I'm in San Diego desperately looking for a used Prius. I've been scouring dealer ads on Autotrader and it seems to me that the vast majority of P's there have 80k to 85k on the odometer, so many of them, in fact, that I've gotten a little spooked thinking that maybe something terrible happens shortly after 85k. I mean, I have my choice of P cars in that range so I could buy one today if I wanted, but ... should I? Is there any bad-magic going on at those numbers?
agreed, no idea why you're seeing so many. most peeps in cali claim they're hard to come by. what years are you seeing? the hybrid warranty is 10/150.
Try looking in other places besides autotrader. Prius are plentiful in CA. I don't see any ticking time bomb exploding at 85k miles. If there was one, mine is well past at 125k miles. I see all years and all mileage on craigslist and cargurus. The only negative thing is the prices are high relative to the rest of the nation.
The average American new car buyer is keeping that new car for 6.5 years before trading it in. 85k miles works out to just over 13,000 per year, pretty normal driving around here. What you're seeing are very normal numbers that have nothing to do with potential problems. Consider, too, that on average we in SoCal have a higher number of Prii on the road than other areas of the country. We have a higher percentage of our population who bought them early on to appear environmentally friendly or get the highest gas mileage available. Normal car turnover here means more Prii on the used car market. You have a dealer or two in the S.D. area who seem to specialize in Prii and/or "green" cars. You're lucky in that you do have a lot of good quality used ones to select from.
I'll try to find the names of a couple I came across when we were shopping for our Prius. As I recall one was in the Mission Valley area. Right off the top of my head, though, there's Prius Planet in Laguna Hills. I realize they're north of you but they do have hundreds of Prii in their inventory.
well, i found a 2011 with 80k at a dealer for 11.5k. i'm trying to get em down to 10.5k. we shall see.
