2nd gen Prius a safe reliable buy?

$270 for 2 rotors and a set of front pads (not including labor)?!
$80 for spark plugs (not including labor)?! They are under $9/each at Advanced Auto

Get a new mechanic or do these things yourself! Plugs are under $40 for all 4 and take half an hour to replace including beer brakes. Pads and rotors on this car are not expensive, even if you go with premium brand. Prius is very easy on the friction brakes. It's an easy DIY job, but you need to read about the quirks of the hybrid brake system.

I am willing to wager rear brakes do not need work. All of this stuff is very easy to DIY if you want to save on labor and those ridiculous parts prices quoted by the mechanic.

 

Well, good luck returning it as a lemon.
It's a $3,500 vehicle, and I'm sure it was sold as is. It was running and driveable when you purchased it, and by your own mechanics statement:

That hardly sounds like any grounds to return as a lemon.
Of course the cynic in me would say...the mechanic also is best served by you deciding to have the work done.

Plus, you were pretty much warned at every step within this thread that anything and everything you were looking at in your price and age range did NOT come with any guarantees.

Seems to me you bought an older Prius, for less than $4000 that needs some work.

Up to you if the whole experience leaves too bitter a taste in your mouth. But there STILL isn't any guarantees. As stated all along...the vehicle investment choice and approach you are embracing...comes with no guarantees.

At this point it would come down to how bitter a taste does the whole deal leave in your mouth...could you ever be happy? And maybe more importantly...how much do you trust YOUR mechanic? Your screen shot is too small for my eyes to make out what he is saying needs to be done, and how much he is charging.

Sorry, but your whole vehicle buying approach IMO is kind of passive aggressive and counter to itself. On one hand you say.....

But then you are concerned about a whole litany of realities ranging from the color of the vehicle to rust spots. Plus worrying about reviews found on the internet. All things I think you really can't prioritize if shopping in the arena you are shopping.

If you want LESS to worry about? You have to pay MORE. You need to be looking at newer vehicles, with less miles and less age.
Otherwise, it's always a degree of compromise, and discovery.

My mother, at one point in her life could simply not afford newer vehicles. Really? She should of been committed to taking public transportation. But....she would gamble on vehicles. Usually $1200 or less. She struck out many, many times. Getting vehicles that were a hairs breath away from the junkyard or donation.

But..she also eventually would get lucky, get a well maintained older vehicle that had many more years left. Overall? I think she would of been better served saving up longer and buying something newer once..than hunting for that one 100's of dollar bargain, but she would by pure luck...eventually end up with a pretty reliable vehicle.
She was never happy when she discovered the vehicle she bought was used up...not worth investing into, but I think she realized that in her price range and buying reality it was simply the nature of the game.
I was too young to help her much, and this was in a time before Carfax, and my mother had no real "mechanic" friends. Even though some tried to help occasionally. What I learned from observation over the years was....

If you are going to play the "cheap" older vehicle game? You have to be prepared to strike out. OR be a mechanic yourself.

In this case?
If all this vehicle needs is some "routine maintenance" ? You may still be OK...but again...No Guarantees.

 

I didn't miss it. But you do realize "promises" don't change the status of a $3,500 used vehicle being sold "As Is"?

Again, good luck with that. When even YOUR mechanic is referring to the work being needed as being "routine maintenance".
You kind of already know what the the sellers defense would be when he says...

""What you talking about you buy this car for $3500. and noting wrong with it , you test drive it and it was decent shop with 145k" "

He's going to say...you had the opportunity to check it out, test drive it, and it was operating and working when he sold it to you. Maybe if you have some promise in writing you could make a case? But the time, trouble, wouldn't be worth it to me.

Come on?
Some street smarts?
You've got to know used car dealerships sometimes lie?
I'm kind of surprised anyone would give you a written statement that a $3,500 vehicle with 145K doesn't need any work. Because by situational definition, they ALL DO. I could go to a parking lot, and I can almost guarantee you that every vehicle with 145K that is a daily driver probably needs or could use some work.

As far as you not trusting those that don't believe that Cheap and Reliable is possible? If you read my posts?
I've said all along that cheap and reliable aren't necessarily mutually exclusive...in fact "possible". I've presented cases from my own life experience where I found cheap and reliable. BUT....cheap and reliable can simply NOT be guaranteed.

And if you are going to take used car dealers at their word, without a pre-purchase inspection by an independent mechanic....you are taking all the risks that entails.

 

Have you had the work done yet? The oil change alone works out to be 59.95 when you total the 4 separate charges for it. Don’t even get me started on the parts pricing. You could walk up to the parts counter of any Toyota dealer that charges list price and pay less for every part. Some over 50% less. And what the heck is that “shop supplies” charge of 48.92? They charge 9.48 for brake fluid and 11.99 for parts cleaner, what’s the 48.92 for? Paper towels? My guess is if you asked how much these same jobs would cost to have done at a Toyota dealer it would cost less.

Toyota valve cover gasket 21.99 retail, spark plugs 41.48 retail, brake shoes 59.62 retail.

Additionally you can get brand new strut assembly’s from Rock auto for much less. Front KYB’s (OEM manufacturers) are 120 each. They don’t have completely new rear strut assembly’s from KYB but looking at the labor for the rears they were rebuilding them anyway. The KYB’s are 61 each in that case. Even fully built Monroe rears are 84 each and it would be a LOT less than 346.90 for the labor to install them.

 

At cursory glance I would say a lot of that work IS definable as routine maintenance or maintenance one could easily expect on a vehicle of the OP's age and mileage.
As far as easy to do yourself?
The OP admits to cars not being his thing? So how much could or would he be willing to take on? If you haven't done it, and or have physical limitations, even an Oil Change can be daunting. Easy for one person...is NOT easy for another.

To be honest in the shape I'm in now, and the location I live in? I'm not even trying an Oil Change. I don't have a Garage, I picture a possible coronary event if I tried an Oil Change. Hate to trust and depend on the dealership or an outside party, BUT...it's where I am now.

I'll pop in Engine Filters and Cabin Filters, but sadly...that's about where my DIY maintenance ends.
Oh, I can fill windshield fluid reservoirs, check the oil level, and keep tires inflated...if that qualifies me for the pit crew?

 

Of all the cars I change oil on the Prius is the hardest. I drive it up on 3 lifts of 2x10’s to get clearance to get under the car then that oil filter! Without a special oil filter wrench you can’t get your hands on the filter enough to loosen the thing. I used the longer Toyota filter this time and that extra inch is really going to help. Easiest oil change in the fleet is the 2006 Tacoma with the V6. Climb under take off the plug, then go up top and unscrew the filter on the top of the engine, hold something to catch the oil from the filter. Screw the new filter on, go under and put drain plug back in, add oil and go. 7 minutes if I’m moving slow.

 

When I was younger, and had my own space?
I would of at least attempted it once. And then maybe just done it routinely.

But hey, age catches up with all of us. I use to love obsessively taking care of the finish of my vehicle and keeping it looking show room clean and new.
I still keep my vehicle ahead of the overall public curve in terms of how clean my vehicle is....but it's pretty much using short cuts, tricks, smoke and mirrors.

I like automobiles. I love to drive. I'm somewhat embarrassed by the reality that I don't do more maintenance myself. I wish I had a huge heated garage and a complete set of tools. I'd love to have it as a hobby. But the small parking spot in my apartment complex, and my limited home maintenance bevy of cheap tools, pretty much mean I'm NOT doing it myself.

 

As I look more is he going to give you the extra 1 1/2 quarts of oil he does not need? A Prius only takes 3 1/2 quarts. 119.62 labor to change the front pads and rotors, 179.43 to change the rear pads and 59.88 to bleed the system? That’s 358.93 in labor for the brake job. Throw in 364.04 for the parts and that’s 722.97 for your brake job.

 

Am I missing something? The pages I see total $1300, not $2700.

The estimate looks high, but certainly nothing out of the ordinary for a car of this age. I would agree it is usual maintenance, but a lot of it may not be necessary. How did he diagnose bad struts? Do you really need his full synthetic oil? The car doesn’t require it. The fuel induction service is something that cannot be found in the maintenance guide of any car I’ve ever heard of, it’s completely unnecessary and less there is a problem with one of the injectors.

I think your mechanic is trying to take you for a ride.

 

did you miss post #6?

 

You’re a bit of a curmudgeon around here.

My other car, a ‘17 Chrysler Pacifica nearly left me stranded on Wednesday when the alternator failed. At -17° F. At just under 36,000 miles, which makes the second failure that would have left me stranded had I not gotten into the dealer in time. The first was a coolant leak at 27,000 miles. As you can imagine, I paid a lot more than $3500 for it, and has been less reliable than either my 12-year-old Prius or my 11-year-old Kia. That’s not to say my Prius couldn’t do the same, but I obviously expect a lot less from it.

My Prius is parked while I drive their loaner until the middle of next week when they get the new alternator in. Anything can break, but just because it’s older does not make it unreliable.

 

a bit? try realistic

a car on the side of the road is unreliable. maybe you have a different definition

 

Well, 1.5 years and almost 30K miles with absolutely NO problems whatsoever. I paid $3,400 for the '07 with 175K miles on the clock in July 2017. I think that's pretty good.

It is also not the only data point I have. But I am fairly car-literate and would never take delivery of a car with no oil in the engine. I also have keen hearing and ability to recognize sounds of car trouble. Test drives do a lot for me, but I am not infallible and it is not easy to get a good car for little money. But it's not impossible. A little luck and some knowledge and common sense can yield good results.

I was simply stating that your categorical statement is false.

 

i still contend that it depends on how one defines reliable

 

To me it's NOT that difficult.
You can buy an older vehicle, not pay too much for it, and it can have any varying degree of reliability depending on numerous factors, including usage and maintenance to that point. BUT...
They are all machines. Age wears on them. Use wears on them. Therefore nobody in the market for a vehicle within these parameters, IMO should expect some "guarantee" of reliability. I certainly wouldn't call an 3 balloon internet exchange between a used Car Dealer and a potential buyer as anything I would take as a supportable written "guarantee".

The answer to the original thread question: " 2nd Gen Prius a safe and reliable buy? " Can only IMO be "Maybe".

It's a little different dynamic if you've owned one from new, and know of it's maintenance history. It's a little different if you've owned a used one for years or more....and know basically of it's condition and maintenance history.
If it's 2019...and you're purchasing a 2007 Prius with over 145K miles on it from scratch....the best one should expect, without a thorough PRE-purchase inspection is MAYBE it will be reliable.

I'm willing to say it could be...
I'm not willing to guarantee it will be.
Once in this range? Each vehicle is a case by case basis.

 

We can argue about what the definition of "is" is all day long, but I think reliable car starts and runs on as needed basis. So far I have not been let down by my '07 in over year and half and 30K miles. Some brand new cars can't have similar claims.

Doesn't mean it's going to start tomorrow, but I think the chances are pretty good.