Hi everybody. So I’m looking at a GEN three and I happened to see a GEN four at a really good price. 2017 “three”. It’s at a dealer and listed for $12,000. It doesn’t look like they’re going to come down more than $200 - $300. However, from everything I see it looks to be a great price? It does have high miles for a four year old car however. 88,000 miles. Any concerns with the mileage? It looks to be dealer maintained. The salesman mentioned the high-voltage battery is warranted for eight years and unlimited miles. Is that correct? I thought it was 100,000 miles. Also those of you with GEN fours and high miles, when did you have to replace your brakes? Just wanted to know for planning purposes. Thank you!
The salesman is wrong and you are right. It's 8 years or 100,000 miles. So you're getting close on the miles part of the warranty. However, it's the same hybrid system that has a 10 year 150,000 mile warranty in CARB states, so I wouldn't be concerned at all about the miles. Age and heat are the big enemies of the traction battery. That does look like a good price if it's well cared for. For comparison, our first two Prii were 10 years old, had over 100,000 miles on them, and were almost $10k each. However, they were the highest trim available. To see what maintenance Toyota has done to it go to Welcome to Toyota Owners and log in (or register) and enter the car's VIN. How long do the brakes last on a Prius? Hard to say. If you drive like the average joker and go as fast as you can and brake as late as you can, maybe 60-100k miles. If you drive the hybrid like a hybrid, 150-300k miles would be my guess assuming the PA rust doesn't destroy them first. Gen 4 is vastly better than Gen 3 in terms of comfort and handling. Gets better gas mileage, too. Get it if you can.
Good information- thanks! Yes, the Gen 3’s I am looking for are a little less (2 -3 thousand or so, not huge really). But getting a GEN 4 with all the tech is appearing for sure. I thought I was right about the HV battery warranty. It looks well cared for. Regular oil changes. The Toyota website has that the inverter coolant was done at 80k. Some of the undercarriage plastic is scratched in the front and the rear wheel well has a small hole (looks to be plastic too). I guess that is normal wear and tear for a 4 year old vehicle.
It's just one data point, but I'm at 4+ years and 147,000 on my 2016 Prius Four. No hybrid battery issues, but did just replace the 12v battery. Still on the original brakes. Never drove the gen 3 so can't compare.
You won't regret a Gen 4 - it is so much better a drive than Gen 3. I remember deciding I couldn't live with a Gen 3's mediocre driving - but after trying the Gen 4 - I bought it immediately. Battery warranty - in Australia they're putting 10 years, unlimited kilometres on the battery - which isn't relevant in USA, but is relevant that TOYOTA has great faith in the batteries. There have been stories of TAXIs with 800,000 kms on the original battery. And brakes, if not abused, can last the life of the car.
