2nd gen Prius a safe reliable buy?

Welcome
Unlikely to be reliable. Try autotrader or carfax.

 

go for the kia, if your comfortable with the reliability

 

The good news is that since you’re in Dallas, Matt at Texas Hybrid Batteries can replace your HV battery with oem new, at your house for $2550. He did mine a couple of years ago and is a great guy.

I don’t know much about the Kia Rio, I just know that my 2006 Prius has been amazing. Bought with 92k, now at 209k and still our main long distance travel vehicle. Toyota did a great job making the GenII and I recommend them to anyone.

As long as you have money in the bank for future repairs, like the HV you should be fine. If not, maybe a Corolla or that Kia might be better.

 

As much as I hate to admit it, I would suggest you go to one of the other cars for the simple reason the car won't be garaged at your apartment. Having it outside all the time in the heat of the area you live is tough on older batteries. Fortunately, I get to garage mine every night when I'm home.

I also see the heat affecting a couple of other things. The car will be parked in the carport, often times in the sun, with the windows up. That serious build-up of cabin heat is going to have you hitting the a/c on startup almost every drive. That's is going to drag the MPG down significantly at the start of almost every drive but necessary since the battery fan uses the cabin air to flow over the cells. The heat and sun will also take its toll on things like the MFD unit and some of the other electronics in a pretty complicated car. The window screens sold in the Priuschat shop help a bunch but I know my car is still pretty hot when I get back in it in the desert sun.

With the questions you've been asking, it's nice to see someone with their eyes wide open while making such a decision. I kind of have the feeling, though, that you might find yourself constantly nervous anticipating problems with a Prius instead of having a transportation car you can just enjoy driving.

Some others around here may disagree with my suggestion and I'd love to see their comments. I can always use tips myself.

 

Very reliable. In my opinion (familiar with most vehicles, buy/sell 100s of different models a year)....There is not a single more reliable car than the Prius...Corolla is extremely solid too.

Yes, the lift handle can wear away but it will still open every time. Some people experience AC going out, brake accumulator going out, wheel bearings, hybrid battery, headlights, blah blah blah it is all extremely rare and anyone intelligent would love to place $1000 wager on each issue not happening before 250k miles.

I was in similar situation as you. Bought at 145k. Has 200k now (1.5 years later) and I changed wheel bearings and tires in last 55k miles other than that zero issues and you save a ton of money at the pump (pocket change to fill up).

Those older model civics (particularly the 2 door) drive like crap. Bought an 06 civic with 120k miles (auction) had a crack in block needed motor. Good thing is the motors are $400 used on those model civics.

Pound for pound when you factor in price of vehicle used, gas savings, overall maintenance --- I don't think any car (in the history of cars ever being produced) can compete with the Prius. Bought/sold/owned at least 15 of these never had any serious issue (except one was rusty and was a pile of junk but still ran great).

 

Put another way there is an extremely well known problem of hitting 299K miles (on the 2004-2005 model Prii) and the odometer freezing. Think about it. Owner after owner after owner reports hitting 300K miles and wondering why the odometer stops working. There is also a 200K and 300K and up thread with lots of info. There are people going over 500 and over 600K miles on these things.

Your average car starts falling apart around 150k miles. It becomes a ticking time bomb at that point where things start malfunctioning.

The Prius is not like that. If you've ever been in a 200 or 300k mile prius they still drive about the same as when they were new.

 

If you don't buy it I might consider it.

Is it in good cosmetic shape?

 

My personal philosophy or feeling is, that if you are going to invest into a Prius or Hybrid, you should really want a Prius or Hybrid. If that isn't your thinking or feeling? In other words if you are indifferent about owning a Prius or Hybrid? Then I always recommend simply passing.

I like cars.
For me? When I bought my Prius....I wanted a Prius.
But my Brother and his Wife? They have much the same approach as the OP. That is? They purely look at a vehicle as a tool. They have consistently bought "newer" used cars, in the $3000-$5000 range. Repaired as needed/possible, and jettisoned if things got too bad.
They have a greater income than myself, so it's NOT a forced choice. They could buy brand new vehicles or invest more into newer vehicles if they wished.

I would say, they have gotten from point A to point B....just as I have, and they have spent far less money on their vehicles. So from a purely economical standpoint, I would admit it's possibly a better approach.

They basically look for the best they can get in that price range. If they are patient and do their homework? They usually end up with a vehicle that serves their needs for X number of years.

I know if it was my brother answering this thread...he'd say get the Kia Rio.

 

Ive a 2008 Prius with 171,000 kms on it, despite a current glitch over a $40 inverter pump its reliability has been beyond outstanding. Toyota themselves build about the most reliable Japanese cars with engines capable of exceeding 300,000kms and out here there are a few Prius taxi cabs with half a million kms on them. I believe as long as the core of the car is solid its a viable platform to repair as needs be.

If I was looking for another Prius I would be looking at the service history, the quality and fairness of the local agent, the condition of the body work and a sense of how reliable the previous owner thought the car was in his/her possession. This because all the maintenance I never did on my own car will to an extent address future reliability, and the fairness of the local agent will have an impact on future costs. With the knowledge that better looking cars are better kept, and that this is an almost universal high cost in keeping older cars looking good Id have on my short list cars that had an excellent appearance to push back on that cost. Garnered by a history of reliable longer lasting cars Toyota while not being especially technologically advanced they have the bones for the best value for money.

All that said any car that has reached high volume manufacture and has gotten beyond its first generation or model will almost certainly provide a useful reliable platform because it just isnt in a manufacturers interests to produce cars with high warranty exposure and a history of failure. Toyota pushed the envelope considerably in developing the Prius which at the time was an extraordinary achievement, their choices in reaching these goals seemed to me not always the easiest but have proven on the whole to provide a good reliable car that has fought off much of its me-too competition.

It isnt how I would have done it, but it has succeeded.

My own car has been comparatively mistreated. I dont have access to a Toyota dealer so it only gets whatever maintenance I can attend to when I can attend to it. It sits outside in the hot sun in summer, this was near the hottest city in the world a few days ago at 47C, and cold winters that freeze surface water and dew.

The car has driven on deeply rutted dirt tracks you wouldnt take your goat on, rough gravel roads it doesnt especially like and fast highway use. Yet this car is still comfortable to drive, capacious inside for its size and free of rattles and other displeasures. Although Ive owned a lot of cars Ive never had a better car than this, or a car Ive kept so long.

 

None of those things are a deal breaker to me. If you get the Prius, keep it in the shade as much as possible. Especially if it's black. I would make a couple of suggestions right out of the starting gate. Click on "Shop" in the blue bar above and buy two things from the Priuschat shop. The visor hood for the MFD ($35) and the sunshade for the front window ($32.95). You might consider the rear window sunshade but I've done ok without it.

Navigation Screen Sun Visor Hood for 2004-2009 Toyota Prius - PriusChat Shop

Sunshade HeatShield for 2004-2009 Toyota Prius - Front - PriusChat Shop

I would also make contact with other members in your area and see about sharing a Prolong battery maintenance system to at least make sure the batteries are in as good health as they can be. Buying a system for just your car is pricey although it might pay for itself in delaying the inevitable battery replacement down the line. You can, though, always sell it on the secondary market to recoup some of the cost when you're done with the car. In the meantime, set aside a little money each month for a nest egg to handle any problem that crops up with any car.

 

If you decide on the Prius, spend $20 on an OBD2 reader with either Dr. Prius or Torque app to read faults and clear codes before taking a test drive. The reader can be used with your other vehicles, so may be useful to you down the road.

I do want to mention interior room, which the Prius excels at. My 6'4 brother-in-law and chunky wife (sorry sis) sit comfortably in the back seats. If anything, the ride feels like my 08 Touring (138K miles) could use new springs, but for just myself and wife the ride is fine.

The mention of a cloth interior reminded me of just how much I like the Leather interior of the Touring. I'm the 3rd owner, and still the interior looks new. As was mentioned before, the 2nd Gen Prius were in a time when Toyota still had some thing to prove with hybrid vehicles, so the materials were top notch. There are no cracks in the dash,no hydrocarbon-sweating (on my windshield) during my first summer of ownership in the SW Texas heat. This is a first with any (similarly-aged) car I've owned, even other Toyota vehicles.

 

Good points, but hasn't the PriusChat shop been down (not shipping orders) for something like a year?

 

I guess we will find out. I just ordered the MFD hood from the Prius shop, and the transaction has gone though without any warning flags.

 

The PriusChat Shop is showing 2019 products and the blog there indicates they're shipping. It has been updated this month. Maybe one of the moderators can confirm they're still open for business.

 

Just thinking about it, it would make sense that they were down for a while last year. They are located in North Carolina and they got hit with two horrendous storms back-to-back. Nobody was doing much business there for a while. They should be back up and running by now. I tried to confirm that by online chat but they're not in on Sundays.

 

Couldn't connect to anyone there today in a chat window.....

 

False statement! I have proof to the contrary.