Divorce Vehicle - Need Tips

I would recommend a Gen 3 Prius v (the "wagon") simply because it has the most room. High mileage units can have head gasket issues or, more likely, be oil burners so you'd need to stay on top of that. I wouldn't recommend anything over 10 years old simply for battery replacement concerns as that would be a high dollar repair.

You also want to check into 12v-120v inverters (don't go cheap here) so you run some small items, charge devices, etc.

GOOD LUCK!

 

The only other thing I can think to contribute:

Think carefully about how and where you register this car. You want to make certain you receive that mail. You don't want to see this thing impounded because of an overdue toll or parking violation. I'm not even sure what the best solution is- just something I'd be thinking about.

 

The biggest exposure of an older Prius is the battery. Most last about 10 years, regardless of mileage. $1000 will not get you a replacement battery that you can depend upon. If you can service the battery yourself and don't mind having the car disabled for weeks at a time, then replacing battery modules for $30 each can be done. But if you can't take the downtime, then new cells are the only way to keep it running. Best deal is $1600 for new cells, plus maybe $500 to have someone else install them. Your local friendly dealer will be happy to install a new battery for $2500 to $4500. General guidance is to budget $3000 for a new battery for any Prius over 10 years old. I have a friend who is still driving his 2002 Prius with the original battery, but that is rare. The big battery is still working, but he had to replace the 12V battery for over $300 (odd size that was only available at a dealer).

Another thing to watch out for with used Prius is the keyfob. Lose your last one and you're looking at $700 to get back on the road. If you only get one keyfob with a used Prius, be sure to get another one right away.

 

Have you thought of a van? Gutted out vans are cheap. My friend lived in a gutted out van for 2 years (willingly) in college. But you'll have to put away 1k-2k for solar/battery setup and your cold/hot will be good. You prob can't make mods the first year or so but just having an air mattress in the back should be good till you save up. AND it's closed out so you won't have people peaking at you while you sleep etc. And you can put a porta potty in there so THAT is a real convenience. Although you may not need solar setup if you use the buddy heater (propane) but you will def need a fan in the summer. He used regular fans the first year but put in a fantastic fan the second year.

If you're still going for a Prius I'd say 3rd gen Prius all the way. I'm bias but I've had zero issues in the 5 years I've had it other than me ripping the TPMS out on my own

 

Priuses are great cars....and we all love and respect them to greater or lesser degrees......but we would be bad people to recommend something for you that might leave you in a worse bind than you are already in.

So.....if you're committed to living the hobo life a la Prius, we're going to have to talk about what flavor and how much you want to kick over for one. I took the liberty of searching the cars for sale section of this forum, and unless you're wanting to fly out to Caly and drive one back.....you're out of luck, but I would recommend checking back there.
Also I concur with getting a used unit from a private seller who is wanting to get top dollar instead of trading in.
You might pay a little more than one of those "buy here - pay here" places, but you're going to want a car that's dependable and with a verifiable pedigree.

Start looking and let us know what you come up with.

 

You'll see the former cancel out the latter. I haven't had one of these long enough to suggest actual consumption figures, but you're planning on burning gas to stand still. Your MPG is going to be awful compared to other hybrids. Maybe even awful compared to other cars, I don't know with enough precision.

I was reading up on folks modifying their Priuses to supply emergency power to their homes- a topic of interest to me. I read a few accounts of people burning through a tank in 2-3 days. Granted, the load they presented was likely larger than onboard climate control, but it's something to think about.

On a related note, I would consider using fuel fill-ups as an indicator for oil changes. You'll be using the engine a lot without putting many miles on the car. Ignore the odometer and get the oil changed about every 15 fill-ups instead.

 

Yes the Prius is an excellent car for what you want to do. Most of the hesitation from others stems from wanting to buy a cheap vehicle on one of the models that are notoriously NOT cheap. They keep their value really well, and the cheap ones usually have an issue or two or ten. If this is your life on the line such as in a -30F winter, you want and need reliability not a vehicle with issues. That is true of any vehicle you purchase. The Prius is also very smart. It self diagnosis and prevents further damage quite a bit. In your case this may mean a failure occurs which causes the red triangle of death to illuminate and the car will not READY itself because there's a problem. In the -30F winter night, the last thing you want is the car protecting itself while you freeze to death. An "oldschool" car will generally run until the engine physically siezes, long after is billowing smoke and making terrible death noises. The Prius will protect itself at your detriment.

You being in an area where shelters exist and social networks exist, this may not be an issue. If the worst happens at the worst time, you could sleep in a McDonalds for the night.

Your question is what could go wrong in a Prius that's expensive. I would modify the question to what could go wrong on a Prius that couldn't go wrong on a "normal" car since that's the difference. You've already decided to live in a vehicle. A corolla or a Subaru wagon both have tons of ECUs just like the Prius that if any of them go wrong you're looking at $1000+. That's just the price of modern electronics.

A Prius has the 2 MG's which rarely if ever go bad in the Gen-2. That's a transaxle replacement, $1000-$2000. The inverter could die, also extremely rare on the Gen-2, more common but still very rare on the Gen-3. Dealer part is over $4k plus installation. Junkyard prices are a couple hundred plus installation. The elephant in the room is the hybrid traction battery. In your case, the car will get 8 hours a day every day of READY time to keep the battery happy. This is basically best case scenario. An old battery is more likely to fail the more it sits in rest. A new battery ranges between $1.6k to $3k depending on what battery and who's doing the work.

Things that the Prius doesn't have that would commonly fail in a high use vehicle would be a standard transmission, a starter motor, alternator, and even things like normal friction brakes. The Prius regen brakes will usually last 200k+ miles, the rotors will rust before the pads need replacing. The "transmission" in a Prius is a static geared planetary split device. No clutches or anything else, it just exists and is. Failure rate is basically nothing, that's why used prices are so low. It also uses MG1 to start the engine from the high voltage battery so no starter motor and no 12v battery not cranking. The Prius will crank in any temperatures as long as the aux battery is good.

A Gen-2 Prius can fit a twin sized mattress in the back with the seats folded down. So you can get an actual nights sleep if you keep with your materialistic minimalism. With the entire back filled with a mattress, you're only left behind the front seats in the footwell for storage and the passenger seat/footwell. A roof-mounted carrier might be a good idea for more storage since so much will be taken up by you and getting a good nights sleep.

I would recommend wiring a new accessory outlet in the back directly off the 12v battery instead of using the very thin wiring that goes to the cigarette lighter that is factory installed. Good to power a radar detector, not an inverter with laptop charging and phones and all that indefinitely.

The Prius does work excellently as a mobile power source and mobile climate control unit even while stationary. Yes it will put a strain on everything more than designed for, but that is true of every vehicle that isn't an RV style camper. Lots of vehicles will overheat if you have it sitting idle with the engine on for 8 hours or kill the 12v battery if you leave it idling for 8 hours because they need the airflow to cool off or the higher rpm's of driving to charge things.

With a total of $4k budget, you're going to be looking at some really dodgy vehicles. The good ones still command $6k with average miles, at least around here. In NJ I think that's a CARB state so you're looking at even higher prices as otherwise would-be-failed vehicles get warranty battery replacements longer and boost the value even higher.

 

running the cc all night is not harmful to the car, and you're right, prius is one of the few that makes a great camper, as well as mobile home and we've seen a number of people do it.

financially, it sounds like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place, so find the best one you can and go for it.
yes, on the whole, prius are extremely reliable, but we see the dark underbelly here all the time, and it makes some of us cautious in recommending to people with limited budgets.

no mechanic or dealer can tell you the car, including the hybrid battery won't breakdown tomorrow. they can only look for existing problems.
a good idea would be to find a local hybrid shop that understands prius if you can. for a once-over pre purchase, and any repairs after.

no, a rebuilt is not a suitable option and are iffy at best. a better plan is a new battery if you need one, and hopefully someone who can install it for under $2,500. all in.
rebuilt are only as good as the company warrantying them, and even that has its issues.

all the best!

 

From what I'm reading, your already stuck on buying a used Prius. If what you plan on buying is what you say above, then save money for a new high voltage battery replacement. No mechanic will be able to tell if it's in good shape unless they remove the battery, and disassemble it and test each cell one by one. So it's your gamble. But at a minimum take it to what Bisco above says - a hybrid shop, not just a mechanic.

I also read you were surprised as to why so many of us recommended against buying a used Prius. Again, what Bisco says above. It's hard to recommend them when people have limited budgets. So beware....

meh, from what I see around here I'd say it happens about as often or slightly less than say a transmission on any other car. But if it does happen, buy a new "used Prius".

Have you considered a Honda? If their High Voltage battery craps out, at least you can still operate the car. Bust out the support in the rear seats and make them flip down, instant leg room to sleep.

​