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Best used Prius to buy? High miles newer or low miles older?

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by Funk-O-Meter, Aug 25, 2012.

  1. 05PreeUs

    05PreeUs Senior Member

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    FE is more dependent on tires and driving style than vehicle mileage, but yes, either battery being weak will cause an FE reduction.
     
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  2. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace 2025 Camry XLE FWD

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    You do realize that the O/P in 2012 with a dying car obviously already made their choice either willingly or unwillingly, right?

    Sometimes we need to let zombie threads die.
     
  3. 05PreeUs

    05PreeUs Senior Member

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    Nope, never check post dates, did not realize it mattered.
     
  4. zidane13

    zidane13 Junior Member

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    Resurrecting the zombie thread anew because I have a somewhat similar decision. Trying to decide between two similarly priced cars:

    #1: 2013 Prius Two; $13,500; 28,000 miles
    #2: 2015 Prius Two; $14,000; 37,000 miles (note: the Autotrader says it's a Prius One, but I'm pretty sure those were phased out in 2015)

    Anybody have thoughts about whether the 2015 is worth an extra $500 and 10,000 miles? Either way, really excited to be driving a Prius soon. This is an awesome community.
     
  5. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace 2025 Camry XLE FWD

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    I thought the Prius One was used for fleet sales, including rentals & taxis.

    I found somebody on a Reddit thread that also found a 2015 Prius One for sale and they confirmed it was a fleet vehicle.
     
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  6. zidane13

    zidane13 Junior Member

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    Interesting. I can't figure out what the 2015 Prius One is missing that the Two includes. The One has a back-up camera, bluetooth, keyless start and entry, etc. It's definitely not the fact that it's a One that would put me off it -- rather, the miles and the price.
     
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  7. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace 2025 Camry XLE FWD

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    And how it was driven & maintained.
     
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  8. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Sold, Jan 7, Level 3 Prius, 2010, 73000 miles, $8k.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  9. oliwer78

    oliwer78 Junior Member

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    This is my first post here, bought 2010 P- V with technology package with 140k miles for $7k+. Probably more than I should have spent and more than I wanted to spend, but it was the only one available with these options and desired black in color - that combo almost does not exist.
    Coming from M- and S-cars, and 400+HP evo's it is a bit of shock, but hey lets move to the new era!.
    I have been looking for some cheap alternative for my 80+ mile daily commute in near future. Wanted a Civic or Fit, because of manual transmission, but after quick talk to old friend of mine - long time car enthusiast, I spent 3 days glancing this forum and craigslist. After 300 texts with the friend I blindly bought that 2010 after 3 days of searching vs. 3 month long my friend's search of his. Need the car like this for 2 years, will see how this goes. It is loud and slow as ughhh, but I am eager to learn to get as much as possible out of it.

    P.S. I drive Chev. Volt on occasion at my work. Not a bad choice either but the cheapest I found was $9500 for 94k miles.
     
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  10. eman08

    eman08 Active Member

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    I would go for higher mileage newer as most of the time those are just high way mileage. Highway mileage has less wear and tear than stop and go and tend to be in alot better condition. Battery degradation takes more with age than how many miles. My 2009 has 168,515 on it now. Runs like a champ never been in a repair shop for repairs or an accident.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #30 eman08, Jan 23, 2017
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2017
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  11. Magician

    Magician New Member

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    I live in Omaha, we have plenty of rusty cars... not as bad as some of the more Northern States, but I've never seen a rusty Prius.
     
  12. Magician

    Magician New Member

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    It's preferred to buy a car that was mostly highway driven. A highway driven car will outlive a city driven car by at least 2 or 3 fold. There are ways to tell if you look the car over and know what to look for. Many tutorials online.
     
  13. irhs

    irhs New Member

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  14. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    Not really as true a statement anymore especially for Prius and other hybrids. Another way of saying it a highway used Prius will have its engine running closer to 100% of the time versus a city Prius which will be closer to 50% of the time on average. There are advantages to both.

    A city driven ICE vehicle is usually less ideal than a highway driven one. But such a distinction doesn't exist for a HEV. And it's different again for a PHEV which is different again for a BEV. A highway driven and supercharged-often BEV versus a city BEV for example...
     
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  15. love4electric

    love4electric Junior Member

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    Hello people and thank you in advance for all your expert opinions ,
    Very confused about prices and what hybrid/electric car to buy here :)
    i really do not understand where you guys find these prices 5500$ in 2016 for a 2010 prius even with 140k that is the prices i am finding now for right now in 2020 (4 YEARS after this post was made = i would assume the poster can find this with car with 2500-3000$ now and if you can i would gladly pay you a commision to find me one since my budget is low)

    i had a 2007 old Camry Hybrid ( i loved the car it was a limited 50th anniversary edition with some blue led lights saying that ) very nice package leather and anti-reflective mirror it had 195k but ran great and if i drove like a granpa i woud get way more than the 33 mpg , more like 40MPG+) but had an accident with a guy a few days ago , he was found at fault (he ran a red light +had his headlights off at almost 9pm) so need to to replace it now with something more economical and found myself asking the same question
    What should i look for
    1 . prius 2009 70k
    2. prius 2010 115k
    3. camry hybrid 2012 114k

    how much should i pay for each of these ?
    i checked autotrader , truecar ,edmunds , i really don't know where to find them with the low prices you guys were saying
    do you have some links of cars with very low prices ?
    (preferably places that finance , i've got 762 credit score but very few cash available now )
    dealerships that do not list cars for with 35k and when i actually check the vin i realized they had 300k on the odo (scammers)
    THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP GUYS !
     
  16. love4electric

    love4electric Junior Member

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    i found a few with 2200-3600$ but only cash and very high mileage 163k-220k
    what would be the limit that would car will worth throwing 4000-6000$ in miles and age ?
    120k ? 10 years maximum ?
     
  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    sounds about right. you'll never save enough gas to pay for repairs
     
  18. love4electric

    love4electric Junior Member

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    So it seems low mileage, average age hybrid toyora cars without accidents are very rare and very expensive
    The lowest priced with low mileage I could find in fl was this
    2010 prius 75k miles ~ 7800$

    I did find much a newer one with about the same price 2013 prius 109k miles ~ 8000$
    And a 3rd one: 2012 prius 104k miles ~8000$

    Which one would you guys buy ?
    And why? Thank you so much for your opinions

    I was thinking to go with the 2013 even though it has a bit higher mileage the battery pack will last longer since age is worse from what I read is that correct?
    Or will the damage of the 34k miles on all the parts of the car not worth the 3years lower age of the car ?
     
  19. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i would go with the 13, all things being equal. don't forget, you can haggle and see which one comes out the lowest.
    have you talked to todd at tampa hybrids?

    you will need to clean the egr circuit on any gen 3 prius
     
  20. love4electric

    love4electric Junior Member

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    Yeah I talked with Tampa hybrids a few days ago , Todd I believe , he seemed nice and had a bunch of newer hybrids(but way over my budget) without accidents

    For my budget(8000$) he had a low mileage 77k ...but pretty old 2010 prius (also had 2 accidents, one of them exceeded 1000$)