Is 150K+ Mile 2010 Prius Still Worth It?

Three things to consider with any used car:

1. Service history
2. Crash history
3. Owner history

If the current owner can show you a big stack of receipts for scheduled service and repairs done, then the car gets a pass mark.
Look for big ticket items like suspension, major service, tyres to gauge how long it will be before you will need to replace or repair them. He may have just replaced its brake pads.
For instance, when I sold my VW Golf with 100,000km I compared it to cars with 85,000km. Since the major service (timing belt) is at 90,000km it is better to get a car after that expense; not before.

Crash history is important as a big shunt with a poor repair will render a car that will never handle correctly. If you can hear a broken glass in the tailgate, run!

Owner history is the least important, in the sense that a one-owner car is not necessarily better than one with several owners; but it is easier to get answers to 1 and 2.

I can't compare Australian prices and total cost of ownership with the US. for example, here is one for sale with 280,000km (170,000 miles) for AUD 9,900. (He'll probably get $7000 for it.) My 2010 Prius is older (built May 2009) but has only 175,000km on it.

 

Buy a Honda Fit. Cheaper, great MPG (We get high 40s with my wife's 17 on the highway) and bullet proof. No complexity to worry about.

 

A decent honda fit will cost more than a high miles prius. You must drive like a grandma to get high 40's in a fit. My brother has one and gets around 33 mpg. He got 38 mpg driving 65 mph on the highway from CA to TX. The average 3rd gen Prius doesn't even get high 40's.

 

Grandpa here: tanks where I do most of the driving tend to be 10~20 percent better, than when the missus is behind the wheel. Just saying.

 

Don't ya hate that. Happened to me so many times.

 

True! Be sure to keep us updated. I bought my first Prius almost 4 years ago, and have never wanted to drive anything other than a hybrid. MPG is a luxury feature in my book! I'm on my third Prius now. I also own a old 2004 "project Prius". These cars change you, man.

 

Hmm... at 5000mi a year why would you consider a Prius? I have a 2010 Prius II and it only averages about 45mpg. So versus a Civic, Corolla, Focus at 35mpg combined your savings are extremely small! Gas seems to average 2.00/ a gallon through the year for the last three years in my location. So calc it out and you're only saving $60 a year! I mean I really do like my Prius I bought it Nov 30, 2016 and I have put 15,000 miles on it since then but in all honesty the highway mileage is not spectacular at around 41mpg and city trips need to be at least 10 miles for me to get up to the claimed city estimate of 50mpg. So do as you will for your purchase but don't put mpg as your main focus of your purchase because if you get a standard gas burner you can usually get a little more car for a pinch less fuel economy at the same price. The only part where I really like my Prius is in grid-lock traffic my mileage gets better! >
I traded from a 2010 Mustang GT with a tune, no cats, and fat tires so I went from 11mpg in gridlock, 15mpg average, and 21mpg highway to 55mpg gridlock, 42-44mpg average, to 36-44 highway (if its cold, rainy, and windy the car gets 36).
I just changed my oil at 108k and it consumed 1 quart in 10,000 miles. So running cost are pretty low on the Prius as well. Cheap as any other econo box.
But my big savings is that I drive 25,000 miles a year.
So Mustang vs Prius at those givens I save (43vs15mpg): $2,171/yr which is actually a good percent of my income as a part time worker, part time student.

The only thing I would add on that mileage is that unless you know the maintenance is listed on the car fax high mileage cars usually haven't had the proper maintenance done and it affects the car at age. Like engine coolant needs to be changed every 100k or it gets acetic and can dissolve head gaskets, and slug up and plug the cooling system up. And everyone knows the head gasket is the main issue besides oil consumption on these cars. Spark plugs every 125k, trans oil every 100k, inverter coolant every 150k... hence the reason why I bought a 90k car. Depreciated out but still time for me to do all the maintenance on time and hopefully have maximum longevity of the car and stretch my dollar bill out further versus a neglected car with shortened overall life span.

Oh to add I drove a 96 civic 5mt and averaged 38mpg and the running cost were even cheaper than the prius by a sizeable margin! But just got tired of driving a total piece of crap. The prius is a lot nicer haha.

 

Not speaking for Hunter, but generally, for example:

good dependability,
one of the least polluting non-plug-ins,
very smooth, low maintenance automatic transmission,
good safety,
depending on model, tech and comfort features,
roomy and variable interior for a car of this mpg class,
(speaking only for myself) sleek, modern interior,
interesting technology
sneaking in late in EV mode.

 

My main point is for $60 more a year in gasoline cost you could buy a 2013 Ford Focus with the same size interior, similar electronics package with Ford sync, automatic, clean carfax, and only 70k miles.

 

My main point is for $60 more a year in gasoline cost you could buy a 2013 Ford Focus with the same size interior, similar electronics package with Ford sync, automatic, clean carfax, and only 70k miles.

 

I agree, Prius make a lot of sense if you're coming from a gas guzzler that uses 91/93 octane but if you already drive a civic, corolla or something it doesn't make a lot of sense. In my case I went from a 16 mpg M3 to a 45 mpg prius so the savings are around 150 bucks a month even though I don't drive a ton (250 miles a week).

 

if you don't drive daily, consider a battery maintainer.

 

it's a charger that keeps the 12v topped up without damaging it. auto parts stores, on line, they are easy to find and inexpensive. c-tek is one good company, around 70 bucks i think.
you can add a pigtail to your 12v, so you don't have to dig up the battery every night.
the prius has a double whammy; the 12v is very small, and the car continually drains it while it is off.

 

I seriously considered a Fit (and Civic and Corolla) before buying the Prius and did quite a bit of research. They were all very good cars, imo, but the Prius was in a different class with fuel economy.

Comparing 2010 models on Fuelly, the Fit averaged 32.8 mpg, the Civic averaged 30.4 mpg, and the Corolla averaged 30.3- while the 2010 Prius averaged 45.4 mpg. The Prius had an mpg increase of around 38% over the 2010 Fit, and 50% over both the Civic and Corolla.

The Prius mpg advantage with the Fit increased with the new models. In 2016, the new 4th gen Prius had increased it's fuel economy advantage over the 3rd gen Fit (53 mpg vs 35 mpg as per fuelly). To use a comparison, that percentage is similar to the mpg advantage the Fit had over the Pilot that year.

Toyota and Prius reliability was a clincher for me. In '16 and '17, CR ranked Toyota #2 in reliability (behind only Lexus), while Honda ranked #8 and #10.