Need the Prius expert advice. I have an opportunity to buy a 2014 with 68K miles on it, all highway. I've shopped around and the price is right. But I need it to last ten more years...am I safe?
First, was the vehicle well maintained? A Carfax should provide that information. Second, how many miles per year do you plan to put on this vehicle? Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
CarFax is clean, owner says well maintained and all the mileage is highway. No accidents. I will put less than 10K miles a year on it. I'm just worried about the existing high mileage on the vehicle.
welcome! i would. can't guarantee you 10 care free years, but history tells us that it's the best bet out there.
Sounds like a great bet. Best advice: Change the oil every 5k miles, not 10k, and use only Top Tier brands of gasoline. Anecdotally, that seems to be the best insurance against what seems to be almost the only endemic problem with this car (other than an uncomfortable driver's seat): oil consumption beyond 100k miles.
If maintained they go "forever". I have two 2001 Priuses, one has 140K miles with original traction battery, the other had 214K miles on it when it was involved in a head-on. To the credit of Toyota... although the car was totaled, the drive train is still functional. (everyone in the Prius walked away). The 214K car had no rust whatever, the 140K has a little surface rust around rock chip. In addition... I also have a 2011 Prius with 130K on it....spotless... and .... a 2012 with 123K on it. Both of these cars are 'spotless'...and after I spent a weekend putting on matching graphics..... we 'make Prius look good'. (2012 in foreground now has silver alloy wheels and painted rotors..no plastic) If the price is right....and the car looks as though it has been cared for.... do not hesitate. Grab it and don't look back. ;-)
I can't tell you what to do, but 68,000 miles on a clean Prius is low milage. You may want to check the tires. It was at about 60,000 miles when I installed Michelin Energy Savers. It made a wonderful difference in the ride, milage and quietness. I traded prematurely at 130,000 miles ..... wish I had kept it. Absolutely no problems.
Got two, 2010 196000 miles, needed EGR valve and brake rotors and a manifold clean and that's it other than regular servicing runs as well as my 2011 with 50 , 000 miles. Would probably benefit from a fresh set of shocks but that's it. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Congrats on your purchase! Mine is also 2014, trim three, original owner, now at 47k miles. Keep up with the maintenance items and you probably won't have much issues. BTW, post a few pix of your car will you?
So I owned 2014 brand new prius Uber driven great car engine head gas kit blown at 171k but I got new engine for 3k, but I didn't have any other problem with this car, I drove little aggressively before and mostly was city drive if you keep it on the freeway you can get more milage out of it. As far as oil consumption it will start to take just about half quart after 150k every 4000k but it's not that big of a deal. Car is great buy it if only plan on driving less than 10k a year you don't need to worry about anything Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Just make sure that at 100k get the tune up done and get intake manifold clean plus EGR and pcv valve, transmission service, and hybrid coolant service that's all you need to be done as far as major maintenance Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
I do a bit of highway miles myself and the ICE runs a majority of the time. I sometimes wonder if highway miles are worse on a hybrid than a conventional car.
Do you mean high octane gas (premium vs regular) or do you actually mean specific brands (Shell VS Chevron, etc)?
Just like Mendel said. Use one of the gasoline brands recommended at TopTierGas dot-com. These brands are certified by a consortium of multiple automakers as having superior detergent properties compared to other brands, and could significantly slow the onset of oil consumption as your car ages.
Nobody can guarantee the future of a used car, over the internet. The most I can say is that 68K doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot of life possible. You need to do your due diligence in all regards as per any used car purchase, and that would include at least a Carfax, I would like an independent inspection. But if it checks out? Then the starting baseline of having 68K miles would not be a deal breaker to me. Especially if I foresaw my continued mileage to be below the average at only 10K per year. Next year you would have a 4 model year old Prius with only 78K. The following that, a 5 year old model with 88K. Actually not bad. Nearly a Benjamin Button reversal of depreciation. Of course, sometimes our driving demands change rapidly, and projected amounts of mileage suddenly increase. But I think The Prius is a vehicle that if well maintained can easily return 100,000-150,000 miles, and then potentially more...a starting line of 68K wouldn't be prohibitive to me. Knowing about the condition of the vehicle BEYOND it's current mileage...is actually more important.
