Hi all, Noob here. I’m getting ready to pull the trigger here on a used 2010 Prius with 89k miles. As the title suggest I’m trading in my 2012 Subie WRX Premium. My question and concern is about the two Prius’ I’m looking at is they both are two owner vehicles. My Subie is the same so I’m the third owner. Zero problems with it mechanically. Looking at the carfax’s histories for the Prius’ however both were maintained normally. Obviously a one owner vehicle might be better than a two owner? Also, is there anything I need that’ll help me determine how much battery is left on the hybrid battery? (Noob question maybe, sorry). Since I live in CA is the battery warrantied up to 150k miles? I read that online not sure if true. Thanks all! Blaze
welcome! first thing to be aware of is the egr circuit/oil burning/head gasket issues around 100k. search here for lots of info and experience. the battery is warranted for 10 years or 150k in cali, whichever comes first. so set aside 2-3k just in case. all the best!
Make sure your daily drive commute is more than 5 miles, any single trip shorter than that, WRX will be better.
If the Prius was initially sold in CARB state and is currently registered in one, yes, 150,000 miles or 10 years whichever comes first.
With an OBDII bluetooth adapter and a Dr. Prius app you can do a test of battery health including an estimate of battery capacity remaining. I would do that before buying any used Prius. I have a 2010 Prius with 96,000 miles and therefore similar to what you are considering. A recent Dr. Prius test showed 83% battery capacity and no bad modules. If the one you test shows similar results, you are good to go. How long do you hope to keep it and how many miles per year? I'm also curious about what the seller is asking.
Switching form 2012 Subaru WRX Premium to 2010 Prius? You will hate the driving experience, but love the mpg. Otherwise both vehicles are high up on the reliability chart...but they're different monsters. Be advised, the 2015 was the better/best version of the GEN III's if you go used Prius. I had/have both.
What is your budget? I'd be more interested in a 2011 or 2012 with higher miles (but comfortably less than 150k miles), over a 2010 with a very low 89k miles. If you don't have a battery replacement budgeted, try to find a Prius that will give you 2+ years of hybrid battery warranty coverage. Plus, the 2010 seems to have more engine issues.
The warm up stages. It takes me 5 city miles to even get up to 150 F on ICE. You won't burn gas efficiently with low engine temps and ICE will continue to spin up while driving taking up more gas than it would be when at operating temps. By the time you get to your destination, you used the equivalent amount of gas like a regular car, you'll suffer even more during winters. Then ICE will carbon up even faster because gasoline ain't burnin / fully combusted in the cylinders so you get oil dilution. There are many threads about this.
My point is that you go through the same thing on a WRX/regular car. I had a modified Lancer Evolution (think: way faster than any stock WRX) and it would take about the same amount of distance to warm up (I suppose I could have driven the crap out of it from cold so the turbo heats to oil, but that probably would have further shortened the engine's life). Actually, a good example of the exact same thing happening is with the new Honda Civic 1.5T engines. In cold climates where the engine doesn't warm sufficiently, oil dilution occurs. I just don't find this line of reasoning particularly persuasive in explaining why the WRX will be better.
