Buying Used Prius Agonizing over Details : }

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Don't remind me....it's embarrassing! I thought it was only 382 posts...

Believe me I now have questions about Husky mats and cloth seat cover. Need covers because of my gardening work.

I'll give you guys a break and do more searching for info before I ask more questions. Enough already!!

Don't remind me....it's embarrassing! I thought it was only 382 posts... : }

Believe me I now have questions about Husky mats and cloth seat covers. Need covers because of my gardening work. Oops that's a hint too. Edit: No it's not. You haven't seen pictures yet.

I'll give you guys a break and do more searching through posts before asking more questions. Enough already!!

 

I wasn't thinking about the airbags. Yikes! Must cover my seat somehow. I use a towel right now but it slips off cloth and would never work on leather.

From what I read I thought Husky Weatherbeaters were better than WeatherTech version. I need to keep mud as contained as possible. My present rug mat slipped forward all the time. Drove me nuts!

 

The big reveal!! Sorry for delay!

Can you believe it? I can't!

Will be interesting to hear what you think of my decision. : }

Here she is.....little Miss....actually I'm not sure what her name is or if she's even a female. : } I do know she makes more robotic noises than I was expecting. I'll have to get some reassurance about that at a later time.

Felt like I stepped back in time and bought a brand new......

2009 PKG 6 Silver Prius

I have questions already but will wait on those. I'll explain my decision process....after I've eaten some dinner....because as you know this was a HUGE final decision. I will say this....I'm only bummed that it's not gray. Oh well.... I will be happy it's silver when I get my first tree branch scratch on it. Hopefully that won't happen for a little while.

I'll take better picture tomorrow. I got home at dusk and my phone battery was dying soon after purchase.

PS: The drive home was amazing. I went 75 MPH without even realizing it. Driving over Newport bridges was an amazing way to start the journey.

A gigantic thank you to every single one of you who spent your precious free time helping me along the way!

 

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Talk about micro managing a car buying decision...I could probably win a prize for that!

1 - Some say always go with lower miles. I felt newer Prius with higher miles was in overall better condition. Two years newer verses 20k less miles seemed pretty close in value. 2009 was consistently used and 2007 was sitting for periods of time. Better resale value on 2009?

2 - 2009 had 12 v battery and headlights replaced in late 2014. 2007 nothing recently replaced

3 - Interior of 2009 looks almost brand new. 2007 drivers seat was a bit worn

4 - 2009 has three years left on hybrid battery warranty verses 2007 only one. I know these batteries go way beyond 150k miles but this owner's wife's 2005 Prius just had battery replaced under warranty. This is third local owner who's told me their battery failed during last year of warranty.

5 - 2007 was not an eager to sell, low price deal (understandably because he really loved car and was bummed he was selling) I didn't even make an offer (crazy huh?) because I figured he wouldn't go down much. He admitted later he would only have gone to low end of $9K. To be honest there was also a concern he might change his mind regarding selling

6 - Loan rate on 2007 higher than 2009

All this being said, I couldn't have found a better taken care of 2007 private sale Prius being sold by a more trustworthy, super nice, passionate and knowledgable man. This made walking away from this car challenging.

If this had been a low price deal or a 2008 I probably would have gone for it.

No regrets! : )

Oh and to answer your questions, dorunron, this is the car deal I initially backed out of (cracked fog lights they wouldn't fix). I renegotiated because everything else I was looking at was so beat up. Two key fobs and every single manual and instruction pamphlet that originally came with car. Even the little tag explaining how the back up camera works.

Explain this one though. I was having trouble shutting off lights. Major learning curve and we noticed one of the fog lights was out! I was very excited hoping I was going to get one new fog light added to the deal. Salesman couldn't believe it too but they put car on lift and service guy got it working again without changing bulb out? What a disappointment! A loose connection maybe? I didn't have time to ask and figured they replaced bulb until I stopped to check it out of curiosity. Do foglights get very hot? These are very hot. I probably won't use them long term but will use them over the next 60 days. If they burn out they will replace.

 

Take a long nap!! : ) Now I have to downsize my belongings while continuing to look for a new apartment. Plus get two gardens ready for winter. I'm exhausted!

I'm going to let the little robotic noises I hear go for now. Get myself used to the car and then maybe stop by local Toyota dealer and ask him to listen to the sounds I'm concerned about. He inspected and test drove it. My take is each of these cars sounds a bit different. When I brake on this one there is a slight sound I didn't notice on the 2007. Who knows! 60 days to figure it all out.

That's right number 7 is that I get a 60 day/3000 mile warranty with the 2009. Probably won't need it but better than nothing.