I'm considering two Priuses. Both have around 96k on them, both going about the same price, 11k. The 2015 is a single owner; the 2016 is not. Everything else is about the same. Is there a huge difference between the last year of Gen 3 and the first year of Gen 4?
Bigger than huge difference. Gen 4 is quieter, gets better fuel economy, has more comfortable seats, handles better, and on and on. Sadly, it sacrifices some of the handy little storage cubbies that the Gen 3 had. But it's still a vastly improved car.
OK, so I looked up the car via Carfax. Turns out the 2016 had an accident in 2017 with around 25K miles on it. And...the car was a rental. And another accident in 2020! I thought it was too cheap...oh well. Really worth it to get the Carfax, isn't it?
definitely. i would keep looking for an affordable gen 4 if you can find one. 2015 may be a good car, but the jury is still out
2015 has the upgraded pistons and rings (higher tension, less prone to oil consumption), and single owner. And the miles are not so advanced that the 3rd gen “shortcomings” are beyond being remedied. Just personal, but I’d prefer the 3rd gen for exterior and interior looks and function.
Gen 3 ain't bad. But it's not perfect, especially in the comfort, ride, noise, and handling areas. Gen 4 is greatly improved in most of the important ways, but they did introduce some things in the styling department that make you wonder what they were thinking. But style doesn't get me where I want to go. I would never want to go back to Gen 3.
It's not just a loss of little cubbies though, is it? I mean, in the Gen 3 you've got the whole vast hatch area for starters: And then the whole "wait till I show you the downstairs": and then the whole "but wait, there's more" sub-downstairs: When my 2001 got clocked and I got a Gen 3, I found it pretty straightforward to figure out how to redesign my power distribution thingy and get my inverter and compressor stashed away in the sub-downstairs out of sight and out of the way like before. When I poked around a Gen 4 at the dealership, it seemed to have lost so much of that kind of space I was at a loss to imagine how I would ever make one work.
I had a 2012 gen 3 and that got totaled (insurance paid out more than i bought it for 1.5years and 20K miles later haha) and i got a gen 4 as a replacement. I really miss the storage as the person mentioned above, in San Francisco you can't leave anythning in view and I used to use that under floormat space all the time. I don't recall the Gen 3 being quieter but I must say the suspension is much improved in terms of road compliance. It might handle better but I can't really tell b/c my weekend car is a 911... Gen 3 is IMO more practical. But Gen 4 is a great car too, I'm probably going to replace it with a model Y at some point. It has both an under floormat space and a frunk (front trunk) while maintaining the versatility of a hatchback.
Gen 4 doesn't have the underneath storage? At all? My Gen 2 has the bucket where I store all sorts of stuff, and I'd miss that for sure...
There is a MASSIVE difference. Gen 3 is poor to drive - I test-drove one new, and walked away, couldn't live with it. Gen 4 is quite good.. Better economy on Gen 4 too.
This is true. I forgot that the Gen 3 had the basement since mine was a PiP. I sure wish we could have the storage AND the comfort. And I gave up even more storage with my Prime. Could I get the storage back and please be able to drive for less than 2 cents per mile?
We did a couple of (2010) gen 3 test drives. The first was a level with 15” rims; it was nighttime, just seemed to get off on the wrong foot. The second was a daylight drive in the (Canadian) Touring model, with the 17” rims, suspension/steering revisions, night-and-day difference: the car felt planted, sure. Loved it. Still do.
It’ll reduce the oily sludge delivered to intake manifold via PCV circuit. Not sure but I think this’d hold true for 4th gen as well: it has rev’d Exhaust Gas Recirculation but sim PCV? @Raytheeagle has installed Oil Catch Can on his prime IIRC.
