Thinking of purchasing a 2007 Prius with 36,000 miles on it. Should I be concerned about battery?

Yes and no.
What state are you in? some "CARB" states have 10-yr warranty. The rest have 8 years, so check to see how much time left you have. If non-CARB state, yes there is a chance the hybrid batt could die...sometimes seems like the ones with less use kick the bucket. Replacement cost is ~$3500 at dealer you might find a cheaper options, depending on where you live.

 

Well good for you Vernay...you live in the state that invented CARB!
That's nice, but you still need to make sure the car is CA-certified (purchased and regsitered in CA), but sounds like your're good for a couple years. Some folks say Toyota requires that the car be bought, registered, and owned in a CARB state for the entire life of vehicle (but I have never seen that in writing from Toyota). If that's unclear for this vehicle, let's disucss further.

But one would think if the battery is weak in this car, it would probably die under CARB warranty period. You might want to understand the date of first purchase which presumably sets the warranty 10-yr start date.

 

Or you could buy a regular car and the transmission goes out in a year, costs as least as much as a battery, if the car is a California car, and you have it checked out..go for it, because gas will be about half of what you would use in a regular car.

 

That price sounds like a steal. The battery should be the least of your concerns. I currently have 2004 Prius's with 300,000 miles running on the original batteries and still achieving 50 miles per gallon. If the battery goes, you can take the easy way out and get a used one out of a junkyard for $500 and change it in your driveway. This forum provides just about everything for DIY to keep the costs down. Compare the cost of a junkyard battery to having a mechanic do a timing belt on a normal car. If you have patience and research enough, you can even rebuild the battery yourself for as little as $50. Good luck and welcome to the Prius community

 

? I thought there is no winter in CA ...where is this car registered today?
He is asking quite a bit ...my 2006 is about $8000 value now. so say his might be $9000.
Then you gotta give him credit for low miles, but how much credit?

 

as you can see, we are unable to predict, and unqualified to answer the battery question. you have 3 years left on the warranty. pull a car fax and request all maintenance records. if they have taken good care of it, and you like it, you may get a great car with many happy miles ahead of you. reset the mpg gauge, take it for a good long test drive under various conditions and note the average mpg's.

 

I drive a low mileage (but not quite that low) 2007 I've had since new. It's a great car, no question, and I'm not too worried about the HV pack or anything else. It still seems like a "new" car to me and it rarely leaves its insulated garage.

That example looks good on paper, and with the additional CARB warranty protection, your odds are good of having a great vehicle with low cost of operation. There is always the possibility of needing something expensive (like a transaxle, inverter, multi-function display, etc), but reliability has been high. If you keep a few thousand $$ stored away, chances are nothing will go wrong (that seems to be how things work).

Fuel economy is usually better in the summer than winter--I wonder if the owner accidentally switched the numbers in the ad. Well, I suppose in southern CA, the summer may require so much A/C use and the winters are plenty warm--maybe Prii do get better winter mpg there.

If the car was kept outside in San Diego, the heat can have some undesirable effects, such as heat-stressing the HV battery, brittling the interior plastics, weathering the exterior finish, etc. Plenty of Prii are kept outside though.

The decision whether or not to go for the car is a personal one--no one can advise you on that, but if you like the car and the purchase price works for you, chances are it would be a good choice.

 

don't buy a 2000.

 

how much is a '14 pkg 2?