Hi all, I've been lurking around the forum for the past few weeks as I've been doing research about buying a Prius. We've been looking at 2008 and 2009 models with 40k or less. and for a CPO this seems to be a really good price from what I've been able to find. This is the car here. I know carfax isn't exactly perfect but it does seem to have a clean record. Besides wondering if this specific model is a good deal, is it definitely worth it to get a CPO? I'm also curious about what to expect in terms of maintenance costs for the first few years. Is it worth spending close to $17k on a used Prius? Will there be additional maintenance costs we wouldn't see with a new model? Oh, and I have been warned about used Prii with low mileage in terms of battery health, but looking at the carfax it seems this car was driven with some regularity (unless I'm reading it wrong). Thanks! (I posted this originally under the dealer/pricing subforum but thought it might be better answered here. I can't seem to figure out how to delete the thread though...)
Nice car, looks clean, CPO simply means it passed all of Toyota's Certification (Sales Gimmick IMO). The wife and I bought something very similar for about the same price with just a few more miles. Carfax reveals it was a lease car. Terms of lease varies, but most leases require the mantenance be taken care of properly by lessor. You might consider registering the car on the Toyota owner's website and see what comes up under the VIN. Maintenance? Oil Changes and Tire Rotations every 5K (use synthetic for best mileage) PC members recommend Transaxle fluid drain and refill at 60K. Most major service is not till 100K. Lots of info here on PC in other sections of the forum. If you are truly interested in what it takes to maintain a Prius do two things. 1. Look at the owner's manual. It should be in the car's glovebox. 2. Look here What services you need and what you don't | PriusChat If you buy the car, take the time to learn about it and make sure you research things like hypermiling. There are a lot of tricks you can do to get the best mileage out of the Prius. It is unlike any other car out there in my opinion. If you want to delete your other post or thread if you started a new one, simply go to the post then click report and ask for the thread to be deleted. The mod's will take care of it. Good luck to you and "Welcome" to Prius Chat! Ron
Thanks for the response, Ron. And I'll keep that maintenance advice in mind! I've been finding a lot of great information here. Seems like a great forum for owners! I also just found this red 2005 with only 19.5k miles for $13,794. Although I'm a bit wary of the battery health on this one, it seems like a pretty good deal. The car fax report looks clean and suggests it was driven at least 1000 mi every year, but i'm not sure what's okay and what's not for the battery. My wife didn't want a red car, but might be okay with one for that price! She drives a lot more than I do since I take the T (subway) to work, but she drives about 50mi round trip every day to work. Are there a lot of major differences between the 2005 and the 2009 that we're looking at ? They're both Gen II right? Part of me is still leaning toward the 2009, but a nearly $3k difference and fewer miles is tempting...
