I have always wanted a Prius, and I've had a few friends who have owned or still do own one and they love them. When I saw that there was a 2003 Prius for sale for $4,950 I immediately began searching for what could possibly be the reason for this car being sold for so little...and then I saw it. It has 229,000 miles to it, and the Carfax isn't perfect, but the car itself looks great inside and out. It has been serviced regularly. Here is the Carfax for it: CARFAX Vehicle History Report for this 2003 TOYOTA PRIUS I researched the Prius to see what that many miles means for this car but for all intents and purposes everyone I talked to said that Prius's can last much longer than the stage it's at now. I only need it for my dive to school and back for a few years. Does anyone know if it is possible to have a Toyota dealership check the car out, or is this a bad idea?
01-03 Prius is Gen 1. At this point, I wouldn't buy a Gen 1. See links at Gen 1 or Gen 2? | PriusChat. Also see Going to be looking for a 2001-2003 Prius...Seeking some tips. | PriusChat and New member | PriusChat. Patrick Wong's one of our resident repair experts. Ignore tpfun, the troll. If you're willing to set aside a budget for the possibility (not certainty) of multiple 4 digit price tag repairs, you could try...
one thing I would do is get the vin number and go to toytota owners website and see what it says about the vehicle. Although, I bought a 2002 with 140,000miles last year, I would be rather leery about getting a 10yr old car with that high of mileage. I have already had to put over $1500 worth of replacement parts on mine. the cost is for parts only. Plus another thing to keep in mind, is the traction battery. At this point, the traction (big) battery may go kaput tomorrow or It may last another 3yrs 50,000 miles. Depending on which route you take to replace the battery pack, you could have as much as a $3500 repair bill, but there are MUCH cheaper options though. I have already got the money set aside for not if, but WHEN my battery pack goes kaput.
Re: HV battery failure choices, see Failed traction (HV) battery, what to do? - Prius Wiki. But again, there are other pricey items that could fail that Patrick Wong already mentioned.
We test drove a Gen 1 but it had hybrid system warnings lights come on when we test drove it. Some are still OK, but most have had the heck driven out of them and aren't that great anymore. I would search harder. Lower mileage than that can be found on a 2003 reasonably easily. You may have to search the entire state craigslist, though. We got ours with only 164k miles and for nearly half TMV. We just kept searching until we found it. Took several months of searching the entire state craigslist, but finally found this one... And it's a great car. You definitely need a Prius.
Wouldnt get a 2007 Prius! Ours has 55k on clock, 5 years old and is a 'swamp car' . Leaks in roof welds do not do wonders for the electrics. Getting rid asap! B.
