checked the Blue Book on it and it is a bit high for the vehicle so I'm sure there is some room to bring that price down. I am only concerned with some show stopper of a repair so I need your help here. I know very little about these cars except that big main battery is REALLY expensive! Has Toyota done anything about the warrenty for these things and it that warrenty for the vehicle or the owner who originally purchased it? Besides that issue, are there any other areas of concern I need to verify, check or inspect? Should I be concerned with a vehicle with that many miles on it? It was not used in "taxi" service or so the carfax states, but in the past two years it has done over 100,000 miles. Even so it is now averaging around 40,000/year. Does anything raise any red flags with anyone? So with that I would really appreciate some guidance on this. It is a basic Prius, not many frills on this one, but thought a 2007 should be a pretty good year to start with, and it is my color! Looking forward to hearing from many of you and contributing as I best can. If you ever need any information on 4runners ... I'm your guy!:thumb:
The HV battery is already well past warranty. In Washington state the warranty on the battery is 100,000 miles IIRC. That doesn't mean you have to spend more than $1000 if the battery fails. You buy a battery that has been salvaged from a wrecked low-mileage Prius. Remember the HV battery is essentially a part of the Prius's electric transmission. If a transmission in a regular car with 200,000 miles fails, do you spend $3000 to buy a brand-new from-the-factory transmission to fix it? Heck no. You buy a rebuilt transmission for cheap. Same with the Prius battery. You buy a salvaged battery. It would be utterly stupid to buy a brand-new $3000 battery from Toyota to put into a 200,000-mile used car. I would be concerned that the transaxle fluid has not been changed. There would be a lot of metals dissolved in that fluid and particulates floating around. First thing I would do would be to drain and refill the transaxle fluid. The Toyota ELLC coolant fluid is specified to be good for 8 years or 100,000 miles. It is used for both engine cooling and inverter cooling. I would also get that changed. Iridium spark plugs would be next on the replacement list if that car is still on its original spark plugs. Ditto the small 12V battery-- If it's still the original, get it changed for a new one. Also check the throttle body and see if it has a lot of carbon buildup. If it does, the throttle body and MAF sensor needs a cleaning. And check for rust damage, and the condition of the CV joints and boots. Just off the top of my head.
Great stuff and thank you, pretty much similar stuff I would do to a used 4runner. Coolant, plugs belts. speaking of which, does this engine use timing belts or chains? I would do the check of fuids as a normal check, coolant in radiator so these are some good points for the newbie to be watching for. Thanks for info on the battery sounds like I may be on my way to my first Prius, if I can get them to come down on the price. Will be watching for anything else you guys on here have to offer for me to check and watch out for.
I would tend to agree with you but with gas here (over $4.00/gallon) and it is looking to keep going up here (as high right now at the pumps of $4.30 at some places) The market for these cars keeps the prices up, but I would think they might be in a dealing mood as the mileage would tend to scare a few people off. Thats why I am just trying to be patient. and if they don't want my money at my offereing price (was considering $6850-7000) then I will be on my way. Talked to my dealership today and told them what I was looking for and high mileage is not a deterent for me and they know me enough after the cars I ahve bought from them they just might find me something I would like. Anything you can think of to check and use to get them to come down? Thanks
lower down the price to $7,500. in anticipation of everything that will need to be addressed in the future
So the price I'm considering isn't too far off then? I was thinking around the $7K mark could get it with all that would most likely need to be done to make it pretty much worry free? Any thing else you can see needing attention? Pretty savy on the normal wear and tear items. It' only 5 years old and the interior seems really clean and nice as does the body. Well just got flagged for trying to ost the URL so I ahve to wait a few more posts
I own a 2000 Celica with almost 200,00 and I ahve been pretty tough on it but I try to baby it a little more now that its getting close to the 200K mark. My 1998 4runner is a sweet runnin ride that I ahve done HUGE customizing to, I'm on Yotatech for my truck. I will post up the URL for the listing so you guys can take a look and give me feedback as well. thanks
OK maybe it will let me post a listing for it now http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/ctd/2947532682.html
I would check New Cars, Used Cars - Find Cars at AutoTrader.com, Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles, Coupons and More Online Shopping | eBay, and any other websites to see what similar cars with similar mileage are selling for in your area. Just like buying a house, you want to find some compareables.
Re-involt has a 2001 Prius for sale with 78,000 miles on it for $8995. Hybrids for Sale Not sure how often they update their website but it might be worth a phone call. For a fraction of the price of the future maintenance on the one your looking at, you could ship it to the west coast. Or it would be a sweet road trip.
Yeah I checked that out but not for me. anyway anything else from anyone on this car? I'm going to check it out tomorrow so any last words would be appreciated, thanks
Ok so went to test drive this Prius, 202,157 miles but drives really smooth and does not feel anything like it has 200,000 miles. A few minor dings but overall very clean. Checked the boots on the drive axle, clean no tears. I could not see any oil seepage or leage under the bottom fo the car. Brakes appear to be better then 50%. Inerior is surprizing clean. Tires are about 80% Engine is very quite and smooth on start up. Steering is nice a smooth, no shudder or pull. Brakes nice and straight as well as no jerking sensations. No other history on the maintenance beyond about 80,000 except for a water pump replacement @175,000. Dealer said I could have it out the door taxes all in for $8500, basically the car is $7500 pre tax and licence. Going to talk to the credit union about loan. Anything else I should have checked? Please let me know how the deal sounds, I need to ahve thing finalized on Monday if this is going to be the car I will be woning. Thanks to everyone. Dale
I agree w/basically all of justlurkin's advice re: 12 volt, spark plugs, transmission fluid and so on. Re: the HV battery, Failed traction (HV) battery, what to do? - Prius Wiki might be insightful.
