Buying Used Prius Agonizing over Details : }

My courtesy data from Toyota (PriusTeam) shows Prius Liftback model year 05 covered in CT and RI, but for v and c (and Highlander Avalon) it shows as 2008 model year. I presume that 05 may be a typo but not sure. The inconsistency is why I never considered posting the information.

It's complicated as CARB has join date and effective date but I think it's the effective date that rules. it's also conceivable that Toyota rules are not exactly consistent with CARB effective dates, and it's also possible Toyota has changed or been inconsistent with CARB date interpretation over the years, and its possible that certain model years may have differing rules. This is why it is internal Toyota rules, and we are not aware of all the details (believe me I asked and did get a little help as noted above).

Bottom line you probably want to go with VIN check to make sure Toyota feels it is covered, and it would be nice to have that in writing. That dealer VIN check seems to be a new service, and in a few cases we have been pleasantly surprised it seems to tag some VIN as CARB compliant that we would not expect.

 

When I first saw the Flying Buttress center console I hated the look of it. BUT..I have to admit after getting my Gen III Prius I've grown to...well...like it. It makes a nice space underneath, and creates a kind of cool, cockpit feeling to the front seat.

How much space do you need with a Hatchback?
Another vehicle to perhaps consider that I would recommend would be The Honda Fit. I actually like last years models better than the brand new generation. So used I think is a good choice. They released the next Gen this year to some mixed reviews in regards to quality. New plant in Mexico started producing them and it sounded like they had bugs to work out. But the previous generation was built in Japan, and IMO was an great design.

But (prejudice) I owned one. For an regular non-hybrid vehicle you get good gas mileage. The design of the compact Fit feels roomy, and provides great hauling capacity. Loved the flat load floor and the ability to fold back seats up for tall items.

It is however a compact, which turns some people off. I found it fun to drive, very utilizable and never felt cramped in it. But I'm more of a small plane vs. 747 type of guy anyway. The Prius seems a little large to me. And I know it's not.

 

What kind of costly repairs are common when Prius is over 100,000 miles?

Costly repairs are not common. If I expected the car to be a hangar queen I wouldn't have bought it. Any mechanical or electrical part can fail. The odds of failure increase when the cart has been abused or neglected. That's why it is important to see service records when buying any used car.

Every one of us that owns a Prius is driving a used one. Some are used more than others. If you want a list of things that can fail look up one of Toyota's extended warranties and read through the lists of what is and is not covered. A meteor could fall out of the sky and go right through the car.

The inverter coolant pump followed by the inverter are probably the two things most likely to fail.

 

Although I'm partial to the Gen II, if you have someone offering you a 2013 with 30k on the odo for $13k, I'd give that some serious consideration. That's quite a good price, regardless of how it's equipped. Can you get qualified for that much? The payment probably wouldn't be much different.

There are plenty of things that can go wrong (transaxle, inverter, various ECUs, multi-function display (MFD), etc.) but overall reliability is very high. Taxi fleet operators love these things because they're so inexpensive to operate--they just have to swap gauge clusters on the Gen IIs so that the odometers keep counting after 300k miles. It's arguably the most reliable production vehicle.

While I'm smitten with the Gen II, there are a few notable things that make the Gen III easier to own, such as the transition to an electric engine coolant pump (the engine has no belts whatsoever). The Gen II has one, external belt and the engine coolant pump is more prone to developing leaks. I believe the coolant themal-storage system and flexible fuel bladder were omitted for the Gen III, making things simpler. Other things are more complex for Gen III, such as the user-interface electronics. The Gen II is more off-roadable if that's a concern, but the Gen III has the advantage on mountain passes--more substantial engine output when the electric drive runs out.

 

Sounds like you might prefer a Gen2 2009 would give plenty of time on warranty up to 10-yrs 150k miles. I am unclear if you are talking about a specific 2009 vehicle when you say one year only, as there is no difference in CARB warranty for Gen2/Gen3 except for the Toyota rules we were talking about. Some people really like Gen2 as far as "fits like a glove" some say.

PS- we'll have to consider update our CARB post to 2008 for CT/RI
Thanks for being to first person to see this.

 

(to the OP) Welcome to PriusChat, best place in the world to learn all you'll ever need (and more) about Prii! I won't bore you with all the details about why I love my Prius (see threads passim), but I bought the ChuggyPig back in January 2014 with 88k on odometer, we're currently up to just over 100k, runs like a top, 55 mpg (summer) I LOVE this car! (I looked at a Yaris when I was in the market, but the distinctive "CLAAAANG" as I shut the driver's door was somewhat off-putting! Good luck in your search (low mileage Gen II ~2009 (last model year)) would be my recommendation - hope this helps - Wil

 

Have you thought about leasing ?

 

All Prius are CARB certified. We all have California cars.
But Toyota only wants to honor CARB warranty if the Prius was first sold and registered in a CARB state.
So Toyota is taking a policy path, rather than having different cars for CARB states.
Presumably somewhere in the rules, Toyota approach is allowed.

 

That's fine. Just thought I'd throw it out as a suggestion if you were heading into a Non-Hybrid, Non-Prius direction.
Good Luck with your decision and your soon to be new to you Prius.

 

cube?

 

Fake leather started in 2012. The top of the line Gen 2 (through 2009) had leather & nav. The next package down omits the nav unit. You'll need a Four or Five from Gen3 to get leather (2010-2011) or Soft-Tex (2012-). Seat covers are relatively inexpensive.

Every Gen 2 from 2006-2009 has the backup camera. To get the backup camera in Gen3 you need the NAV, SOLAR, or AT package. Newer cars will have a backup camera as it is a requirement.

The Gen3 was defeatured and I believe your friend's observations are valid. I don't mind the tighter cockpit but my tall friend is noticeably cramped. I think he had more room in the 2006.

A 2009 is going to be harder to find as that was a short model year. 2010 was a very long model year.

Truecar.com shows 2009s for $10991 in Smithtown, NY, $8495 in Southampton, NJ, $11485 in Middle Island, NY, & $9200 in Middletown, CT. Using a Hartford zip code one in Naugatuck, CT for $8995 appeared. I didn't go far enough to check the packages.

 

The hybrid battery will likely be okay after sitting for a long time. But more than likely the smaller 12v battery will be toast and will have to be replaced. There have been some reports on this site of people who reported having to have the dealership jump start new prius vehicles that have been sitting and idling too long on the dealer's lot.

As an alternate suggestion, are you willing to either have a car shipped to you (will cost more though), or fly out to the dealership and drive it home (can be slightly cheaper depending on how far away, but will take more time)?

If so, you can vastly expand your options. If you're going to limit it to within a few hours drive of where you live, your options will be more limited, especially if you absolutely need a certain make/model along with price. Just set the autotrader range to "unlimited" and take a peek at dealerships further away that might have what you want.

That's not to say you might not also suffer a lemon from a farther away dealership. However, if you absolutely have to have it for under $10k and a certain model year, you may not find too many nearby. But there might be one that meets everything you require, other than it's 800 miles away. That's a road trip if you've got a few days to spare, and to spend some time with the car. Or you can just get it shipped to your house, but expect to pay a few hundred dollars for that.

With used cars, you'll have to take your chances, and hope that not only does the dealership not screw you over too badly, but that the previous owner(s) took good care of the car when they had it.

But the good thing about used cars is that you can often haggle a lower price with them, especially if it's a slow selling car that's been sitting on their lot for a long time.

And with "low" gas prices right now in much of the country and everyone buying trucks and SUV's, Prius aren't in high demand, so you can probably knock a few hundred more off.

 

To be honest, I wouldn't stress out over the battery too much. They've been shown to hold up fairly well, and have had a really, really low failure rate.

Toyota has a fairly well deserved reputation for reliability, or people wouldn't be buying them in droves. My mom was scared that I bought a prius at first, until I told her it was a Toyota. She then breathed a sigh of relief. Now she's jealous at how high my mpg is lol. I did have to borrow some money from her for the down payment, but have since paid her back for it in case anyone's wondering why I brought this up.

This article from last year on consumer reports shows that the prius has had a 5% fail rate... on 2002 models. The 2008-09 fail rate is less than one percent. Meanwhile for comparison, the civic hybrid has had anywhere from 8 to 32 percent fail rates. I think most of those failures were covered/replaced under warranty. But still, I'd hate to have my new car in the shop that much.

2015 Subaru Outback and Legacy | Video Review - Consumer Reports

So yeah, that's still expensive, but what if you bought a used gas car, and had to replace the engine in it? You'd be in the same situation.

Bottom line, don't worry too much about the battery. Instead focus more on what you can afford, and what you need in the prius.

 

Re: Battery - Also keep in mind in the unlikely event of batt failure, you may get preferential treatment from Toyota even if not bought orig in CARB state. You would be living in a CARB state with a CARB certified vehicle with the only reason for non coverage is Toyota policy rule technicality disqualification. If it were FORD or GM they simply say CARB certified car is covered in CARB certified states. On the other hand, the 2009 Warranty Guide may be fairly clear on the rules, whereas I think at least up thru 2006 the warranty guide is not really clear about the Toyota policy, therefore it's perhaps less legally binding.

 

If you are looking at a Touring, make sure it is a Touring. Tourings have 16" wheels, not 15". The spoiler is larger. The suspension is different. Search for pix of Prius Touring suspension so you can see the different colored lines to look for when you are laying under the car.

New car dealers generally aren't going to keep Gen2 cars in stock because they are going to be too old or too high mileage. They get shipped off to the auction where the bandit dealers pick them up.

I wouldn't visit a sleazebag dealer. However, if only sleazebag dealers have the car you want then there isn't much choice. I would contact the estate and ask about the car. Unless the charity needs the car or automatically gives cars to another charity they have to dispose of it. Do they put it on ebay? Do they give it to a dealer to send to auction?

2006-2009 is basically the same car. The options were packaged differently across the years and some became standard.

Never too many questions. Better to ask them before you buy the car than after.