inputs on buying a used prius

I wouldn't worry about battery life; it has been excellent with the Prius, typically lasting the life of the car. I would look for a 2006 or newer, but not because of battery life. There were some changes made in late 2005 that are worth the extra money. The traction control system was tweaked to eliminate or reduce one of the common complaints with winter driving. We live in a very snowy part of the country, and find the Prius to be great in snow. We did replace the OEM tires with good all-season tires, which makes a big difference. Snow tires would be even better, but we don't need them with the Prius. It's not a truck, so you can't wade trough deep snow, but it does as well or better than any front wheel drive car. We have VSC (vehicle stability control), and I think it is well worth the extra cost, especially for slippery conditions.

Tom

 

It's not that bad in the snow, it's the OEM tires that aren't really all that great in heavy snow. Just a real good set of All seasons would be all you need.

 

I just bought a 2004 base model (would have loved a B or 6 package but Prii tend to be about $10G more here in Canada than in the US). I did a carfax on it prior to buying it. It had low mileage (36,000 miles) and one owner. I bought it from a Toyota dealership. I'd like to think that it still has a lot of life left on it. I've heard from many people that if you service the car regularly with oil and filter changes and the recommended scheduled maintenance put forth by Toyota, the car (and the battery for that matter) should last as long as you choose to drive it. So check the mileage. If the car is older than an 06 and it has low mileage you shouldn't have any problem.

 

Lisa -

I just bought a used Prius (2002) about 10 days ago. What I found in my search for a used one was that the Gen 2 models with low mileage tended to be priced almost at the range of a base model new 2008 Prius. These cars really hold their value. The only Gen 2 ones I saw that had any real price differential from new were ones that had nearly 100,000 miles on them. I started out wanting an early Gen 2, but decided that I could still get a great car for less money with a Gen 1. Most of the 2005-2006 ones I found were priced at around $18,000, and that seemed high considering the price of a new base model.

There are good deals to be found, though, if you can be patient. I really wanted to keep my "walk out the door" price under $15,000, and wanted the car to have relatively low miles. I found a wonderfully maintained 2002 with 60K miles, and I jumped at it, and came in price-wise about $2,000 less than my target. And I still have two years or almost 35,000 miles left on the warranty on the batteries, so I felt safe enough there.

And I'm not sure about snow (doesn't happen that much down here in Texas), but I did have a deer run out in front of the car last weekend, and the car handled quite well in my opinion.

Linda

 

I agree with Linda L, when I started my initial shopping process I thought of getting a newer used Prius, but soon discovered that I could have a 'base' model (which is usually going to be a #2 as the true base models are hard to find and the extra $575 or so that a #2 costs is well worth it for the added goodies that you get) and soon discovered that I'd be paying just a few thousand dollars less for a car with 50,000 miles on it. That, the way that I accumulate miles on a car, is about 5 years worth of usage. Getting a new one suddenly seemed like a much better plan.

 

Sorry, but we have a 2007 Prius and put the best snow/ice tires available (Blizzaks) because we live at the top of a steep hill in upstate NY. I don't know how I didn't run across the problem of the Prius engine turning off when slipping on a steep hlll before I bought the thing, but I wouldn't have bought it had I known, due to where I live.

I recently drove white-knuckled and terrified that I was going to be rear-ended for over an hour in a snow storm on a very steep/hilly interstate. The conditions were horrible, but that happens here, and I kept losing power. The highway speeds were ranging from 5 - 30 mph and I still almost stalled out. I know how to drive in the snow and on ice. I've done it for over 20 years. I think Toyota made a huge mistake with this decision - they're control freaks (witness also the inability to turn a bluetooth phone on if not in Park).

My driveway is also very steep and I've had to leave the car halfway up a half a dozen times this year because it just dies.

I love my Prius and we need another car due to the Tacoma buyback. I would buy another Prius in a heartbeat if I didn't have to deal with hills and snow.

Karen