Hello, I am new hear and I am planning to buy my first car ever. I went through multiple website and found toyota prius at dealer. Went there and just fell in love with the car and it was in freaking good shape. Before I went there, I did do some research, I tried battery diagnostic on it, and it had 11.8V when every light in car was on. Shortly, it had 1 owner, I got carfax report from dealer, he got it from auction. As I look through carfax no car accident repports, and I can see previous owner took good care of the card. According to carfax, the previous owner performed car maintanance every 5000 miles at toyota service (oil and filter changes, break check, fluid check tires etc. checked regularly every 5000 miles). Battery changed every 4 years, last time was 2014. Recently replaced steering shaft, steering wheel centered, cabin air filter and spark plugs. My only concerns is that the car have 171000 mileage yearly avarage 17000 miles. The car price is 6000$, which seem to me too good since it have full option, leather seats, navigation and backup camera. As a poorly student my main concern is that if I should by that car will it last about 4-5 years? and how costly would be repairs? So basically I have no experiences with cars, so I would appreciate your advice. Should I go for it and buy it?
welcome! a prius with 170k can be good for many years, or can cost you many thousands of dollars in repairs. with that in mind, and your budget, i would look for a corolla/yaris/matrix/civic/camry/whatever, study hard, get a job, and then begin thinking about a prius. all the best!
I'd Kelly blue book it to check the price, but if it's nice.. It's going to need a traction battery pronto, 2,500$, negotiate with the dealer right now, make it part of the sale, then you've got five years of an almost new Prius. I see another thread, an '06 with similar mileage, 3000$
The Prius is a very reliable car (good) than is very expensive to repair. (bad) Often this is because they don't repair, they replace entire subsystems of the car. The one you are looking at seems very nice although if that steering shaft was on a recall, I wonder why the dealer did not do it years ago. (I do not recall the details of the steering shaft recall) 2004-2009 Toyota Prius Intermediate Shaft Recall C0T | TOYO Headquarters Prius Steering Intermediate Shaft Recall C0T - Details for Owners - Luscious Garage | Hybrid Specialists There are a number of high dollar repairs you might find you need however so it is hard to recommend a Prius to a starving college student. ($5000 transaxle, $4000 inverter, $3500 HV Battery, etc. (All of those would be cheaper used, and I have no idea if you are mechanical enough to do your own labor) It is almost a sure bet you will need a 12 volt battery soon, I would be tempted to make a new one a condition of the sale. (under $200)
At this high mileage, the engine probably is burning oil. May need engine rebuilt and catalytic converter replacement in the near future. 10 year old Prius will definitely need HV battery replacement soon.
I have a poor student car for $3000, 167000 miles and burns oil. But everything else in good shape. My daily driver for 4 years
My 09 has 163k mileage on getting ready to clock 164k and it far newer that I bought three months ago. From the car fax report the previous owner was driving it 5k miles a month and getting the oil changed just about every month for a small portion of ownership. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
You come across as someone who does not DIY. This should be a cause for concern b/c you state you are poor (for now). Any old car can have problems come up b/c of age; stuff wears out. Repairing an old car is expensive, esp whem you are paying for somene's labor. If you are serious about buying the car, take the car to Luscious Garage (San Francisco) or Art's Automotive (Berkeley) for a through exam. Have them exam the HV Battery (serial numbers sequential, and determine production month/year of the modules), and AC system. The battery that was changed every 4 years was the 12V battery. Nothing to get excited about this maintenance item. The battery is relatively cheap $150-$200. You need to be concerned about the HV Battery; $2071 +tax for a new OEM HV Battery. JC's Prius for $3K would be a better deal. $3K + $2071+tax new Hv Battery = $5071. This assumes other aspects of JC's car are good working order. Dealer car of $6K + future Hv Battery failure ($2K) = $8K.
Its too much money for the year and mileage. You need to expand your search to nearby areas that have lower market prices than yours. I originally looked at an 07 with miles in the mid to high 100's for 4500. Than I found an 08 in town for 6500, which I was able to get the seller down to 5200. I didn't like that price either. I found a 2009 two hours away for 4900 with 150k. One owner with clean carfax and records. That is the way to go. The car I bought 4 months ago in a cheaper market, is still selling for 1,500 more in my market after putting 10,000 miles on it. Buy a 08-10 for the same 6k or less that a 2006 would cost you, by looking into other cities nearby.
What happened w/ the Prius? I see some bad advice here. Traction batteries can be checked and individual cells replaced. They running about $40 on ebay but I don't know the labor. Certainly not going to be $2500. They are very good cars. Good luck.
I think it is not too bad of an investment to be honest. I bought a few years old prius for the same thing but it is a gamble. Maintenence on older cars do get cheaper actually and it is worthwhile to learn a few maintenence tricks...great college car. That being said, if i was in school, i'd go with the cheapest used car i could go by to get me from point A to B, no use getting something flashy...save the money on studying and hot dates .
