A local dealer is offering a 2008 Prius with 50K+ miles for $16,000, Toyota Certified. It seems high, but market demand is high. The drive train warranty would be expired already or soon (<7 yrs), so although it's Toyota Certified, I'm not sure if that makes the extra price worthwhile. I need to keep my cost way down since I'm now retired with extremely limited income. I'd even considered getting a Yaris to save $4K and still have reasonable mileage, but I'm leaning toward the Prius. Any opinions from this learned crowd about whether the Prius is worth it at that price? (Oh, we already own a 2005 Prius we bought new, so we know the ups and downs--frequent tire replacement and LOTS of lights going out. Never had either issue in any other car I've owned, and I've owned many kinds). A side issue is that I really hate the color of the Prius I'm thinking of buying. However, nothing else in my price range is available. The bank won't approve a loan for anything before 2008, so this is the only affordable color (no offense to anyone who likes this color, but it seems mostly silver and white are available around me). I know this is a strictly vanity issue, but I loathe the idea of walking out to a car with a color that makes me unhappy. When we bought the first Prius, there was a waiting line, and we had to take red instead of the blue we wanted. Red was acceptable. But silver just makes me grind my teeth. Thoughts about having a Prius painted? (Also, I'm a bit in a hurry, hence my unwillingness to wait for another color to surface. My other car is on the blink, and I want to put any cash I have into a down payment instead of a rental.)
My opinion is that since you have limited funds, I would go for the Yaris (hopefully it has fewer miles). The Prius will be due to have it's 60k maintenance (for me it was $474). Also, there was a recall for the water pump too (not sure how far they will cover that) You can also see if there is an extended warranty for the car or if the previous owner had one on it.
Well, I bought it. Talked them down. You have to watch those dealership folks every single step of the way, though. After a couple of hours of haggling (I brought out Kelly Blue Book estimates and comparable cars in the region), and more time spent qualifying for financing, they agreed to my price. Yay! Then they sent me to the Finance people, with not only the original price, but less offered on my trade-in. If I hadn't asked for a line-by-line before they wrote it up, I wouldn't have caught it until we were signing gobs of paperwork. They played good cop, bad cop about the "oversight," "communication failure," and sloppy whatever. There were more fast ones and slick talk that I had to stop short, but I got my new (to me) Prius!
If its the same one I'm thinking of, the Edmunds TMV price for a certified is $16,798 and $15,124 for regular dealer retail. I'm 95% sure i know which one you're talking about and I actually liked that color...Enjoy. That is also the dealer I bought my 08 from.
Because you live in a warm/hot region, white is the best color to own, followed by silver as the second best option.
