Oldest Prius in US

dang, i thought you were going to tell us!

 

Show us a picture?

 

I've always loved gen 1! Has yours had any issues over the years. Hard to believe Prii have been driving around in the USA almost 20 years now!

 

I drove off the dealer's lot with mine on September 9, 2000... but didn't keep it. That got traded for a gen-2, then a gen-3, then a PHV, and now I have a Prime. Not sure whatever happened to that first one, which has a custom built receiver-hitch, making it easy to identify. I did see my gen-2 last winter, easily identified by the rather unique dent I put on it.

Here's the very first photo I shared of my 2001...


That was impressive tech, way ahead of it's time.

 

I thought this was going to be about a True Japanese Gen 1 with cylindrical cells from the late 90’s being imported

 

That Prius is known as Gen-0. Since the more advanced programming languages start counts at 0 rather than 1, combined with the fact that it was never offered for sale here, that drew attention to being distinct. It was also an interesting debunk approach to the on-going problem exacerbated from antagonists claiming Prius was rolled out in 2000, attempting to mislead by referring to that as Gen-1 instead. They worked hard to make sure no one would find out how much Toyota had already upgraded their hybrid system by the time it made it to the United States for sale, 3 years later.

I had the opportunity to see that original, back in April 2000. That design came before the prismatic battery-cell. It looked a bit different on the outside. On the inside, the screen wasn't touch-sensitive. The engine wasn't as powerful either.

 

Nice.

What repairs have been required to keep the car running? In particular, what have you done with the high voltage traction battery? How about the HCAC (hydrocarbon absorption chamber) in the exhaust system? Has the air conditioner compressor required replacement? Was the engine ECU upgraded to take care of engine no-start issues?

 

Just got this 02 Prius from Copart. I am new with the Prius, so other that what I've been reading in these forums, I have no clue. The car has approx 53k, Carfax looks like it was well maintained. It's a one owner car. It was wrecked in the driver's side front. Frame is ok but the fender and hood are toast. The left side fuse box was broken by the impact, but it worked ok. I did get a replacement on EBay and installed it myself. The rest of the overall condition, aside from a few scrapes and the LH side mirror braking and denting the driver's door, is in very good condition. I got a cheap OBD2 reader (Carista) and it has no codes, no check engine light, etc.

The 12V battery was dead, but when I went to the salvage yard to inspect the car, they jumped started it for me and was able to put in D and the car moved forward under its own power for a short moment and then it died.

I recharged the battery with my NOCO G3500 and tried to repair it (just in case it was sulfated). The battery now seems to hold the charge ok and all the electronics work perfectly fine. The key fob remote locks the car and sets the alarm just fine but when I get in to start it here is what happens:

1. The READY light comes on and the gas engine starts for about 2 seconds and then dies. The triangle with the exclamation point inside comes on in the upper dashboard and the screen displays red background with warning and the battery main icon in the middle highlighted.

2. If I try to restart it again, the ready light now blinks and nothing happens.

3. I tried resetting the warnings with the OBD2 scanner. The warning on the touch screen doesn't come on and neither does the triangle of death on the dashboard, but now I have the "turtle" and the ready light flashing in the upper dash but still nothing happens. The main screen now shows energy flow and that's it.

4. The last thing is that key gets stuck in the ignition and when you push in, you can't get it out. I have to disconnect the 12 V battery and then it comes out with no problem.

I know this car has several computers so what can be the problem?

a. Is it the 12 V battery that perhaps need replacement?
b. Is it the hybrid battery? I have not look at it and tried to determine if it was replaced. I have hunch it was not.
c. Is there a problem with the immobilizer system?

I obviously can go on and on. Please comment back to me if you have experience with type of issue.

I really appreciate it!

 

Maybe a silly question but how can you tell when the car was made - we have a 2001 and I was going to check around the door panels etc to see if I can find out when it was made

 

Doesn’t the door jamb have the date on it?

I know our 2010 and 2019 Prii have it there.

Pretty sure it was there in our 98 4runner too.

Look forward to seeing your Prii’s manufactured date.

 

Well, I’ll be damned! I did not know that. I’m going to check it out on my 2002 today with about 96K miles. I ordered it in about May 2001, waited six months and took delivery in October 2001. Seems like yesterday.

 

A lot of imports have the build date on a sticker in the driver’s door jamb or on the underside of the door itself.

 

Very cool. I have #845 manufactured in October 2001.

 

Congrats to the early adopters

 

Ok checked it out

Our 2001 manufactured Oct 2000 #282, 212K miles

Our 2002 manufactured May 2002 #616 244K miles

 

wow!

 

How can a 2001 have a higher build number then a 2002?

 

I had an 01, not sure what # mfg it was, I flew up to Atlanta 1 way ticket and drove it south 400 miles - It had a good amt of mileage on it , i think i got about 40 k miles on it maybe 60k before hv battery took a dump and a long slow processof module play (and it wasnt fun with that big big battery of 100#) - I got it in 06? sold it in '10. It was slow, - I got flipped off many many times , not only for the slow take off but even fro the extra breaking time from regen, people so used to slamming on breaks at last 100 feet. It was not fast, and it had that damn turning radius issue, It had a tight /fast turning radius which was great for city, but highway it was too dang touchy. It was not as utility useful as 2nd gen because no hatchback.I did drive a lot more places than normal because whil/e everyone else was stressing at the drive through, or at the stop light or instop and go traffic, i was feeling green, calm and clean ..... also , one co-worker woman actually said 'my daughter doesn't want to meet you because you drive a prius, she has a mustang ....

 

The serial numbering restarts each year.