I apologize if this is posted in the wrong forum- I don't know my way around here. I am trying to buy my first car, for $5000 cash. I recently found a 2012 prius 4 hatchback for exactly that. It got a new battery in 2017, under warranty (I think this implies the new battery is a true prius battery, but I will double check when I meet with the owner), and the owner claims it was consistently maintained. It has 241,000 miles on it. There are other prii in my area for sale for similar/lower prices, as well as other 'reliable' hatches/crossovers/wagons (Matrix, forester, etc). While many have lower miles, almost all of them are much older models (pre-2009). Considering I live in moist Maryland, I'm very concerned about rust. The only other cars at my price that are THIS new are models that, when I look them up, have bad reputations. Is 241K that big of a concern for a gen 3 prius, if the battery is only 4 years old? Is there a way I could tell, from test driving, how much life I can expect it to have?
it is a huge concern, and no, there is no way. make sure the owner is referring to the hybrid battery, that it is new oem, get the receipt and contact the dealer for confirmation. old prius need a lot of work. do you know a good prius mechanic? dealers are expensive and will rip you off every chance they get.
Yes, engine could be knackered: runaway oil consumption, and/or failing head gasket. Especially if it’s only been dealer serviced, owner being hands-off.
Depends on where the miles come from. If it was mostly freeway miles and was well maintained there's several years or more left in the car. If there's signs of a lack of maintenance and it was used as an Uber in a major city, probably gonna have more problems.
If you have $5000 for a car, don't buy a $5000 car. There will almost always be something coming up that needs repair or maintenance so don't spend your entire amount on the car with nothing left for emergencies. Especially an older Prius which repairs are more costly than gas powered cars. Find a good running Corolla or a Honda Civic would be a safer bet.
Scotty Kilmer says highway miles are equivalent to about 10% of city mileage. So he might say 241,000 highway miles are equivalent to 24,100 miles in the city so it could still run perfectly fine. With a gen3 Prius, miles are miles and 241,000 on the odo is only worth $5k with a recent replacement engine AND a four year old Toyota battery. The 2010-14's have poor pistons, rings, defective brake pumps/master cylinders and flaky inverters. The egr design is bad and clogs. The rings frequently cause excessive oil consumption and blown head gaskets. The head gaskets slowly die leading some engines to hydrolock and throw rods. Even with a new head gasket, poor rings remain so the better repair is another engine, ideally completely rebuilt. Budget conscious buyers should consider a Corolla, Civic or Camry with reasonable miles. Exclude the 2007-2010 Camrys which also have bad rings.
Matrix is a great first car, really like its design. It's a very well-made and reliable car with 25-35mpg. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
if you’re looking to save money in the long run and avoid headaches, this is not the car to buy. If the Prius bug bit ya and there’s no cure, save another $5,000 then buy a high mileage prius. Saving gas costs a lot of money.
This is a private seller. No, i don't know a prius mechanic. What does OEM mean? They state it was mostly highway miles.
Stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer I believe. Colloquially means “stock” or “Toyota”, as opposed to after-market.
No, I just need a car to get me to and from work until I can afford a loan for a car less than a decade old. Priuses just happen to be a) hatchbacks, b) comparatively reliable, and c) readily available in my area. Yeah, I'm trying to get one of those three, but they're mostly only available as sedans. If I buy a sedan, I plan to *sell* that sedan as soon as I can afford something better. Yeah, there's 2 matrices in my area that I want to look at, but #1 the seller still hasn't gotten back to me, and #2 is a manual - which I've never driven before.
Here we have one more. OE (Original Equipment). Those are factory parts made by manufacturer. Sold by dealer. OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). Those are same parts as above but not for factory. Sold by manufacturer. Aftermarket. They have rights to produce parts but quality depends. So in a nutshell: OE>OEM>Aftermarket
Original Equipment Manufacture as opposed to after-market part which are most often way less expensive and sometimes lower quality. Finding a friend or local mechanic who can work with you to keep this car on the road for lowest repair expense possible is essential. Taking this car to a dealership for repairs will quickly cost more than what you paid for it cause dealerships don't need to save customers money to maintain customer loyalty.
Trusting people is always the best way to start... If they start throwing red flags/information doesn't add up then trusting them less is wise. But whatever you do don't think everyone is evil and out to ruin you because what you pay attention to is what you get more of.
A media article on three reasons to think twice. He neglects the master cylinder fiasco and misses the 2014s with the same issues. Notice the hv battery is not even mentioned because everyone knows about that concern and it costs less than these problems. 3 Reasons To Steer Clear Of A 2010-2013 Toyota Prius | Torque News
this is the 1st major publisher that actually talks about the egr issue so I’ll bite that this is an accurate review.
