I asked in another thread about the 2010, sorry. I saw that year too. Then I saw I had posted in 2004 - 2009. I know that in other cars the battery technology supposedly changed depending on the years. I don't want to go too low in years, but lower year is cheaper . I also searched on here and saw the horror stories about batteries may not be true. PC folks seem to indicate it is a bunch of hooplah.
'09 was agreat year, '10 and newer are third generation. slighly different design, interior and mechanicals. nothing huge, both great cars. 09 had all the bugs removed after 5 years of gen II. '10 had a few, mostly squeaky interior and bad 12v batteries.
yes, prius wasn't selling too well at that time and some sat on the lot for over a year. dealer let's the battery run down due to non use and this can reduce the effective life. not a big deal, if you need one, they're only a couple hundred bucks.
The dealer replaced the 12V battery in my 2010 before I bought it, but 2 of the 2009s I test drove they had to use a 12V jump start battery pack because the 12V battery was low. But as mentioned that's not a big deal and I would request the seller replace it if its still original.
