Thinking of buying a 2012 Prius Two with 131k miles — battery at 32%, worth fixing?

the car generation has 3 major issues.
1) the battery (as you know) before buying, check around for replacements, they are not cheap.
2) the head gasket. google 'prius head gasket problems', sometimes leads to engine replacement.
3) brake actuator, another expensive repair.
some get lucky, and some don't. we don't know what percentage of each.

 

I'd say pass on it. $2500 work at the dealership (since you are not a DIYer) plus about another $2500 for a new battery...and then there are all the other things mentioned in the previous post that are also very expensive repairs.
Add that up and you can buy a very decent lower mileage used car. .

 

Yeah let him get the carvana qoute.

They will low ball him, plus its a beater.

Then make a deal after he shows you how much they offered.

If you can get it for less than $2,500 then its worth it if you can get two years out of it without putting too much into it.

 

If you will not DIY the car yourself and you plan on paying someone else to do the work, you should pass on this car. A Prius is one of the most complex cars made. It is very costly to repair unless you are a DIY person.

 

This. It's an OK deal if you DIY, it's a potential nightmare if you don't. The fact that the dealer wants $2,500 for what amounts to $100 and a few hours work says it all. But yeah, if you can counter the upcoming Carmax lowball and get it for half as much then maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

 

^+1 Agreed; if you can't DIY what the dealer quoted in repair - which is very, very high by the way - it's too much. I would only 'think' about it at $2500; but I'm a DIY guy. He's not getting $5K with that kind of exterior and interior damage. Some Prius fanboy might pay that, but a real business??????
Low mileage hybrids are actually harder on the traction batteries. Sorry, no car is low maintenance above 100K miles and you got the maintenance records of the car, for the first 100K?

Just my 2-cents......

 

Hard pass!

Three reasons:
1. You need a RELIABLE car.
2. You're not going to fix this thing - you're going to pay somebody else to fix it.
3. NEVER buy a beater from a friend or sell one to a friend.

 

This is on the cusp of "mechanic's special".

And lots of expenses to deal with: those dang headlights alone are probably $1500 for a pair of OEM. That "surface rust" might be a bit deeper, on the suspensiion/underbody.

Everything about this car reflects a "don't care" attitude. Starting with the unparked wipers in the first pic, lol. Probably a boatload of leaves if you pop the hood. Then there's the "water" stain on the driver's seat...

More seriously, there's likely a long-clogged EGR system, and ensuant head gasket failure about to happen. If you're not DIY, this is NOT the car for you.

 

I'm also DIY but I think I'd pass at $2000. If the exterior didn't have a lot of damage, I would definitely go higher, but I don't have the patience to spend a lot of time and money addressing mechanical issues in a car that is still going to look beat up.

 

LoL; if you live in the city - you want a car that looks like a beater.
When I was going to school in the city, my car was 3 different colors and no-one would mess with it (street parking). Then again, there wasn't CAT thieves either. It was also easy to maneuver in grid-lock traffic; those nice shiny BMW, MBZ, Cadillacs, would get out of my way. I guess they were afraid my color palette would rub-off onto them.

 

Get a conventional Corolla, Camry or Civic in your price range. Any mechanic can work on it and they don't routinely blow engines, brake by wire systems and don't have a hybrid battery to fail or an inverter to strand you.

Run. That car could cost you $10k in repairs, several rental cars and a lost friend.

You won't sleep well either way.

Look around for gen3 Prii still on the road. You won't see many.

 

Did you have to do any of these on your previous 2012 Prius-Plug in? I recall your mileage was under 90k.

I still have mine @113k miles and so far just I just take it in for regular maintenance and one 12v battery replacement in 2023.

 

Here in SoCal, there are still many Gen 3s and Gen 2s on the road. Sometimes I get lucky and I get to see some well maintained, clean Gen 1s drive by!

 

at 87k, it started knocking. i'm too old to try and clean the egr circuit, and i couldn't find anyone who would tackle it.
i traded it in instead.

 

yours is ripe for egr circuit cleaning. don't ignore it if you intend to keep the car.