Considering 2008 Prius with rust spots on rocker panel

It should make you more than a little nervous. Rust is car cancer and you will never get rid of it.

One word -- AVOID.

 

that's the worst i have ever seen. i would at least have it inspected by a good body shop before making a decision.

 

130,000 miles is just about the mark I had to put a new brake actuator and front wheel bearings on our 2008 Prius.

They are nice cars and very economical to operate but I would make sure I was prepared for what could go wrong with a 12 year old car at this mileage.

Potential problem areas- 3 way coolant valve-brake actuator- wheel bearings- Hybrid battery- 12v battery.

Considering the rust showing on the rockers changing out wheel bearing on this vehicle if they have never been changed before is going to be a potential nightmare separating the knuckle from the bearing hub assembly.

 

If rocker panels rotted the front suspension is probably really bad.

looking for a used car in Wisconsin first thing I’m going to do is get on the ground and look under the front and back of the car.
Closely.
People seem to get attached to a G2 there very reliably and most people don’t even open the hood ever especially if there taking the car to the dealer for an oil change. Which sure doesn’t help.

 

That's a pretty common sight on Gen 2s in my area and nowhere near the worst I have seen. It happened to our 2005 and we had it fixed for about 200 dollars to pass safety inspection. At least around here it is not an indication of a totally rusted out car. The rest of our car is original and still in good shape. All of the original suspension components are not rusted out, and wheel bearings are not impossible to change.

They patched the perforated areas on our rockers with metal and hid the seams with a textured rocker guard and white paint that did not quite match the car(most cars around here with the repair just have the rockers painted black). Even though it is only a bodge repair you would only notice it if you were looking for it, and I am pretty confident it will outlast the car. Battery failure will be the end for this car, but who knows when that will happen. 280000 km and almost 16 years old so could be any day I suppose. The batteries seem to do better in cold climates at least.

You should definitely look at the underside of it on a hoist before you buy it. The other problem areas that are common around here are behind the mud-flaps on the front fenders, the fuel tank straps, and the rear axle. The rear end will likely rusty from the inside out if rear seam leaks have not been fixed. The rest of the car seems to hold up very well against corrosion.
We keep ours undercoated to slow the rust progression. Our 2008 does not have any of these problems because we had it thoroughly undercoated when it was almost new. We got the 2005 used, so it was a little later getting undercoated.