Hi all, I'm new here and had been originally getting info from reddit, but it seems it'd be easier to ask at a forum with folks who actually own the vehicle. I drove a prius at my job and kind of became enamored with them, so now I'm looking to purchase. Most of them in my price range, 13k and below, are high mileage. I recently happened upon a 2018 with 130k miles which has no accidents and was driven commercially, so I'm guessing these were mostly highway miles. I looked into it and it has service records, but there is a gap. It looks like it was getting serviced monthly up until the end of 2018 at 25k, and then there are no records until when it was sold at 130k.. I won't be test driving it until this weekend, but I'm wondering if there might be something wrong with it, as it's priced about 7k under the blue book value (which I assume doesn't take mileage into account).. The price and year is what caught my eye, but what do you all think? I'm also looking into a 2012 with 75k miles at the same price as the '18, a 2013 with 128k for a few grand cheaper, and the cheapest is a 2012 with 155k miles. All have no accidents, damage, or recalls. I'll try to test all of them soon, but the other three all have been serviced at least double the times, though of course I know age plays a part. Just want to get some advice from those of you who bought a Prius at 100k+ mileage and what your experience was, especially with the newer models since the '18 is what I'm most interested in.
The likely reason service records stopped at 25K was that Toyota provided service through 20K miles, then the owner probably took over and either did them DIY or third party. This was probably an Uber/Lyft usage. Then Gen 3 Prius (2010-2015) engine has some issues with head gasket leaking and EGR clogging. Plus all came with NiMH traction battery. This battery begins losing storage capacity after time/miles and needs to be rebalanced or cells replaced. Some Gen 4's came with NiMH, and some with Li-Ion. The Li-Ion might be better long-term in terms of usable lifetime. Given all that, since you are in a cash limited position, it might be better to find a decent Gen 3 with lower miles than a Gen 4 with higher miles for the same money.
There's a significant difference in the way the 2018 drives (much. much better) than the Gen 3 - which could in turn be a significant factor.
I'd have a high mile Gen 4 over a low mile Gen 3 all day. It's like a different car, better mpg, ride and handling. I would want a full service history though, even the bullet proof Prius can suffer from neglect. I've nothing against self servicing as long as receipts and records for the services are provided.
I agree with kithmo. Well-maintained high mileage isn't always a deal killer, but records are critical.
"Driven commercially" has big red flags on it for any used car. Thinking the 'best case' scenario, when most of them are more like 'heavy use' taxis, ubers and lyfts, is the wrong way to approach it. Without maintenance records, I'd steer clear. The big taxi services used to do in-house body work on their Crown Vic fleets for both cost-savings, and -later - for cleaner car-fax records. With the big taxi fleets using Priuses so much, I don't doubt that they've started doing their own body work and ultra-cheap oil-changes in-house for them as well. My bet is that Gen4 Priuses are easily 200k-mile Taxi platforms, so for a company to give up on it is worrisome. The used Prius that is not from an owner that I would consider would be a county / government one, where their maintenance fleet did the oil changes. Generally those governmental ones aren't driven too hard, and most local governments' maintenance facilities take their jobs seriously.
better buy the 2018, mine is 2016 with 130k, trouble free compare to the 2013 previous one , much beter ride, very quiet and believe it or not,it does not burn a drop of oil between changes of 10k intervals, i would say its a much better car regardless milage./uber/lyft mine was a rideshare too, miles are miles. great car
At 130K the hybrid warranty is pretty much used up, as would the various wear parts. Something to keep in mind.
right, no warranty, at that stage i have developed so much confidence on that car i believe it would go 300k with no serious issues, cant remenber the last time i drove a toyota with high milage engine that consumes ZERO oil between changes, i think this car is a winner. p.s yesterday my drivers window started getting noisy when upand down, will open thwe panel soon to see whats going on, too hot outside 110degs
