Whether to buy a lower Mileage Gen 2 or higher mileage Gen 3?

I'm currently waiting until my lease is up on my current car (2014 Nissan Leaf), and I've decided I will indeed buy a Prius. My lease won't be up until May 18th, 2017. This gives me time to learn more about the Prius and continue to save money. So now that I've established that, I am stuck at a critical mental junction. Upon monitoring Autotrader for the past few months (well actually since my lease began) I've realized that there are a lot of Gen 2 Prius out there on the used market. Unfortunately, I will only have $6,000 ($6,500 tops), but of course I'm going to try to talk the seller down.

My situation is that I will have $6,000 to spend on a used Prius (either 2nd or 3rd Gen), and with so many Gen 2s out there I have many options for buying a Gen 2. In my local area (within 100 miles radius) there are few Gen 3s in my price range. I've only seen three Gen 3 cars on the list in my price range and the lowest mileage car was at 159,000 miles (the other two Gen 3s are above that).

Option 1:
I could buy a Gen 2 Prius. I love the Gen 2 Prius. However, these days all of the Gen 2s are reaching the 8-10 year old mark. I don't have a problem with that, but the Prius holds its resale value like gold. I am finding Prius at the $6,000 level have miles of around 100,000 Miles or more. Prius commands that, even with high mileage. If it were a regular old gas car, you could probably buy an almost new car for that kind of money. But, Prius is what it is: advanced, efficient, high-quality, and built to last. So I only want a Prius (and have for a long time). Before I leased my Leaf I had planned to get a used Prius.

Recently I've only seen a single Gen 2 Prius that has had 88,000 miles on it and another that had 94,000 miles. Every other Gen 2 Prius on the list is above the 100,000 miles mark. All of them vary of course. I don't think I'd want to get a Prius with more than 130K miles on it (preferably). I'm seeing for sale, mostly 2005, 2006, 2007 model years. I don't have a problem with Gen 2, but I worry about immediately (after buying the car) replacing the Hybrid Traction battery and the Hybrid Transaxle. But, I've heard there's a good chance I may never experience any problems for a good long while, since the Prius runs like a champ (Taxi Fleets being one example).

Option 2:

I could buy a super-high mileage Gen 3 Prius (like 150K or more), which would be new in terms of years old. If I went with a Gen 3, I'd get a slightly newer car, but I don't know if the risk of the battery failing is any lower than with an older Gen 2 due to it being higher mileage.

Is it smarter to buy a Gen 2 around the 100K Miles mark (or maybe slightly less if I get lucky), or a Gen 3 around the 150K-200K mark? I love the looks of the Gen 3, and its more developed and sophisticated Hybrid Synergy Drive.

But, I want a reliable Prius that I can drive with confidence. Family members have advised me in general (when used car shopping) to look for the lowest mileage on a car and the least amount of years in age. But, my family knows little about Hybrids or EVs. So, I don't know exactly what to think. My grandma (whom I frequently consult and confide in), recommends that I buy a Gen 3 (despite the 150K+ mileage) since it'll be newer in age and styling.

I don't know, what do you guys think (recommend) I should do?

 

Thank you for the great information. This is all very helpful. I actually forgot to mention that when my current lease is up (May 2017), I plan to move to Florida. I plan to spend the remainder of the summer here in Toledo Ohio and then in September I plan on moving to Central Florida (probably any of these: Orlando/Winter Haven/Melbourne/Palm Bay/etc). I will buy my Prius up here (in May 2017) right after I hand in my Leaf, and then pack my Prius up in September to move to Florida (with only whatever it can hold). I might have to make 2 trips, but at todays low gas prices I don't worry too much.

 

Why would you say that (just curious)?

I have actually always liked the Gen 2, and its actually the one I'd always planned on getting (long ago). I wouldn't mind getting one. At the prices around here where I live, its leaning towards the Gen 2 though. I see many of them around town. I see some Gen 3 also, but actually I see more Gen 2. They just go and go. Every single one I've seen has not had any rust or anything. They always look really clean.

 

I agree, those are good points. I don't doubt that you can get that kind of mileage out of a Prius. I hope I can get that as well.

That's pretty much why my grandma has told me to get a Gen 3, due to the age. She wants me to have a Prius that's newer in age even if its 150K+. I've informed here that I could very well likely get 200K-300K out of a used Gen 3 before the HV battery does die on me. I certainly wouldn't mind a Gen 3, but I just wasn't sure. That's why I posted my situation up here. I'm personally okay with either generation, but I just want to make the smartest decision. I plan on moving to Florida later on that summer (September 2017). So that should make it better for my Prius' condition.

I guess if there's a decent mileage Gen 3 for sale I will try for that, but if there's not then I'll look at a Gen 2. I could tolerate getting the Gen 3 (2010) I saw with 159K on it, no problem though. It looked nice. But, mostly I don't even see many Gen 3 for sale in my price range (only 3 at the moment in 100 mile radius).

It sounds like you got a pretty good deal though, wow! Only 4K. I'm glad your getting that kind of longevity out of your Prius, that gives me hope that I maybe can get the same. I've always heard that Prius are long lived.

 

I actually love Plug-in vehicles, and all-electric vehicles too. Having had my Leaf these past 2 years I've learned there needs to be a balance between the two. I believe EVs and PHEVs are the future and eventually there will (or could) be no other kind of vehicle on the road. For me, I eventually want to reach a point where I have a vehicle that can drive 90% on electricity (the City) and 10% on the gas generator. It would be the best of both worlds.

I'm personally not going to bother with a Plug-in Prius though (unless I were to miraculously find one for 6K), since I will only have $6,000 by the time my Nissan Leaf lease is up. The very next day after handing it in, I'll be Prius shopping. I aim to just find a Prius, hand them the money (after doing the research/finding a decent Prius/Toyota Inspection/etc), and owning it free and clear. I won't be taking out any financing or anything. Whatever my $6,000-6,500 gets me is what I'll have.

The bottom line for me is that if I had $10-12K in the bank set aside for a used car, I would hands down straight away buy a Chevy Volt. The cheapest Volt I can find on the used car market (100 radius around my area) is $9,990. And that's just 1 single Volt, the next one up is 11K. I'm actually not keen on going back to gas with no Plug-in ability.

The Volt (Gen 1) can go 38 EPA miles before its gas engine even kicks on; to generate electricity. The Gen 2 Volt which just came out can do 53 EPA miles on battery. I would love that by far, but my budget is what dictates what I can get. The Plug-in Prius would be a waste of money since it only goes 11 EPA miles (limited to 62MPH in EV mode) and then its tapped out.

I do appreciate the input though. .

 

If it were time that I could buy a Prius, would you say this car is good?

Cars for Sale: Used 2007 Toyota Prius in Three, Cleveland OH: 44102 Details - Hatchback - Autotrader

I just want to get a feel for what a clean and nice Prius should look like, so I'm not fooled. How am I supposed to know what to look for? There are so many listings of Prius with similar mileage and I don't know what one is worth driving all the way out there for.

 

I ended up buying a used 2010 3rd Gen Toyota Prius. It's got 182,000 miles on it and I paid $6,200, and after dealer fees and state taxes it came out to $6,800. It's a one-owner Prius and was recently detailed. I looks very nice for the age and miles it's got.

Now that I own it, I'm concerned about maintenance items. The carfax and Toyota owners website show no records of a Hybrid Transaxle fuid change that some here on PriusChat have said needs done. Also, it looks like pretty much every other maintenance item is not recorded as having been done either. Its been to the dealer over the years for a few recalls but I'm not seeing records for things. They could've gotten them done elsewhere. I don't know. It drove and looks very nice.

Should I get the Hybrid Transmission (Transaxle) fluid changed or should I leave it alone? One local dealership I called told me that it never needs servicing and they said Toyota told them this on their internal dealership computer database. While other dealers I called where able to quote me a price of $129.99 and $189.99.

What do you guys think? Also, should I get a hybrid system scan at the dealership, they charge $50, but will scan the car's computer for trouble codes and error messages. I know little of this prius's service history. It is in nice condition though, the previous owner did 26K miles a year on it according to CarFax. I assume that it's all mostly highway miles.

Where should I go from here? I'm in my mid-late 20s and don't have a while lot of money to throw around. The car ran very nicely from where I bought it (120 miles away in Indiana, I live in NW Ohio).

 

I think I'm probably more comfortable letting Toyota service the transmission fluid change. But, I'm afraid that if I get this done the transmission will fail on me! I've been told on here that the fluid needs to be changed every 60K miles but I've also been told by people that if I mess with an old cars transmission, the transmission could die on me and the car will require a new one for $5,000! So I don't know what to do. I don't have really have money to just pay Toyota to service the car for everything (or much at that), but at the same time I don't want to hurt anything either. My dad has room where I could do fluid changes in his driveway with his ramps, but we don't have the hand-pump thing (I still don't know what its for though), and I'm kind of afraid if he does it for me he'll break something since hes a gas car mechanic and doesn't really do Hybrids.

I've owned a 94' Dodge Shadow, and 95 Old's Eighty Eight and I never messed with the transmission (fluid, filter, or anything), so this is all new to me. I'm kind of scared of ruining my Prius!