Would you buy a used Prius (07-09)

:welcome: 99.9% of the time, great investment and no problem at the end of your loan. every once in a while you get an out of warranty repair (like any car) but on prius, it could be expensive. all the best!

 

I bought a 2006/01 Prius 75k-mi in 2011/10. No problem since. 750mi with last tank.

My main problem is that the noise depends more on the acceleration than on the speed and so I can't say at which speed I'm driving while I could do so with my old polluting diesel; but I won't go back.

The battery is guaranteed 8 years/100k-mi, so I have more than 2 years of tranquility. There are several stories of 200+k-mi Prius.

Have fun,

Denis.

 

Buy new, the battery is guaranteed for a long time, but if you have to finance for 72 months or longer, you can't afford the car, buy used.

 

You damn writes I would buy one!!! Great FE car. Don't hesitate! Hal

 

Certain repairs can be expensive but are rare as this is one of the best built vehicles on earth, Toyota was afraid the americans would try to steel the idea of hybrids from them so instead of building them alongside the corolla in Cali they built them in top secret in Japan by their best people to the best of their ability. I find the company toyota uses to make their actuators is garbage as I have had door locking problems in both my prius, both my 92 camrys and my 97 avalon. In addition the 12V battery tends to not last long and causes many ghost problems in other areas of the vehicles, you can buy a toyota one for around $140 but its located in the trunk so instead of 5 minutes it will take an hour or even longer your first time. And most importantly don't run out of gas, there is an 11.9 gallon tank but the car is unable to access that final 1.9 gallons due to a rubber bladder so treat the car as though it only has 10 gallons, NO MORE!!!! Prius has many recalls but no matter how old it is toyota is very good about still performing the free fixes if a previous owner did not because toyota is trying to repair their reputation which was unfairly damaged by the U.S. media and congress.

options do vary by year, tpms (tire pressure monitoring system) was added in 07, hatch camera (activates when putting in reverse) was added in 06, leather became optional in 06, I hate how cold and hot leather can be but the cloth prius uses either light gray or light beige which gets dirty too easy, hopefully you can find one where the previous owner(s) used good seat covers and hopefully armrest covers as those can get really dirty as well. early prius will have casette deck, later prius will have 3.5mm jack, but of which can be hooked up to music device but you cannot control them via the steering wheel unless you buy the expensive dock which requires a very difficult install and I think you actually lose the use of the CD changer. JBL is the nice stereo, if a car has it you will notice a gold square logo on the radio and 2 small tweeters inside where the side mirrors are mounted. Its hard to know in a picture if a prius has HID headlights, but they were packaged with foglamps which are very easy to see so that will be your dead giveaway. Many people have HID headlight troubles (overheating) but I have 2 fully loaded older prius and never a problem, so it may just be southern people running them during hot summer days which is just unnecessary. you are correct bluetooth will be obvious as 2 steering wheel buttons are a phone off hook and a phone on hook. navigation will be obvious by a map button on the steering wheel and a hard map button and a hard destination button next to the MFD (multi function display), the nav is very reliable for an older DVD based style but the updates are expensive and there aren't many updates year to year, i just updated both of my prius', first time since new and they are 04 and an 05.

A touring model became avail in 07 on, it came with standard HID headlamps, sportier suspension and a larger spoiler. The giveaway is the nicer 6 thin-spoke 16" alloys, if I lived in the south I would have gotten the touring. But since I live in the north I did not as I forgo the 185 65 15 standard tires for larger 195 65 15 winter tires. At 5.6" the prius ground clearance is on par with sedans and hatchbacks, but reverse runs on the electric motor and to prevent damage you are not able to rock a prius out of tall snow like a traditional car so winter tires are a must. I run 17 inch tires in the summer and it makes a huge visual difference but costs me a few mpgs. The engine bay is very cramped, I thought about adding a washer fluid heater but I had no place to mount it.

The Prius can get as warm and toasty as you want it to be. On higher heat settings the engine won't shut off, I keep my heat setting pretty high so when I get to a longer red light I can shut off the heat which allows the engine to shut down to save gas, on short drives I forgo heat in favor of hat and gloves. Small engines warm up quicker then large engines but when you stop for an errand they lose that heat quicker then larger engines. Remote starters are illegal on manual transmission cars and stupid to put on an automatic transmission car (or CVT like the Prius). Engines are designed to have a load on them, idling at low rpm is wasting gas and causes huge wear and tear on the engine, thats why semis turn their big rigs off overnight in favor of a small generator to warm or cool the cab. This is also why experienced prius owners accelerate quite hard off the line and then coast with the engine off (we call this Pulse and Glide)

The exterior of the gen II (04-09) can be described as nerdy at best, but the interior is amazing, the steering wheel buttons are so intuitive I can go months or even years w/o touching the dashboard, the cup holders are really cool and the nav screen is nice and high. By contrast the gen III (2010+) has gorgeous sheetmetal with a roof strong enough to support a moonroof, but the interior is absolute garbage. The steering wheel is missing a couple of key climate control buttons, the cupholders are stupid stupid stupid, and the scandanavian floating center console is both claustrophobic for the driver and the nav screen is so low you have to completely take your eyes off the road to see it. If someone figures out how to put the gen III body panels on my gen II car, LET ME KNOW!!!

Since you live in upstate NY you probably own and not rent, but if you have ambitions of running to home depot on the weekends and lugging your DIY projects home think again as there is a disturbing trend among auto manufacturers to use the same suspension in their hatchbacks as the economy cars they are based on. That means my prius has double the cargo space as my third car (corolla) but can handle no more weight in the trunk. Like any decisions you have to weigh the pros and cons to make an educated decision. Don't do something stupid like buy a prius if you need a 7 seat vehicle or need to tow a boat, know the vehicles limitations.

 

If you are looking for a car that is good on gas, look no further. Prius is the top of the line in that aspect imho.

The wife and I bought a used '09 Prius last March and have been perfectly happy with it.

The only problem we had was the 3 way coolant valve sticking which is a common problem on the Prius. It was taken care of under warranty. Other than maintenance every 5000 miles the car has never been back to the dealer.

Keep the tires aired up. Most user's here on PC specify 42 front, 40 rear. Yes, the ride is sportier and the control is better at the higher pressures along with the fact that the MPG is consistantly higher. According to the MFD the vehicle is averaging 45 MPG and when you check the numbers manually over time, the figure's come real close to what the MFD is displaying. Other's here on PC have reported mileage higher than 45 that I report. They are practicing what is known as Pulse and Glide. If all you do is drive the car respectfully and not hot rod it all of the time, and drive less than 70 on the highway with cruise, you can easily average what I report. I generally drive 60 to 65 on the highway, and the posted limits around town. You will also notice that during the summer the mileage will improve somewhat. During the summer the average is closer to 48. Wintertime is coming in around 45. The car is driven mainly in Texas. Your mileage may vary due to your driving habits, as well as your climate.

If you do get a used one, run the 12 volt check with the on board diagnostics. Make certain the battery is above 12 volts with a load on it. If it is not, replace the battery. If you are mechanically inclined, use the Optima battery that is talked about here on PC. If you are not, go to the stealer (Toyota Dealer) and ask them to put one in. Tell them to simply swap the battery, and NOT to run the customary test's that they charge for. Expect to pay $140 for the battery and the standard labor rate which should be one hour.

Toyota Prius is a well built car. If you are looking for something that is reliable and is long lasting, then look no further. Prius does have one drawback. If you only use the car for short trips, you will not get the high mileage that many claim. The car will not produce good mileage result for the first five to ten minutes of operation. With that said, if you only travel 5 miles or so to work, the Prius is not what you want.

Ron

 

Watch this;

Hybrids prove very reliable | CTV British Columbia

A million kilometers is about 600,000 miles. Is the Prius perfect? No. Will it be reliable? Very. If you do buy a Prius over 4 years old make sure you get the dealer to replace the 12 volt battery (about $200) as an old, failing one can cause weird problems. Otherwise it should be fine.

 

Honestly, if your Corolla is in great shape and will be payment free, the practical decision would be to keep driving it until it dies.

The Prius may get slightly better fuel economy but it will not be worth the additional monthly payment. Interior quality and build quality between the two cars will be extremely similar as well.

 

The Prius is built to much higher standards than a Corolla, in my opinion.

Once you learn how to drive it properly the Prius can achieve 51mpg city and 51mpg highway, a properly maintained 2001 corolla (good plugs, filters, tires) should get 26 mpg city and 36 mpg highway, so if you are like me and 99.9% of your driving in the city, than a used Prius makes better sense, by contrast my sister commutes for work and 80% of her driving is highway, thats why she drives my corolla, the best highway cruisers are your vw diesels which can achieve almost 65 mpg if kept around 65mph, but their acceleration is dismal. and lets not forget the original honda insight which can achieve 66 mpg highway with a stick, but most people today won't buy a 2 seater and almost nobody in this country can driving a standard transmission (yes that's what manual transmissions used to be called!!)

 

I'm no Prius expert, but just bought a pre-owned 2007 with 72k miles on it from a dealership. Love it, love it, love it. (Was formerly driving a '94 Honda Accord that finally gave out). Well, two weeks into the purchase my mum is starting to like the Prius just as much as her van. She's even said that when the van goes down the road, she might consider a Prius V. This from a person who has emphatically stated that she would *never* drive a "small" car after having a minivan for eight years. The only issues I've had with my Prius are a bit of interior rattling (bothersome at low speeds) and the classic "gas pump" problem, but these are minor. It's a lovely car, and quite frankly, although the Gen II exterior isn't as crisp as the Gen III, I like it's feminine curves. Very easy to adjust to if you've never driven a hybrid (I was terrified but lured in by the high MGP) but you drive it off the lot just like any other car!

Best of luck with your research and purchase!