Would you rather buy a 2008 Prius with 100k miles or a 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage with 40k miles?

A rental car is a poor choice in a car to purchase. They are normally abused by the renters. I seriously doubt there's any maintenance other than oil changes on that car.....or any car in that mileage range.

The prius would be a good choice, however you would have to start saving for a new battery now, to have money when your battery fails.

 

Seems like alot of people are too worried and focused about the battery. I have well past the 150 mile mark on mine and the battery performance is just as good new. There is no hard time frame when a battery fails. Generally these batteries last the life time of the car. Heat how ever will degrade your battery pack quicker if you live in a very hot region. I live in the Midwest with cooler weather. You don't need to blow 2-3k on a battery pack as there are other options like single battery module swap and reconditioning the battery that can save you thousands of dollars. You can even purchase a savage Prius parts or go to your junk for parts as well and save tons of money. Make sure to keep the Hybrid battery cooling fan clean as that can get clogged up and can degrade your battery quicker. Heat kills. It's all about how well you maintain a car.

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Spend a little more time on here and then you'll understand why everyone is focused on the battery at 8 years old.

Refurbished options will often waste more money and cause more frustration.

 

Honda Civic will last a dang long time and is honestly probably your most sensible bet.

Buy the newest one you can find with the least miles for the least money and go from there.

If you really want a Prius, then look for a slightly newer one with less miles...

 

Not sure why Honda would be the devil; we've had a couple of excellent Honda Civics with excellent customer service by Penske Honda over the years. The last one went over 200k miles before a major problem popped up (the a/c quit).

Our second car is a 2007 Yaris sedan that turned 100k miles last week and my wife loves it. It's her "commute to the train station every day" car.

With proper research and care you can't go wrong with a Corolla in that $8k price range either.

 

Our previous Prius (the blue '06) had the battery go out at 9 1/2 years and 125,000 miles. Fortunately we live in California where the battery was under warranty for 10 years, 150,000 miles. Toyota put in a new one for free. The MFD went out on it too; we had to pay for that one. While the car is extremely reliable and equipped nicely for the price, Prius repairs seem to be very pricey when they do need to be done.

We've already set aside $4k in our car repair account just in case ...

 

There you go. That seems like a very reasonable deal for a good car. A 2014 makes a lot more sense than a 2008 Prius. Seriously.

Not sure why the hatred for Honda but when a bunch of people on a toyota fourm recommend a Civic then I would like to think that means something.

 

Some people just don't know how to maintain a car from the get go. My car had two owners that took well car of it as all it had done to it, is regular maintenance and oil filter changes. The car is 7 year's old that works like new and even the body is in ment condition. There are Taxis with 300-600k miles that still have the original Hybrid battery. Like I mentioned about keeping you traction battery cooling fan clean regular helps improve the longevity of your battery pack.

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I'm the same way about Dodge/Chrysler products so I understand how you can dislike Hondas so much.

The 2014 Prius sounds good. A Gen III Prius is going to give you a bit of a warranty cushion on the batteries.

At the same time I don't want to discourage you in any way from buying a Gen II Prius. There are a lot of great ones on the market around here.

Just be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.

 

get the newest corolla you can afford and drive it till the wheels fall off which will be an awful long time.

I am one of the peeps that was skeptical that my battery on my 2005 prius with 225k would outlast my want of the car but I was awakened to the nightmare at 1am coming back from the airport Saturday morning by chimes and a fully lit dash shining in my face. I'm now facing a costly choice on what to do and it seems as tho my only best option is to buy a new battery for 3k. Ugh it hurts

 

Unless you plan to keep your high mileage car for another 5 or more years, you probably shouldn't invest in a new battery.

You can just buy another used prius for$5000 with less miles

 

this makes sense but what to do with the one I have now?

Also---my thought was that if something happens to this prius I can take the new battery out and put it into another prius.

Any thoughts are appreciated, I rented a car for a week to brain storm and figure all this out

 

In your situation, it would be better for you to fix the battery with a Dorman rebuilt, with a 3 year warranty. Napa has them, and you can get AAA discount. After 3 years, that car will be way past sell by date.

You can look for another car during this time too. And sell the working car if you find a nice replacement

 

Thats exactly what my Dad said. I drive 30k miles a year and plan on keeping it for 100k more miles .....knock on wood. The Dorman sounds like the best deal on the surface but I don't believe it will last the 100k miles from what I've read here the failure rate is fair after 1yr but the warantee is a good one.

I do know quite a bit about electronics so I have considered buying parts to replace bad modules but I'm afraid that will be a never ending battle of replacing every few months that will add up to more than the Dorman after 3 years.

Maybe I should lean towards the Dorman now and get AAA. Certainly would be less money.

 

I see now you typed AAA discount and I read it as AAA . What is the AAA discount at NAPA? I haven't heard of that. I do think I'm going to get some type of towing insurance also not sure if I'll get it thru AAA or my auto insurance yet.

 

Replacing modules would be the cheapest route. Send me a PM, I'll help you build a charger, replacement modules and get your car going for a fraction of a Dorman battery. You really shouldn't invest much into a car with that many miles

 

The AAA discount is 10% at Napa, so it'll save you the tax amount when you buy it. I think people are getting them for about $1300 there.

 

The mileage is just a number. You can have a newer car with high mileage that not even 10 years old yet.

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The higher mileage on the car means other systems can fail. The Prius is only designed to go about 180k miles. Over that, any expensive system can fail.