At what point would you stop recommending a Prius?

Five years is a good point, replace the traction battery every five years, I'd say after five replacements it might not be a good buy.

 

WOW.
25 years.
I bet that sets the bar for the upper limit.

I'm not sure that it is THAT much different than any small car......but for different reasons.

I'd say that you should think it through carefully with one that has 100K miles or more and is 10 years old.
Just on general principles.

 

there's no one answer. it depends on your aversion to risk, your financial situation and your diy capabilities.
and, of course, some people live instates with an 8/100 warranty, and others 10/150.

 

Gen 1 had battery corrosion issues, I do not see that improving. I see no endemic Gen 2 problems. So my answer would be 2004.

But i only recommend them for those who can afford a failure, not starving college students.

 

Exactly. If you are scrimping together $5000 to buy a 10+ year old car with 200k miles on it, maybe you should rethink the purchase in general. If you can't afford a catastrophic repair ontop of the purchase price, don't buy it otherwise you get a $5k paper-weight waiting for a $2500 repair.

 

not really. the problem is, if you have a $5,000. budget, and no savings, you're likely to have an unfortunate driving experience.

you probably need close to 10k to take most of the risk out, or less, with an emergency fund. depends on where you live as well.

 

No, but people who have a $5000 car budget only because they found extra change in the couch cushions, should only buy a $2500 car. If you have a healthy emergency reserve and a $5000 budget, then buy a $5000 car.

A car, new or used, can have a catastrophic failure at any time. The second you drive it off the lot or much later into its service life. By buying an old vehicle, you are increasing your chances that something may go wrong during the time you own it. The Prius is not a 1960's American car that can be MacGyver'ed together with bubble gum and your belt to get moving again. It is a sophisticated piece of engineering with a lot of computers and electronics. You don't need to be a bush-mechanic to fix, you need to be an electrical engineer. And if you are scrimping together $5k, I really hope you're not an EE.

 

and then another one.

 

then comes the conundrum; should i put $2,500. into this pos i bought for $5,000.?

 

How old, how many miles on the car, how much in your pocket, how much in your pocket after the purchase, where is service location relative to your normal location, what does the car cost, your tolerance for risk, your ability to do simple things like oil/filter changes ... there must be more I'm not thinking of...

Some of the best and worst of my car buys among what must be 40 car buys by now have been used cars. The great ones were well cared for cars with documentation and I knew and could prove the motivation of the seller.

 

Also, we should make it clear that unless they drive a large number of miles, a Prius is more expensive than a comparable Corolla, for instance.
If they need something larger, perhaps a Camry. Both also have excellent maintenance histories.

 

NO.
You should use your $5K to buy a car that has an outstanding (lack of) repair record for that model in general.
Instead of using to buy an old hybrid where it is almost guaranteed that the battery will go bad fairly soon.

Trying to negotiate the price of the old hybrid DOWN a bit and explaining why might be a good idea though.

 

Unless it is still under the original factory warranty on the battery.

THAT is about the only way I would consider buying a used hybrid; several years left on the battery warranty OR recently replaced with an OEM battery.

 

if you have 5 grand, lease a car for 4 years at $100./month.

 

or buy a car you expect to last 4 years or longer. At least you have something to use or sell after 4 years then.

 

The problem with a Prius is that they command a premium over similar cars. Even though the Prius is a very reliable car, it just doesn't make sense to buy a 200k mile used model for $2000-$3000 when you can get a newer Yaris or similar for the same price. I'm bullish on the battery and I don't think that will be an issue anymore than the transmission will be an on a Yaris. Any car with 200k miles will likely start to have expensive suspension problems soon as well as HVAC and other issues. A few of my cars have made past 200k without major issues, a few have not.

My cutoff is at 150k miles for any car as I expect a few years of worry free operation out of my used vehicle.