Should I still buy a Prius in wake of recall? At a reduced price?

Only you can determine if you should still buy a Prius. Many on the board are unphased by all this. Some believe it is the end of Toyota. Others will probably not buy another Toyota.

This "mess" is already affecting resale value. There are several threads addressing this. My 2006 has lost thousands in book value in less than 12 months between the price of gas falling and this recent "mess."

There has been anecdotal evidence here on the posts that some dealers are price dropping to regain sales. I don't believe there are official Toyota rebates as a result (haven't seen anything mentioned here about them).

 

I still love my car. I'm worried about Toyota's honesty and corporate culture; however, I still think the Prius is a very good car. If you were to shop and buy right now, make sure to drive a really hard bargain with the dealer. You can probably get a Prius for invoice and have a great selection. Good luck car shopping!

 

I think we all just discovered that their honesty and culture is about equal to all other companies: Enron, Worldcom, Lehman Bros, AIG, Chrysler, etc, etc, etc...

 

The Prius is an excellent family car! It looks good (IMHO), rides well, has more room than you'd think, and is very efficient in many ways. Make sure you drive one before you buy, though. If you're into the "feel" of driving, maybe another car would better suit you, though. But, the Prius is fun to drive in its own way, which includes trying for the best fuel economy...

With 0%/60-month financing currently offered, the "deal" is pretty sweet.

 

If you were happy with a Prius in November or December what changed? It's the same car. In this area Prius' were being offered for under invoice in January. Resale value isn't a consideration for me as I scrap cars, not sell them. As the TV commercials said: "If you can find a better car, buy it." and "May the best car win."

 

Am I ever torn on this question. I've had my heart set on a 2010, but even the Level 2 will be the most we've ever spent on a new car.
The mileage, space, fold down rear seat, greencar, and other reasons all in favor.

But I'm very concerned with how Toyota has handled this, worried that the resale will kill us down the road. And underneath it all, that there are issues Toyota either doesn't know or won't acknowledge about the acceleration and braking problems.

I'm often on bumpy road or dirt roads where braking could be an issue and the dealers here are giving a tad on price, but largely acting as if people are still lining up to buy a Prius.

Really torn and although I like Honda's and there is no comparison between a Civic and a Prius, my problems with whats going on could push me in the direction of a Honda.

 

It's just a software update, alleviating a behavior some of us never had any trouble with anyway. Now, the car is even better.

As for resale value, that's pointless. It totally depends on the rest of the market and the price of gas at the time. At $4 per gallon, demand & value would be high. But would you want to part with your hybrid then?
.

 

I'd still buy a Prius without hesitation. The brake problem should be out of the picture now, though it wouldn't hurt to wait a bit to be really sure. If resale prices are dropping, new prices ought to go down too.

But I won't say anything to talk you out of a Honda. After driving a faithful Accord hatchback for more than two decades, I really wanted the Insight to be a strong contender against the Prius. DW still won't part with her Acura of the same era. If another Honda works for you, don't apologize.

 

I've had my new II just under 2 months and 1850 miles...
1. I knew about the 'brakes issue from this forum back in November.
2. It was also the 'highest priced' new car I've ever purchased.
Everything else works just fine ... it's got its little quirks, but I wanted a change from my small suv .... and the Prius was the perfect choice.
The 50mpg concept is incredible, although I'm averaging 48.25 to date on my fill-up calculations (computer at 50.75mpg).
Bart in SoCAL

 

if you can name a car you are absolutely, positively sure you won't have a problem with, i'd say buy it. otherwise, the prius is as good a choice and probably better than most for 99.999999999% of owners.

 

Try owning a Hyundai if you care about resale...

 

To all of those who think you can get a GREAT deal on a Prius right now you are dreaming. Depending on where you live, the most you could get off is maybe $500-1000. 0.0% APR, fine. Sure dealers are hurting by about ~15% at most, but they're not stupid. They won't give away these cars for free. And when consumer interest creeps back up like it is now, prices will be back where they were before. Supply and demand.

As for resell value, that is completely useless unless you are planning to sell your Prius immediately or you are so broke that the liquid value actually matters to you. Sure the Prius will take a temporary dip and permanant hit in blue book value, but only in hundreds (-$500 I believe from KBB for a car that is recalled) - but not thousands of dollars as one 2006 owner said in this thread. Guess what, it's an old car, maybe that's why it's worth "thousands less" than when you bought it. Welcome to everybody elses world.

 

I would say 'BUY'.

 

Armed with a lot of research and competitive offers, I purchased a 2010 Prius II yesterday for well under invoice. The three local dealers were aggressive, one even offering 3 years of complementary routine service. When I had decided on a particular dealer and went in to haggle, I was surprised to find two other customers interested in purchasing Prius' (don't know if they were serious or just looking). Talked to them for a while, and got the sense that, although customers are not buying models affected with the accelerator issue, there is a feeling out there that the Prius issue is partly a perception problem and is not that critical. Prius sales may be picking up (and so are gas prices here). So I made the plunge. No regrets.

 

Over here in the UK, the trade-in value of secondhand Prius has definitely dropped since the recalls. I think that this will be temporary unless there are further issues that affect consumer confidence.
My experience with my Gen 2 is that it is an excellent product with some quirks that make it interesting - for sure the engineering is superb. Prius is a particularly good car to buy and keep for longer than 3 years IMHO. It is also one of the most reliable cars in the world.
You should only buy any car if you like it with your heart and your head!

 

I just sold my 2000 Ford Focus for $150 to metal scrap yard that had a tow truck. Here is hoping the Prius last longer than 10 years, 114678 miles.

I am sure the Prius will last longer than that. Just to provide some comfort for you, I am taking a 4 1/2 hour train ride to buy a Prius III from out of state because it is the exact color exterior and interior that I want. It helps that I am buying it for well negotiated the price down to well under invoice at $22150 +plus tax and dmv.

Look at it this way. When everyone was buying houses, they feel screwed now when prices are down. When everyone was invested in worthless paper, they feel screwed now.

Be ahead of the curve and fearless. Prices are so low right now that a rebate would just make the inventory dry up with people who waited on the sideline finally pulling the trigger.

In another note, expect pictures of my new prius tonight.....

 

We have not experienced the braking problem and the Prius is not part of the acceleration recalls. I had them do the brake software update when I took it in for the 5k service.

We like the car a lot. Plenty of room, comfortable, good ride, decent handling, sufficient power, and 50 mpg. We were originally looking for a Camry hybrid to trade our Jeep on in C4C. There were no Camrys available and we got the last Prius on a local lot. I think maybe we lucked out having to "settle" for the Prius.

 

I bought a Prius III for $22,850—under invoice price. They were trying to sell the car for $24,350 to me before we even started the negotiation process. Took me about 1.5 hrs to get to that price. And at 3.9% for 60 months, which isn't bad for the current market (not just talking about Toyota).

 

I have to agree. Am in the market for a Prius V/ATP and the dealers are certainly not about to take a loss on it. The best I could do is about $1,000 off MSRP and that's only after shopping around.

To the other poster who claimed his Prius III at $22k was under-invoice, I'm surprised because the MSRP is already at $23,800...

Here I was all excited with the negative publicity to get a steal, but so far, nobody's biting.