Any recommendations/advices I should look for when shopping around for a used Prius? My budget is $15k or less. I had a 2012 Prius before and it drove great. Traded the car in last year and clocked 144k miles on it. Now I am back in the market for one. The car will be for short term. Planning to keep it for at least 3 years. Should I be looking at cars with certain amount of miles vs how old the hybrid battery is? For example: I am currently looking at 2 Prius’s. 1. 2008 Prius Five with 108k miles 2. 2015 Prius Two with 170k miles
Gen 3 before 2015 have head gasket issues more than they should, I would try to avoid 2010 to 2014. ( My 2012 has given me no issues)
You should runs the #s - if you can find a Prime at MSRP, and qualify for the $4502 federal tax credit, plus any state/local/utility rebates/credits, you'd be better off. When you go to sell it in 3 years, the incentives will have offset the depreciation. Caveats - have to find a Prime at MSRP (LE model is best value) and have to be able to use the entire tax credit (meaning you have at least $4502 in federal tax liability for 2022) Finance it with DCU at 1.24% After 3 years, I think this would be the cheapest TCO (total cost ownership) even vs $15k used Prius' at "half" the cost.
Yup but as with most things in life, “within reason” of course. Worn out suspensions and brakes are very expensive to fix and too much labor for most folks to attempt a DIY.
