Just a note to get me started. Earlier this fall, I bought a pretty nice full sized Dodge Ram pickup--a 98. With a blown/seized engine, really bad tires, and a few other problems. $150 cash. I had the correct engine for it and got the old lump out and the new one in under my carport in 2 weeks. Really turned out to be a pretty good truck, but with the eight foot bed, club cab, and the 5.2 l V8, it was more truck than I wanted or needed. Was going to try to get about 3500 out of it. On Craigslist, there was a 2003 Prius base for $3500, or trade. Nice condition, no rust, good repaint job. Starts & runs like new. A/C was not so good, and the power door locks need replacing, but otherwise like new. So, of course I traded! I feel so good about it...traded a huge hulk of a truck, gas hog for a trim little sedan (fun to drive) that gets ~40 mpg around town. Fixed the A/C, the 134a was low. It took about 4 oz to get it working right. Gonna get to the door locks today. I installed a Toyota CD deck. Damned! That dash is fragile. And about a $500 part. I managed to glue it back together with superglue and baking soda. The cracks are visable, but I can live with it. CD works beautifully, tho. I'm new to hybrids. Easy to do things the way you learned--which is going to be totally wrong. I had to go out and buy a new A/C gas installation kit--uncontaminated by PAG oil. Autozone sells a really nice one for about $24--it has a gauge and a trigger--so putting in 134a isn't an all or nothing exercise--and the gauge tells you the pressure in the system. I'm still pretty early in the learning curve, hope I can help around here.
Brian, I'm also in Tucson and a former Gen 1 owner. I'd be glad to answer any questions you have about the car. The Gen 1's have a lot of unique things about them like periodic balance charging cycles, false CEL warnings etc, etc. What area of Tucson do you live in? I'm in Rita Ranch.
It's got about 147K miles. All it's problems were little ones. So far, I've replaced the front door lock actuators (relatively easy) & hacked the trunk lock mechanism (master key is long gone.) Fixed the a/c (added gas.) All pretty cheap stuff. It's an amazingly nice car!