Planning to buy 2013 Toyota Prius 5 w/ 119k miles for around $9k. Help!

You should never buy any used car that is at the "top of your budget". Nobody knows when something will need replacement or repair. If you can't even find it in your budget to "get an expert to check it", then you should pass on it and get something that leaves you some breathing room in case the unexpected happens.

 

welcome!
who is selling the car?
120k is the magic number for prius maintenanc. if you don't want to do any for the next 30k, make sure it is up to date thru 120k.
no one can tell you when the head gasket will blow, if ever. the egr system should be cleaned though, so you need a grand for that right there.
if it does blow, figure another few grand.
also, it could be an oil burner. no way to check that, that i know of.
is michigan a carb state? if not, the hybrid battery warranty is already up. another 3k for that.

would a regular gasser work for you?

 

check the 120,000 mile maintenance list, saving gas cost a lot of money.

 

Humm... There is a guy near you that was getting ready to sell a clunker with 118k earlier this week.... now here you are asking for advice on a car with 119k....
Smoked once | PriusChat

 

If you can't afford to have it checked out first? You really should pass on it. And even at that I doubt they would pull parts of to check for slug? The whole EGR bit. But if you get it you should plan for doing that bit. And there have been inventers recall's, but those seem kind of random?

Other than that I would speculate, that dumping the cars between 90 to 120000 miles is not uncommon? Right before real maintenance is required and it's nothing the dealer will do. But those in the know that still want to do next nothing, would tend to bail while the perceived value is still high.

That said heck, I'd buy one but not at that price. And have no issues attacking a car I just bought with tool's and stuff ... to make them better, most of the time.

 

I’ve seen that before on here!!! Some feller dumped gasket sealer and sold it to carmax. Another feller bought a car from carmax and said the previous owner must have dumped at-20. Everyone said go vinegar and water. Gives me an idea, I’ll
post mine with 65 mpg average for the Last couple of years. Whoever sees it for sale should post on here and question the legitimacy of the 65 mpg average claim that if it’s too good to be true ha!

 

Are you willing to DIY the Exhaust Gas Recirculation and intake? If you can manage that, and it’ll be near-zero expenditure, you’ll VERY likely dodge head gasket failure: clogged EGR and head gasket failure (HGF) are bosom buddies.

info:

Bad Flywheel | PriusChat

 

that’s insanity!!! said a pc user here that goes by the initials of j b.

 

Jim Beam? Jim Backus? Jack Black? James Bond? John Brown?

 

left out the busiest man in show business.

 

@BigTimeBurrito check out the link in post #8

 

Hmm I missed it the first time but you don't plan to replace the Head Gasket, when buying a car? Unless the seller tells you the head gasket is blown and it's blowing white smoke?

Now with a Gen 3 "you might need," to do that but it is not given. A compression test before you buy it, should tell you if something is? The point of the OCC and cleaning the EGR system , is to prevent the Head Gasket from failing. If the compression is low on a cylinder? Then an adjustment should be made in the price.

And much to my surprise I did see on Auto Trade a few Gen 3's with 200,000 miles on them? Now I don't know if those owner's did the EGR thing but it does say that if you take care of them, they can last.

 

I don't know if he was the busiest man in show business but I know he did not Drink the Kool Aid...