Buying used

none of the above are likely to work well 20 years from now. gen II is every bit as good as gen III, but after 10-15 years and 150,000 + miles, you could be spending some serious money. plenty of threads here describing problems and costs in high mileage cars, (battery, inverter, transaxle, a/c, brake master cylinder, and the list goes on.) and of course, there are many with no problems. so you have to ask yourself, do you like your chances?

 

You want to buy a car that is upwards of 10 years old and expect it to have minimal problems over the next 20 years? There's not many things you can buy period that you can expect that much from, much less a car. Prii seem to be at least as reliable as the average car when it comes to expensive parts, but everything wears out eventually. Is it possible that you could get lucky and go 20 more years without any major repair? Probably, but it isn't something I would bet on. I would expect at least the battery to be replaced at least once in that amount of time, regardless of how much its driven.

 

it looks to be at least as good a car as the accord, camry or subarus. and that is really saying something for what is still a fairly new design. that being said, the place to look is at toyota dealers. every manufacturer makes lemons and peaches. people who get the good ones keep them a long time then trade them in for a new version of the same car. i bought a beat (body) ugly 04 (new york city car) with 130k on it from a dealer for 3k. runs like a 2010. car was obviously well cared for but new york streets and full contact parking take their toll on the looks. i drive around philly fixing copiers. it is gonna get uglier yet. if any car is for sale used at the dealer it orig came from it is a better car than one at a diff brand dealer. call the dealers near you and tell them what you are looking for and price range.

 

i would no less trouble over 20 years, and possibly more expensive repairs.

 

I bought my Prius with 140 k on it last April for 5,700. I liked it because it was a one owner car and had records .
And the hybrid battery had been replaced. A lot of times the dealers out here on in the Carolinas, strip all the records and receipts from the car. You can find some trails of service records online thru Toyota.
My car has 152 k on it now, lot of hyway miles, I do mostly hyw miles too. I say buy and go for it it, and wait until something really big goes wrong with it. In the the mean time drive that gen 2 and save your money.
Do as much preventative maintenance as possible, I mean all fluids, belts, plugs, filters, pvc, theworks.

 

You should be fine. Buy a car with records, and have it looked over, lower the miles the better, but if records are great it really is a toss up.

THAT being said. Who is buying a car with 100K to then keep another 20 years. Thats insane and unheard of. Be realistic

 

I bought a 4runner back in 2000 with 65k miles, which i rarely drive. Still have it today with 165k miles and haven't repaired a thing for 15 years except for maintenance items.

 

He would have to keep his mileage down to make it last 20 more years, Hehee .
I have owned a lot of older cars, and I still like seeing older cars on the road.
But if your budget is limited, it might not be so practical in the long run.
Unless he keeps it well maintained and nothing big goes wrong with it.
Otherwise it would be cool to see a Gen 2 prius rolling around in 20 years.
By then we might be pushed by air thru clear tubes like at banks ........

 

I have had 3 3rd Gen 4Runner's totaling 528,000 miles. Other than the 90k T-belt, they are amazing and problem free.

 

the traction battery is already going twice distance toyota rated it for on average. a lot of elec stuff doesn't wear out...it either pops or it doesn't. the ICE is a downsized version of engine that lasts well over 200k under heavier more constant use than this engine gets.. this car could surprise a lot of people and have a very long life. the 97-03 version was a production test bed. the 04-up hasn't been on the planet long enough for very many to go much past 200k yet. (by very many i mean 50% or so.) the main thing shortening standard cars lives is a bad auto trans costing 2k to replace on a car with less than 2k in value. this could be the first production car averaging over 300k. it would be interesting to know what percent of 04's are still on the road and what average total milage so far.

 

I think what will limit Prii will be $2k batteries when they've eventually devalued to below $2k - similar to the auto transmissions you mentioned.

 

There is nothing wrong with buying a gen 2 Prius. If you are looking to keep an older Prius for 20+ years, then make sure you know your way around it. We sell a lot of 2004 Prius with 250k and they usually have minimal problems as long as they have been maintained with basic oil changes. Front hub assemblies, inverters, oil leaks from the timing cover, and the hybrid battery are definite problems that you may encounter within that life span. Inverters and hybrid batteries can get expensive you take it to a dealership ($3000+>, whereas you can fix the issues yourself for a few hundred $$ should you maintain it yourself.

 

i recently bought gen2 with 200k mi as beater/daily car...
the ONLY major problem i have is faded clearcoat on the hood...
regardless what car you get, changing fluids and filters regularly will be the key...

parts will eventually fail and requires R&R... u just have to deal with it...
parts are pretty cheap for prius, but i bet civic hybrid parts are even cheaper...

fyi, i had 94 miatta which is 20yrs old and after basic maintenance, i had no issues for 2-3 years i had...

 

Well I did just that and bought a used unit. Carfax had a long history of oil changes and routine maintenance. I do know my way around a wrench and will fix things as they break. Just changed the plugs and will be changing the tranny fluid. Only $37 bucks for AFT WS from Amazon. Will be doing the PCV this weekend. That looks to be a bit of bugger, but it's only 4.99 and a few minutes of my time.

 

You changed the plugs and then put it all back together.......now you're going to do the PCV next? You were already there when you were doing plugs, why did you not do the PCV? Well this is a good way to know your way around the Prius.......and maybe 1/2 hour of your time.

 

They didn't have the part at the time and I didn't know the PCV was so buried. All I know is you don't need to take the wipers and stuff off.

 

I made the plunge and got a 2004 with 195,000 miles on it and haven't regretted a moment.

 

let me know how long it takes you