Contemplating a 2016-2018

welcome!
what is your budget?
my advice would be a 2016 or newer. before that is problems.

but beware: prius like to be driven. if you don't drive much, they are a very expensive way to save gasoline, and sitting around causes problems non hybrids do not face.

all the best!

 

One thing the “all the bells and whistles” levels delete, is the spare, if that matters. You can find PDFs of the brochures online.

 

We love our new-to-us 2017 (Gen 4) Prius trim level three. It has pretty much everything except the parking assist (meh - I grew up in Chicago - parallel parking is in my DNA) and the Blind Spot Monitoring. Oh - no rain-sensitive wipers. It does have the Entune radio/navigation system - which is great. No HUD though - again - meh - the dash is quite extensive without the HUD.

Had ~65K on it when we bought it two months ago for about $19K Had a new set of tires, new 12v battery, very clean. It's "Midnight Black Metallic" with a black interior - which isn't great for Texas - but it's what was available.

I can get up to about 62mpg on my daily commute (about 8 miles each way) and our typical trips are ~50 miles at least once weekly and a couple of 800-mile round trips monthly. Highway cruising at ~75mph still gives better than 50MPG - which is about 2 to 2-1/2 times the MPG our other vehicle gets.

I love the "tech" of the car. I still haven't tweaked the programming with Carista, but plan to. The car is quite comfortable for long trips. In spite of some reviews, I find the car to be very quiet - except on our rough-surfaced roads here - which are noisy in ANY car with high tire pressure.

We bought a new-er SDRam chip for the nav system ($35 from Amazon), a rolling style cargo cover ($85 from Amazon) and the rear bumper protector ($62 from PriusChat shop)

We like the car very much. I hadn't planned on a hybrid, but if you're going for mileage, it's about impossible to beat.

 

OK - previous question - Not sure which trim levels include which spare, but our trim level three has a space saver spare. I prefer a full-size spare, but am content with this one. I commented in a different post that if you keep good tires on your car, you rarely need a spare anyway.

Parking assist AFAIK is an array of sonar sensors on the car that help you park by letting you know how close you're getting. It may have some other prompts as well to tell you when to turn, etc. Someone with that feature would be better positioned to describe it.

BSM - Blind Spot Monitoring does use the sideview mirrors to alert the driver to cars in their blind spot - I believe it is couples to sensors that can also alert you to crossing traffic if you're backing out of a parking spot.

HUD is "Heads-Up Display" where the speedometer and a few other things are projected onto the windshield in front of the driver. Like a fighter plane. I'm sure some folks love it, but to me it's more of a "Oh cool!" kinda thing to impress your friends with than a practical thing. Sure, you technically don't have to take your eyes off the road, but you DO have to change your focus from distant to near to see it clearly -and that may be a bigger disadvantage than the alternative. The dash display on the Gen 4 cars is pretty detailed and I don't see the need for the HUD.

The SDRam chip is for the navigation system. Roads change every so often (daily, it seems here in Texas) so a 5 year old car will have a five year old map unless you buy a new "chip". The dealers get over $200 for them. You can find OEM ones from online dealers for about $150. You can find them on Amazon or eBay for $30-$35 - but folks here have had mixed results with how "fresh" they were. Mine was great for $35.

As for the car you're looking for and the price - ours was about $19K for a 2017 with 65K on the clock and in pretty clean shape. That seems to be what they're going for if you look at "Carvana" and "trueCar" says that what we got was a "good deal". How many miles and how "clean" the car is (dents, scratches, fading, stains on the seats, worn carpets, etc) will dictate the price.

If you can find a "Toyota Certified Pre-Owned" you'll likely get a bit of a warranty as well - though you'll pay more for that, and it's only available on cars with less than 65,000 miles. I couldn't find any.

 

A diamond for the price of sand.... Yeah - I had optimism at one point as well.

As others have said - the used car market is crazy right now for a couple of reasons.

When I started my search, I was hoping to find something reliable for "a couple of thousand dollars" - which was already more than I wanted to spend. I didn't find anything.

But - now I actually have a car that is worth washing and waxing, and the windows go up and down without falling off the track. I tend to buy very-used cars and keep them until there's nothing left to repair.

Even though I - for the first time in several decades - have a car payment again, according to the agencies that value vehicles - my Prius has gone up in value since I bought it. So than and my aggressive payment schedule has me owing less than the car is worth - which is nice.

 

Or just stick with your current ride, till you've got the $'s? Considering:

 

My 2016 had no engine troubles. I believe that the engine change was before 2016 as you will not find problems in Gen4 engines or Gen2, only Gen3 (2010-2015).

Jeffd

 

That's why I bought a Model "3" in 2016. It had a spare. My 2020 AWDe did not come with a spare (The rear drive electronics use that space) so I keep the donut from my 2016 behind the driver's seat. I have had to use the donut three times in the last 5 years and getting towed (often to an unfamiliar repair station) can significantly impact travel plans.

JeffD

 

Gen 2 was 1.5 liter engine, ended in model year 2009. Gen 3 and 4 have essentially the same 1.8 liter engine (shared with Corolla, albeit with a few diff's: starter motor added, maybe different cam profiles). Gen 4 engine does have some "tweaks", coolant passages revised, for example, but nothing like a displacement change, and for sure no change in 2018.

 

Good time to sell.
BAD time to buy.

Trading in isn't selling.

Good Luck!