Who should and should NOT buy a 2001-03 Prius

I was fortunate I bought my car that dealer bought it from County owned before me. I got the car cheap, but the hybrid computer and i had to replace Hybrid battery. Tech at Toyota told car was in great shape that County did maintain the vehicle it bad timing after 13 years computer and battery went out after 3 months. I work auto industry I did have a back up car. Even whit the price of the car and repair it still cheaper than a car payment. I do sign up for the forums they help me and also deal with the dealership.

 

Bob, thanks for your advice on gen 1, I have not posted in over a year and I owe you an explanation.
Bought my 02 18 months ago, for $600, not running with minor traction battery problems.
Fixed battery, changed all fluids, ceramic brake pads, and all parts serpentine belt related items.
A year and a half and 40,000 miles later, I have had no squalks and only expenses were oil changes and wiper blades. It even sat unused for 5 months in south Texas heat this summer and started like it was yesterday when I got home. Still showing 52 mpg computer on trips.
I can't say enough how good an experience this car has been. R.

 

Not sure, But I believe I have one of the "Luckies" Tochatihu mentioned. I have had this two owner car since 2008. The previous owner had all the workorders performed by the DEALER when I bought it. "It" is a silver 2001 Gen 1 prius. The traction battery was replaced under factory warranty at around 48,000 miles by him and I bought it with around 74,000 miles. "It" now has 148,946 miles on her and has been averaging 45MPG for 8542 miles. I replaced brakes, tires, both rear wheel hubs, all fluids twice, and installed the latest most durable Inverter coolant pump. I regularly replace oil and filters as required. Interior is impeccable. Clear coat is the only blemish.

I need to sell this car and my Ford E350 Diesel Powerstroke van because Insurance costs are so high and retirement looms in my near future. I will replace these two vehicles with a single small van. I am not sure how keen collectors are on aquiring these cars but I know mine is a prime candidate for pre$ervation.

I will ask more than the Kelly Blue book "Private party" suggested figure but less than the Five G mentioned later on in that post.

All in all I agree most with "SlimFrancis" and know these vars when taken care of decently are a treasure.

SIncerley

Karoo

 

Have you already checked out all of your insurance options? First of all collision insurance isn't really needed for an old car, the premiums are normally overpriced for the small amount of money that they will give you to repair it. It's probably not stated on your policy, but you can call and ask them what is the maximum amount they will pay if the car is totaled, you will probably be surprised how little they will pay.

Of course you do need liability insurance for both cars, but assuming you are the only driver of the two vehicles, you should call around to different insurance companies and explain your situation. If there is someone else in your household then by default they will assume that both people could drive either car, which will be reflected in the premium. However some insurance companies allow you to fill out a form where you certify that the other person will never drive a particular car, and they should take a certain amount off.

And of course raise the deductibles to the maximum, which lowers your premiums. I realize that can be a little nervous but if you take the money saved in premiums and set it aside as "deductible money" you can pretty quickly build up an amount equal to or exceeding the amount of the deductible.

Of course I'm guessing on your particular situation and maybe you have already looked at all of this, but it just seems a shame to get rid of a reliable, paid-for, fuel efficient car because of the insurance.

 

Great advice Since2002;

I will look at it again. I promised my 2002 E350 for a song and a dance to my eldest son. We both like to haul motorcycles and such. I could use the funds from both sales to purchase a small minivan.

I will miss this forum community.

Thanks

 

Hey i lost my spare key to my 2002 prius. Any idea on what i should do? I heard that i have ro remove my dashboard.

 

Dear "joined today"

This is a five-year-old thread.
Perhaps you ought to start a new thread, maybe entitled.....
"Hey i lost my spare key to my 2002 prius. Any idea on what i should do?"

Since I hate forum Nazis who don't answer the original question, here's what I would do:
1. Ask the Googles.
2. Start thread in the maintenance sub-forum.
3. Consult a local independent dealer.

Good Luck!

 

Follow the advice in this thread. if you have lost all your keys.

Need Help: 2002 Prius all the keys are lost | PriusChat

Otherwise, starting a new thread is an excellent idea.

 

are you implying that a trailer hitch can be put on a 2002 Prius ?

 

I'm buying back from my niece the 2002 I helped her buy in February of 2013. She was the second owner of a local NM car. It had 130,500 on it then and it now has 156,000.
Transaxle was replaced in 2008 at 88,000 miles. In May of 2011 @ 113,300 the hybrid battery was replaced. We did a baseline service when we bought it as suggested in Bob's first note.Fluids replaced, new struts front and back, new serpentine belt, new PCV, transmission drained and screen cleaned were all done.
It's now five years and 25K later so I will be doing a number of these services again (Fluids, etc)
The reason she's abandoned the Prius for a Toyota ICE is recently recurring losses of PS.
I working on that and will start a new thread.

This car was produced in September of 2001 so it's eight years from becoming a "Classic".
Is anyone working on a new sticky on long term care for GEN 1's ?

Ed K

 

My 02 has a hitch. They're made by Uhaul, special order and they may need to fab one up for you. I think they cost about $190, mine was on my car when I bought it. They use the smaller sized receiver hitch and the capacity is probably no more than 700#. For pulling a little utility trailer or a motorcycle trailer with a small bike on they & the car are adequate, but you do have to be ultra careful.

 

Fab info in this thread, I myself am reacquainting myself with my 2001. The only thing that I would suggest that needs a teeny bit more qualification is the

I've owned a mix of HSD equipped Toyota and easily driven them 250k+ miles both in the UK and around Europe. My NHW20 Gen 2 road-tripped as far as Elba off the coast of Italy with me. Lots of tall hills, but never once have I ever used B in any of them.

I'm kind of in a quandary because surely Toyota wouldn't have fitted it if it wasn't necessary. But the likelihood of needing to use it is (IMO) sooooo rare as to be almost non-existent for, I'd say 99.9% of Prius owners.

Labelling it 'B', rather than perhaps 'L' (we all know 1, 2 or 3 etc aren't apt), actually causes more confusion to many HSD drivers (search on here for innumerable examples) than any (questionable in my opinion) benefits. Personally...I'd remove it altogether as a number of manufacturers have done, simply having P, R, N and D.

Lights touch paper...stands well back....

 

One reason to use B is when you are descending mountainous terrain and your battery charge on the MFD shows full (8 green bars on G2 for example). By using B the engine will spin faster to do some engine braking - hence the B character on the gear selector.

 

If I might be permitted the obvious question: why did you choose not to?

Forum's not about flaming, it's about information.

-Chap

 

I imagine one of the design requirements for the Toyota HSD driveability was to make it as close to a normal automatic car as possible. So, in the same way that I would guess 99.9% of conventional automatic car owners would not touch the gear selector when descending a hill, I don't imagine Prius owners do either. If it were obvious and essential (?) for Prius drivers to do so, we'd not be having this conversation.

I know why it's there, but as the Prius is designed to use the generators as often as possible to slow it down, your discs (rotors?) and pads get far less use when compared to a normal car. Hence when the HV battery cannot accept the charge, there's nothing wrong with using the conventional brakes to keep them free of rust etc. Modern car brakes have so much redundancy in them you'd never cause them to fade out unless you're driving way too fast. In which case you're probably going to come off the road long before they stop working. I believe I remember reading some comments a few years ago that it's good to occasionally put the lever in N whilst descending a hill, simply to give the conventional discs / rotors a work out.

British tongue in cheek humour. And it is bonfire night today

 

<bump>
The NHW11 edition of the Toyota Prius (aka Gen I) is now 20 years old, and those on the road are now at about 3x the average design life of an automobile (which is 7 years, or there-abouts).
It was one of the first hybrid (gas & electric drive) vehicles on the market, and as nice a design and support job as Toyota has done, they were the first to try to solve certain problems, which means that certain parts are only available from Toyota - and Toyota is running out of inventory.
It is a fun car to keep running as a hobby. But given the age of many of its life-of-the-vehicle components is well past their design life, recognize that you will eventually be responsible for its maintenance.
If you are handy around conventional vehicles, have tools, a garage and a code reader, and are willing to put up with "weird problems" along with the normal rust, corrosion and metal fatigue issues of a 20 year old car, then bless you, take it on, feed it a plate of warm milk, and make it part of your life.
If you are NOT in the above category, you need a more modern vehicle for your daily use.

 

In 1940s there were 'code talkers' that Japanese could not figure out. Sixty years later there were 'code readers' trying to figure out what Japanese were saying. There may be a novel in there, somewhere.

 

The code talkers spoke Navajo... and there were no Navajo speakers in Japan. Brilliant, whoever thought to use the system.

 

That seems to have been Philip Johnston:

Who Were the Navajo Code Talkers? | Wonderopolis