Debating buying my first Prius; is this a good buy?

Greetings and Welcome!!

Key Answers (MY opinions)
• Is the car worth $5,500??
I think it could be worth about 5 depending on CARFAX history, which I would insist the dealer also provide. If they take trades......they have the report already, or they are morons.If they say that they did not run a CARFAX report on this car then either they're liars or fools.....or they just don't want to be bothered with the car in which case I would offer them $4500 cash and gauge their reaction.

• How much longer do you think the car will survive if currently at 150k miles?
Priuses are good usually out to about 15 years or 250,000 miles probably, but this depends on how regularly the owners maintained the vehicle other than just taking it to the dealer every 5,000 miles.
You'll note that the last 100,000 miles of maintenance data are "missing."

• Is the coolant heater temp sensor something I should be concerned with?
VERY!
May indicate previous overheat events that.....to be honest the dealer may not even be aware of.
Evil things like head gasket failures and wrecked motors occur when they overheat.

• What does maintenance look like on a Prius? Is it any more involved or expensive than a typical non-hybrid?
With the exception of the traction battery, not too much more than a non-hybrid.
If you buy this car you'll want to change the CVT fluid and look at everything on the 120,000 mile maintenance schedule that I presume hasn't been done.
I'd pay particular attention to the coolant system.

• Are there any other issues or questions I should be looking into?
Yeah.....can you perform simple maintenance???
By this, I mean all of the simple stuff that there are Youtube videos for such as CVT fluid replacement, oil changes, PCV replacement, plugs, water pump....etc.

Putting aside the coolant issue, you ARE going to have to replace the traction battery in the near future.....that's the bad news. The good news is that you CAN replace it.....meaning it's connectorized and home mechanics can actually do this.
I'm a little worried that the maintenance history dropped off after the warranty expired (typical) but that does not mean that the maintenance did.
My cars all have NO maintenance records.

You will want to have this car inspected thoroughly by a mechanic, since at this price point and vintage it's going to be "as is, where is."


Good Luck!

 

I would probably pass on this one, since 145k miles, there seems to be an unresolved problem.

If the car overheated, you may be running into a bad head gasket and that will be a pricy repair. Car was probably traded in for this reason