Someone locally has a 2001 Prius for sale for $500. It's in relatively good shape but it doesn't turn on, it doesn't even display anything when the key is inserted. I was debating if the 12v battery is simply bad or a fuse. She said that the hybrid battery needs to be replaced and that the Toyota dealer told her that was the issue(some of the cells were bad). It worked until it just didn't work and it has 178k miles. I have a 2013 Prius and I've been told that even if the hybrid battery goes bad, the car will still run. Is that not true of the 1st gen Prius? Do you think it's worth the chance? My brother is about to go to college and needs a car and $500 plus $1000 for a battery isn't horrible.
No. Read Bob Wilson's sticky thread about who should own a Gen1. You have been told wrong. There are circumstances where the battery wont' spin MG1 to start the ICE, and you're dead in the water.
Gotcha. I was also debating it for myself as a backup car. I'm not a Prius expert but I'm pretty handy, I rebuilt my entire 4Runner suspension as well as adding a lift kit. I also do all of my maintenance, I'm 31 and my car hasn't been in the shop since I was 16(other than warranty work).
If the body, interior, and tires are decent you probably won't go wrong for $500. You could probably recover at least most of that, maybe even make a little should you opt not to fix it. I would suggest getting the mini vci and a subscription to the toyota tech manual at techinfo.toyota.com. If it's rough looking, I'd try for $300. I gave $400 for one last year and by the time I got through fixing everything I had over $2000 in it. I still made around $600, but that was a lot of work for $600. On the other hand, if I wasn't trying to make money off of it, it would have been a great $2000 car to keep and drive for a long time.
Spenny, if you want to restore a 15 year old car as a hobby go for it. It probably needs a traction battery and a 12v battery at a minimum. If you intend to rebuild the pack yourself add the cost of the equipment to do the job right. How much do you really want to spend on a restored Prius? If you are looking for cheap reliable transportation, pass.
Spenny, I would buy this car as parts for 500 $ and another one in working condition. If you like, take it!
