Should I avoid buying a Gen 3 Prius because of possible inverter failure?

Go Honda Civic Hybrid, you won't regret it.

 

welcome!
i don't think so. inverter failures are few and far between. unless you drive really hard.

 

Is the problem with the inverters the IPM (Intelligent Power Module)? If so, it will likely have a 15 year/unlimited extended warranty.

 

Ignore this guy, his cornflakes have gone off I think.

There was a recall on the inverter, basically a software update to smooth out the demand under hard acceleration. Most everyone would have done it, and any car passing through dealership, that is something they would check. You could verify with them. Also, there was a warranty extension IIRC, a goodly amount.

I'm not worried, for what it's worth, lol.

 

Having had a Civic Hybrid (it's still in the family), I can think of one: it's mpg display is accurate.

Other'n that: as you said, it's a sedan (with rear seatback that can't fold down), the hybrid battery is overtaxed and problematic (to put it politely). I still drive ours occasionally, it's around 230K kms (on second battery, also faltering), the suspension is failing, and the car overall feels like an econobox, touchy gas pedal, what can I say.

 

With some buyers diligence, a low mileage Prius is no more of a risk than any other make. The augmented warranty on the drive components is far beyond other manufacturers offerings. With Prius reliability you shouldn’t be concerned with all the Inverter failure hype.

 

You should be more worried about oil burning and headgasket failures. That's actually a common problem. Inverter problems are a possibility but not common problem at all

 

What's that car Aaron, if you don't mind? Is it a Toyota? Nice lines.

You've probably mentioned before; excuse my flakey memory.

 

Corn flakey memory.

 

Thank you good sir, it's a 2013 Ford Cmax hybrid SEL. Fantastic car, fast, doesn't burn oil, but damn I miss the prius MPG!

 

What are you getting? Fuelly shows an average of 39.3 mpg.

 

I'm getting 40.4 but that's almost all hilly interstate driving. Also I have some off brand non LRR tires. If I had the Michelin energy savers it came with new it would probably be around 44 from what I've gathered. My prius v was also about 40 mpg with the wrong tires. But the prius v with the right tires and right driving I could get almost 50 mpg most of the time. The biggest hit to the cmax is it can run (and will run) all electric up to 85 miles and hour. So you'll be cruising along, even on a slight uphill grade and it's full power is coming from the battery. .Well then a little bit later the battery is depleted and the engine runs under a heavy load and must charge. Charge and repeat, so hypemiling is hard. It's not the most efficient way to run a Hybrid car as all us prius drivers know. I hardly ever used all electric driving in the Prius since I knew it wasn't good for fuel economy. All that said I love my c-max, it just thinks it knows best when it doesn't

 

Aaron - what made you switch from Prius to Cmax?

 

I believe this was a dealer recall. Check with the owner if his or her gen 3 was recalled.

 

Well my Prius v that I personally over maintained starting burning oil around 120k, and around that same time my sisters 2010 (same engine) blew its headgasket with 180k, and burning tons of oil.

I absolutely loved that v, it being one of my favorite cars but I just decided to make the switch to the more powerful c-max. I drive a lot so I know I would have run into the headgasket issue, and probably inverter or ABS issues too.

Thankfully the c-max has over 182k and only had one fuel injector fail a few months ago. Doesn’t burn oil either thankfully. Also love the fairly brisk acceleration.