Looking at a 2004 Prius...need a nudge to buy

Hi All,

I've obviously been looking at the Prius and have one I'm considering (strongly). It's a black 2004 with 66,000 miles...one elderly owner. The dealer that originally sold the car has it for sale. The car has a tan Katzkin leather interior (installed by the dealer prior to delivery according to the CarFax) and also has side/curtain airbags and stability control. I drove the car today...it's unbelievably clean inside and out. Best of all, the dealership gave me a price of $9,795 with a 6 month/6,000 mile powertrain warranty (not probably a big deal considering the reliability of these cars but still a nice "throw in" for the first 6,000 miles).

From my research, this is a pretty good price right now...and the fact that it's a one owner car being sold by the original dealer plus the clean CarFax and AutoCheck makes me think I should pounce on this car.

The car was originally sold to the owner 1/4/04 so it's an early Gen II...should that be a concern (I know there were a handful of issues with the 2004 models)? Aside from that, I'm leaning on buying this car. Talk me into it guys (I'll be giving up my beloved 1996 Honda Accord V6 with 121,000 miles which is in PRISTINE condition...not a speck of rust and excessively maintained by me).

What do you think?

 

The dealer made a point to tell me that the MFD had been replaced by them recently...it wasn't working when the owner traded it in (I'm assuming it's a remanufactured unit or out of a different vehicle). This dealer has been around for years and doesn't have the greatest reputation. They have more used cars on their lot than any other place in town (yes, it's a Toyota dealership). I'd definitely do the trans (or whatever) fluid immediately (I change out the fluid in the Honda trans every 30,000 miles since I got it with 52,000 miles...used Redline D4 in there...shifts like new...but the Prius is a different story altogether). I have no idea about the 12 volt battery...probably the original and needs to be changed.

I'm still learning about the car (and learning fast) but on my test drive (maybe 15 miles or so of city and highway), I noticed that when I returned to the dealership the battery charge indicator (hope I'm explaining that right) was down to 2 bars...and down to 1 bar when I backed it into it's space. I did a little "stealth" driving at low speed on a side street (just curious) before driving it back about 3 miles. Is this normal?...I was a little concerned that it didn't seem to recharge very quickly (mind you, I'm still learning about this car).

From what I'm told, the owner is a "snowbird" but didn't take the car to Florida in the winter...it was kept in a garage. I'll have to ask but it appears probable that over it's life this car spent several months in a garage during our bitter cold winter every year. I don't know if that would have hurt anything or compromised the battery pack? I sure don't want to buy in to any problems. This dealer charges top dollar for everything and their pricing on this car considering the mileage and condition just doesn't seem right (would have expected a higher price). If the car DID sit without being run for months at a time each year could that have done any damage or compromised the battery pack?

 

I need to find out if this car did actually sit for months at a time I guess. Maybe I should hold off and look for a newer model.