I couldnt afford a new one either. But you have to go with the 2004, the classic prii just look too geeky/normal. When you drive around in the 2004+ everyone knows its a prius. Everything about their look is better IMO. I really dont kno wabout the old ones mechanically so I cant really comment on that.
I just bought a 2002 Prius with a little under 20K miles in it. I paid around $15K. I used cars.com and did a search for Prius's with a little over the maxiumum I wanted to spend, then sorted by mileage. When I found a good value for the mileage, I would follow up. It took me about 5 months to find the right deal and it was 1-1/2 hour drive, but I think worth it. There is a post right after yours which has some great info on G1's. If you look around and are willing to travel a little, the deal is out there. My car doesn't have nav., but I purchased a Garmin 2720 through eBay. It cost me about $550 and I can take it from my Prius to the van I use for work. Nice unit if you don't have it built in. "There's no trick to paying retail"
Well, I agree the 04' sure is a nicer looking car, but if I was strapped for cash I would still go for the 01'--03' Prius. Sure they don't stand out in such a cool way as the 04 but they still are very efficient and cool still. And in europe with gas prices being what they are I think it would be a long term economical choice. From what I've read all Priuses keep up well and require less service then a normal car. I see classic Priuses on the road every day and they are sweet cars.
