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

DON'T GO FOR THE MIRAGE!!! That car is a piece of $#%@!

Have you seen these car reviews about the Mirage lately?

Their Headline for the C&D review is "Sad Trombone." lol

If you don't drive much, look for an older Nissan Leaf. Ex-rental cars are like a step of from salvaged. Who knows what the renters did to the car? They could have bashed the wheels into a bunch of curbs and knocked the wheels out of alignment.

The 2008 Prius might be a good choice (new battery?), but a Honda Civic would probably be much better in the long term. Back in 2009, I almost got a 2009 Civic EX-L. Nice car, fun to drive, reliable, fuel efficient.

 

It's a stalemate. Your choosing between a young 2 year old vehicle with a flaky tranny vs. a reliable 8 year old vehicle with an aging battery.

The problem with the Mitsu is its CVT (it's rental so most likely CVT). You have to be anal in maintaining the tranny fluid. It has to be changed strictly at the specified interval (if I remember right every 30k), and you have to make sure there are no contaminants in there. Otherwise it will disintegrate early. Unfortunately tranny oil change is expensive to have replaced in the dealers, so you will have to do it yourself. There are youtube of mitsus having difficulty climbing hills due to CVT problems. I read the problem seems to be a flaky solenoid. Unfortunately, the CVT is not serviceable. The whole unit has to be replaced and costs around as much as a new OEM battery for a Prius. So there, your choice is a wash.

A 2 year old stick shift Mirage would win hands down over an 8 year old Prius.

 

So I wonder what happened? In any case, isn't the failure rate of the hybrid battery pretty low - like 3-15%? Does low mileage offset age at all? I love the Prius as a car and feel optimistic when I read the 200K, 300K threads. Then I get scared when I read these threads that seem to doom any older Prii. The Gen II hold their resale value pretty well in my area, and people in the high mileage threads swear by them. But I know some of you are extremely knowledgeable and have a ton of experience with these cars and seem to feel otherwise. I end up torn between loving my 2007 and 2008 and then worrying I should have gotten something else where I don't have the hybrid battery worry hanging over my head. I appreciate seeing the description of how a healthy hybrid battery tends toward being a bit slower to recharge, knowing also these can just go out with no warning. It seems like if there was a pronounced risk of the hybrid battery dying that resale value would be lower. I'm currently shopping for a used Hyundia Elantra for my step-daughter (2011-2013 range) and wonder why those never get mentioned as a possible alternative, being a safe and reliable used car.

 

10 year mark? There are plenty of cars going strong at 15 years on the same battery.

 

Nissan Versa can be had new for like $10k if I am not mistaken. You get a new car and new car warranty.

 

I'm confused. My battery usually on the highway stays middle or higher in the gauge. But utilizing the coasting technique or downhill grades can give all green quite often. It rarely gets 2 bars unless I idle for prolong periods, but the ice cycles on and off as needed. I average 45.8 mpg. Are you saying too much green is indicative weakness in the battery?

 

I'm a former Versa owner (sold ours in 2011) and I still participate in some Nissan forums.The Versa is no longer priced that low. The basic car is now $11k+ and very cheap when it comes amenities. It's not a particularly enjoyable car to drive. Road & Track 's review includes, "If you like to drive, keep shopping" and "the Versa has insultingly flimsy materials."

With it you also get horrible corporate support from Nissan North America. They are clueless.

There are multiple reasons the Versa is near the top of the list of cars dumped the most quickly after purchased.

 

The soc meter measures the strongest and weakest block on the battery. So too much green sometimes can mean a block is charging too quickly, indicative of a weaker block

 

Versa's are extremely cheap here on the used car market, and Nissan doesn't seem to hold much resale value in general. I had a 2000 Sentra that was boring but nice interior and reliable, except for paint, which was terrible. Any opinions on used Elantra's? They got my attention by being Edmunds.com perennial choice for best used car in their category.

 

Yes but it's just one sign. I got a new Toyota battery and seeing green bars is rare now yet the car is more "peppy". Start planning now if you haven't already. Rapid up/down cycling on the SOC meter is a sign of impending failure. Then, the dash christmas tree of lights and turtle mode is the final, undeniable sign.

Battery performance is a lot like brakes or suspension in that the degradation is so gradual over the years that we don't notice the lower performance till the end (it breaks).

 

As per CR, stay away from the '11 model year, as that was the first year and had some transmission and suspension problems. The '12-'13 Elantras seem reliable and as a used car verdict, received an average score from CR.

Meanwhile, the Honda Fit was rated much better than average for the '12-'13 models, the Civic was above average, and the Corolla was above average to much better than average.

 

Thank you for the info. @MelonPrius!! I think the Fit is adorable and fun to drive myself. I'll try to get her to consider those options.

 

Just a note: I always get more green battery bars in winter, as I am running the engine for heat and a byproduct of that is electricity. Come spring, that greenery goes away as my heating season ends.

 

I nearly purchased a preowned Fit before buying my Prius a year ago. The best feature of the Fit is that it has a ton of usable cargo space. The downside is that the automatic transmission didn't get the CVT until the 3rd generation in '15, IIRC. With those small engines, keeping the revs low at highway speeds makes a big difference.

 

Researching the Consumer Reports database now. Thanks for idea.

 

That's why I posted the question earlier. Since fall/winter started, I'm seeing more green than during summer. And yes, I've been running the heater more often.

 

But even taking the modules out to test for OCV does not actually tell you the state of health of your battery pack.

Voltage readings doesn't give that "health status$ you're talking about your battery.

Asides the battery pack, lots of things contributes to a car's MPV improvements.


Dxta

 

Yes, heater use brings on more green but OTOH an older battery also has less capacity so it's quicker to reach the green zone. Again, loss is such a gradual process that it's very hard to tell what's going on without meaningful information (data from techstream, torque pro, etc) until the end.

 

My daughters 09 is doing the same thing with more green since the weather got cold. I highly doubt both packs are beginning to fail. I going to be optimistic and blame weather and heater use.

 

Oh most definitely!

I can also vouch for this: Even a brand new (6 months actually) Toyota battery saw a lot of GREEN BARS on this CRAZY south Texas morning!!!!