Potential New Prius Owner

you'd have to read through all the threads. check out @Kaptainkid1

 

If you’re going to be parking it on the street at night, or your local DAs name rhymes with George Gascon a G2 Prius would be a hard pass for me.
I like the fact that its reputed to have had biannual maintenance, and the G2 that you’re looking at is probably a great 15 year old car - but it’s STILL a 15-year-old car.

Offer them $8500 in cash.
If you cannot write a check for the car and again for a $1500 battery replacement or a $1500 catalytic converter replacement then I’d consider a Corolla instead.

Good Luck!
Let us know what you decide!!

 

Or consider a much newer PHEV or even full EV depending on your circumstances, without the Toyota price premium but with the simplicity and maintenance costs of a mostly EV drivetrain. Some of them depreciate much faster than Toyotas, so it's possible you could get a much newer 2015-2017 PHEV/EV for $10k-ish.

 

Hi. I own 2 08 Prius. Bought white one with 53k and bought red one with 58k. Paid $6800 average for them. This was 2 years ago. Now have 101k and 108k on them. Had to do some work as with any car but would do it again in a heartbeat. We drive 100 miles a day on weekdays so saving gas is super important. I do all the oil changes, fluid replacement and tire rotations myself so that saves even more. We love them. If the interior dash plastics are not dryer out and cracked and the interior is sound I would offer $8,500 as well. With gas at $3.25 a gallon up to $5.00 a gallon in Cali you will save $10-$20 a fill up over a conventional car. The airbags, hatchback design for groceries and mechanical engineering makes our Prii great transportation choices. Especially now that they are both paid off. We have 1k in reserve for repairs but only dipped into it for tires over the past 2 years.
When we buy again I’m going for a Gen 3 2012 or newer. But that plan hopefully won’t be needed for 4-6 more years.
Park in a garage at night if you can. We have security cameras, 3 of them, dogs and motion lights so so far we haven’t had any security issues.
Best of luck. Keep us posted.

 

Sounds like a peach. But I think the asking is rather high.

Additionally, I wouldn't touch a car of that age with so few miles. Cars don't like to sit, and especially the Prius. So while it's intuitive to seek a low mileage car, do so within reason. And keep in mind as you look specifically at the Prius, that these little cars go a long time, so don't be put off by the ones with some miles on them.

 

I’m pretty sure hybrid batteries don’t like to sit, which is obviously a legitimate concern when buying an older Prius with low miles. In my case I think it will be an issue I’ll have to contend with in the next few years. But I’m not sure it’s bad for the car itself to be used infrequently if it has been properly maintained. It makes me smile when I see my oil still a lovely shade of caramel when I check it just before it’s due for a change.

 

Link?

 

i would have to search, but there are posts here first hand experiences

 

OK. No problem. I thought that it might be an article that you read.

 

catalytic-convertor-stolen-even-with-cat-shield.224168

there are others

 

congrats!
the heat, plus 11 more years of battery degradation compared to the rav, plus the tech improvements.

can't really compare them.

all the best!

 

Funny you should ask this question now. I just went out to the car and it looks like a dead battery. No lights, Beeps, or life of any kind. I purchased this car 1 year ago in May. 12V was strong but I have not had that checked in a long long time. This car is a 09 both original batteries.

 

Car prices now are so high it’s ridiculous. For a 2008 Prius with low miles and a complete service record like you described, I would recommend buying it if you can. Obviously negotiate down if possible.

Aside from maintenance and common replacement items (tires, 12v battery, brakes, etc), the most likely expensive repairs you may have to face are the catalytic converter if it gets stolen (a protection shield is highly recommended) the headlights if it has high intensity bulbs (replacing them is surprisingly pricey and they tend to fail more often than the normal bulbs), and the multifunction display failing.

Everybody talks about the high voltage battery, and records are patchy, but from the research I did when I bought my 2009 Prius 4 and a half years ago, less than 1% of HV batteries die before they’re 10 years old or have driven 100,000 miles, around 3% of HV batteries die between 10-15 years old and with an average of around 150,000 miles, and 1st gen Prii had roughly 10% of batteries fail at 15 years old or more with roughly the same average mileage (150k), although some 1st and 2nd gen battery failures were from cars that had gone over 300,000 miles.

So based on the research I did when I got my car, you are less likely to run into an HV battery problem than the other potential expensive repairs I mentioned. On mine, I had to replace the radiator when it got a leak, brakes and rotors, a few minor things, and the catalytic converter when it got stolen (twice).

 

Now that you have purchased the car, I'd do a full recondition on the hybrid vehicle (HV) battery and then call that done for another 100,000 miles. There are some CA-based members that might be able to help you out with that.

Otherwise, I see no problems with the car for quite some time.