I checked out a used Prius tonight. 98,xxx on it. It's at a dealership. The car is in excellent shape. Basic package from what I can tell. No bluetooth or navigation. It did have a backup camera though. I took it on a test drive an averaged about 29mpg on a few mile trip. Slightly hilly area and unknown roads to myself. Im planning on going back saturday and taking the car out for an hour and reseting the trip making sure the tank is full then refilling it to get an exact number. Now my question is, would you consider it safe to spend $9800 on this car? Thats as low as I could get them. They told me the EV battery wasn't replaced and as long as they have been selling the prius they have not replaced a battery. They said the batteries really don't go bad all that often. Is there a way that I could check the life of that battery while I'm test driving the car? Any information would be great. Thanks in advance!
Yes it is a toyota deal. I was trying to watch the screen with the wheels, motors, arrows and batteries on it to see what was working when but it was dark and I didn't know that roads so it was a little tuff. Plus the salesman was talking the whole time. The car seemed to keep the battery charge around halfway to three quarters of the way the whole time.
Good call. Thanks for the input. Is there a check list of things I should look out for? Common issues, ect.? I wish I knew a prius owner so they could come with me haha
check out this article for HV battery life info and testing: Predictive battery failure analysis for the Prius Hybrid
i think its a bit too rich for me considering the miles and features. but definitely check out the service history from the toyota owners site. check the tires to see if they're LRR tires. that'll affect the MPGs by a bit if they're not (3-8%).
Thank you for the link. I'm in firmiliar with the tool/guage to monitor the battery. Is this something dealer would have to use? If not who would have on? I only own an obdII scanner which is useless in this case. I appreciate you input.
liars! how do we sort them out? any dealer that says they've never replaced a battery? well, let's just say i would be on my guard. how many owners? maintenance history? accidents? car fax? good idea on the mpg's, 29 is horrible. hopefully just because of the short trip. don't let the salesman distract you, oldest trick in the book. demand to take the car out alone, or put duct tape over his mouth.
1 owner, all history can be provided(I was told), no accidents. Clean car fax. The salesman had the heat cranked being that it was about 30 degrees or less here in North eastern pa so I'm sure that kept the engine running. He said when I have more time he'd throw a plate on an let me take it out for an hour or two to get a good feel for it. 29 was extremely unimpressive and that's what threw up the EV battery red flag in my mind.
pretty tough to test the battery, and unfortunately, ohio warranty is 8/100. the good news is that, odds are, it will be fine for many years to come. just make sure you can hit 50 mpg's on your test drive.
I'm actually from pa but the warranty is the same. The dealership said they'd give a 3 month warranty in it. That's for your input!
fwiw, my daughter has my old '08 with similar mileage. best year they ever made imo, we haven't had a single issue except for recall's. all the best!
the dealer has techstream. also you can get a $30 dongle and download the techstream and install it on a windows computer. easier to do on windows xp but doable on later OS's jsut need to modify the install a little. so yes, you can view all the info from your own laptop with techstream and dongle from ebay or amazon for techstream. also let's you run the inverter pump, and bleed the brakes, if you were to choose to do so.
Good to know. I'll talk to them while I'm there and see if they can run the test mentioned in the article. If I buy the car I'll probably buy the cable and app.
One minor thing to note: all 2006-2009 Prii came with a backup camera, so you could ask the dealer what model it is (if they know).
Okay. I'll ask. Like I said. It seemed pretty basic. I didn't notice fog lights, no bluetooth, basic non leather seats. Nothing fancy. I'd say it's probably a base model. I should have done this earlier. Here's the link to the car Used 2008 Toyota Prius Base For Sale in East Stroudsburg PA |
Im okay with all that. I'm switching from Volkswagens. Ive had a passion for early 80's vw's for a while so for the last 2 years I've been driving a 48hp 83 diesel rabbit getting 42mpgs. Anything will be an upgrade haha I have a few I'm trying to sell actually, but everyone in my family has been driving toyota for years and the reliability blows me away compared to the work Ive put in to the VW's I've owned. Thanks for your input. I'll keep you guys posted on the turn out!
