I want buy a Prius but need some help/suggestions

Just start tracking tanks: fill before it's crazy low, always stop at first shut-off, note the gas qty and distance travelled, do the mpg math, repeat several times, report back with results.

Like @bisco said.

 

i think more cars are like that than you realize. but with an analog gauge, and no low gas warning, it is more difficult to tell.

 

FT, thanks for updating this thread. It's one of the more interesting ones on the board as I'm looking forward to seeing how buying a salvage at a steep discount turns out.

Sorry if I missed this, but have you filled up an entire tank yet? If so, what was the number? I recall your first couple of trips resulted in 50+ mpg based on the tripometer. Fill up the tank and report the mpg (using hand calculation). Assuming your gen2 has both tripA and tripB, use one of them to track the entire tank of gas after each fill up. That way, you'll know (to within a 5-7% rounding error) how you're doing at any point.

 

be careful. if you overfill a prius, you can damage the vapor record system, which can get quite expensive.

 

What was the mpg for your tank again?

 

Assuming that you previously filled up the tank to F, the only 2 numbers that are relevant are total miles driven for the next tank and how many gallons you pumped before the tank was full. You don't need to know how many miles are left when figuring out mpg. Variances in gas pumps are not a big deal as it will even out.

311 miles/9 gallons = 34.5 mpg. I guess that's your benchmark. Hopefully the next tank will be better.

 

It's a fool's game; head for a gas station asap.

 

Get a cheap high mileage 3rd gen prius that has been well taken care of.
That's what I have, 290k miles & still running strong you can find them for around 5k on craigslist.
I would avoid the 2nd gen though, lots of problems in the dash & weak hv batteries now

 

The more miles you have left on the warranty, the better, because that has been the most common costly repair on the Prius. IMO, a weakening traction battery has been the reason why some owners put their Prius up for sale and let the next (unsuspecting) owner deal with it.

 

That's exactly why.

You can go on Toyota site and join the repair forum and put your vin in there and all that cars service records at a toyota dealer will come up.
Many a burned buyer has done that after we sent them there to find out it was at the dealer and it got the death notice on the battery so they dumped it.

The other main rearson I suspect is its a poorly maintained engine and is now eating alot of engine oil. Alot of these cars get traded in on the spot after the battery death notice and then go to auction and end up on a used car lots there new owners soon to show up on this site with a laundry list of malady's.

 

Hello

Hello Frezee Time
A Prius with 25k-75k miles would be my first choice. Not sure how much can you get but look around theres plenty of fish out there
It's a Toyota and the 1.8 2.0 engine last forever, not kidding 400k miles lve seen on a Prius cab up for sale in NYC
You can push it a bit, let's say 100k miles+ but not recommendable if you are not prepare to replace wear and tear parts
Ive started a blog about my views and documenting my expeience at priusdotblog so keep us posted on how your journey goes
best of luck