Looking For Prius In WA/OR 2008-1012 <10K <100Kmiles

A tool I've used when I do a "what-if."

Used Cars For Sale. Find used and pre-owned cars in your area - CarGurus

FWIW,
2008 and 2009 are G2 years while 2010,11,12 are G3.

Each generation has its pluses and minuses besides the most obvious which is age.
I know G2 drivers that think that theirs is the "greatest generation" while I tend to believe that the G3's make better commuter cars, because.....................wait for it.................that's the one that I drive.

I'll also leave you with this thought.....
2012 was the first year that Toyota came out with the Pip (Plug In Prius.)
As a PHEV, it was abysmal. Tiny battery, ginormous price.............BUT(!!!!!!) it makes for a WONDERFUL commuter car if you can find one in your price acceptability range because most of the early adopters had to lease them and keep the miles off of them.

You can find pips for about the same price that you would expect for an up-optioned G3 but a base model pip is hardly the same as the base model garden variety Prius. - just food for thought.

I too might be looking for a 'cheap commuter' car in the $10-12K range.
I do not/will not pay for options with the exception of the aforementioned pip package.

I say all of this because many people think that you can get a good daily driver for less than $10,000 or even less than 5.
You can.....but the lower you set your drop-dead price, the lower your chances of getting a cream-puff instead of rotten milk----sometimes at first it's hard to tell the difference!!!
This is even more true with hybrids....which tend to be MORE reliable than other cars BUT you have to be MORE willing to DIY some things like (regenerative) brakes, inverter and transaxle maintenance, and the ever dreaded traction battery......all in addition to the normal things that tend to go wrong with 10 year old cars.

You can keep hybrids on the road longer than other small eco-boxes because.....let's face it, no 15 year old buy dreams of buying a Prius so that he can put all kinds of little boy racer parts on it and run the crap out of it.

I lied to you before.....
There's one more 'one last thought'........
Prius drivers tend to be more restrained when racing from light to light, but many of their drivers also adopt a 'closed hood' maintenance philosophy.
Priuses have a 10,000 mile OCI.

Contrary to popular belief, this stands for Oil CHANGE interval......not Oil CHECK interval.

Be on the look out for this one 'feature' and plan accordingly.
Whatever you buy?
Check the oil monthly and/or every 1,000 miles.........just like it says in the manual.

Good Luck!
Let us know what you find.

 

I have a 2013 Prius II, just under 30K miles. Mint condition, just needs fresh tires before the end of the year (current tires have ~5K miles of life left, but are getting a little old) but I can take care of that. Otherwise, looks and drives like new. It's been my baby since I bought it 3.5 years ago brand new. Only looking to sell to downgrade, because I barely drive anymore (<500 mi/mo) and the car payment just doesn't justify itself anymore like it used to. $16 fill-ups are still very nice though...

Is this something you're interested in? Oh, and I'm in Whatcom county, so just a ferry ride away.