Gen 2 or Gen 3?

1) Vehicle Title will list that info.
2) Enter the VIN on Toyota.com/owners
3) The certification label (courtesy of an image search) is in the driver's side door jamb.
Notice the manufacture date of 12/1996 (top right corner)? This vehicle is most likely a 1997 model year, despite being made in 12/1996. How/Why? Manufactures typically introduce next years model in the Fall of the current year. 2020 model year Toyota's will be introduced and manufactured, starting in the Fall of 2019 (Sep-Dec/2019). Sometimes manufactures introduce next years model before the Fall window, but that is rare.


Gen2 (2nd Generation) = MY (Model Year) 2004-2009
Gen3 (3rd Generation) = MY 2010-2015
Gen4 = MY 2016- likley 2021

Do you see the five year pattern? Many auto manufactures, not all, have this same five year production time frame.

You tell us what Generation your Prius is.

 

hi jason, welcome to priuschat, and congratulations! you have the last year of the 2nd generation prius.

great year, i'm sure you'll be very happy.

tell us all about it. all the best!

 

Try this. It has photos. An easy way for a non-car person to tell the difference would be by comparing the headlights or counting spokes on the rims. If someone were to ask me, I would reply 100% of the time that a 2009 is a Gen 2 model. Without being there to look at it....you just never know...

Toyota Prius - Wikipedia

 

Gen 3’s have semi squared off rear bumpers. Gen 2’s have rounded ones.
That’s how I tell.

 

There is no actual time or date that the battery will start having problems. It just happens when it happens. Low mileage Prius do have a habit of having battery problems early. I would start saving up for a new battery if I were you. Or at least checking out your options.

 

The California warranty of 150k or 10 years, gives you a good idea of how long the battery will probably last. Both time and mileage take their toll on the battery. So the warranty is a good guideline.

 

You have assumed correctly !!

 

That’s the same kind of question as asking when is the engine going to fail. Nobody knows. Statistically, roughly 3% of second generation Prius traction batteries fail at some point after approximately 10 years or more. If you keep the car until it dies or a very expensive repair comes up, that repair could be a fault with the multi-function display, or the engine, transmission, inverter, or the traction battery. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The battery is meant to last the life of the car.

 

2010s (Gen3) began appearing on the car lots that month, and that is when I ordered my first Prius, a 2010. I received it the next month.

But your pics are very clearly of a Gen2. Thus, yours is among the very last of the 2009s, so it should have the fewest bugs of the entire model run.

 

Gen 2 all the way unless it's a 2015. The 2009 is supposed to be the best of the Gen 2's, congrats.

What did you pay for the best?

 

This is where some confusion can come from: in USA, a 2009 is the last model year of the Gen2 while in many other parts of the world, 2009 was the first model year of the Gen3. The USA would not get the Gen 3 till the 2010 model year.

 

The Gen3-2010 was revealed in the U.S. in February or March 2009, was being delivered to customers in May 2009, I brought mine home in June 2009.

In places where the car is labeled by actual year of manufacture, such as in the UK and Australia, both the last Gen2s and the first Gen3s did carry the same 2009 designation.

 

Yeah I should have said "2010 model year"; edited now.

 

You have a gen 2. Enjoy, it is IMHO the best version.