Advice on 2012 Prius Plug in

I've called on one of our long service posters on PC who has a pip. @bisco. Can you offer advice please?

 

welcome!

that's a tough one, because we can't decipher that any better than you can. it could be that the former owner had oil changes done after 2015 at home or non dealer which wouldn't be reported.

who is selling it? did you car fax? test drive?

 

Welcome!

That doesn't mean it wasn't serviced. Just that a Toyota dealer didn't do it. Second owner could well be an enthusiast like many of us who won't let anyone else monkey with their car. ... Or it may have been neglected. If you go see the car and talk to the owner, you might see some signs of one or the other. (Garage full of tools, etc.)

Apparently the first owner didn't know how to drive.

Perhaps the Instavin data is not up to date? Just guessing.

It's hard to say if it's a good find or not, but it looks fairly promising other than that it's probably seen a lot of road salt. If you can take it for a test drive with a fully charged battery that should give you an idea how it's doing. Best case scenario for one that broken in would probably be about 12 miles in EV mode in nice weather on city streets. Much less on the highway.

 

since you will be talking to the owner, i would ask him about the missing maintenance (and if he has records) and about the registration. maybe he bought a prime. (lucky dog!)

make sure he has 2 working fobs, a charging cable and cargo cover, and test everything. follow jerry's advice above on charging and ev test drive.

the fob buttons should all work, the driver and passenger doors and hatch should all unlock when you touch the handles and the car should start with the fob in your pocket.

 

I am looking to get a 2012 plug in for better gas millage if this is possible. I had a 2009 and it got totaled. Because the 2012 is a plug-in, will I get more miles per full tank of gas or will I get about the same as my 2009 Touring, right around 45mpg (400 miles per tank)? I commute a lot and I am trying to get the most miles per tank as I can in my price range.

 

That's going to depend a great deal on the length of your commute. If you're driving mostly in hybrid mode because you use up the battery early in the drive, don't expect a lot. The PiP's gas tank is 10.6 gallons but the Gen 3 tank is 11.9 gallons. My commute is 9.4 miles each way and I get to charge at work. I have quite a few errands that go beyond battery range. My tanks when I had a PiP usually took me 800-1,100 miles.

 

not likely. the pip is good when you can drive ev short distances for errands. other than that, you're just toting around a boat anchor and no spare tire.
a 2014 or 15 non plug in prius is your best bet for mpg's, or gen 4 if you can afford it.

familiarize yourself with the egr clogging.blown head gasket problems on gen 3 before purchasing.

mpg's are the last thing on my list with gas so cheap for the foreseeable future.

 

+1 to that. Especially the Gen 4. We just upgraded my wife from a 2007 (Gen 2) to a 2017 (Gen 4). She had been getting in the high 300s for a tank. She's still on her first tank with the '17. Looks like she'll get close to 500 miles. We drove it last night to a meeting 20 miles away. If got over 62 mpg. The old car would have been more like 52 at best. And the new one is WAY WAY WAY nicer to drive, even compared to a Gen 3.