Buying a 2005 Prius with 155,000 over Forester

Prius will give you 40+ mpg and the Forester 20 mpg. One year gas costs will bring them in line as far a total cost is concerned. I would go with the Prius hands down. Much better for the environment! H

 

Forester will only make sense if you live in place where you have long winter and snow and ice on roads. In mountains, bad roads and in winter Forester would probably be a better choice than old Prius with lots of miles . Subaru is pretty bulletproof except engine head gaskets and need for timing belt replacements. Just my 2c

- Alex

 

A 155k Prius is a very poor idea unless it has already had the traction battery replaced. At that mileage, for any car, it is approaching the end of its life and will need major components replaced in the near future.

Granted, any car with this many miles is merely a short term solution unless you are a DIYer, but a Prius is probably the worst choice given the added exposure of the hybrid components.


iPhone ?

 

Lots of Prius cars are used as Taxis and have very high mileage on them. Lots over 500,000. H

 

2 fas 4 u went over 465k miles with original HV battery before trading in for Prius v. Check out this thread.

 

Unlikely regular (non-prius specializing) mechanic will be able to tell you anything about the condition of the traction battery. One need a special scanner able to read voltages of the modules in the battery, etc.

If the transmission oil have never been replaced, that's a bad sign. Any mechanic should be able to check the level and color of the oil, but its less accessible than for regular cars with automatic. No dipstick. Need to remove the undercover and unbolt the fill plug. Not easy to find if you have never done it. Oil should be red/pink/maroon, not black
More things to check:
Have all the recalls been done? The most important one is hybrid coolant pump.
Is battery cooling ducts and fan clean? If not, battery overheating could have happened easily in the past.
Have auxillary battery (12-V) been replaced?
Have engine coolant pump been replaced (by this age it should be ready to go)

Thanks,
- Alex

 

You may missed a chance to own a good car.

 

This blog post on changing the CVT oil in the Gen II Prius has a pic showing the color of old and new ATF WS.

-VR

 

I seriously doubt that represents the vast majority of the taxis on the road. If they were really this durable, then Luscious Garage would not keep a good inventory of used engines, transaxles and battery packs in-stock for their taxi customers. They have posted in their blogs that natural death of the transaxle and battery pack is not uncommon in the 200-250k range, and remember, taxi service does not represent the duty cycles of a typical user.

 

There really is not anything specific to check other than for typical wear items such as engine water pump, struts, 12v battery, axle seals, etc.

 

In NJ that car is just coming off warranty. IMO it's a high mileage car but not all mileage is equal. As alluded to earlier, high city miles doesn't take the same toll as high highway miles. The terrain & climate will also take a toll. You didn't mention the mileage on the Forrester. How does your friend treat the vehicle? How much is your friendship worth? What happens if you buy his vehicle & you experience an expensive repair in the short term?

 

OP - in most cases I would vote for the Prius, but given that you live in Colorado I'd give serious consideration to the Subaru if you are in the mountains. The Prius drives like a very well behaved front wheel drive car in the snow, but if you are dealing with a lot of snow I'd go for all wheel drive. In the mountains the hybrid battery can get depleted quickly so you will be climbing hills slowly with limited power - not a big deal if this happens only occasionally, but could be a real drag if it were a daily occurrence.

 

In regard to snow performance... in my opinion the Prius is just okay (5 out of 10) even with winter tires. The biggest issue is the traction control can't be turned off (for good reason though, to protect the hybrid drive motors) and it's super sensitive. If you don't have winter tires or all seasons with very aggressive tread, you're better off walking. Once the car senses even the smallest wheel slip, the traction control will cut power to the wheels for what seems like an eternity. If you have summer tires/balding all seasons, you're not going to go anywhere unless the road is dead flat. The traction control in the Prius is more aggressive than traction control in other cars, or at least it's much more noticeable. It's better once you get used to it; you'll learn to roll the power on real easy.

The ABS is equally as sensitive. Almost learned that the hard way driving during my first snow fall (with winter tires) with the Prius.

If you're in relatively flat to moderately hilly terrain, with winter tires, you'll be okay. If you're in mountainous terrain you'll want that Forrester instead. It's a tough decisions... you'll be paying (20 MPG) for that superior winter performance of the Forrester year-round.

As a former VW TDI driver, I'd say that might be a better option when looking for that high fuel efficiency/good in the snow combination. The traction control (if equipped) can be turned off. The iron block TDI makes for a heavier front end as compared to a gas engine. My TDI (2002, 5 speed manual, no traction control) was pretty damn good in the snow when equipped with Nokian WR tires. You still had to be careful when the turbo spooled and all the torque kicked in.

Best of luck,

Scott

 

I will respectfully (and strongly) disagree with that statement. Our Prius handles the Minnesota snows just fine. All you have to do is use some "common sense" while driving.
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Well, perhaps my statement was a bit too strong. Let me say the OEM Goodyear Integrity tires don't offer much in the way of snow traction, which exacerbates the traction control/ABS sensitivity. If the OP gets the Prius, I'd urge him to get a good set of all seasons or winter tires. It's not so much the regular snow driving but it's the emergency situations you get put in by other drivers. I've gotten through plenty of winters unscathed with marginal tires. The problem is stopping before you t-bone some moron who just came careening though a red light because he couldn't stop, or getting out of the way of a similar moron who's sliding down the hill behind you. I've had close calls with both situations.

Scott

 

Having good tires will not necessarily save you from morons. I grew up in SE Idaho, and learned at an early age how to drive in the white stuff.

Here in Portland, if it snows 1" the entire city shuts down. To be fair, the snow is wet and packs quickly into ice because many people gun their engines and spin their tires. But the Portland drivers are notoriously horrible in snow. The last time it snowed, I drove home from work in my 2005. I have hills to go up and down. My commute usually takes about 30-40 minutes. It took me just over 3 hours, and it was just like running slalom because people abandon their cars in the middle of the street and walk away (I'm not kidding about this).

For all the idiots, I made it home OK. You just have to give them a wide berth and expect they'll do stupid things.