Hi prius fans. Have a question? I have a 2006 Toyota prius 2nd gen. I bought it almost 6 years ago from Georgia with 160000 miles. It had no rust on it. About a year after I bought it the main battery pack started going out. Took it to a guy who works on priuses. We determined it had a bad module in it. I bought another module on it but didn't fix it. Since it looked like someone else had tried to work on it before he recommended buying a Dorman remain for 1400. That was my first mistake. Dorman sent a remain. We installed it. All the same dash codes and after talking with Dorman techs it was determined I had a faulty battery pack. They sent me another one. Just 2 weeks short of the 3 year warranty that pack went bad. Dorman sent me another one. At that time the car was throwing a code saying injector one was bad. I spent almost a thousand bucks replacing all 4 injectors. Put everything back together. Check engine light came back on. It was throwing a code for faulty catalictic converter. My mechanic said drive it as maybe when injector one was leaking it got some fuel in the exhaust system. It will stay off for awhile then come back on then back off. Long story short after less then a year this Dorman battery pack is going belly up. So 3 Dorman battery packs in less then 4 years. I am ready to sell and be done with it. What is my car worth as is? It has 4 new injectors,4 almost new tires, front new wheel bearings and pads and rotors. I have put almost 2000 bucks into it in the last year and half. It has no rust and looks new inside and out. In the current condition can I get 2500? If not should I take what I can get and run? Thanks frustrated in Ohio and done with hybrid cars.
I have a 2006 got it at the end of 2014 6 years too and the more I read here the more likely I will not buy more hybrids lol, am thinking my self if should I try to sell my Prius before something go bad or just drive it till wheels fall off I don’t think people want hybrids this old maybe people don’t want any cars this old but Prius is a bigger fear because the hybrid battery, regarding you car take whatever you can get and run run !
The car in itself is very well built. Built as well as any Toyota. If it has any weakness its that mechanics don't understand the hybrid system, even the Toyota dealer mechanics. A Prius is always overpriced at a used car lot based on millage, the traction battery is not even thought about, mistake, huge mistake. I really would not recommend an older Prius to anyone who could not repair the car themselves. Honestly in my opinion if you don't know how the Hybrid system works you should not own a Prius. Yet every day more people come here and say how they are saving gas or the environment because they bought an old Prius. My Gen 2 will most likely be my last Prius also, I only have a few more years before I retire and I would never want my Daughters to have to pay someone to fix a Prius, It's just not cost effective for a non mechanical person.
I totally agree Toyota are well built, I own 3 Toyota but maybe because the lack of repair shops that understand the hybrids system or maybe another reason hybrids become expensive to fix unless you know how to fix it yourself, if you have to pay someone most likely you will be paying as much as you car worth and if something else go wrong then repairs will add up and you already see you self that you paid twice of you car value on repairs and you still have a old car that don’t worth half of what you paid fixing it, this is the biggest problem and the biggest fear for owner of oldest Prius are facing, sure it can happen to a not hybrid car but hybrid fear start after hybrid battery pack warranty expires most likely and not hybrids cars fear start after certain amount of miles.
You did not say how many miles are on it now. $2500 seems very optimistic. I have bought several Prius with bad batteries for about $1000. Between friends and family I am keeping 15 Gen 2 Prius running. These are all people that will call me if they have a problem. Fortunately these are very dependable cars and I rarely get a call. Without some DIY skills any old car can quickly become more expensive than owning a new car.
yeah, looks like 'best offer' is all you can hope for. at this point, a godd diy'er can through in a new battery for $1,600. and get another couple hundred thousand miles out of her
Thanks guys. I am kicking myself for not taking a 2500 offer a few months ago but felt like a car in like new shape cosmetically was worth more. Now i would take it and run. At this point if i get offered 1000 i am running to the bank.
If anyone here is interested i can send more pics. Got lots of paper work on it and the oil was changed every 6000 miles with penzoil full synthetic.
Went out tonight and started it and the red triangle went out and just check engine light out so who knows now if its the battery or not?
The red triangle can light up for various reason not for only the hybrid battery pack it’s real easy to monitor the hybrid battery with dr Prius app, you can even run life expectancy test with dr Prius app it’s nice to know this info, you can make a better decision about buying or selling a Prius with this tool.
With such a good base to work with, forget about its supposed value, forget about Dormans. As you sound capable to do the work, spend $1600 on a newpriusbatteries.com set of replacement modules. You will then have a sweet number that will not give you battery problems for the next 10 years. As you say, it is just like a new car, with this new battery it will be. It seems like a no brainer to me.
