Seeking advice: Gen 2 vs Gen 3 for frequent mountain road trip

gen 2 was a tank, but when you do need a hybrid repair, it's going to cost way more than a corolla.

gen 3 is wrought with major problems, stay away.

either way, an old hybrid can cost more than you'll save on gas, unless you diy.

 

Ground clearance is not much.

 

Good thinking about that. Google says:
2003 Corolla 5.7inches
Gen 2 2007-2009 5.6 inches
Gen 2 2004-2006 4.9 inches
2015 Prius 5.3-5.7 depending on options I guess

Would probably respond very well to a minor suspension tweek for height or slightly taller tires.

 

I lived in Colorado and now Kansas. I would recommend a Gen 2 with a Prius Off Road Lift. The difference is night and day. It doesnt effect the MPG and stops scraping on driveways and curbs and I would not own another Prius without a lift from Off road Prius. I paid $350 and it was shipped out and I had a tracking number in about 5 hours. Try and find one with the upgraded vinyl interior seats and the combination meter already repaired. A new 12 volt battery was about $200 and I would replace the invertor pump every 100k miles... $175 from the toyota dealership. A new hybrid battery pack OEM or aftermarket now seems to be $ If you can score a habitent that would be great for summer months.
2004-2009 Toyota Prius Lift

Gen 2 with 100K hands down for me. You can add doorman heated seats as well.
https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-8240-628-040.aspx

 

Your probably better off with a Corolla Cross, Rav4, or Honda CR-V; for what your doing. They have hybrid options for those vehicles too.The gas versions are repairable on the cheap, by any decent garage. Whereas; If you don't DIY, those older Prius can turn into money pits very quickly. They are also under-powered for mountain climbs. My old Prius C used to empty the traction pack by Camp Sacramento and would require me to high rev the engine for the final leg to crest the peak into Tahoe. It was like driving an air cooled VW bug, without the advantage of a manual transmission - if you've ever driven one. Needless to say the mpg would really suck on those trips. The gen4 Prius does much better, if that's within your price range.

Just my 2-cents - hopefully this was helpful......

 

My wife and I put about 150K miles on a Gen 2, and we now have a Gen 3 (that we put about 70K on), as well as a Gen 4 Prime. I'm not much into camping, but I've taken more than my share of long road trips in ours. I've also driven a few mountain roads in my day, few in a Prius though.

As others have said, the Gen 2 has more longevity, mainly because the Gen 3 has an EGR system that's caused more than a few early failures. The Gen 2 didn't have that. The Gen 3 did have a few things that were better developed than the Gen 2, but nothing that's going to take out the engine like the EGR system.

66K miles is well below where the EGR system will start causing failures, but it's where you've gotta start maintaining it to get a few more miles out of your car. Climbing up steep grades is also the sort of driving that's going to wreak havoc with your engine. That's where the EGR failures strike too - it causes overheating/head gasket/engine failures. With either generation, I'd still be monitoring the coolant temperature, which is going to be a bit problematic because there's no temperature gauge. (You should buy a cheap Bluetooth OBD2 reader anyway, and you can use any one of a bunch of free phone apps to display the coolant temperature when you make your trek up the mountain.)

It's weird that you say the Gen 2 has more headroom. For me, it's the opposite. The Gen 3 has a little hydraulic pump on the driver's seat that allows you to adjust the height. The Gen 2 didn't have this. I'm not super tall, but my height is more in the torso. The Gen 2 was sometimes a bit of a struggle when it came to red lights. I'd either have to crouch down to uncomfortable levels to see when the light turned green - at least until I learned to start watching the signal light off to the side of the intersection. It's only the driver's seat that's adjustable, but I'm able to drop the seat 1/2" to 1" in the Gen 3.

I'd say the Gen 3 may have a bit more room to hold your camping gear too. Not much, and I'm sure it all winds down to how you load your equipment. Hatchbacks do hold more than most people give them credit for, especially when you fold the rear seats down.

As others have pointed out, the Gen 3 sits just a little lower than the Gen 2. Not much, but it's just a little. The main thing is there's more plastic cover under the engine for the Gen 3. Not that the Gen 2 didn't have a cover, but it covers less. Mainly the Gen 2 didn't need an oil change door because it's more "U" shaped and didn't cover the bottom of the engine, where the Gen 3's cover has a pretty lame designed one. (They redesigned it for Gen 4 and fixed the lame design.) The Gen 3's door is prone to drooping down in the rear (especially if you go to the "quickie oil change places". They're really not good at replacing the worn-out plastic push clips that keep the oil change door closed. Since it sags down in the back, it hangs up on things when you back up. (I'm sure that others will jump on my post here to say they just take those panels off. That's fine by me, it's their car and they can do whatever they want. It's just not the way I choose to do my repairs.)

One other issue that may come up for your camping trips is that the Gen 2 and the Gen 3 (as well as the Gen 4) has a smaller-sized 12V (auxiliary) battery than you're used to (about 1/3 the capacity - but somehow manages to cost about 3 times as much). I'm thinking you may have some equipment that runs off of the car's 12V system. Prii also don't have a good reaction to letting the accessory battery voltage get too low. Definitely nothing you want to experience when your out in the wilderness all by yourself.

The cars you've found sound great - almost too great. Only 66k miles on the Gen 3, and 100K on the Gen 2. That sounds almost too good to be true. You may have found that "unicorn" deal, or two of them. There's always the driven by a little old lady to church on Sundays, but I wonder. The big problem is the vehicle needs to be driven somewhat regularly to maintain the traction battery. If it's left to sit for a few months, the charge in the traction bleeds off. Normally, it's pretty well maintained by the car's hybrid system (it won't necessarily be fully charged all the time, but it will be maintained to be within limits). That's not the type of battery that can stand to be left all alone for too long. Either of these cars, while having low mileage, may still have traction battery issues.

In my opinion, most of the Gen 2's are getting a bit "long in the tooth" to have the kind of reliability you'll want to take in the remote wilderness, and the Gen 3's have the EGR problems. Pick your poison.

 

Camping...don't use a Prius.

 

You don't go from an old Corolla to an old Prius when you want reliability & performance. Other way around.

New Priuseses are awesome, well-deserving of their reputations for reliability... but 20 year old ones are NOT. Stick to Corollas. They're about as reliable as the Prius, but they are simpler and therefore cheaper to fix when they have some age on them.

A Prius is great when you can afford one that is new or close to it, but they really are a drag at older ages; avoid.

 

If money is no option. I agree that a Corolla Cross would be perfect...hands down...but likely 2 to 3x the cost.