Good afternoon! First post here so hopefully I'm doing this correctly. I am about to purchase a 2010 Prius III (with the solar roof pkg) that only has 16k miles. It was someone's vacation home vehicle in FL and was only driven as needed while they were there on vacation. The vehicle is still pretty much in new condition. The only cosmetic issue is the lens in front of the information display is very blotchy but I'm not concerned about that. My main question is, the battery is showing only two bars. I assume that is because the discharge from sitting. How long of a highway drive should it take to charge it back up to the optimum level? Also, what should I do as soon as I get the vehicle to hopefully stave off the oil consumption concern? I plan on changing the oil every 5k miles and it will primarily be used for highway driving. Thanks for the help in advance!
A gen 3 with that few miles that's been sitting that long is bound to head you for problems I don't know whether you said this was in Florida at a vacation home I can't remember it's not that important A Gen 3 needs to be three sheets in the wind and on the road daily take away from that and all the time taken away from that is time for it to have problems especially battery and traction problems the big battery no one cares about the 12 volt there at every corner store but the traction battery is going to be a concern The display that you're talking about that's blotchy and maybe because it's in a vacation spot and spends a lot of time in the sun how's the rest of the interior fading fast ugly tan velor? Other than that you know you got to figure that car just sits there with a near full tank of gas $16,000 mi so what's that driven 500 mi a year with old stale gas just sitting in the tank every year they come down and what splash some more on top of that try to drive the car around to the grocery store a couple times they're there real iffy to me but if you don't drive a lot and you're not going to really need the car a whole lot and it's going to continue sitting being driven a little bit then maybe it's worth your fooling with If you need to get the car on the road be three sheets in the wind and rolling good You might want to look at a Corolla or a Prius that has been kept on the road I have a 2010 and the reason I believe it's still on the road is because it's never come off the road It barely rests at night for a few hours other Gen 3's I've watched them blow up with me sitting in them from not being driven is my bet A lot of time sitting as far as I can tell.
I would advise some caution with this purchase. When these cars are used like you describe the hybrid battery pack can degrade and need replacement unless they came up with a way to prevent it. There are plenty of posts on here regarding this and even the owners manual has warnings about the vehicle sitting unused for long periods of time.
you can download some app i think "drhybid"or "dr prius", just google battery condition check app, i never use this but i know you can diagnose with this app, you also need obd2 port, on ebay for 20$ you connect by Bluetooth and is handy many other apps and customisation, otherwise full charge should be with 20 minute drive, my had 40k miles didnt drive for a year, i bought it and is amazing
Danny black Pius made a point. Use the app test it properly and take it to a local hyrbrind specialist to check it inside out.
At 16k miles, I wouldn't worry about oil consumption issues. I would be much more concerned over the condition of the 13 year old hybrid battery that has seen very little use, which is actually bad for the battery health. I'm writing this under the assumption that it still has the original hybrid battery. Check to see the cost of a brand new factory replacement hybrid battery from a local Toyota dealership, installed. Factor that in your budget. Before you consider going with an aftermarket battery, read this recent thread: Review Of Green Bean Battery 2/5 * | PriusChat
We have two 2010 Prius', one we bought used with about 60,000 miles and one we bought new. Both sit for six months at a time, as we leave one at each house (KY winter and FL summer). Both drive batteries seem OK. I try to leave the battery with a high state of charge (down one or two lines on the gauge). I don't see much difference when I start the vehicle for the first time. Depending on driving conditions, the battery should reach more than half-full charge within a few to less than ten miles.
The hybrid battery may be in trouble. There's no such thing as saving those for later, so technically this one was simply wasted. Even if it is okay now, I wouldn't expect it to last much longer. Now the rest of the car should be in phenomenal condition. Hoping it wasn't a mouse house. If you can budget a hybrid battery replacement in the near future you might do okay with this one.
Normally the battery charges for me while I'm braking or coasting. Stop and go traffic charges the battery faster than highway in my experience. You can manually try to charge with pulse/glide driving or if you use 'B' mode going down hills. I've seen my battery pretty low on cold days, so that isn't out of the question. But as others have mentioned, Nimh batteries don't like just sitting around. If you are ok with the idea of replacing the battery, could be fine. Oil consumption I can't imagine would be an issue in this scenario, but probably change it right away if you do buy.
