Hi all I've been reading the forum for a couple weeks but this is my first post. I'm a VW van person since 1993 but looking for better gas mileage. I've been watching the area for a suitable used prius. I was looking for something newer with less mileage but tomorrow I'm going to go look at a 2003 prius with 156,000 miles. He states it has a new hybrid battery with less than 1,000 miles on it. the body looks great in pics. Owner states he has been getting 41.2 miles in the city. He's asking $5,500. Kelly blue book price varies from $2,486 for fair condition to $3,336 for excellent condition. I'm not sure how well this holds for a hybrid. Since this car has had a new battery at about 155,000 miles, which seems a little on the unusual side I'm wondering if this puts it more at risk for needing a new battery early again? any words of advice? what do you think of the price? Is Kelly blue book accurate or is a prius like VW vans and they hold their price better and sell higher then the blue book indicates? Thanks in advance. Susan 1987 Vanagon 1993 Eurovan soon to be prius owner previous Toyota Camry and Toyota Corona owner
if you take this thing for a ride. dont go to the screen on the dash that shows gas mileage. make sure your on the energy screen where it shows the wheel, the engine and motor. and watch the battery meter. rarely if ever should it be full, it should be at the 3/4 mark and stay there if that battery is any good. if it goes full to half to 1/4 or whatnot relatively fast and often, than I would say that battery was never replaced.
mine rarely moves off of 3/4 mark. if its decent weather out the engine once warmed up should shut off. if the engine is constantly running make sure its in drive and not in 'B' mode, make sure you have defrost or a/c off. above 42 mph the engine will run regardless. below that depending on pedal position and load. the engine may or may not run.
wow, that seems expensive! 2001-2003 are the first generation and are a bit of a project. you would be better off with a 2004 or newer, it is a completely different system and much more advanced. have you tried steve at auto be yours?
5500 does seem expensive. i paid 4k for mine 2 years ago with 149k on it. my question is why would you replace the hybrid battery in it, then get rid of it in 1000 miles, dont make sense.
battery probably went bad and he decided it was worth it to put another one in to sell it rather than try to sell with bad battery. question is, did he put in a new battery, rebuilt, replace cells, etc. and like you said, what's the warranty?
if he replaced it, your golden, rebuilt: who did the rebuild and find out their procedure and reputation for doing so, replace cells, no way would i pay 5500 for it.
When asked the owner said he had two cars needed to sell one and thought he'd have better luck selling the hybrid. I'll find out more tomorrow.
Time is as much an enemy to the hybrid battery as mileage. Plus the Gen1 batteries weren't as good, so really, if the battery hadn't been replaced, it would be just a matter of time before it would die. Definitely try to get a Gen2 if you can afford it. It'll be bigger and get better mileage.
I did go see this car. It was ok. It did have a brand new hydrid and 12 volt battery. the new hybrid battery was installed by a local dealer. He was getting 41 mpg. I wasn't overly impressed. Left there and test drove a Toyota highlander limited edition which was really nice! The gas mileage isn't nearly what the prius gets but it was NICE Today I found a nice 2012 prius with 19,600 miles that has a rebuilt title. It was in a crash R front end was damaged and repaired. I haven't seen pics of the damage yet. I'm going to have the car looked at by a mechanic at the dealers. This might be a good deal. I don't need to finance the car so if the car isn't a problem vehicle the rebuilt title wouldn't be a problem. The car wasn't the most comfortable in the world but for the great gas mileage I guess I can deal with it being less than ideal in the comfort department Still looking! Susan
don't buy a car with a rebuilt title. sounds like you would prefer a soccer mom car, but are trying to talk yourself into something that is better for the environment and the country and the world. all the best!
Nothing wrong with a high mileage hybrid, not much different than any high mileage car. A trade off between a car with wear and tear parts at the upper end of the failure bell curve and saving money. Prius' are reliable cars but lots of miles and/or a crash says you aren't shopping for the most reliable. Rebuilt titles say that there was serious damage, not just a superficial scrape here and there and replace the bumper cover. Can there be hidden damage and a compromised ability to withstand a future crash? Sure can. All depends on what was damaged and how it was repaired. I'd never buy one that hadn't been laser measured for frame straightness and had the sheet metal designed to crush in case of an accident examined by someone who really really knew the crash protection on the specific car.
why not? of course it would depend on the damage that was done (waiting to see pics and get info from the place that actually did the repairs) as long as the repairs were done appropriately I'm not sure why I should skip a car with a rebuilt title.
