Thinking of buying a 2005 prius, what should I look for when inspecting?

The gas mileage is almost always the most important clue as to the car's condition. If it is in the 40s then there probably is not anything significantly wrong. The HV battery is difficult to test without scan tools, and even then the results are sometimes difficult to interpret.

 

I agree about the gas mileage being a good indicator. Unfortunately however the displayed MPG can sometimes be uncharacteristically low on a car that is for sale.

When I got my 2005 a few years back I knew nothing at all about the Prius. I didn't even know how to access the displayed MPG on the multifunction display. As soon as I got it home and figured that part out I was a bit shocked to find it was only about 30 MPG (current tank average). Yeah I thought I'd bought a lemon.

After driving it around for a while however I found I was getting 50+ MPG, and still to this day are getting great MPG. In hindsight I guess that the car had been filled at the dealers and only driven very short distances around the lot and short test drives. So the displayed MPG was absolutely not indicative of what the car could really get. Actually I'm kinda glad that I didn't know how to read the MPG back then because if I did then I probably wouldn't have bought this car, and would have missed a good deal because it's been totally faultless for 3 years now.

 

So that's what a person needs to do, reset the trip meter on the Consumption page, and take a 10 mile out+back (20 miles total) drive. This has the added benefit of being an OBD II trip, so that if they are trying to conceal an emissions problem (P0420) it will likely pop a check engine light for it.

 

Great advice. :thumb:

And don't necessarily be put off by a low current tank MPG reading before you drive it.

 

Its a real mess on my car..
says 5.2 L per 100 klms./
yea Im in Canada

 

If buying from a private party, which should be the only way on a used car. Road test it, talk to the owner, see if what he says conforms to what you see and feel. There should be no major repairs!. Never a salvage vehicle. 12V battery good? A 10-20 mile suburbia or city drive will tell you if the HV Bat is charging and discharging normally.

 

Maybe I'm stating the obvious but get a critical look at it from a Toyota dealer mechanic. They aren't perfect but doubtless they will point out several major repairs. You can then use the bill, which should be extremely high for the actual work, to hack down at the asking price.

Also key is looking at the engine code history which the Tech will do, and looking at the service records for the car, which the dealer can pull up. Definitely look for things that might be a red flag.

I would also check the rear struts to see how much fluid leakage there is. Leakage is sort of a qualitative thing, Somehow a Toyota mechanic missed this on my inspection but then two other mechanics definitely said the struts needed to be replaced.

Also the original 12V battery often has problems. Get the tech to check the health of the battery under load. Also check the inverter pump, was this replaced? This seemed to be a major problem in gen 2 priuses. Mine was dealer replaced so I shouldn't have to worry about it.

It took some finangling for me at the dealership to actually be there with my car when they inspected my car, which is good because I had to prod the tech to actually do the work I asked the service manager.

BTW once you get your car, avoid if possible, doing any work at dealerships.

 

In my experience, when buy used car, the first "thing" you should evaluate is the seller!

Talk to him, and let him talk a lot. Keep your brain cool and rational. You will sense if he is honest. Let him drive the car, to see his driving style. Ask for records on maintenance. I bought one new car, and more than 12 used cars, and also helped my friends bought some. None of them are lemon, even GM and Chrysler.